I have no cannon for this, just theory. But we don't have a lot of cannon around this subject anyway. I think we can safely say that Voldermort did not intend to make Harry into a Horcrux. We started the journey of that night with him quite early on (passing the muggle kid in the street and scaring the beejesus out of him) and there was no mention of any object he had brought with him to use as a Horcurx or any mention of a Horcrux in general.

There was also no incantation or spell spoken to set in motion the encasement of a Horcrux in all that time either. But i think there has to be a bit more to it than just a quick incantation or spell as Hermione was completely disgusted by the book she acquired that taught VM how to create a Horcurx. Does anyone have the exact quotes of what was said about this book. I sadly dont have my books with me.

We must also remember that VM murdered twice just before he hut Harry with the AK so VM's soul would of been split quite freshley (whether this makes a difference we don't know, does a soul begin to mend after it has committed a murder - a bit like splitting an egg in the middle of frying it, it joins back together).

I think (and again this is all theroy until bk8 ) that the power of Lily's sacrafice and VM AK curse (which as far we know has never happened before) ripped the fragmented pieces of VM's already scrambled soul which then in turn looked for the closest living body to host which was Harry. This, we could say, is a naturally occuring Horcrux. How, maybe, the first Wizards discovered how to create a Horcurx and the process has just been developed over the Centuries i.e. how to encase the soul piece etc.

Anyhoo, regarding VM's wand the only logical explaination is that Wormtail acquired the wand (which JK confirms) at some point. We know that Wormtail went missing the night just before or during the murder of the Potters as Sirus went to double check that he was okay (this is from PoA i think) When Sirius finds no Wormtail and house empty he rushes to Godrics Hollow to find Hagrid dislodging Harry from the ruins and he realises what Wormtail has done and hunts him down like the rat he is. Wormtail could (and there is no proof whatsoever) of went to the Potters to see what had or was about to happen to his "friends" and seen or discovered the house blown up. He may have gone into the house to save his master or friends, whoever had survived, and found only VM's wand and a very upset baby Harry. Wormtail, needing to hang with the biggest bully in the playground, probably picked VM to help and grabbed the wand before Sirius and Hagrid turned up. How do we explain how Sirius managed to track down Wormtail so quickly if he did not, maybe, per chance, see him in rat or human form sneaking away from the scene? When Wormtail couldnt find VM and was backed into a corner by an understandably angry Sirius, blew the street and a dozen muggles up and made his escape with VM wand in tow.

Does this make any sense?

It makes a lot of sense and since you can't see the NC6 boards you don't know how much we have discussed all of your points. Although I don't think wormtail helping VM leave GH had ever been discussed good job

Ah, so I'm a bit behind the times. Never mind. Anyway, one other thing i wasnt sure of and i dont know if this is the right place for it but if Harry hadnt announced to the on looking crowd (during his dual with VM at the end of the book) and in turn to the Elder Wand, would it have known that Harry was the true master of it. I only ask because when Wormtail tries to kill Harry in the basement at the Malfoy Manor the whole "life debt magic" doesnt kick in until Harry says "i saved you" and then Wormtails own magical hand turns on him. If Harry hadnt said anything on both occassions would the outcome of been the same? If Wormtail hadnt of had been given a magical hand would the "life debt magic" have stopped him from killing Harry? If the Elder Wand wasnt told by Harry that Draco wasnt the master anymore because Harry had defeated him earlier (outwith its "sight") would the wand have known of its own accord? Harry questions this while dualing with VM so we dont know. Has this already been discussed and concluded?

My theory is (which is probably wrong but i'll see what you think) that when a piece of magic is done after a another piece of magic at a later time or magic that at first doesnt seem to interfere with each other, the original piece of magic will be unaware of it. Confused, so am I. To explain I'll use Wormtails magical hand as an example. When the "life debt" magic is put in place Wormtail obviously hadnt gotten his new hand. When he is given his new hand the piece of magic used is unaware of any previous magic or magical ties i.e. the "life debt" so wont react when Wormtail tries to kill Harry. When Harry reminds Wormtail of his "life debt" the new hand is informed of this piece of magic and reacts, it turns on his owner. So its like new magic not interfacing with old magic unless both "parties" are told. Does that make sense? If this is right would something else of happened to stop him killing Harry if he hadnt acquired a magical hand? I could be way off here but i just wondered what others think to this.

