Harry Potter and the Seventh Piece of the Puzzle

[SharonDWB]

Discussion for Jen's article Harry Potter and the Seventh Piece of the Puzzle. Spoiler Warning!

[ktsmyles]

Nice editorial...the length was certainly necessary to cover as much as you did.
If Voldemort did have an object he intended to make into a horcrux the night he went to Godric's Hollow, then there is a chance the object was still there after he was-er-temporarily defeated. I agree, it might have been ruined with everything else, or it might still be there. Quite convenient, considering that is the first stop on his journey. The object may not be useful in Harry's quest, considering how it wouldn't have been horcruxified, but it would lend more to Dumbledore's theory of Nagini being a horcrux because it would prove that only six had been made. On the other hand, if it was a powerful object like the cup (and it is still there and whole), then perhaps its own unique powers that Hepzibah spoke of could be a protection for Harry...
Bleh, I'm rambling...again, good job.

[mugnetspokesman]

Great Editorial! I agree with mostly everything you said. However, I think that there is no way that Hogwarts is a horcrux.

[HPMomma]

Great editorial. I tended to take Dumbledore at his word, just as Harry is doing. I am one of those people who still trying to find and prove that tw people's souls cannot reside in the same body. So in essence, I don't think Harry is a horcrux. But your editorial was rife with valuable insight. Well done.

[SusanBones]

You wrote a good editorial, but I have to disagree with a couple things. Harry can not be a horcrux, only death will rip the soul in order to create a horcrux. When Voldemort hit Harry with the Avada Kedavra curse, no one died, therefore no soul ripping, therefore no horcrux.

I also thought about the object that was intended to be a horcrux still lying in the ruins of the Potters house in Godric Hollow. It wouldn't be horcrux, but it might help narrow things down. If it turned out to be a Ravenclaw item, then Harry would look for a Gryffindor, and vice versa.

You definitely put a lot of work into your editorial. I agreed with most of it. I just hate the Changeling Hypothesis.

[BJTexan]

This was a great Burrow article for them to start with, and I think you did a great job.
While you yourself admitted there was not a wealth of insight or points made, you did what needed to be done in laying out all the facts. Not only did you present to your readers almost every detail that could apply to Harry's quest, you reminded us which of these details are known and which are only supposed. By doing this you have laid a foundation on which all the other Burrow articles this month can base themselves without having to repeat all the details. So without you every Burrow article would have gaping holes in it or be 5000 words long. So thank you.

I have submitted an article to the Burrow this month (2 actually) and they are the exact opposite of yours. My articles make huge assumptions of what the reader knows and then based off this head into wild fields of daydream of what Harry's fate must be in Book 7. But without an article like yours to ground the Burrow's readers in the facts that I assume they know, my editorial could never be posted.

So I thank you for improving the chances of one of my editorials being posted, and I will keep my fingers crossed that my editorials prove their merit to the staff at the Burrow just as yours did, but for completely different reasons.

[kcbbq]

Harry can't be a horcrux because when Voldemort broke into the Potter's house to kill Harry he essentially died. And after that he didn't have much ability to make a horcrux because he didn't have a body so he couldn't hold a wand. And why would he make Harry a horcrux just to turn around and kill him? Great editorial otherwise though.

[Shacklebolt_]

Yes, a truly great editorial!
Here is another idea, can a corpse be made into a horcrux? This would leave open the possiblity that either James or Lily or one of their possessions could have been Voldemort's final Horcrux. It is a gruesome idea, but it did occur to me as being both significant to Voldemort and available to him at Godric's Hollow.
Any ideas about this theory?

[polyjuicegranny]

Book 7 is indeed a "cliff-hanger" Personally I think of that pompus Prof. Slughorn.knows a bit more about the founders precious relics. He knew what a Horcrux was.... Didn't he take the opportunity to visit Hagrid's cabin when he heard of the death of Aragog, not to comfort him, but to try to collect venom stuff from the body. It was worth a whole bunch of Galleons.....
He got Hadrid stinking drunk, and at the same time looking about the hut saw the precious unicorn hair (how much that would bring on the market, he was thinking)....and Hagrid then gives Slughorn the whole unicorn tail.(Worth 10 galleons a hair.)
The point is he knows important people...knows expensive pieces....Has expensive tastes....maybe he could find the old founders processions, or know what to look for at Borgins and Burkes? Maybe Slughorn could persuade Borgan to locate an item as a collectors piece for a lot of gold. He seems very greedy.

