voldemort - Why did Nagini die, even though she was a Horcrux, while Harry didn't?

Among all his other inert Horcruxes, Voldemort created two living ones: Harry and Nagini.

When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, he was unable to do so. Instead, his curse ended up killing the piece of Voldemort's own soul that Harry carried. Logically, this means that when a living creature, that's also a Horcrux, is killed, it's not the carrier, but the soul they are carrying, that ends up dead.

However, this reasoning does not seem to work for Nagini. She was holding a piece of Voldemort's soul when she was killed, but both souls were destroyed. Shouldn't Nagini, the snake, have survived, and only Voldemort's soul died?

Even if we accept that physically killing Nagini killed both souls, how is that any different than magically killing Harry? How did the killing curse "know" which of the two souls inside Harry's body should die?

Answer

Harry didn't die because he can't die while Voldemort lives. Voldemort carries Lily's protection inside himself when he took Harry's blood to rebuild his body.

'Precisely!' said Dumbledore. 'He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily's protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives.

...

He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you when she died for you. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort's one last hope for himself.

~ Page 568, Deathly Hallows

This also explains why Dumbledore had a triumphant look when Harry told him Voldemort used Harry's blood to rebuild his body in GoF:

'He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's,' Harry told Dumbledore. 'He said the protection my - my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face.'

For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes.

~Page 604, Goblet of Fire

Comments

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