It’s annoying that the whole fic has been hanging by a thin thread for awhile now for no good reason. When Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape or anyone else finally tells Harry about horcruxes, Harry will figure out in seconds that Quirrell is Voldemort and that Harry himself is a horcrux. (Quirrell told Harry about the Pioneer plaque, and later asked him about secure ways to lose a thing. Harry remembered Voldemort casting the horcrux spell, but filed it away as a “strange word” in Ch.45. Harry’s being a horcrux explains his dark side and his sense of doom near Quirrell. Etc.)
I’ve the impression that Harry actually has some kind of censor inside his head that prevents him from thinking about the sense of doom concerning Quirrel. He is never shown remembering it and reflecting on it, even though it should be a pretty damn conspicuous and important fact. EDIT: not never, as seen below, but the amount of thought he expends on the matter still seems to be weirdly little.
And now that he knows what it means—that his and Quirrel’s magics cannot touch each other because they “resonate”—he never tries to research this phenomenon. And he’s been told he has the “brother wand” to Voldemort’s...
Yes, yes, and yes. There’s a lot of stuff that Harry hasn’t followed up on, at least as far as we’ve been shown. He has his priorities, after all; researching magical resonance won’t earn him Quirrell Points!
Harry started to get up from his chair, then halted. “Um, sorry, I did have something else I wanted to tell you—”
You could hardly see the flinch. “What is it, Mr. Potter?”
“It’s about Professor Quirrell—”
“I’m sure, Mr. Potter, that it is nothing of importance.” Professor McGonagall spoke the words in a great rush. “Surely you heard the Headmaster tell the students that you were not to bother us with any unimportant complaints about the Defense Professor?”
Harry was rather confused. “But this could be important, yesterday I got this sudden sense of doom when—”
“Mr. Potter! I have a sense of doom as well! And my sense of doom is suggesting that you must not finish that sentence!”
Harry’s mouth gaped open. Professor McGonagall had succeeded; Harry was speechless.
ETA: I agree he doesn’t pay as much attention to it as it deserves, but given the reaction he got when he brought it up...
I’ve gotten that impression too. Even if McGonnagal had dissuaded him sufficiently from discussing it with others, shouldn’t Harry be attempting to make a list of possible hypotheses to explain to himself said “sense of Doom”?
It’s chapter 43, not 44, in which Harry remembers (if that’s what he’s really doing) Voldemort’s attack on the Potters. I don’t see anything there that looks like Harry hearing Voldemort cast the horcrux spell, and there seems to me some evidence that the strange word he had in his mind in chapter 45 was “riddle”. (A word which occurs 4 times in each of chapters 45 and 46, the first time in the following context: “The word echoed in his mind again. All right, Harry thought to himself, if the Dementor is a riddle, what is the answer?”—And of course a word with a bit of other significance in the HPverse.)
I don’t understand what you’re proposing. That Voldemort, after killing both Harry’s parents and presumably with no other listeners there, approached baby Harry and spoke to him the single word, riddle? What would that mean? And why would Harry label it “a strange word” instead of just saying what it was in his stream of consciousness?
Harry inherited some aspects of Voldemort’s mind and memory (including the memory of that night), which screens off anything that a baby could have merely heard naturally.
Well, there’s some precedent; Harry previously thinks
“Voldemort?” Harry whispered. It should have been funny, but it wasn’t. The name burned with a cold feeling, ruthlessness, diamond clarity, a hammer of pure titanium descending upon an anvil of yielding flesh. A chill swept over Harry even as he pronounced the word, and he resolved then and there to use safer terms like You-Know-Who.
“Voldemort?” Harry whispered. It should have been funny, but it wasn’t. The name burned with a cold feeling, ruthlessness, diamond clarity, a hammer of pure titanium descending upon an anvil of yielding flesh. A chill swept over Harry even as he pronounced the word, and he resolved then and there to use safer terms like You-Know-Who.
