The seventh Horcrux

If this gets blogged, then i have successfully blogged via e-mail. This also means that i can blog from my orange phone when I choose orange mail in a few days. Basically, today, I organised the six square feet of old books, coming across titles like " Sculptures inspired by the works of Kalidasa" and more mysterious squiggles on the first page. Will scanb it and blog it ASAP. Really interesting squiggles...

Raksha Bandhan today. Not a single raakhi. Donno if it should be a :) or a :(

Here is a conversation (g for girl and m for me):

g: Will you pay me if I tie you a Raakhi

m: Are you mad or something? I would rather buy a rakhi and tie it myself if I really wanted it.

g: But this will be an authentic Rakhi from me

m: Which guy would want an authentic Rakhi?

g: Doesn't it mean you are really close to a girl or something?

m: Who would want a girl as a sister? Haven't you seen the stupid song in style?

Then it hits her and she goes oooh! and sings "banja mera bhaiya re"

 

But as always, I deviate and come to the point:

 

This was written on the third day after reading the book, with the intention of sending it to a fan site. One person (same sister girl) talked abou such a theory circulating on the web, and I went like WTF, and blogged it anyway. This is a comprehensive article, everything I found was just posts on forums.

 

The seventh Horcrux.

 

Voldemort's Horcruxes:

 

Voldemort, in an attempt to attain immortality, created, or at the least, intended to create six Horcruxes to divide his soul and ensure that at least one of his souls survive. We definitely know the following Horcruxes from HBP:

 

> Tom Riddle's diary, which Harry Potter destroys using a Basilisk's fang in COS.

> The stone embedded in Marvolo Gaunt's ring. The soul is destroyed by Dumbledore, which cracks up the stone, but the ring survives the encounter.

> The locket belonging to Salazar Slytherin, which was hidden in the secret cave, but was taken by someone with the initials RAB.

> A cup belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, that is currently unaccounted for.

> Voldemort's snake Nagini.

> A personal belonging either Godric Griffindor's or Rowena Rawenclaw.

 

No possibility is mentioned for a seventh Horcrux. However, it is clearly indicated that Voldemort intended to make seven pieces of his soul, believing seven to be the most magically powerful number. Now all he needs are six Horcruxes, because the seventh part of the soul, will obviously remain in his own body. Therefore, there is no need to account for the seventh Horcrux. But Dumbledore himself indicated that nothing of Godric's survived except the sword, which definitely wasn't a Horcrux. In all probability, it would be very difficult for even Voldemort to come across an item belonging to Rowena Rawenclaw, and I would like to discount this possibility for the purpose of suggesting a very startling possibility for the seventh Horcrux.

We know that Voldemort used very significant deaths to create his Horcruxes. There is very vague information about this, but still, one can make fairly decent guesses as to which deaths led to the creation of which horcrux. In chronological order, the first horcrux that Voldemort created was when he was still a student of Hogwarts. Tom Riddle found out his ancestry, opened up the chamber of secrets, and probably converted his diary into a horcrux after killing Moaning Myrtle. The part of Voldemort's soul was destroyed in COS when Harry put a poisonous basilisk fang through the diary. The three Horcruxes of Slytherin's Locket, Slytherin's ring, and Helga's Cup were all possibly created after killing off his father (Tom Riddle)'s second family. Slytherin's locket was stolen from it's hiding place by someone called RAB. It is very likely that these are the initials of Sirius Black's brother, Regalus, and is possibly in the black mansion (The locket discovered during the cleaning in OoTP?). Dumbledore found the ring and destroyed it. The cup of Helga Hufflepuff is definitely hidden somewhere.  So four Horcruxes are accounted for, he needs two more. Remember, that Voldemort hardly killed people himself, and usually had someone else do it for him. After killing of his father's family, he then killed someone, creating the Mystery Horcrux, and had just one more to go before attaining his magic number of seven. At this point of time, Harry Potter becomes the boy who lived, and Voldemort flees until he is rescued by a lost servant four years later. Then, sacrificing significance for the sake of practicality, he kills Frank Bryce at the Riddle Mansion, and converts his snake Nagini into a Horcrux. The last surviving part of Voldemort's soul is the one occupying his resurrected body.

 

The mystery Horcrux:

Coming to the point, a suggestion that Harry Potter could be the mystery Horcrux. The evidences supporting this is the clear link between Harry Potter and Voldemort all throughout the books. Especially in OoTP, not only does Harry Potter feel exactly what Voldemort is feeling (and vice versa), but all attempts at occulumency fail miserably. I think this is clinching evidence. Harry Potter is a pretty strong Wizard, and learns even complex spells (eg: the patronus charm) with relative ease. Therefore, not being able to learn occulumency despite repeated practice simply does not make sense for the hero of the story. Also, when Harry's soul is particularly sensitive, he is very easy to anger. Throughout OoTP, Harry was constantly losing his cool which hasn't happened to that scale before OoTP or later, in HBP. Voldemort probably knew that there was a connection between him and Harry, unlike what Dumbledore thought (remember, he himself suggests that he might have been wrong). Voldemort used this information to get the prophecy out of the hall of prophecies, or maybe even to spy on the activities of those close to Dumbledore. Either way, after OoTP, When the activities of Voldemort becomes more clandestine, he prefers to hide his feelings from Harry, and therefore Harry essentially becomes an inactive Horcrux, not sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of Voldemort. The sorting hat, which is never wrong, had serious doubts about choosing the house more suitable for Harry Potter. Rowling hasn't explained, so far, the reason for the sorting hat to feel that Harry Potter would have done well in Slytherin. Was this because the sorting hat saw the bit of Voldemort's soul in Harry Potter? Harry himself admits this in COS "So I <i>should</i> be in Slytherin… the sorting hat could see Slitherin's power in me…" Also, Harry Potter can speak Parseltoungue. This, as we know is very rare quality, and there is no rational way in which Harry Potter came to be a Parseltongue unless he had a part of Voldemort's soul within him. In COS, when Harry asks Dumbledore about the doubts of the sorting hat, as well as his ability to speak to snakes, Dumbledore replies:

 

<i>"You can speak Parseltoungue, Harry, because Lord Voldemort – who is the last remaining descendent of Salazar Slytherin – can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Something he did not intend to do, I am sure…" </i>  

 

This almost clinches the argument. However, Dumbledore also mentions that this was something Voldemort did not intend to do. Then again, this could be another case where Dumbledore was mistaken. The question arises as to when and how Voldemort made Harry a Horcrux.