[Arwen1957]

Very well thought out and well written I think you are very near to being correct in your summations.

[Gawp]

Jen's editorial, "Harry Potter and the Seventh Piece of the Puzzle," presents an interesting view of the number 7 and JK's use of this magical number. Jen is correct to state that there are things we know and things we think we know, but to state that R. A. B. is one of those things "we think we know" is incorrect. JK herself has said that Regulus would be a good guess. So, yes, we do know who R.A.B. is. Harry the seventh Horcrux? I doubt it! Remember, Dumbledore said that Voldemort intended to use Harry's death as an opportunity to create the seventh and final Horcrux. This, of course, did not happen. Further, Dumbledore explains his reason for suspecting Nagini and the circumstances surrounding her. Dumbledore suspects Vodemort decided to use Nagini as the seventh Horcrux following the death of the old man in the Riddle house--a death he ordered the snake to perform. Additionally, I do not think that Voldemort has to kill anyone personally in order to create a Horcrux. I think it makes no difference wether or not he uses someone or something else to kill, as long as the death is caused by him. So what is the seventh Horcrux? The blood-stained axe in the Room of Requirement Harry hid his copy of Advanced Potion Making! And not just any axe either, but the very axe used to kill Nearly Headless Nick--the Gryffindor ghost. I think Voldemort knew about the room and used his visit to Dumbledore to make the axe into a Horcrux (either on his way in or out of Hogwarts). Now, how will Harry Kill Vodemort? I think JK has given us more than enough clues about this and think the answer is...LOVE. I know this sounds unlikely but bare with me a moment. Voldemort could not kill Harry because of the supreme act of love his mother provided--dying for her son. Voldemort would have died had he not already separated his soul. So someone, in the end, will probably re-create this scene (most likely Harry will give his life for either Ron or hermione or both) after all the Horcruxes are destroyed. Or maybe Voldemort will be overwhelmed by a group of people pledging to die for Harry in the final scene, an act that will cause Voldemort to shrivel up and die. Anyway, thats my hair-brained theory. Peace, Out!

Great Editorial. I just wanted to point out that there is more evidence to Nagini being a Horcrux that I haven't heard alot about. In GOF Wormtail is milking Nagini to feed Voldemort. Maybe he was feeding him his soul. Just a thought.

[kaydle50]

Very good and well thought editorial. Just a few things I'd like to mention. First, couldn't the "cup" be in the Trophy case at Hogwarts? Perhaps even, it was one of the trophies Ron "slimed" in Book 2. Also, how about Wormtail being the one to kill Voldemort? We certainly know he is capable and he does have a "serious" debt to repay Harry. And perhaps, Harry will succeed because of his friends (we know Voldemort has none). Finally, I also believe Godric Hollow has a horcrux.

[Talesin]

I doubt harry is a horecrux just cause as was mentioned in the editorial, he was most likely making his final horecrux with Harrys death.
He allready had 5.
Then when he returned, Dumbledore guessed he made Nagini the 6th horecrux.
So if Harry inadvertly become a horecrux there is 8 pieces of Voldemort soul to destroy which does not fit with the number 7 at all which has been consistent in the books so far. (7 books, 7 players in quidditch, 7 is the most powerful number etc.)

[Lplus]

Hmmm. Ok, good editorial and a huge amount to discuss, though I can barely touch it.

The number 7 - interesting that JKR has made the first person to realise the magical properties of the number 7 as 'wizard of the month'. I'm inclined to believe there are 7 in total.

I'm not convinced Harry is a Horcrux. If DD was right and LV intended to use Harry's death to make the sixth horcrux, then the receptical was at Godric's Hollow (and might still be) and Harry's death was intended purely to gain the power to split LV's soul again.

The AK bounced back and ripped LV's soul out of it's body - it couldn't "pass through the veil" because of the other horcruxes, but I would have thought that the act of ripping LV's soul free was actualy enough to make a horcrux anyway.(after all, that is what an AK does normally - rips the soul free so it is drawn past the veil)) I don't think it would split LV's soul again though, since the power came from his soul being ripped out and the soul that is split is the one doing the ripping.

