HORCRUX, THE WEASLEYS & VOLDEMORT'S DARK SOUL

Today, The Weasleys and The Grandma have seen how Lord Voldemort's soul was destroyed by himself. With this, there are six of a total of seven horcruxes destroyed. 

 

They have continued helping Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in their search. There is only one more horcrux to find and destroy. 

A Horcrux is a powerful object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.

Creating one Horcrux gives one the ability to anchor one's own soul to earth if the body is destroyed; the more horcruxes one creates, the closer one is to true immortality. Creating multiple Horcruxes is suggested to be costly to the creator, by both diminishing their humanity and even physically disfiguring them.

The first Horcrux was created by Herpo the Foul. The only other known creator of them was Lord Voldemort, who is possibly the only one to have successfully created more than one Horcrux.

In fact, Lord Voldemort created seven horcruxes. Slughorn mentioned that the fate of those who use Horcruxes to survive is what only few would prefer, suggesting that few others have created their own Horcrux.

The nature and concepts of Horcruxes are so terrifying, they were kept secret from most of the wizarding world, and only few ever knew what they were.

Hogwarts banned the subject of Horcruxes, and even books such as Magick Moste Evile would skim the subject at best. The only known book that explains Horcruxes in detail is Secrets of the Darkest Art. The subject being vague, nobody knew what the effects of creating more than one Horcrux would be like, as none of them, aside from Lord Voldemort, have done so.

Creation of a Horcrux is considered the foulest act of Dark magic, as it attempts to violate and tamper with the multiple laws of nature and morality in its creation.

Horcruxes are objects considered to be so evil that even the texts published explicitly to cater to the practise of the most terrible kinds of magic will not speak of them. Even Magick Moste Evile skirts the topic.

It is a banned subject in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Slughorn feared that by discussing it with Tom Riddle, he would receive negative highlights from Albus Dumbledore.

The only known book that provides specific instruction on the creation of a Horcrux is Secrets of the Darkest Art, once held in the Hogwarts Library. Due to the book's extremely dark and dangerous nature, Albus Dumbledore hid it away in his office; he did not destroy it, however.

The specific processes involved are known to involve a spell and a very horrible act. To split one's soul, one must also commit the most supreme act of evil -murder- and then encase a portion of their fractured soul into a chosen object with an as-of-yet unrevealed spell.

The detached soul fragment will always remain as it was when it was divided; for instance, Tom Riddle's diary portrayed Tom Marvolo Riddle as a teenager while the eyes inside Salazar Slytherin's locket resembled Lord Voldemort's eyes as they were back when he still had a relatively normal appearance.

Though a Horcrux can be made from anything, Lord Voldemort chose to use objects of great significance or importance. The process makes the part of the soul remaining in the witch or wizard unstable.

More information: Wizarding World

If the maker's physical body is later destroyed, he or she will live on in non-corporeal form, although there are methods of regaining physical form. However, according to Horace Slughorn, few would want to live in such a form and death would be preferable.

It is stated at one point that Lord Voldemort had already pushed his soul to the limit in creating his seven Horcruxes. This implies a finite number of Horcruxes any one person may create before the process becomes too dangerous to attempt again.

Though this limit is never explicitly stated, the number seems to set solidly at seven intentional Horcruxes, and creating seven Horcruxes in addition to the person's own body renders the soul unstable and liable to break off when the person whose soul it is commits murder. Dumbledore explicitly stated that Lord Voldemort's soul had become so unstable that it finally broke apart when Lord Voldemort tried to murder Harry for the first time.

The creation of a Horcrux can be reversed by its creator by truly feeling remorse, though the effects of this can apparently be painful to the point of being fatal. However, as described below, this may be a far preferable outcome than the alternative.

Interestingly, since Dumbledore said that there is no help possible for Lord Voldemort's soul, it may be that any soul as badly damaged as Lord Voldemort's could no longer be repaired through remorse as described in Secrets of the Darkest Art. Alternately, and more likely, the soul can still be repaired through the redemptive power of repentance.