Well, points in turn!

In the Bloomsbury webchat Jo says Wormtail did take LV's wand from the scene of his first demise, but fails to mention where he hid it! Had it been somewhere secreted about the Burrow? That would be too funny.

Where you discuss the 'layers of magic' I take a different view, and think that 'The Magic Knows'. We have some examples - the way in which the Fidelius Charm worked in Book 5 (I got a bit mixed up with it in this book, and wonder if Jo had to make it less rigid in order to work her plot devices) - Harry was not in on the secret and couldn't see the house till he was informed by DD's note. Also, Snape could not, apparently, say the name of the Order HQ to Bellatrix, not being the Secret keeper, but being in on the secret.

We see some spectacular 'wand instinct' going on - Harry's wand and Voldy's clearly recognize each other when they duel in GOF, and Harry's wand recognizes his nemesis in this book, and acts of its own volition. We were built up to expect a wand to choose a surprising wizard by Harry's dislike of the blackthorn wand, and Hermione's dislike of Bellatrix's - neither of them had 'taken' those wands. I don't believe that Harry's speech made any difference to the Elder Wand's allegiance, since he already knew that he had it, having researched it all very carefully with Ollivander at Shell Cottage. Harry's speech at the end served different purposes: firstly to allow us to catch up with the facts if we hadn't tied it all up for ourselves, and secondly to let Voldemort know that he came already defeated to this battle - that his only chance now was to walk away, try to accept his mortality and feel remorse for all his crimes. No danger of that, then!

Wormtail's life debt. My reading of this is that the life debt overrode the very powerful magic of the silver hand. However, I do agreee with you on the point that the silver hand magic was hard to displace, and probably needed the nudge it received when Harry reminded Wormtail what he owed. Wormtail's pathetic state by this time probably added to the conflict: what kind of life did he have by this time? Could he have been wishing that Sirius and Lupin had been allowed to kill him cleanly?
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'...no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences.' - Terry Pratchett

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Originally posted by mrs fawlty:
Wormtail's life debt. My reading of this is that the life debt overrode the very powerful magic of the silver hand. However, I do agreee with you on the point that the silver hand magic was hard to displace, and probably needed the nudge it received when Harry reminded Wormtail what he owed. [...]

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Oh yes! Two magics in conflict, and the hand turned on its now useless owner....

It isn't often that we've seen two magical effects in conflict (except in duels, and that's a different case), so this is satisfying. I had been wondering if there had been an Unbreakable Vow on Snape to Dumbledore, and whether it might come into conflict with the one he made to Narcissa. No such luck, though poor ole Sev could hardly have been worse off if it had.
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'...no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences.' - Terry Pratchett

This is what J. K. Rowling said at Carnegie Hall (19 October 2007) about Wormtail and his life debt:

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Q: Does Malfoy owe Harry a debt?

JKR: That's a great question and a lot of people wanted to know that. When Dumbledore said to Harry, Voldemort won't want a close associate who is in your debt, I wasn't implying by that there was any kind of magical bond there. It was more that Dumbldore's extensive wisdom and knowledge of human nature, he knew as Harry later thinks in book seven, he knew that Pettigrew would react a certain way to having saved his life. ... He's weak, fundamentally weak. Pettigrew is a very weak character. He's not someone I like at all. He's a weak person and he likes to gravitate to people who are stronger. Dumbledore is right. Pettigrew had an impulsive mercy...

