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Dumbledore's Horcrux

by Jan-Marie Spanard

How does a wizard learn about the existence and properties of Horcruxes? Who knows what they are, how to make them, what they can do? What wizard would make a Horcrux? Under what circumstances? And for what reasons? And why are they so evil? Hermione is working very hard to answer these questions. As Hogwarts virtual library search-engine, she is coming up empty. But Tom Riddle did it, somehow.

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Reader Comments: (Page 17)

I read these comments with interest but don't think that Dumbledore would create a horcrux.
I'd just like to comment on Aaron's thoughts. We know that Snape made the unbreakable vow. But we don't know whether or not Snape knows exactly what the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform. I remember reading somewhere (here?) that Snape may have been using Legilimens to figure out what Bella and Narcissa were going on about during their visit. There is a part where Snape goes to the window, during that time he may have been trying to "read minds" and figure out what Voldemort wanted Draco to do.

I mention all this because Narcissa never says that Voldemort ordered Draco to Dumbledore. We are supposed to assume that Snape knows about the plan because he says he knows. But did he really?

Posted by Kim from Manchester on February 25, 2007 5:58 PM

Aaron's point raises a larger issue about the Unbreakable Vows: if the people agreeing to it each interpreted it differently, whose version is considered binding? If Narcissa and Snape were agreeing to slightly different things, or if Snape didn't really know what he was supposed to do, is the spell truly applicable?

Posted by Kate from Minnesota, USA on February 26, 2007 1:52 PM

I read the books a long time ago, but if I recall correctly, Snape tried to help Draco with the task assigned to him by the Dark Lord, which to my understanding was to go into the Room of Requirement and find and repair the furniture (I don�t recall exactly what it was) from which the Eaters entered Hogwarts, NOT ing Dumbledore., so Unbreakable Vow forged between Snape and Narcissa at the beginning of HBP was not broken, because Draco fulfilled his task, and let the Eaters into the school.

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on February 27, 2007 09:13 AM

Dumbledore is never afraid of . He also mentions that performing a Horocrux would make you less of a Human being. Dumbledore being so generous, patience and kind, which are all heights of human value, could have NOT possibly performed a Horocrux. Dumbledore always looks down upon Voldemort for considering as a ultimate punishment and trying to stop it as baneful act... do you think Dumbledore was living a lie then? I don't think so. Dumbledore does not have a horocrux. He most likely re-appear as a ghost!

Posted by Aravind Ganesan from Lexington KY on February 27, 2007 10:25 AM

Aravind, I agree with you in your reasoning for not believing Dumbledore does not have a Horcux, but if I remember correctly, one becomes a ghost if you are afraid of ing and of crossing over, which clearly Dumbledore is not, so I don�t think he come back as a ghost, but as something else, probably something we have not yet seen.

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on February 27, 2007 12:00 PM

Emilio, that would be great, but obviously, what Draco has to do is extremely dangerous. Repairing the furniture would not be such a dangerous task.

I think that in the Vow, the wording makes everything. Snape has to fulfill Malfoy's task, whatever this task is. Even if Snape doesn't know exactly what the task is, he has to do what Voldemort asked Malfoy to do, if Malfoy fails. And clearly, Malfoy had to Dumbledore, for he really tries.

But there is something that I don't understand: Jo confirmed that Dumbledore d (and I really think she meant Albus in saying that), Snape fulfilled the vow (did he not, he would have d), and Dumbledore makes everything to persuade Malfoy not ing him. Now, if Snape is still on the good side, why is it so important that Snape himself s Dumbledore, and not Malfoy?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on February 27, 2007 11:21 PM

Lot of us agree that a good man wouldn't perform a Horcrux, and certainly not Dumbledore.

Slughorn and Dumbledore seem to believe that other people had performed Horcruxes in the past. If those Horcruxes haven't been destroyed since, their souls must be bound to earth. Would Salazar Slytherin have made a Horcrux? Did Voldemort find out about where Slytherin is buried?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on February 28, 2007 06:56 AM

Herv� from Strasburg

In my opinion Dumbledore is trying to keep Draco �Innocent�, and on the other hand trying to be ed by Snape, so he has more credibility in front of the Dark Lord and his followers, so Snape can work against Voldy providing the Order of the Phoenix with inside information, and there is no better way to have access to the best information the dark side has to provide than by being Lord Voldemorts right hand man again?

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on February 28, 2007 11:37 AM

Herve--
Your idea is bloody brilliant! Salazar Slytherin seems to have... bred... lots of evil descendants. Look at Voldemort! Look at the Gaunts! They arent very... "socially acceptable" if you ask me...=)
So Salazar Slytherin seems to be perfectly apt to make a Horcrux. Perhaps not just made one.. maybe invented one? Maybe he knew that if you ed your soul split, and he found a way to preserve that soul in an object! Not much to it really, all you have to do is think of the idea and then mix together some Latin words and... PRESTO! Your soul stays on earth when you .
Takes an evil and equally powerful wizard to accomplish that.

Posted by Ashley from Missouri on February 28, 2007 2:03 PM

Herve,
Excellent idea. So who would Slytherin have ed to make his horcrux [the world's first horcrux if Ashley is right]? How about his estranged friend, Griffindor.

Posted by mikey from New Jersey on February 28, 2007 5:15 PM

Emilio, thanks. It makes very much sense.

Ashley: when you read again HBP (I think it's in the Gaunt chapter), you'll notice that strange things happen to Merope: at first, she behaves like a squib, then when his brother and father are sent to Azkaban, she gets enough wizard power to make a love potion or an Imperium Curse, and again, when she gets pregnant, she loses her power. Could a kind of evil power jump from Morfin to Merope, then to Tom Riddle junior?

I'm thinking at this, because if Voldemort could impersonate Salazar Slytherin, and at Hogwarts, then the four founders would be together again and that would protect Hogwarts, if I remember accurately the sorting hat song in OotP.

Posted by herve from strasbourg on February 28, 2007 11:15 PM

Herv� from Strasbourg,

Hello again, if I remember correctly, Merope is bullied so much by her father and brother that she just tries to stay out of their way, and probably doesn�t use much magic at all because she has never been taught properly, but when she is by her self she finds her confidence and starts experimenting without anybody judging and criticizing her. When she releases her love, Riddle, from the love potion, and she realizes that he never love her, she makes a conscious decision NOT to use any more magic, nor have anything to do with magic, not even to save herself from or suffering (because she thinks she deserves it), so she doesn�t go to St. Mungo's, but instead to the clinic where she delivers Little Tom Riddle, the place where she cannot receive magical solutions to her problems, and where she eventually s.

Ashley from Missouri,

In CoS there is mention by profesor Binns that Salazar Slytherin became selective and only wanted to teach pure-bloods, but there is never mention of him being a Dark Wizard, or anything of the sort, although, I have to agree that it is suspicious that he himself built the Chamber of Secrets and left his �Monster� within it to �purify� the school through his �heir�.

Mikey from New Jersy,

It is true that Slytherin and Gryffindor had a disagreement, which lead to Salazar�s departure from the school, but it has never been stated that a had been committed, bot on the other hand, we don�t know much of what happened with the founders of the school.

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on March 1, 2007 10:00 AM

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