Harry told Lord Voldemort to try... be a man... try for some remorse. It's your one chance. It's all you've got left. This seems to indicate that though Tom Riddle's soul is maimed and seriously injured, he can still repair it by regretting all the horrible things he did; Dumbledore may simply mean that Lord Voldemort is incapable of remorse to save his own soul.

Horcruxes can also be destroyed. If a person's body was destroyed, his or her soul would remain intact, whereas with a Horcrux it is the opposite, as the piece of soul depends upon its container to survive. Destruction of a Horcrux is difficult, but not impossible, and requires that the receptacle to be damaged completely beyond physical or magical repair.

When a Horcrux is damaged to this point, it may appear to bleed, ink in the case of Tom Riddle's Diary and a dark blood-like substance in the case of Ravenclaw's Diadem, and a scream may be heard as the soul fragment perishes. However, as a safety measure to protect one's immortality and precious soul fragment, the creator would usually place powerful enchantments onto the artefact to prevent damage, to the point where the powerful house-elf magic could not succeed the feat.

It is unknown if the creator of the Horcrux will be able to sense that his soul fragment was destroyed, although Dumbledore stated that in the particular case of Lord Voldemort, he wouldn't feel their loss because his soul was sliced too many times and stayed that way for too long.

More information: Tom Marvolo Riddle. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

All known methods of Horcrux destruction are as deadly as the murder needed for its creation. For example, the earliest known method is administering basilisk venom to the Horcrux, the only cure for which is phoenix tears, an extremely rare substance.

Other known methods are Fiendfyre as evidenced by its destruction of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, which requires extreme skill to control and the Killing Curse which seems to be capable of destroying a Horcrux if it is animate, given that part of Lord Voldemort's soul contained in Harry Potter was destroyed when he was struck with the Killing Curse. However, Harry Potter was never a intentional Horcrux and so it may not work on a proper, animate Horcrux like Nagini, probably having unforeseen side effects.

Harry Potter was not destroyed as a Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets because Fawkes' tears saved him and hence the receptacle (Harry) was not then destroyed beyond repair.

Albus Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom used Godric Gryffindor's Sword to destroy Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, and Nagini respectively. This was only achievable as the sword is a Goblin-made artefact, which can absorb qualities that strengthen it.
 

When Harry Potter slew the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, the sword was imbued with Basilisk venom and became capable of destroying Horcruxes, as Basilisk venom by itself is destructive enough a substance to destroy a Horcrux.

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger used Basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets to destroy Tom Riddle's Diary and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, respectively.

The fragments of a person's soul within a Horcrux can think for themselves and have certain magical abilities, including the ability to influence those in their vicinity. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were carrying Salazar Slytherin's Locket around their necks, they each became moodier and more prone to fighting, especially Ron. They were also unable to summon their Patronuses while wearing the locket since the soul fragment inside was darkening their thoughts.

A person with an affinity for the Dark Arts, on the other hand, would be strengthened by the influence of a Horcrux, as Dolores Umbridge was when wearing Salazar Slytherin's Locket.

More information: Lord Voldemort. Prince of Darkness

If a person is more emotionally vulnerable, it is possible for the soul inside the Horcrux to take control of him or her, as Tom Riddle's Diary did to Ginny Weasley. In fact, Lord Voldemort took advantage of this possessive power to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, using the diary as a weapon rather than a safeguard.

The final known side-effect of Horcrux creation is the inability to move on from Limbo after death. This is seen when Lord Voldemort's Killing Curse, after the destruction of all the other Horcruxes, rebounded and finally ended his life once and for all, his broken and mangled soul was forced to exist in the stunted form of a flayed and mutilated baby that Harry saw in King's Cross during his visit to Limbo, unable to return to the land of the living, unable to become a ghost, and unable to go to the land of the dead because his soul was maimed and unwhole. 

It is unknown if this was a standard fate meted out for all Horcrux creators, or if it was unique to Lord Voldemort due to the number of his Horcruxes. Regardless, reconciliation cannot occur after death, as the soul's state at death remains forever, so the greatest of all consequences incurred by Horcrux creation may be the possibility of eternal limbo of the soul.

More information: Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One

I, who have gone further than anybody
along the path that leads to immortality...

Lord Voldemort