Quando Voldemort possuía o corpo de Quirrell, ele enfraqueceu bastante Quirrell, então o objetivo de beber o elixir da vida não era manter Voldemort vivo, era mantê-lo vivo por tempo suficiente para conseguir os materiais para criar seu corpo. Ele não iria conseguir um corpo do próprio elixir, apenas lhe daria tempo para realizar o ritual descrito no livro quatro, ele já sabia disso, só precisava de alguém para realizá-lo.
No livro 4, o capítulo 33 Voldemort disse
I sometimes inhabited animals — snakes, of course, being my preference
— but I was little better off inside them than as pure spirit, for
their bodies were ill adapted to perform magic . . . and my possession
of them shortened their lives; none of them lasted long. . . .
Se a posse abreviada de animais vive, deve fazer o mesmo com os humanos.
No livro 6, o capítulo 23 é dito
Voldemort refused to rely on the Elixir of Life for his immortality,
as he would be required to drink it for eternity, and the possibility
of contamination or the stone's loss would result in his death. His
streak of independence made it intolerable for him to rely on the
Elixir to survive, and only desired it to recreate his body
Portanto, ele não estava planejando usar o elixir como solução a longo prazo.
No livro 4, o capítulo 33 Voldemort disse
“Wormtail’s body, of course, was ill adapted for possession, as all
assumed him dead, and would attract far too much attention if noticed.
However, he was the able-bodied servant I needed, and, poor wizard
though he is, Wormtail was able to follow the instructions I gave him,
which would return me to a rudimentary, weak body of my own, a body I
would be able to inhabit while awaiting the essential ingredients for
true rebirth . . . a spell or two of my own invention . . . a little
help from my dear Nagini,” Voldemort’s red eyes fell upon the
continually circling snake, “a potion concocted from unicorn blood,
and the snake venom Nagini provided . . . I was soon returned to an
almost human form, and strong enough to travel.
“There was no hope of stealing the Sorcerer’s Stone anymore, for I
knew that Dumbledore would have seen to it that it was destroyed. But
I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing
immortality. I set my sights lower . . . I would settle for my old
body back again, and my old strength.
“I knew that to achieve this — it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the
potion that revived me tonight — I would need three powerful
ingredients. Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not,
Wormtail? Flesh given by a servant. . . .
Voldemort já estava ciente do ritual, só precisava de alguém para fazê-lo.