I was thinking about that bit earlier today—is it just me, or is it about as wildly out of character as anything we’ve seen yet in this fic? Harry doesn’t seem like the type to believe that words have inherent power.
The reason for this event is that he has an image of Voldemort associated with the listed qualities sitting in his mind, and thinking “Voldemort” elicited a response.
In canon, Voldemort put a (magical) Taboo on the word “Voldemort” so that saying it summoned minions of his to your location. VoldeMoR seems a bit more creative than that, don’t you think?
That this is possible means that anybody who doesn’t want to be found this way should always use the same language as everybody else. If you call Voldie ‘Voldemort’ (or ‘Tom Riddle’ or even ‘Voldie’) when everybody else is calling him ‘You-Know-Who’ (or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’ or even ‘The Dark Lord’), then you’re holding the Idiot Ball. (And it doesn’t have to be the caster’s name; you shouldn’t use any unusual words, or you can be tracked by them.) Not that canon!Dumbledore was holding the Idiot Ball in books 1–6, because this was not possible then; Rowling hadn’t thought of it yet. But MoR!Dumbledore seems to be, unless MoR!Taboo works differently.
A good way to balance the Taboo spell might be this: It only works if the speaker knows about the Taboo (although this contradicts canon). Then you can get a nice dilemma: Do you tell people about the Taboo here at Hogwarts, where it’s safe so they can practice, but opening them up to the curse later; or do you keep silent, and hope that they aren’t surprised by that information later and disoriented thereafter.
Sure, but Harry has no clue that’s possible. What actual reason does he have to be afraid of the word? Not a reason we can come up with for why that fear is positive, but one internal to Harry’s mind.
ETA2: To explain a little more completely: my idea is that the Remembrall lit up because Harry’s ‘dark side’ had forgotten (almost?) everything. Under Dementation it remembered at least that one bit of information. (Also, maybe, explaining how Harry remembered that scene when the neural patterns shouldn’t have even still existed; I would feel more confidence in this part if it didn’t include a description of how Voldemort appeared from outside.)
I would feel more confidence in this part if it didn’t include a description of how Voldemort appeared from outside.
Perhaps this was an experience of Riddle’s copy, in the moments it was being made, before running on the baby’s underdeveloped brain disrupted its functioning.
Magically, a mind can continue working even without sufficient brain power behind it, as when McGonagall turns into a cat (or even more so when Rita Skeeter turns into a beetle).
I know Voldemort is Tom Riddle. The scene as written (as Harry remembers it) seems to me to mean that the “strange word” was something baby Harry actually heard. Of course it might have been spoken “directly into his mind” via Legilemency or via Voldemort’s consciousness or horcrux being installed in Harry’s mind.
Either way, why would Harry think of it as a “strange word”? Why not just have him think that he heard the word “riddle”? It makes more sense that he heard a word he cannot recognize, namely “horcrux”, and so labels it strange.
See also: first few sentences of Chapter 1. If that is the same scene, it’s far more likely the word Horcrux was screamed by Voldemort (casting the Horcrux spell) than the world Riddle.
Chapters 43 and 45 don’t seem to me to imply that baby-Harry actually heard the “strange word”, only that for whatever reason Harry found himself thinking it. It was strange because he had (so far as he knew) no particular reason to be thinking that word.
I don’t have any very convincing theory for why he had that word in his brain at that point, though. Evidently he interprets it as a message from his subconscious that he should think of Dementors as a riddle, or something like that, but probably something more is meant to be going on.
Harry remembered Voldemort casting the horcrux spell, but filed it away as a “strange word” in Ch.45.
Doubt it.
He had regained an impossible memory, for all that the Dementor had made him desecrate it. A strange word kept echoing in his mind. And all of that could be put on hold for later, while the phoenix still shone red and gold beneath the setting sun.
[...]
Harry glanced in the Dementor’s direction. The word echoed in his mind again.
All right, Harry thought to himself, if the Dementor is a riddle, what is the answer?
