[HPforGrownups] Old Dark Magic

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 23275

dfrankiswork at netscape.net wrote:

> In GOF Voldemort says that his rebirthing is a piece of old Dark
> Magic.  But Voldemort is the only known case of a person disembodied
> by a failed Avada Kedavra spell.

Slightly off-topic--nobody in recent times has cared to speculate on
why, precisely, the spell didn't just *fail.* Sail on off past Harry and
into the night (or the wall, whatever). What caused it to *rebound,* why
should it? None of the other spells we've seen that didn't come off,
rebounded....

> So what would this magic have been used for in the past?
> Reincorporating ghosts?

It's DARK magic. Voldemort's many processes to ensure he would live on,
even as a shadow, if something happpened to his body, were also of a
dark nature. Presumably these processes were things that other Big Bad
Wizards had done in the past, then said Big Bad Wizards met with
unfortunate circumstances and needed new bodies. I imagine that this
reanimation spell would work for anybody who had artificially ensured
the continuance of their "essence" and was temporarily without a body.
AND had a faithful henchman or two. [I *don't* imagine it was common.]

The short answer is, I don't think *how* Voldemort lost his corporeal
form is important. The spell is for creating a body for an extant spirit
to use, however the spirit happens to be without a body.

--Amanda


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