Of Hxs and parasites

[dungrollin]

> Had an off-site mail exchange - ostensibly about Possession 
Theory, but wandering into other areas, Hxs for one. they aren't my 
favourite plot device by a long way - too messy and vague IMO, but 
we're stuck with them.
> 
> My correspondent (dung, as it happens) mentioned that Hxs don't  
> necessarily preclude PT -  after all Tom had to find out about 
them from somewhere - and it wouldn't be the Hogwarts library. Why 
not Sally?
> 
> Possible.
> 'Soul' is not a synonym for 'powers' in any usual comparison.
> But take her line of thought further - supposing the Hxs pre-date  
> Tom? What if they're Sally's? Not unreasonable, I'd have thought. 
He claimed to be No.1 in the wizarding charts, been there, done 
that, sought immortality, power, all that good stuff. Who fits the 
bill better?
> 
> And the Hxs themselves - HH's cup, SS's ring, possibly RR's wand,  
> though probably not GG's sword (if the Tarot connection holds 
up).  
> Heirlooms. Really old stuff. Who is more likely to be able to lay  
> hands on artifacts associated with the Founders? Tom (after 1,000  
> years) or Sally (the wizard on the spot)?
> 
> And if it was Sally then we can make a good guess at what happened 
to the Founders, can't we?
> 
> So Sally!Essence is *using* the Voldy construct to collect Sally 
Hxs manufactured centuries ago. Sally wants to come back.
> 

Dung:
I think the problem is then, why did Tom (by that time already 
Voldemort, and possessed by Sally) have to ask Slughorn about them 
at all? 

How about... Sally had been working to a 3-Hx plan (three's magical, 
isn't it?) but got caught, AKed and stuffed in the Chamber until 
either someone worked out how to get rid of him (since nobody could 
find the Horseradish) or the Heir came to set him free and revive 
his dream? That would give Tom a reason to try to confirm that 
perhaps a 7-hx plan would be surer. 

So you could have 3 from Sally, and 3 from Tom, and the mingled 
Sally!Tom would be the 7th. Then Harry's Horcrux would be an 
unintended 8th, a piece of the mingled Sally!Tom soul, weakening the 
whole shebang.

Sally's would probably be the Locket, the Cup and the Something of 
Ravenclaw, Tom's would be the Ring, the Diary and ... um ... well I 
*like* Nagini, so I'll stick her in there too until someone thinks 
of something better.


Kneasy:
> If correct (bloody big if, I'll admit) then the Diary probably 
wasn't a Hx within the meaning of the act. Never did like it anyway. 
If there was only one 'life' shared between her and Tom, then Ginny  
> should have died when that life was snuffed by the Basilisks 
deadly dentition.  Besides, we've been led to believe that when a Hx 
goes blooey there's some nasty magical fallout in the vicinity -  
and I don't recall any in the Chamber.
> 

Dung:
Not necessarily. There was a terrible curse on that ring, we're 
never led to believe that it was destroying the Horsebox that fried 
DD's hand rather than just a protective curse when he was breaking 
through Tom's enchantments in the ruin of the Gaunt House; on the 
other hand, the diary was *meant* to be read and used, so grilling 
the wielder's extremities and then expecting them to make it all the 
way down to the Chamber would be a bit, well, unsubtle.


Kneasy:
> Hm. An on the spur of the moment hypothesis. Rough, needs work.
> Comments please.
> 

Dung:
I don't believe a word of it, but it's fun nonetheless, needs 
further thought; thematic relevance to the books etc. 

It was the cries of "AK's don't do that!" in discussions of Horcrux-
Harry over on HPfGU which reminded me that there were other 
possibilities I'd almost forgotten about but that others had 
covered. Had completely forgotten about old Sally. I'm most 
interested in the possibility that a possession attempt at GH was 
what made Harry into a Horcrux, and whether Lily's sacrifice could 
have had something to do with it's nature.


Kneasy:
> Oh - and there's a sort of real-life parallel, if you're prepared 
to stretch a point or two.
> The parasitologists among us will be familiar with Toxoplasma 
gondii. Interesting beastie. It has a life cycle switching between 
cat intestine, followed by excretion, then it's picked up by rats -
where it infects the brain and causes behavioural changes that make  
> it highly likely that the said rat will be caught and eaten by a 
cat -  thus perpetuating the cycle.
> 

Dung:
With extra parasites! Isn't that the one that has also been linked 
to behavioural changes in humans, like schizophrenia? (I'm sure I've 
read something about it on the web in the last few months.) 

My favourite's the worm that gets into snail tentacles (a brief 
google tells me it's a trematode called Leucochloridium) where it 
swells up to look like a juicy caterpillar. It also stops the snail 
hiding in its shell and makes it seek out sunny positions ... where 
birds are searching for fat juicy caterpillars. The eggs are 
excreted by the bird to be eaten again by another snail. And so the 
happy dance continues.

> It nearly makes sense, depending on who you cast as what.
> 
> Kneasy
>

Dung:
Can I be the s...? oh. No, perhaps not.

Dung.
Who's actually really had enough of both parasites and 
parasitologists, having just fought off another horde of Plasmodium, 
during which her teeth were chattering so hard she thought she'd 
break the thermometer.