Question: To create a horcrux, a witch or wizard must first split their soul by intentionally and deliberately murdering someone without any guilt or remorse for their actions. Since Tom Riddle murdered countless people, shouldn't his soul have been split into more fragments rather than just seven?
Answer: Next to the act of murder, one also has to purposefully turn an object into a horcrux in order to make a horcrux. Your soul splitting doesn't automatically send that piece of soul into an object; your soul will be split but still connected to your body. As for when Voldemort's killing curse rebounded onto Harry, his real body was destroyed, and his fragmented soul shattered because it was frail and unstable, causing a piece to detach and lodge onto Harry.
The question wasn't about how to make a Horcrux. It was about why each murder Tom committed didn't shatter his soul more. For example, if Tom killed 11,000 people, then shouldn't his soul have shattered into 11,000 pieces?
I think your soul splits when you kill someone, but doesn't split again when murdering someone else (which part would?). Once you murder, your soul is split and will stay split until you detach a part of your soul. It's not like Tom could have saved up on fragments of soul by killing and then put pieces of his soul into objects one after the other. He had to murder and then purposefully put that split part into an object, and only then be able to split his soul again with another murder.
According to J.K. Rowling, random killing damages a wizard's soul, but does not split it. That requires a deliberate action using a specific Dark spell and storing the soul shard into a horcrux. Riddle wanted his soul divided into seven pieces - six horcruxes and one left in his body. Seven is a magical number. Riddle chose six objects for the horcruxes. The unexpected exception was when Riddle attempted to kill baby Harry. The Killing Curse rebounded off Harry and destroyed Riddle's body. By then, Riddle's soul had become so weakened and tattered that another piece was unintentionally sheared off, and Harry's scar became an accidental horcrux. Lily Potter's love had created a spell that protected baby Harry from the Killing Curse.
Question: Why did Merope use her father's name as her son's middle name, after the way he treated her?
Answer: Merope did not seem to know many people outside of her home and the nearby village. Apparently, she never went to Hogwarts. Perhaps she had no better ideas for a middle name. She may have also felt obligated to use her father's name, regardless of how she was treated. I've actually known a few parents who selected a name because they felt pressured by family expectations.
Corrected entry: In this book, during the end, Snape says that he is the Half-Blood Prince. Earlier, when Harry is at the Weasley's for Christmas, he wonders if his dad was the Prince. He looks in the book, and it says that the book was from fifty years ago. He is depressed by the fact that his dad wasn't at Hogwarts fifty years ago. In the fifth book, when Harry is in Snape's pensieve, he sees his dad and Snape finish their O.W.L.s. This would mean that they were in the same year at Hogwarts.
Correction: When Harry first wonders about if the book belonged to James Potter, it is under the assumption that the Prince had owned the book when it was new. But as we later find out, poor students (such as Snape) can get cheap, used books through a special fund at Hogwart's. It is therefore quite possible that Snape had a ten-year old copy of the book at the time when he dubbed himself the Half-Blood Prince.
The book could have belonged to Snape's mother, Eileen Prince. Snape could have borrowed her books.
Corrected entry: Malfoy used the Imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta to have her deliver the cursed necklace to a Hogwarts student. If Hogsmead is "outside of school" and Malfoy was underaged at the time, shouldn't the Ministry investigate the use of an Unforgivable Curse so close to Hogwarts? And if so, wouldn't they have found out that Rosmerta was cursed?
Correction: The way I understand it, the phrase "outside of school" refers to when students are in the Muggle world during the summer. Since Hogsmeade is an entirely wizarding village, I would think that while the Ministry certainly would investigate the matter, it would be difficult for them to ascertain who specifically performed the curse; there are sixteen groups of underage students (3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th years, from four Houses) who are allowed to visit the village.
True. but in book 2, the ministry knows what type of magic has been performed in the Dursley's house (by Dobby), as all the underaged have the trace on them. Therefore, the ministry MUST know that an Imperius curse (an unforgivable curse!) has been shot in the village at that moment in book 6. Since performing it on a human being can send you to Azkaban for life, the ministry should have investigated the matter thoroughly AND informed the headmaster of Hogwarts. When Draco is explaining things, it seems as if Dumbledore would never have guessed someone in the village was under the Imperius curse.
According to the wiki the trace is lifted whilst the students are attending Hogwarts. They can use magic freely then, this include the Hogwarts express at least so it's not unlikely Hogsmead counts as well. It is put back again during holidays, but not weekends. It is also true that muggle born children like Hermione and Harry are more closely monitored than one with a wizard family like Draco, since magic happens around him a lot more often. Next to that, if they do notice him using magic they might investigate but then find out he is the son of Lucius Malfoy and drop the case anyway because they fear him.
Corrected entry: When Harry and Dumbledore are in the second chamber in the cave it says, "The greenish glow and the light from the two wands." There should be only be one wand lit which is Dumbledore's, because it never says Harry lights his wand, and it is illegal for Harry to use magic outside of Hogwarts because he is not "of age".
Correction: At the top of the same page, it says "...with Harry on his heels, *lighting his own wand* hastily as he went."
Moreover, if Dumbledore has as much power to be able to amend the ability to apparate/disapparate out of Hogwarts, he can surely bend the rule to allow Harry to use magic outside of Hogwarts for that short amount of time as necessary.
Question: Why is Hermione again spending her summer with the Weasleys instead of her parents? The thing with the world cup I sorta get and I might understand Grimmauld place but why this summer?
Answer: Hermione did not stay for the entire summer. She was at the Burrow (the Weasley home) for about a week before school started. She was there for a short visit and to accompany the other Weasley children to Diagaon Alley to buy books and supplies for the upcoming school year. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley then took her, Harry, Ron, and the others to the train station to board the Hogwarts Express. Hermione's parents being Muggles had far more difficulty navigating the wizard world on their own.
But Harry arrived a fortnight into the summer holidays and hermione arrived before him.
Question: What was so obvious about the story about Hermione was making up to Borgin?
Answer: Aside from the fact that Hermione is obviously a terrible liar and her dialogue is suspiciously inquisitive for someone who often buys and sells dark artifacts, wizards can use Legilimency to determine if someone is lying.
Legilimency is a rare talent among wizards- only Snape and Voldemort are known to have practiced it openly in the books. It is more likely that Hermoine has no idea how to act like a bad person, let alone a Death Eater.
Bellatrix was using it. She apparently taught Occlumency to Draco - Snape guesses this during a conversation with Draco.
Answer: The other answer is spot on, but I would add that it requires casting a specific spell while simultaneously killing someone to make horcrux and split one's soul. (The movie downplayed this and the spell name is never revealed in the book.) Professor Slughorn had told the young Tom Riddle that the act involved dark magic, though he did not provide details. Riddle apparently discovered what that dark spell was to make horcrux.
raywest ★