A/N: This version is currently unedited by my beta, but will be updated after corrections. I apologize in advance for any errors.

The Power Unknown

Harry Potter had never thought that his life was perfect; after all, having a dark lord out to get you does tend to clear up the rose-tinted glasses fairly quickly. However, in all of his seventeen years, the Boy-Who-Lived had never had a day as bad as this one.

Today had sucked, and quite brilliantly.

He really should have seen the trend. After having his parents, his schoolmates, his godfather, and his mentor killed, and after having been plagued by dementors, attacked by poisonous snakes and spiders (some far larger than nature or magic should allow), he really should have realized that it was quite silly to think that he could escape a gruesome and violent end forever. What he couldn't figure out is why, with all of the rather obvious clues, Dumbledore had not been able to even guess at what Voldemort had planned for him.

True, the prophecy could throw a person off the scent if they didn't know what to look for. Dumbledore had thought that his scar itself was what marked Harry as Voldemort's equal and that the power he couldn't understand was love. Now that he knew the truth, however, Harry thought that was just the hope and naïve belief of an old man who thought that good would always be able to conquer evil.

Voldemort may never have experienced a mother's love or any type of unconditional love in his life, but he understood it. After all, he often used it on his enemies to torture them and manipulate them to do his bidding.

And why would a killing curse connect the perpetrator to his victim? It would be such a silly thing for a killing curse to do, especially if Lily's love was supposed to protect her son. How would connecting a toddler to a dark lord in any way protect him?

It was possible that the Horcruxes may have had an unforeseen effect on the supposed protection magic, but their very existence was another clue that Harry was doomed from the time he was one year old. Dumbledore said himself that Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and that he had one from every Hogwart's founder. He had Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's barrette, and something from Gryffindor. Dumbledore also said that the Horcruxes were to help Voldemort, whose very name literally means to fly from death and who had minions called Death Eaters, become immortal. With all the clues in place, it was very hard to escape the obvious answer:

The power that Tom Riddle knew not, the thing that he feared above all else, was death. And what better trophy from Gryffindor could there possibly be than his very own heir?

Everyone had assumed that Voldemort had used the killing curse on him the night that he came to Godric's Hollow, but very few wizards even know what Horcruxes are, let alone how to create them. Harry knew that they could be made from a living thing, though, since Nagini had most certainly been one of Voldemort's collection of six.

Voldemort also created Horcuxes after a significant murder, and after killing Harry's father, another heir of Gryffindor, he had one. As he told Lily, he didn't need to kill her as well in order for the creation of the Horcrux to work, but she had gotten in the way and perhaps even made the magic even more powerful (and too much for Voldemort to handle, especially since Harry was the seventh and most magical piece).

The prophecy also hinted at Harry being a Horcrux as well, stating that "neither can live while the other survives." Well, of course Voldemort couldn't "live" with a piece of his soul missing, and Harry couldn't "live" while another was linked to him and had essentially taken control of Harry's entire life. The scar link and parselmouth ability made so much more sense, though, now that he knew he carried a piece of Tom Riddle's vile soul within him. Voldemort also couldn't touch him because the two pieces of soul called to each other, and their attempts to reunite were rather excruciating.

Voldemort had also always forbidden his Death Eaters from killing him and had tried to convert him to his side several times, which was also logical since Voldemort would hardly wish for someone to destroy his precious soul-filled trophy.

Overall, Harry was severely disappointed with Dumbledore's deductive reasoning, and was beginning to wonder if he had pulled his theories out of a hat or something else as equally ridiculous; the sorting hat, perhaps? After all, if one can pull out a large jeweled sword from its depths, why not a crackpot and rather cliché theory about how love will conquer all?

No, what would kill the Dark Lord was, ironically enough, what everyone had thought destroyed him almost sixteen years ago: self sacrifice.

Voldemort would never be able to understand how someone could willingly face death, face the unknown, for the benefit of others. He would never understand that, as much as Harry wanted to live for another century and see his great great red-headed grandchildren off to their first day at Hogwarts, he knew that he could not if it meant that Voldemort would continue to survive murder innocents as well.

It was the thought of those innocents, of all of his friends who would be able to live to see their decedents grow up and have a normal, healthy life, that Harry carried with him as he uttered his last spell and wiped all traces of Voldemort's evil off the face of the earth.

Fin

A/N: Okay, I'm sure that there are several problems with my theory (such as the fact that Voldemort can touch Harry after he is resurrected with his blood), but I can't think of many. Actually, I can't think of any others at the moment, and I'm sure I could explain that one if I tried really hard (such as the souls feel connected with the shared blood or something), but if you can think of more let me know! I sincerely expect Rowling to come up with something like this, and I have a few theories about Draco as well (check out the leaky cauldron's theories about him not showing off a dark mark but a scratch from Greyback).

I came up with this idea after reading HBP and I was very surprised at Rowling's mention of the snake being a possible Horcrux. If you notice in her writing, she always gives us hints about what will happen in the future, and I thought that the concept of living things having the ability to carry pieces of another's soul might be a big one. If you want to use this idea in another fanfic, please ask me first (I promise to respond quickly) and realize that you will have to give me credit. Although Rowling hints at the possibility, I came up with the idea and the arguments myself. I would really appreciate it.

Mostly, I wrote this fanfiction for fun and with the idea that you guys will debate the plausibility of this with me – I absolutely love debates. ::grins:: Review and let me know what you think!!!