OotP, The Eye of the Snake:

So it clearly is the snake's feelings Harry senses, instead of Voldemort's feelings, which he perceives when he sees through Voldemort's eyes.

 

Yes, that passage would probably end the discussion on it being another snake. I had assumed it was Nagini when I first read it but had later rethough it, so that passage was long forgotten.

 

Warning: Topic diversion

I always wondered how the fuck that was even possible. How in blazing hells can a large snake assume command over a small body with four limbs!?

 

Magic. <killer filler>

 

Er, in DH wasn't Nagini killed because she was a horcrux? Neville was given some vague instructions along the lines of 'you must kill it or Voldemort won't die' and lopped its head off with the Sword of Gryffindor.

 

I'm fairly sure it's Nagini. True, we know that Voldemort could possess other snakes (we're told that he hopped from snake to snake in the Black Forest) but he never could for any great length of time. I think the fact that Nagini was a horcrux helped with possession. And we do know that Nagini was a horcrux at that point, because she was made one by Bertha Jorkins' death.

However, it is possible that Voldemort merely commanded Nagini to do as she did, and Harry was viewing the action from Voldemort's horcrux within Nagini, I suppose. However, the "in essence divided" bit in Dumbledore's office, wherein he is figuring out that Harry and Voldemort are still divided in essence though not in body, strongly points to the fact that it was both Harry and Voldemort in the snake.

Finally, I don't think the fact that you have a body affects your ability at possession, because we know that when you possess someone, your body disappears (Voldemort disappeared when he went into Harry in OotP). Presumably if the person possessed then dies, you merely exit the body and have your own body back (Voldemort wanted Dumbledore to kill Harry while he was in him).

 

Thats right...

Your point being?

 

I have no idea what you're referring to.

As for bodies disappearing, I always thought he'd just gone, disapparated or something. I suppose that can't have been it though, because there are probably there's probably anti-apparition protection in the ministry. It just seems very strange...

 

After the snake biting Mr Weasley incident, in Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore fiddles around with a magical device, and mutters to himself "But in essence divided?" whilst watching a snake made of smoke turn into two snakes, indicating that while Harry and Voldemort both shared the snake's body, they were still divided in essence.

There wasn't an anti-apparition spell in place, or if there was then Voldemort overcame it, because he apparated out after he failed at possessing Harry. However, his body disappearing when he possessed Harry couldn't have been apparation, because he was still around to possess Harry.

 

I don't think magic can give a snake the mental capacity to operate a four-limbed body while being stuck inside it. Unless JKR is remarkably stupider than even what we at DLP believe.

 

I don't think he would need to be around, he could just have possessed him through the connection. Even if he didn't know Harry was a Horcrux, he still knew that the connection existed and I thought Dumbledore implied that was how Voldemort possessed him, in the same way he planted images in his head. That clearly didn't have limitations on distance.

 

But possession, by it's very nature, requires you to be there. It's not the Imperius: you're not commanding someone to do something. You are possessing the person, as in, being inside them/taking them over/taking their body as your own.

Possession by distance makes no sense, as Voldmort's "self" would be at that place far away, and not within Harry, and thus it wouldn't be possession...

A snake containing a portion of Voldemort's soul. I believe CoS showed us pretty clearly that horcruxes can be sentient.

 

I see the connection as a shortcut through space. Voldemort would 'leave his body' where it's at and the connection would give him direct access to hijack Harry's body. As far as we know, he was never in direct contact with Harry. How would you define a distance limitation to possession? 10 meters?

I see it as being the same as the Legilimency through the connection: normally, closeness is necessary, however the connection provides this.

 

Fair enough, but even if you can possess by distance via the scar, I still don't think he did in this particular case, judging by the fact that after the possession ended, Voldemort was in the Atrium still (seen by the various Ministry workers) before apparating out.

Which means that he was still in the Atrium during the possession, yet there was no body there, which means that his body had dissapeared while in the act of possession.

Edit for DITN: I think this post answers your post below.

However,

The "evidence" is in the meaning of the word "possession". To possess something is not to command it. To possess something is for it to be yours. Thus to possess a person is to make them yours: to take their person as your own.

 

I would refrain from making factual statements without convincing evidence. To put it simply, we have no idea whether LV disapparated or not. We can conjecture all we want, the point is, we don't know. Personally, I think LV just disapparated when DD bested him with the nifty water spell, and then took over Harry's mind through the connection as a last ditch effort. He, of course, was thrown out when Harry went all emo on his ass. I really don't see why it matters either way, as the end result is the same.

Yes, his body would be far away while his mind is in Harry. I don't see the problem here. We know about their connection, and the fact that Voldemort could send dreams and surges of emotion throught the link. It really isn't that much of a jump to conjecture that he can somehow force his spirit out of his body and into Harry's, which is what I believe he tried to do at the end of the ministry scene.

 

Well, again I had thought he'd just apparated back to grab Bellatrix.

I do admit however that your theory has some advantages. For one thing, it's a bit more elegant because it explains everything in one bit of magic. It would also be very impractical for a wizard to leave a very vulnerable body behind when possessing someone. Voldemort would strongly dislike this (which would explain why he hadn't done it beforehand, if he could have done it at any time).

Another factor is what happens to Voldemort in the short intervals while he is neither possessing Harry nor in the Atrium. I always thought he was apparating; if not, what was he doing during those 10-15 seconds?

 

The way I always pictured it was Voldemort's body turning into something that bares a passing resemblence to wind, and then crossing physically into Harry.

Kinda like how in PS, after leaving Quirrel's body, Voldemort's spirit form was a cloud of black smoke that rushed at Harry and passed through him, except in this case it's invisible (since Harry didn't see it coming).

It's possible, I suppose, but it seems rather inelegant to apparate out, possess-by-distance, apparate back in to grab Bellatrix, then apparate out again.