Actually, what is the evidence that creating a horcrux involves saying that word? I mean, it could be just an (uncommon) common noun (like “hat”), perhaps in some older language, and the incantations for creating one could be completely different. You don’t really say “flight” to fly in this universe.
One more reason HJPEV cannot be allowed to learn the word, ‘horcrux,’ and a narrative reason, this time. When he looks up the making of them he’ll realize what happened and solve or nearly solve the plot.
To be fair, in canon talking about horcruxes was incredibly taboo. Also, while MoR!Harry has done a better job of getting around it most adults in both canons have a tendency to withhold relevant but uncomfortable information from Harry. So it’s not that surprising they haven’t mentioned it.
It’s annoying that the whole fic has been hanging by a thin thread for awhile now for no good reason. When Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape or anyone else finally tells Harry about horcruxes, Harry will figure out in seconds that Quirrell is Voldemort and that Harry himself is a horcrux. (Quirrell told Harry about the Pioneer plaque, and later asked him about secure ways to lose a thing. Harry remembered Voldemort casting the horcrux spell, but filed it away as a “strange word” in Ch.45. Harry’s being a horcrux explains his dark side and his sense of doom near Quirrell. Etc.)
I’ve the impression that Harry actually has some kind of censor inside his head that prevents him from thinking about the sense of doom concerning Quirrel. He is never shown remembering it and reflecting on it, even though it should be a pretty damn conspicuous and important fact. EDIT: not never, as seen below, but the amount of thought he expends on the matter still seems to be weirdly little.
And now that he knows what it means—that his and Quirrel’s magics cannot touch each other because they “resonate”—he never tries to research this phenomenon. And he’s been told he has the “brother wand” to Voldemort’s...
Yes, yes, and yes. There’s a lot of stuff that Harry hasn’t followed up on, at least as far as we’ve been shown. He has his priorities, after all; researching magical resonance won’t earn him Quirrell Points!
ETA: I agree he doesn’t pay as much attention to it as it deserves, but given the reaction he got when he brought it up...
I’ve gotten that impression too. Even if McGonnagal had dissuaded him sufficiently from discussing it with others, shouldn’t Harry be attempting to make a list of possible hypotheses to explain to himself said “sense of Doom”?
It’s chapter 43, not 44, in which Harry remembers (if that’s what he’s really doing) Voldemort’s attack on the Potters. I don’t see anything there that looks like Harry hearing Voldemort cast the horcrux spell, and there seems to me some evidence that the strange word he had in his mind in chapter 45 was “riddle”. (A word which occurs 4 times in each of chapters 45 and 46, the first time in the following context: “The word echoed in his mind again. All right, Harry thought to himself, if the Dementor is a riddle, what is the answer?”—And of course a word with a bit of other significance in the HPverse.)
I don’t understand what you’re proposing. That Voldemort, after killing both Harry’s parents and presumably with no other listeners there, approached baby Harry and spoke to him the single word, riddle? What would that mean? And why would Harry label it “a strange word” instead of just saying what it was in his stream of consciousness?
Harry inherited some aspects of Voldemort’s mind and memory (including the memory of that night), which screens off anything that a baby could have merely heard naturally.
Well, there’s some precedent; Harry previously thinks
I was thinking about that bit earlier today—is it just me, or is it about as wildly out of character as anything we’ve seen yet in this fic? Harry doesn’t seem like the type to believe that words have inherent power.
The reason for this event is that he has an image of Voldemort associated with the listed qualities sitting in his mind, and thinking “Voldemort” elicited a response.
Not for no reason, no.
In canon, Voldemort put a (magical) Taboo on the word “Voldemort” so that saying it summoned minions of his to your location. VoldeMoR seems a bit more creative than that, don’t you think?
