[the_old_crowd] Re: Stupid question about Horscrux!Harry

[elfundeb]

I know this was *last* week's discussion, but my internet connection
went down before I finished the response I had been drafting.  Better
late than never, I guess.

Pippin:
> If a piece of the soul is lost because murder tears away some of the
> murderer's humanity, some of his  potential for goodness, then it
> makes sense  that Voldemort's lost potential for good could find
> a home in Harry, and that Voldemort, who had alienated and rejected
> that part of himself, could not abide its presence, even though it
> was once his.

I had the same thought (though Pippin is more concise and elegant),
but did a little research on Christian doctrine on the nature of the
soul (well, Catholic doctrine, which is what I know) to support this
explanation, which seemed a good place to look in light of JKR's
comments about Christianity.

According to the CCC (catechism of the Catholic church), "soul"
signifies the spiritual in a human being, i.e., a person's capacity to
do good.  Sin is described as wounding the soul and, so the doctrine
goes, each sin makes on susceptible to further sin.  In other words,
sin diminishes one's capacity to do good, while the capacity to do
evil remains with less restraint than before.
<end of catechism review>  

So, if Hx!Harry is correct, there is reason to believe that Harry
acquired a bit of Voldemort's capacity for good, and none of his
capacity for evil, which raises the question whether the augmentation
of Harry's soul provided additional ammunition for Harry to resist
evil.  On the other hand, no wonder Slughorn is so horrified at the
idea of seven Horcruxes.  If the soul represents our humanity,
Voldemort is barely human, as the snakelike description of
post-resurrection Voldemort suggests.

Jen: 
> Another objection is how it could have happened given Lily's
> sacrifice. Her protection was there before LV cast the AK, and if it's
> as strong as we're led to believe, the cornerstone of Hary's
> protection, I don't see how an evil soul sliver got through that.

In addition to Neri's point that Voldemort seems to have transferred
some of his powers to Harry that night, the scar itself is odd.  Avada
Kedavra usually doesn't leave a mark, so why would a ricochet leave a
scar?  Moreover, Harry's scar symbolizes that Harry is The One:  "the
Dark Lord will mark him as his equal."  So we appear to know how Harry
received whatever he has.

Also, Lily's protection was a life-saving force, though, not overall
protection.   Harry isn't protected against spells in general.  For
example, he is not immune to the Cruciatus Curse.  And though he can
resist Imperius, it does affect him.  As Voldemort's soul fragment
isn't a threat to his life, there would be no reason to deflect it.

Neri:
> <deep sigh> No kidding, this is exactly what she did to us with the
> mystery of Voldy's immortality. Two of the main clues were Voldy
> saying that the DEs knew of the steps he took and Voldy becoming
> mortal again after his resurrection (paraphrasing from memory: "I set
> my sights lower. I would settle for my mortal body and my old
> strength before courting eternal life again"). Both of these clues
> don't work with the horwhatisit thing. It could be argued that they
> outright contradict it.

Not necessarily contradicatory, if you look at what else Voldy says in
the graveyard:

"I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the
meanest ghost . . . but still, I was alive.  What I was, even I do not
know . . . I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that
leads to immortality.  You know my goal – to conquer death.  And now,
I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had
worked . . . for I had not been killed, though the curse should have
done it."

One *or more* of his experiments had worked?  Seven Horcruxes weren't
enough for him to be confident of his immortality?   Sounds like he
had other immortality experiments in the works.  Why, half his Death
Eaters could have been employed in the Dark Lord's Laboratory of
Alchemy and Immortality without even getting a hint that the
Horthingies existed.  They were, as R.A.B. wrote, Voldy's own secret,
something he didn't trust his DEs enough to tell them.

It's arguable that he meant that each Horcrux was a separate
experiment.  But the diary shows just how cocky Tom had become.  He
thought he had the Horcspell down cold – so cold that he was
improvising – adding memories and creating dual-purpose Horcruxes.

Neri again:
> But still, if we look for a theory that we *can* assemble based on
> what we know today, and might explain the mind connection, the
> transferred powers, the "in essence divided" and the gleam, I don't
> see any another candidate but Hx!Harry. It looks like any other
> theory would have to assume that either JKR isn't going to explain
> these mysteries in any satisfying way, or she's going to explain them
> based on completely new information in Book 7. So for me it's either
> Hx!Harry or quitting.

I also like Hx!Harry from a thematic POV.  Notwithstanding
Dumbledore's statement about Harry's "furious desire for revenge", and
Harry's own statement that "I'd want him finished . . . and I'd want
to do it," it is very hard for me to reconcile Harry's supposed
destiny to kill Voldemort with his purity of heart.  Harry cannot cast
an effective Unforgivable Curse.  As Bellatrix reminds him, "You need
to mean them, Potter!  You need to really want to cause pain – to
enjoy it – righteous anger won't hurt me for long – ."  OOP, ch. 36. 
Harry's only resource is his righteous anger for what was done to
those that he loved, and it doesn't sound like that will be enough to
make an AK work.

Harry's purity of heart has already saved him from Voldemort twice, so
I can't see Harry even trying Avada Kevadra. He must vanquish
Voldemort in some other way.  If Harry is a Horcrux, he must sacrifice
himself. (Interestingly, in my online soul-searching, I noticed that
only a pure soul can look with confidence toward the Next Great
Adventure.)  Or at least he could try, if Voldemort doesn't stop him.

Debbie
Who has probably solved the internet connection problem, but not the
time-consuming job problem, so will likely be heard from only
occasionally