So, I have a story where Harry's horcrux begins to affect him earlier in life. Similar to the Order of the Phoenix.

In my story, the war lasted much longer and Harry received the Horcrux later in life (Age 8). Harry is dealing with a larger level of stress and the horcrux begins to stir and instead of assuming that the voice in his head is caused by possession/magic, he thinks it’s a darker part of himself due to the fact that it only stirs when he is angry or upset or having moments of weakness.
Questions:
When it comes to Horcruxs, do you think they can think for themselves? I know the diary did but was that due to the stored memories? Or does a soul keep its magic, knowledge?
Would in the horcrux in Harry ever want to kill him off, knowing that he was the prophecy child?
What do you think a horcrux’s motivation would be? Kill the kid who destroyed him, be neutral and have no opinions accept keeping the host alive, attempt to get the host to resurrect Voldemort? Or other?

I already know where I want this story to go but I also wanted to ask the opinions of others who knew more about it, it case my own thoughts conflicted the overall opinions of most Harry Potter Fans.
Thanks!

 

I honestly think that it wouldn't want to kill him of unless there was a way for the horcrux to survive.

 

I would find it strange if the soul was to sacrifice itself. Voldemort would not sacrifice himself to anyone, not even himself. Actually, that would probably make a pretty good fic, what if two or more of the horcruxes was used to resurrect him (can that happen?) and we had two Voldemorts. Would they be allies? I find it hard to believe.

As for the question about when the horcrux will start to affect Harry, I guess that depends a great deal on the circumstances. How strong is Harry, how strong is Voldemort? My understanding of canon is that the horcrux is quite weak but it can amplify Harry's negative emotions regarding Dumbledore. Perhaps it makes Harry have a worse temper throughout the series? He does seem quite unstable at times.

This is an area that we have so little information that it's perfect for fanfiction. Anything can be made to be quite believable here, so go for it!

 

My take on it would be that the soul-piece's primary motivation is to be reunited with the main soul. To that end it will want to drive Harry into taking actions that aid in Voldemort's reconstitution, in hopes that by being close by when it happens that it would be freed to rejoin.

Proper horcruxes are given 'houses' that provide enough security that being separated from the main soul is less taxing for them. They have a duty to act in the interests of the main soul, but their motivation is also to rejoin.

I have a further notion that, if Voldemort had been able to establish six external pieces that he would have restored his human guise and stabilized his brain. That Harry had a partial (non-communicative) soul piece would forever have prevented this stabilization.

 

Personally, I like the interpretation that a horcrux is like a safety copy. Depending on when it is created, the horcrux will retain the memory of the creator up to the point of its creation. Depending on the container and whether it comes into contact with living people, it is possible for a horcrux to attempt to hijack whoever interacts with it and bring itself back to life, essentially activating the dormant copy of the creator. So you get a sixteen year old Riddle from the diary and a young adult from the locket.

I like this idea because it's potentially inconvenient for the creator of horcruxes, the horcrux being an imperfect immorality solution. Depending on the creator, they might not want another one of themselves running around.

 

It would be cool if Harry could somehow mold the Horcrux, like Harry Dresden did to Lash.

 

And he'd call it "Marv," to boot.

 

I don't really get your questions. It's your fic, it's an AU - you get to decide what the Horcrux can or can't do, since they are very unpredictable pieces of magic, and no one really knows what their effects can be, not even Dumbledore. So the Horcrux can do whatever you want it to do. It probably wants to take over Harry, but Lily's protection prevents that, so it can only influence Harry in subtler ways. I hardly think the piece of soul would want to sacrifice itself by getting Harry killed - probably the opposite - it would try to keep Harry alive, if only so that it can survive.

 

This isn't directly related to your question, but one thing you're going to have to figure out is how it is the war lasted another 8 years without a victor, given that we're told that Voldemort was incredibly close to victory in 1981. This is something that's problematic with a lot of "Potters live" storylines that keep Voldemort around and just have the war stretching out forever: there's a reason why everyone loves Harry so much, and it's because without him they were completely fucked.

 

Yeah, the closest I could see to the war still continuing is that one side or the other has "won" the war, but Voldemort/Dumbledore has managed to evade capture along with a few key allies and is in exile building up support and gathering followers for Round 2.

And I don't really see Voldemort or Dumbledore considering the war won while the other is still alive and active. After all, canon Dumbledore still considered Voldemort a major threat when his followers we scattered and Voldermort himself was a bodyless wraith.

 

Fanfiction history doesn't necessarily have to line up exactly with canon history. He can just say that the war didn't reach that point until Harry was eight.

 

Thanks everybody. This has helped a lot.

This is the part of my fanfiction that I love the most. The effects of a longer war. I worked very hard to create the environment of the light side very much losing hope. All the characters are a bit darker in my story, a tad bit less pure, due to the length of the war. I also will be posting how it changed the younger generations once I get to Hogwarts. Harry's generation very much remembers the darker times.
If anyone wanted to glance at the first couple chapters to see if it seems reasonable, I would be grateful for any opinions or advice. War is a major theme in this story.
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?p=817803#post817803

 

Hm, like some said it's your AU, so your Horcruxes...Would Harry stay light or stray towards the dark? I've found Dumbledore to be a pretty manipulative guy underneath the grandfatherly image, and I do so like a good dark!Harry story. (Dark, not emo! lol) But if he's staying on the light side, with a Horcrux in his head I guess he wouldn't let people try to manipulate his life.

I guess a Horcrux retains the memory of its creator to the date it was created ( the Diary Horcrux was young, I'd guess Tom was 16-17ish years old). I'd think it would like to use Harry's life force to try to come back, but maybe it would prefer it's original body and merge back with Voldemort? Or maybe continue to not-so-silently influence Harry's decisions if it starts to develop some sort of attachment to the boy...

One thing's for sure: if Voldemort had known in canon that Harry was a Horcrux, he would have tried to protect the boy, not kill his own Horcrux. (Well, protect is a big word for it, but he did try to keep Nagini close to him at all times and cleverly hid the others).

 

Please not another one

 

Are you one of those who deny that Dumbledore was manipulative old man and praise his omniscient and flawless person ?

 

Nope. Nope nope nope. We're not doing this again. Not again.

The line must be drawn HERE!

 

I seriously hope you're joking.

 

Damn. I'd suggest lurking a bit more, but with a join date of 2011 . . .