Horcrux

A Horcrux allows any Witch or Wizard to be granted with a form of Immortality. In order for this to happen, the user must choose an object, which can range from anything like a diary to locket or even a snake. The user must then make his soul reach an unstable state and this is accomplished through murder. Once the evil act is accomplished, the Horcrux will be made and the Witch/Wizard will be unable to fully die. If a person who has created a Horcrux has been struck down in physical form, he/she will be able to exist in a non-corporeal form. There is also a horrible process of Resurrection that is also available to those people. The first Wizard to make a Horcrux was Herpo the Foul, and some others have been known to create them as well.
 

Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle, created a staggering seven Horcruxes. No Witch or Wizard was ever thought to have even created more than one, no less than seven. With a tortured soul to begin with, Voldemort chose objects that meant something to him in a significant way when deciding what he will use as a Horcrux. He killed countless amounts of people and made his soul reach such an unstable, shaky state that he could no longer fully control his own creation of Horcruxes. He asked Professor Horace Slughorn at a young age about the process of making Horcruxes. Slughorn, taken in by Riddle's charm, revealed him vital info and learned that Tom wanted to create seven Horcruxes. Tom knew at that time that murder was necessary in the creation of the Horcruxes, even if the exact process was unclear. The seven objects that Lord Voldemort used to create his Horcruxes are the following, in order of creation:
 

• Tom Riddle's Diary - Created by killing Moaning Myrtle, now a Hogwarts ghost. It was used to reopen the Chamber of Secrets when Ginny's was possessed by it. Harry Potter destroyed it with a basilisk fang in the Chamber of Secrets.

  

• Marvolo Gaunt's Ring - Voldemort killed his own father, Tom Riddle Sr., to create this Horcrux. Dumbledore found the ring and knew of its other true power, that of the Resurrection Stone. It was located in the old, rundown Gaunt shack. This object could bring back anyone from the dead and Dumbledore foolishly put it on to attempt to see his deceased family again. The ring was inflicted with a deep form of Dark Magic and Dumbledore contracted a terminal illness of sorts from it. He was not given much time to live, so he instructed Severus Snape to kill him. Nonetheless, the ring was destroyed by Dumbledore with the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. 
• Salazar Slytherin's Locket - The locket contains another Horcrux of Voldemort's, created by killing a random Muggle. It was

  

  located in the Horcrux Cave, which Harry and Dumbledore traveled to retrieve it. Dumbledore had to drink a form of potion that greatly weakened him in order to get it. Ron Weasley destroyed the locket after a brief struggle in which it displayed, in a ghostly form, Ron's deepest fears and thoughts, that of Harry and Hermione not loving him and actually loving each other. Ron destroyed it though he was shaken by its fight. Harry assured him that the allegations were untrue.
• Helga Hufflepuff's Cup - Voldemort killed Hepzibah Smith, an old, large, wealthy woman, to make the Cup into a Horcrux. It was hidden in the Gringott's vault belonging to Bellatrix Lestrange, which Harry, Ron and Hermione robbed. Hermione destroyed the locket in the Chamber of Secrets with a Basilisk Fang.
• Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem - An Albanian Peasant died at the hands of Voldemort for this Horcrux to be created. It was hidden in the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts Castle. Vincent Crabbe, a crony of Draco Malfoy, unintentionally destroyed it when he unleashed a deadly form of Fiendfyre on the entire room, killing himself in the process.
• Harry Potter - Harry Potter was unintentionally created as a Horcrux by Lord Voldemort on October 31, 1981, when he tried to kill him as a small child. The loving sacrifice that Lily Potter set upon Harry created a form of protection for him that reflected the curse back onto Voldemort. All that Harry was left with was a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Voldemort was destroyed in a physical form, though he was Resurrected in Harry's fourth year through a process that required Harry's blood. The Horcrux in Harry was destroyed by Voldemort himself when he shot a Killing Curse at Harry in the Forbidden Forest, unaware that

  

  he was killing part of himself. Harry survived the encounter and so did Voldemort, though he was killed later by Harry in the Great Hall of the Hogwarts Castle.
• Nagini - Lord Voldemort's snake, Nagini, was created as a Horcrux outside the Quidditch World Cup when he killed Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry of Magic employee. Nagini was constantly beside Voldemort's side and under heavy protection when Voldemort knew his Horcruxes were in danger. Neville Longbottom beheaded Nagini at Hogwarts and, in the process, no longer made Voldemort immortal in any sense. Harry killed him not long after in the Great Hall. 

 
Horcruxes, in their nature, are impenetrable to most forms of destruction. Only a few proven methods are able to destroy a Horcrux. The aforementioned seven were destroyed with most of them. Basilisk Venom, Fiendfyre, the enchanted Sword of Godric Gryffindor, and the Killing Curse are all ways to destroy a Horcrux. Another way for a Horcrux to cease to exist is if the creator of said Horcrux feels remorse for their actions. Voldemort never felt remorse, even when Harry warned him that he would let him live if he did so. When Voldemort died, his mutilated soul was trapped in a constant state of agony for the rest of his life. This was shown by the crying, pathetic-looking little child that Harry saw when he was in the King's Cross dream with Dumbledore. When asking Dumbledore if he could help it, Dumbledore told him that it was too late and he could not be saved.