That this is possible means that anybody who doesn’t want to be found this way should always use the same language as everybody else. If you call Voldie ‘Voldemort’ (or ‘Tom Riddle’ or even ‘Voldie’) when everybody else is calling him ‘You-Know-Who’ (or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’ or even ‘The Dark Lord’), then you’re holding the Idiot Ball. (And it doesn’t have to be the caster’s name; you shouldn’t use any unusual words, or you can be tracked by them.) Not that canon!Dumbledore was holding the Idiot Ball in books 1–6, because this was not possible then; Rowling hadn’t thought of it yet. But MoR!Dumbledore seems to be, unless MoR!Taboo works differently.
A good way to balance the Taboo spell might be this: It only works if the speaker knows about the Taboo (although this contradicts canon). Then you can get a nice dilemma: Do you tell people about the Taboo here at Hogwarts, where it’s safe so they can practice, but opening them up to the curse later; or do you keep silent, and hope that they aren’t surprised by that information later and disoriented thereafter.
Sure, but Harry has no clue that’s possible. What actual reason does he have to be afraid of the word? Not a reason we can come up with for why that fear is positive, but one internal to Harry’s mind.
...I was suggesting that Voldemort cast a “be afraid, be very afraid” jinx triggered by his name.
What does that have to do with Voldemort saying “riddle” to a baby, or with Harry thinking “riddle” was a strange word?
I’m clearly missing your point here...
I don’t think Voldemort said his own name, no.
ETA: You do know Voldemort is Tom Riddle, right?
ETA2: To explain a little more completely: my idea is that the Remembrall lit up because Harry’s ‘dark side’ had forgotten (almost?) everything. Under Dementation it remembered at least that one bit of information. (Also, maybe, explaining how Harry remembered that scene when the neural patterns shouldn’t have even still existed; I would feel more confidence in this part if it didn’t include a description of how Voldemort appeared from outside.)
Perhaps this was an experience of Riddle’s copy, in the moments it was being made, before running on the baby’s underdeveloped brain disrupted its functioning.
Magically, a mind can continue working even without sufficient brain power behind it, as when McGonagall turns into a cat (or even more so when Rita Skeeter turns into a beetle).
I know Voldemort is Tom Riddle. The scene as written (as Harry remembers it) seems to me to mean that the “strange word” was something baby Harry actually heard. Of course it might have been spoken “directly into his mind” via Legilemency or via Voldemort’s consciousness or horcrux being installed in Harry’s mind.
Either way, why would Harry think of it as a “strange word”? Why not just have him think that he heard the word “riddle”? It makes more sense that he heard a word he cannot recognize, namely “horcrux”, and so labels it strange.
See also: first few sentences of Chapter 1. If that is the same scene, it’s far more likely the word Horcrux was screamed by Voldemort (casting the Horcrux spell) than the world Riddle.
Chapters 43 and 45 don’t seem to me to imply that baby-Harry actually heard the “strange word”, only that for whatever reason Harry found himself thinking it. It was strange because he had (so far as he knew) no particular reason to be thinking that word.
I don’t have any very convincing theory for why he had that word in his brain at that point, though. Evidently he interprets it as a message from his subconscious that he should think of Dementors as a riddle, or something like that, but probably something more is meant to be going on.
Doubt it.
Why is this evidence the strange word was not “horcrux”?
Actually, what is the evidence that creating a horcrux involves saying that word? I mean, it could be just an (uncommon) common noun (like “hat”), perhaps in some older language, and the incantations for creating one could be completely different. You don’t really say “flight” to fly in this universe.
No other evidence that I know of, it just seems a priori more likely than any other specific word you could pick out.
“Avada” is up there.
But then why would Harry, remembering it, not recognize it and just say it was a “strange word”?
It’s almost certainly not the word Harry is thinking of. It is just a word with a rather high chance of being involved while creating horcruxes!
One more reason HJPEV cannot be allowed to learn the word, ‘horcrux,’ and a narrative reason, this time. When he looks up the making of them he’ll realize what happened and solve or nearly solve the plot.
To be fair, in canon talking about horcruxes was incredibly taboo. Also, while MoR!Harry has done a better job of getting around it most adults in both canons have a tendency to withhold relevant but uncomfortable information from Harry. So it’s not that surprising they haven’t mentioned it.