The difference (AFAIK) between venom and poison is delivery.

Venom is active - stingers, spurs, and so forth.
Poison is passive - being eaten, etc.

So I don't think there is any real difference between the two. They're both toxic, and to varying degrees, and can have different effects.

 

I always thought "poison" was a general word for anything that is harmful - substances from plants, animals, chemicals, etc.

Whereas venomous refers specifically to poison from animals.

 

The terms poison and venom are often used interchangeably, but they actually have very different meanings. It is the delivery method that distinguishes one from the other.

Poison is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if another animal touches or eats it.

Venom, on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism to inject toxins directly into another animal. Stab with tails. Slash with spines. Pierce with fangs. Spike with spurs. Shoot with harpoons. Chew with teeth.

 

To quote wikipedia,

By way of interest (one might even say Quite Interesting...), there are only two poisonous snakes: the Japanese grass snake, and the common garter snake. There are, of course, many venomous snakes.

On the topic of horcruxes, and at the risk of being pedantic, I'd point out there's only one way to destroy a horcrux and that's by destroying it's container beyond magical ability to repair. The three things you mentioned are things which are, in certainer circumstances, able to do that.

Anything able to do this is able to destroy a horcrux, and that could well change depending on the nature of the container. Harry's scar-horcrux wasn't destroyed by Basilisk venom because Harry survived; he wasn't destroyed beyond magical ability to repair. However, stabbing him in the heart and killing him would, imo, destroy the horcrux. Harry is dead, and that's just about the ultimate 'can't be repaired' under Harry Potter magic.

On the subject of bezoars, I will remind people that they only "save you from most poisons". No all.

 

I would think the new body would have to have a soul, therefore needing the horcrux to move to the body. But the diary is a tricky topic in my opinion. It was designed to absorb the deepest and darkest secrets/desires of the individual, however, how does this lead him to getting the new body we see at the end of the second book. He doesn't take Ginny's body or soul, so how does he have enough energy or magic or whatever the fuck he is taking, to generate a new body to house his horcrux.

Also, if does work that way, why would you ever make a horcrux differently. It seems much easier to pass someone the diary, have them write in it, and come back to life, than the ritual. You wouldn't even need a lackey. Just put it in a library with wards that will fail when you die. Someone checks it out, and new body inc.

 

Is it even certain that it's the Horcrux part that makes the objects more or less indestructible, or did Voldemort just add a shitload of other charms to them to make them so? Harry is a Horcrux but it's not like curses bounce off from him.

 

Strictly speaking, Harry isn't a horcrux. He's horcrux-like. He would keep Voldemort tethered to life, so he functions in a similar way, but he isn't a proper horcrux.

 

Pottercast.

 

This quote from Deathly Hallows is highly relevant. First, phoenix tears are said to the be the only antidote to basilisk venom so definitely no bezoar. Second, the possession power seems to be common to all horcrux. Whether the memory trick and coming alive is separate or just the end-game is unknown. Finally, adding extra enchantments to horcrux to supplement there natural defences seems to be recommended.

 

Remember, though, that a Horcrux has to be damaged beyond the possibility of magical repair to be destroyed. So protective enchantments seem somewhat pointless: the only spells capable of destroying a Horcrux are also those capable of overcoming protective enchantments.

So I'm not sure if the spells on Horcruxes are protective. Rather, they're aggressive. Malicious curses to attack people who get near them.

On the topic of gaining a new body: remember that Ginny first had to feed Voldemort her soul for him to gain a new body. Not sure if the other Horcruxes have a means of being fed (though maybe this was what was happening in DH when they were wearing the locket).

 

How many, outside the U.K., caught this?

It says something about how much I enjoy the show that I grin at the mere mention of it.

Say that again, but with a monocle and, maybe, a top hat... 'cause that's what I'm seeing in my mind's eye, anyway.

Britain: Nothing but a 'proper' horcrux will do.


​

 

Well, we don't want any of those foreign horcruxes coming over and stealing our horcruxes' jobs, now do we?

Back in my day, horcruxes were horcruxes, none of this fancy 'almost-horcrux' rubbish.

 

When Slughorn comes back to teach in 1996, does he take over as the Slytherin head of House? Dumbledore doesn't clarify either way at the Feast.

I suppose this leads into the larger question of whether being head of House has to do with what subject is being taught (besides of course, the professor having been in that House as a student). Or could the Gryffindor head teach Potions, say? We know she correlated each house to an element, so is Slytherin/Water being correlated with Potions, Ravenclaw/Air with Charms, Hufflepuff/Earth with Herbology, and so on? I'm assuming that only professors of a certain caliber would be allowed to teach those subjects, if that was the case.

 

I'm pretty sure that Snape stayed as head of Slytherin for HBP. Slughorn took over in DH when Snape was Headmaster.

I don't think that the houses had anything to do with individual subjects. Neville went on to become the professor of Herbology, but he was in Gryffindor.