Graveyard Shield Charm & Hagrid Pledge (WAS Distaff DEs )

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 32240

Amy Z wrote (about whether the wand shadows protected Harry):

> I never thought of this before, but now that I see the problem 
written out, 
> I think they *didn't* all shoot at Harry.  The last person who 
tried to 
> curse him didn't do too well, did he?  To all appearances, AK 
doesn't work 
> on him, and they're thinking, "I was right to desert ol' V--his 
days are 
> numbered."  Most of them are probably just shouting and running and 
> generally covering their butts while being very careful not to 
actually take 
> on this terrifyingly powerful kid.
> 

Mmmm, maybe.  The ranks of the DEs are certainly full of disloyal 
cowards, aren't they?

But I think the graveyard scene is written to suggest that many 
curses were fired at Harry, and Voldemort didn't fire them.  We're 
told that Harry ran, "feeling their curses following him, hearing 
them hit the headstones."  He dived behind a marble angel "to avoid 
the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the 
spells hit it."  He "dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him; 
more jets flew over his head as he fell."  Were the DEs trying to 
miss?  Maybe, but if so, they were coming awfully close to hitting 
Harry by accident.

There may be another possibility, though.  In GoF, Hermione attempts 
to teach Harry the Shield Charm, which he does not master.  The 
Shield Charm is described as "a temporary, invisible wall around 
himself that deflected minor curses."  The Shield Charm is never 
mentioned again, so why does JKR include this Shield Charm scene at 
all?

The shadows told Harry that they would "give him time."  So . . . 
maybe the shadows did more than stand in Voldemort's way and distract 
him.  Maybe they put a Shield Charm around Harry, which deflected the 
stunning spells as he ran.  The spells deflected onto things like 
headstones because the Shield Charm deflects spells rather than 
absorb or neutralize them.  


Amy Z again:

> Of course, some will cheer even if our beloved 
> Hagrid dies a grisly death <glares meaningfully at Jennygeist and 
Cindy>.


OK.  I clearly must do something drastic to salvage my reputation 
here:

I hereby pledge not to cheer or gloat openly should Hagrid happen to 
meet a most unfortunate and premature demise in OoP, and I promise to 
wince every time I re-read the passage in which Hagrid meets his 
maker.  I give my word that I will post endlessly about how Hagrid 
was a fabulous teacher who never did anything to endanger his 
students or otherwise botch things, ending each such post with a 
mournful wail that Hagrid did not deserve to die.  I further pledge 
to wear black for several months following the release of OoP, solely 
in Hagrid's honor, and not because it makes my hips look smaller.  In 
the words of the sensitive and compassionate Ron Weasley, "That do?"

Cindy (who thinks she should get some credit for being willing to 
defend Sirius against all critics)