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Harry could barely breathe.
“You’re going to kill me?” Harry choked, attempting to prise off the metal fingers. “After I saved your life? You owe me, Wormtail!”
The silver fingers slackened. Harry had not expected it: He wrenched himself free, astonished, keeping his hand over Wormtail’s mouth. He saw the ratlike man’s small watery eyes widen with fear and surprise: He seemed just as shocked as Harry at what his hand had done, at the tiny, merciful impulse it had betrayed, and he continued to struggle more powerfully, as though to undo that moment of weakness.
“And we’ll have that,” whispered Ron, tugging Wormtail’s wand from his other hand.
Wandless, helpless, Pettigrew’s pupils dilated in terror. His eyes had slid from Harry’s face to something else. His own silver fingers were moving inexorably toward his own throat.
“No—“
Without pausing to think, Harry tried to drag back the hand, but there was no stopping it. The silver tool that Voldemort had given his most cowardly servant had turned upon its disarmed and useless owner; Pettigrew was reaping his reward for his hesitation, his moment of pity; he was being strangled before their eyes.
“No!”
Ron had released Wormtail too, and together he and Harry tried to pull the crushing metal fingers from around Wormtail’s throat, but it was no use. Pettigrew was turning blue.
“Relashio!” said Ron, pointing the wand at the silver hand, but nothing happened; Pettigrew dropped to his knees, and at the same moment, Hermione gave a dreadful scream from overhead. Wormtail’s eyes rolled upward in his purple face; he gave a last twitch, and was still.

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Originally posted by vampz:
I have no cannon for this, just theory. But we don't have a lot of cannon around this subject anyway. I think we can safely say that Voldermort did not intend to make Harry into a Horcrux. We started the journey of that night with him quite early on (passing the muggle kid in the street and scaring the beejesus out of him) and there was no mention of any object he had brought with him to use as a Horcurx or any mention of a Horcrux in general.

There was also no incantation or spell spoken to set in motion the encasement of a Horcrux in all that time either. But i think there has to be a bit more to it than just a quick incantation or spell as Hermione was completely disgusted by the book she acquired that taught VM how to create a Horcurx. Does anyone have the exact quotes of what was said about this book. I sadly dont have my books with me.

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Had it been somewhere secreted about the Burrow? That would be too funny.

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I wonder if Wormtail did the spell to blow up the street with Voldy's wand? It would not then have mattered if they'd done 'Priori Incantatem' on his remaining one. I don't really think very highly of the Ministry's judicial and policing system in operaton during that time frame, however. This had all the hallmarks of an 'open and shut case', and I'd be surprised if anyone thought to check out the wand Wormtail left behind.

Wormtail had a wand, prior to GOF, didn't he? Wherever it had been in the interim, I'd like to think he'd 'borrowed' Voldy's. It might have even worked quite well for him, since he'd contributed to Voldy's first demise then rescued it.

No magic in a life-debt then? Oh well, it was fun theorising! But then to all intents and purposes, making a sacrifice for your child isn't intrinsically magic either, right?

I suppose the Dark Arts - horcruxes and making a false/temporary body for a... whatever he was- are Dark because they are against the natural order of things, and do engender disgust in someone who leans to the good. Interesting that Jo had a process in mind for bringing Voldy a temporary body, and that she could describe it in enough detail to nauseate an editor!
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'...no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences.' - Terry Pratchett

I don't know that it would be necessary to 'lean to the good' but only to remain attached to the natural order of things. Voldemort's actions have been bit by bit sundering that connection, leaving him as adrift in substance and consequence as he is in spirit and will.
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... and then you just have to play algebra ...

Yes, I dithered for a while with that choice of words, and it's the shades of grey that troubled me. Wormtail is definitely NOT a 'goody', yet retains enough decency inside him to be repulsed by the depravity of Voldemort. Poor old Sev was the one who wouldn't fit any category, bless him! Harry gave me a bit of trouble too, since he is very much in touch with the dark side of his own character. Perhaps Dumbledore had the idea when he talked about Riddle being outside the 'usual evil' - in other words being right off the scale we'd normally measure by. By comparison, if we have him and others like him in a bell curve, everyone else looks pretty sweet and lovely, regardless of how nasty they really are!
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'...no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences.' - Terry Pratchett