 

Creating Horcruxes

We finally come to know why Voldemort tried to kill the Potters in OoTP. A prophecy, which stated that the boy born to the parents who thrice defied Voldemort would be marked as his equal, and later on, only one of them could survive. Rowling leads us to believe that Voldemort headed over to the Potter's house to finish them off for this reason. The prophecy, would make the death of Harry Potter highly significant. This would mean that Voldemort had a good opportunity to make a very powerful Horcrux, and that this would be an opportunity he wouldn't pass by. Since Harry's parents lived in a village called Godric's Hollow, and since only a "true griffindor" could obtain the sword from the sorting hat, it could be very possible that Harry Potter is a descendant of Godric Griffindor. If this is the case, then killing of the Potters becomes very important to Voldemort, as part of the traditional Gryffindor Vs Slytherin rivalry. This is probably why Lily didn't need to die, she didn't have the proper lineage.

There is very little information on how Horcruxes are created. The best source is from  HBP, the chapter titled Horcruxes, from Slughorn's memory of his conversation with Tom Riddle.

 

'well,' said Slughorn, not looking at Riddle, but fiddling with the ribbon on top of his box of crystallized pineapple, 'well, it can't hurt to give you an overview, of course. Just so that you understand the term. A Horcrux is the word used for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul.'

'I don't quite understand how that works, though, sir,' said Riddle.

His voice was carefully controlled, but Harry could sense his excitement.

'Well, you split your soul, you see,' said Slughorn, 'and hide part of it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for the part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged. But of course, existence in such a form…'

'… few would want it, Tom, very few. Death would be preferable.'

But Riddle's hunger was now apparent; his expressionwas greedy, he could no longer hide his longing.

'how do you split your soul?'

'Well,' said slughorn uncomfortably, 'you must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature.'

'but how do you do it?'

'By an act of evil – the supreme act of evil. By committing murder. Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon creating a Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage: he would encase the torn portion –'

'Encase? But how? - ?'

'There is a spell, do not ask me, I don't know!'

 

So basically every time Voldemort created a Horcrux, he killed someone, and that ripped his soul apart. He inflicted the ripped apart soul on some object. Whom did he kill to rip apart the part of his soul that was encased in Harry Potter?

Information on what happened that night when Voldemort set out to kill the Potters is very hazy, especially because there was a mistake in GOF that was later corrected. When Voldemort entered Godric's Hollow, he first killed James Potter just after he asked Lily to flee with Harry. One can imagine Voldemort finishing of James Potter, and going after Harry and Lily. He asks Lily to step aside, as his goal is to kill Harry Potter. Now we know that Lily Potter died trying to save Harry Potter. Therefore, she definitely came in the way of Voldemort as Voldemort tried to put the killing curse on Harry Potter. But where did the killing curse rebound from? Lily or Harry? He tried to kill Harry, and Lily didn't come in the way of the actual curse, but performed some magic that Voldemort didn't know of. This involved a sacrifice of her life, which protected Harry from the killing curse. Lily was the shield for Harry that protected him from the curse. Now, when Voldemort's soul was ripped apart by the killing of Lily Potter, the part of the soul that was ripped apart accidentally inflicted itself on Harry Potter before he fled.  

<a href = " http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview.shtml"> In an interview by Mugglenet </a>, Rowling does not deny the possibility of someone else being in Godric's Hollow the night Harry's parents were killed. Could the death of this mysterious person be the significant one that ripped apart Voldemort's soul? Did Lily Potter only defend Harry Potter from being made into a Horcrux? Was the spell that rebounded on Voldemort the spell used to create the Horcrux, and not, in fact, the killing curse? All these questions can only be answered in book seven.

 

The outcome of book 7

So what will happen in the Harry-Voldemort face off in book 7? Obviously, Harry destroys all the other Horcruxes, and finishes off Voldemort to. Rowling stated in an interview, that Potter might not potter along for long. Does this mean that Harry Potter will sacrifice himself to finally finish of Voldemort? Looking at the high and unnecessary mortality rates in the books, this might definitely be the case. Another possibility could be that Voldemort's soul resides only in Harry's scar (since it throbs whenever he is in mental contact with Voldemort) and Harry Potter will figure out a way of destroying only his scar. If the soul is actually within Harry Potter, at a deeper level, then he could possibly split Voldemort's part of his own soul while killing the embodied version of Voldemort, as killing tears the soul apart. He could then finish off this part of the soul.  

There will be, for the final time, the long wait before the answers show up. Till then, we fans can only speculate.

 

 

<a href = " http://www.thesnitch.co.uk/site/index.php?class=The%20Snitch&page=Part%20II%20of%20The%20Significance%20of%20Lily%20Potter">

There is this very interesting article, which says that Harry is a Horcrux, but not Voldemorts! An interesting possibility, that definitely explains the happenings in Godric's Hollow that night better. In fact, it is even more ridiculous than this one, and therefore, much more likely to be true. </a>