So there's a receptical and the AK was bounced back by the protection spell. I've been wondering if the spell to make the horcrux was part of the AK and rebounded at the same time. Could it have actually split a bit of Harry's soul off and placed it in the receptical? DD reckons Harry is a whole and pure soul - he's been wrong before, so it could be...
(That idea has a shed load of possibilities for the ending of bk 7 )

IF RAB was Regulus, could he have been killed trying to destroy the bit of soul in the locket? JKR is frustratingly vague about how he died.

As to destroying the bits of soul in the horcruxes, the person dies when the souls 'passes through the veil' - the only entrance to the veil we know of is the veil in the Ministry. so far it hasn't been that significant - after all, Sirius could have been killed lots of ways - but would throwing a horcrux through the veil destroy the soul fragment inside it?

[RedSparks]

Voldemort could not kill Harry because of the supreme act of love his mother provided--dying for her son. Voldemort would have died had he not already separated his soul. So someone, in the end, will probably re-create this scene (most likely Harry will give his life for either Ron or hermione or both) after all the Horcruxes are destroyed.

I like that theory, Gawp.

This was an interesting Burrow article, but I also disagree about Harry being a Horcrux. As soon as I saw the word soul there, I knew the changling people would think they were right. I don't think you can make a Horcrux accidentally (yes, this is one of those "I think I knows" - but it is serious Dark Magic, so it probably doesn't just happen on its own.), and Voldemort certainly didn't intend to make Harry one.

That editorial was very deep. wow. After reading parts of it, I started to wonder about things myself. We are now thinking that, because it was mentioned in the book, that Voldemort went and made seven horcruxes. But wasn't it mentioned that he liked to use things that were importent to him to make them? Like it was said, in the book, Dumbledore said that he guessed that 5 had been made by the time Voldemort went after Harry, and that it was probable that he would make the sixth one with Harry's death, as that would have been considered a "significant death" to him. But he never did actually kill him. This could mean many things. He may have used the deaths of Harry's parents instead of using Harry's like he meant to and like it was said, used Harry as the horcrux, but as it was also stated, that wouldn't make sense as Voldemort is always trying to kill him. He also may have used Harry's parents' deaths and, in desperation, made any object into the horcrux because after he tried to kill Harry, he was only an inch from death and wanted to complete the horcrux. Though that doesn't sound like Voldemort, it may be a possibility. And one other possibility is that, if in fact he only used significant deaths or objects for his horcruxes, and as we can guess that he was going to use Harry's death to make one, It may not have been made at all and there could, in fact, only be six. Once the spell rebounded upon him, he may not have been strong enough to create the horcrux, unless, after he began to get strong again, he used the deaths of other, less significant people to create the last two horcruxes within Nagini and another unknown object, possibly something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's. I've even thought of the possibility that, if it could be managed, he may have used his special award from the school as a horcrux. It was said he considered Hogwarts home, and the award would reside ther, and something of that importance would almost assure that it wouldn't be destroyed.

[DemenTom]

Excuse me if this question has been asked somewhere else, but wouldn't Voldemort have made a new horcrux when he found out his diary had been destroyed?

[goldenrose]

Harry cannot be a Horcrux for this MAJOR reason: If we go by what Dumbledore said (and Jo told us his guesses are usually accurate), then the last part of Voldemorts soul that must be destroyed is the part that resides in his body. If Harry was a horcrux, than his mission simply couldn't be done. Even if it was possible for a person to be one, Harry can't kill himself and then come back to kill Voldemort. And he's the only one who can kill Voldemort. So, if we see this as a novel, it would be ridiculous for this to be the case because Voldemort would never be defeated. So if Voldemort had wanted to win, though, making Harry a horcrux would have been the most brilliant move he could make... does that make sense? Does anyone agree?

[RedSparks]

We are now thinking that, because it was mentioned in the book, that Voldemort went and made seven horcruxes.

Voldemort was only going to make 6 Horcruxes - he wanted his soul split into 7 pieces since that is a magically powerful number, but one piece remains with him (either in body or in vapor). He wanted 6 Horcruxes + 1 piece in him = 7 total fragments of his soul.