worse than death

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What is worse, in the world of Harry Potter, than Death? According to the books, it is a living body without a soul. P. 247 of P.O.A. We now know that Voldemort created several Horcruxes. To create an horcrux, one must kill another person. When they do, the soul rips. It is possible to then store that ripped soul in another object. We are not told a lot of detail about the process. For example, does the soul rip into 2 equal halves each time and does the person store one-half of the soul while retaining the other half? That is what I presume to happen. If so, Voldemort was left with half of a soul after creating the first horcrux. His stated intention was to split his soul into 7 parts and create multiple (6) horcruxes. If my understanding is correct, then each horcrux would contain a smaller fragment of his soul. The 2nd would have 1/2 of 1/2 = 1/4. The 3rd would be 1/8th, the 4th = 1/16th, the 5th = 1/32nd and the final one would be 1/64th and Voldemort would still have 1/64th of his soul. As long as an horcrux exist, Voldemort can not be killed. The body containing the remaining part of soul can be destroyed but his fragment of soul would remain. When he killed James and Lily, this was 1/32nd of a soul based on my calculations. So how is Harry to destroy Voldemort in Book 7? According to Dumbledore in HBP (p. 475 UK), Harry must first destroy all the Horcruxes. There are either 3 or 4 remaining depending upon whether Regulus destroyed the one stored in the Locket. Dumbledore warns Harry that “Never forget, though, that while his soul may be damaged beyond repair, his brain and his magical power remain intact. It will take uncommon skill and power to kill a wizard like Voldemort, even without his Horcruxes” (same page). So how can Harry do it? Dumbledore tells Harry on the next few pages. P. 476 he says “You have a power that Voldemort has never had .... “I can Love” So how can Harry defeat Voldemort with Love as a weapon? We get the first clue in Book 1. It is on page 295 of the US edition. Hary knew by instinct to keep contact with Professor Quirrel which resulted in extreme pain to Q and burns. P. 322 of CoS tells us Harry again acts with Instinct to destroy the Diary. But earlier in the book on Page 310, JK gives us another clue on Voldemort. She writes that Riddle fed on a diet of fears darkest secrets. He is the opposite of Dementors which feed on happiness. That opens 2 avenues possible for Harry to defeat Voldemort. I’ll come back to that. In OOTP, (p. 814 US) Dumbledore tells Voldemort there are things worse than death. Again this indicates a fate other than death may await Voldemort. We then get a key clue on page 816. As Harry’s heart filled with emotion, Voldemort fled. Back to Chapter 23 of HBP, Horcruxes. On page 477 Dumbledore tells Harry “it is essential that you to understand this!” Later at the bottom of the page “You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!” But it is the last 2 pages of the chapter that I believe JK tells us how Harry will defeat Voldemort. “You have flitted into Lord Voldemort’s mind without damage to yourself, but he cannot possess you without enduring mortal agony .... he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole.” (p. 478 UK) Now do you understand my theory? When Voldemort used Harry’s blood to create his new body in GOF, he created the opening Harry will need in Book7. Remember Dumbledore’s gleam (p. 696 US). We learned in Book 1 that Voldemort had the magical ability to possess another person. This was repeated in CoS when Riddle possessed Ginny. In POA, Voldemort was absent. Pettigrew went in search of him at the end and enabled him to return in GOF. We see at the beginning he is inhabiting a created body. We will learn more of this in Book7. At the end of GOF he creates the body using Harry’s blood as an ingredient. When he did so he was no longer unable to touch Harry physically because he now had “Lily’s Blood” in his own body. In OOTP we again see Voldemort possessing another body. First the snake Nagini and later at the end, Harry. So what happens if Harry and Voldemort possess the same body simultaneously? What would be the result if Harry was to magically place his soul inside the same body as Voldemort? The body that now contains some of his own blood? Harry would survive (see p. 478 HBP) but Voldemort could not endure it. His partial soul could not survive existing with Harry’s full, untarnished soul. Voldemort’s partial soul would be destroyed. A body alive without a soul. A fate worse than death. Another possibility that did not occur to me until I was writing this for you is the Patronus. Harry shocks the Wizard Council with the revelation he can produce a complete Corporeal Patronus at his age. We know a patronus wards off Dementors with happiness. It feeds them happiness which they would otherwise drain from the person. It doesn’t hurt the dementors; it simply magically provides what they seek. But Voldemort feeds off “a diet of fears and darkest secrets”. What would a Patronus do to him? Would it overwhelm him with happiness? He couldn’t stand the emotion from Harry in OOTP so it is an alternative possibility that the Patronus is all the magic Harry would need to overcome Voldemort. But I like the first theory better because it provides for the “fate worse than death”. I don’t think JK has given us those references for them to be meaningless. So what do you think?