A/N: This is basically me just poking holes in the entire argument about Horcruxes. It isn't much of a story, but I felt like writing it anyway.
The Order of the Phoenix listened shell-shocked as Dumbledore explained to them about Voldemort's Horcruxes. When he finished there was a stupified silence that stretched on for over a minute. At last the silence as broken by Harry.
"So Voldemort is immortal?"
"As long as at least one Horcrux remains he cannot die." confirmed Dumbledore.
"That's it then." Harry said bleakly. "We've lost."
The assembled members of the Order of the Phoenix slumped dejectedly in their seats. All except one. The man leaned forward and peered intently at Dumbledore.
"Define immortal."
The rest of the group stared at him in disbelief. Snape sneered. "It means he cannot die. Surely even you know something as simple as that."
The speaker ignored him. "You say he can't die. That the Horcruxes tie him to this world. But how does that work? More to the point, how does it manifest itself?"
Seeing blank looks from the rest of the Order, he sighed. "Look. Let's imagine I cut off his head." Raising his voice over the gasps of horror he continued. "Ignoring the difficulty of actually getting into the position of being able to decapitate Voldemort, would it be physically possible?"
Dumbledore frowned. "Well, yes, but my dear boy-"
"So what would happen if I did cut his head off? Since he can't die would the head remain sentient, still able to talk and think? Would the body continue to walk around, or would it collapse without a brain to tell it what to do?"
"No, he would not remain in his body. However, he would remain in this world as a wraith, a spirit without a body, forced to possess other beings in order to continue its existence."
The other man blinked. Blinked again. "Wait. You're telling me that the only thing the Horcruxes do is prevent him from 'passing on' to wherever dead people's souls go? How is that any worse than the ritual that makes someone a ghost? He can't use magic, interact with physical objects... remind me, why do we care about this again?"
"Because he can be revived, you idiot." snarled Severus. It personally offended him that this simpleton was disregarding the threat of an immortal Dark Lord.
"So? Just the fact that he died in the first place will be a blow. If we manage to kill him again, he can't just pass it off as unfortunate coincidence. He will struggle to maintain the image of being an all powerful Dark Lord after being defeated, not once, but twice."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" rumbled Kingsley in his deep baritone. "Defeating the most powerful Dark Lord England has ever seen is no easy task."
"If he can die once he can die twice. If he can die twice he can die three times. The Death Eaters come in three types. Some truly believe in blood supremacy and view Voldemort as the saviour of the Wizarding World – or at least the important parts. Some see a rising power, unrivalled even by Dumbledore, and seek to join the winning team. Lastly, there are those who only see him as a source of people to hurt. If he is defeated outright, how confident will the Death Eaters be that they are on the winning team? How certain will they be that he is as powerful as he claims? Killing Voldemort, even once, would shake the Death Eaters' faith in him. And without his minions he is nothing but an, admittedly quite powerful wizard with delusions of grandeur. Do you think he could do the things he has without his Death Eaters? Look at his tactics. He sends small squads of Death Eaters to harry Aurors and Muggles. When he wants to send a message, he launches powerful attacks on multiple locations. You think he could do that alone? Hell, if he's alone Dumbledore can just show up and stop him every time. No, it is the Death Eaters that make him a potent threat. Without them he is weak. In fact, if we kill just three Death Eaters it will cripple him."
"Three Death Eaters?" Exclaimed Severus in disbelief. "The Dark Lord wouldn't even notice they were gone!"
"Oh, he would notice these three alright." The man ticked them off on his fingers. "Bellatrix Lestrange. Lucius Malfoy. And Fenrir Greyback."
"Those are three of Voldemort's toughest minions!" objected Dedalus Diggle.
"Yes. But they are more mortal than him. With them dead – yes, Dumbledore, dead – he would lose a lot more than just three fighters. Bellatrix is his number one fighter. She is known as his lieutenant, the toughest fighter, the one no-one wants to fight. If we managed to, not just defeat her, but kill her, it would damage Voldemort's reputation as well as boosting our own."
"We will not win this war with reputation." hissed Snape.
"That's where Greyback comes in. He is a weapon of fear. As a werewolf he's used to threaten entire families into submission. His very presence on the battlefield has us shaking in our boots. Killing him would remove a powerful asset from Voldemort. But it's more than that. With their Alpha gone, the Werewolves will be fighting amongst themselves for a good few months as they try to establish a new pecking order. The new leader might not even support Voldemort."
"Don't be naïve." growled Moody. "Greyback isn't the only Werewolf with a grudge against wizards. All of the strongest ones support him. Any that didn't were killed."
"I know. But even without them, the internal fighting will keep the Werewolves out of action for months. Even when they return they will probably have torn through many of their top fighters to establish the new leader. At worst, we get a reprieve from the Werewolves and then they're back, minus their old leader. At best, they are weakened, removed from the conflict for an extended period of time, and no longer commit their lives wholeheartedly to Voldemort's service. Either way Voldemort loses one of his most effective weapons. Malfoy now. He is the consummate politician. Through him Voldemort has an in to the Ministry, a picture of how they and the Wizengamot work. Malfoy is a political animal, and even as a wanted fugitive could probably manipulate, intimidate or blackmail a lot of people into doing what he wanted. Not to mention, with him dead the Malfoy fortune would be temporarily out of commission. Gringotts is not exactly known for its speedy will readings. Kill Malfoy, on top of Bellatrix and Greyback, and Voldemort loses three of his best fighters on the field, and a key strategist off it."
The Order looked at him confused.
"What, you don't think Voldemort plans all of his attacks down to the finest detail, do you? I'd wager he goes 'I want a timed attack on both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley' and then walks away. Malfoy is likely the one responsible for organising the details. Am I right?"
Snape nodded grudgingly.
"He's the one who decides who goes where, what they do target, what they don't target etc. With him dead Voldemort will need a new tactical mastermind. Which will be difficult considering his trust issues."
At this point Dumbledore decided he had had enough. It was time to put a stop to this madness before someone did something they would come to regret. With that in mind he adopted his sternest visage.
"While I do not dispute that it would be effective, I must object to the idea of stooping to Voldemort's level. If we start behaving the same as the Death Eaters, what makes us any better? I am sure you have heard the expression 'fight fire with fire'. But tell me, what does that really produce?" He looked around the room gravely. "A bigger fire."
His rebuke had doused most of the fires that had been burning in the hearts of the Order. Except for the one he most wanted to stop.
"Look, I appreciate not wanting to murder people left and right. If you want to use light, non-lethal spells, that's fine – so long as you are in a small scale battle with even numbers. I'm talking a half-dozen Death Eater squad against at least as many Order members. Any more Death Eaters, and the chances of them simply enervating their friends and getting right back up is too great. Like I said, it's fine if you want to keep the moral high ground in an even battle. But when you're outnumbered 2 or 3 to one you don't play around with stunners. You put them down, and you put them down hard enough that they won't get back up. Doesn't have to be pretty, doesn't have to be deadly. Just make sure they stay down."
"Well said, lad." Remarked Moody approvingly.
"You've heard my thoughts on the matter. Once you've decided if you want to bury your heads in the sand or actually do something constructive, I'll be upstairs feeding Buckbeak."
Having said his piece, the man turned and left. As soon as the door shut behind him he grinned. Man, that had felt good. A lot of people were probably surprised that it had been him to suggest such harsh measures, but behind his jokey exterior Sirius Black had a mind as sharp as a tack. And it was about time he used it.