Spells & Charms; the nature of magic

[meboriqua at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20355

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:

> 
> Another necessary element of many spells is, for lack of a more 
> precise word, character.> 
<The intricate interaction of magic 
> and character is crucial to JKR's universe; she is writing about 
> Harry's development, not only into a practitioner of magic, but 
into 
> adulthood, and his adventures are as much explorations of human 
> experience and emotion and his own deepening character as magical 
> exploits.  Otherwise the books would not be nearly so enchanting 
(pun intended)>.
> 

Great comments!  What you wrote is pretty much what I, too think of 
magic in HP's world.

I snipped the comments about magic ability, development and character 
because that is something I have noticed throughout the books so 
far.  The more powerful the wizard/witch, the more and better magic 
they are able to perform.

In GoF, when BC Sr. is delirious and goes into his memories, he 
mentions that his son received a nice number of O.W.L.S.  I thought 
this was an important tidbit, because it helped convince me, later, 
that Crouch Jr. was truly able to impersonate Moody for so long.  He 
had obviously been an excellent student at Hogwarts (much like 
Hermione, I imagine) who took his studies very seriously.  He was 
clearly a powerful wizard (especially being able to fight the 
Imperius Curse and remember all of his magic after his stay in 
Azkaban).

As for Harry, his abilities are getting stronger and more precise 
each year he is in school, regardless of his grades (I don't think he 
spends even a fraction of the time studying that Hermione does).  We 
know already how much character Harry has because he has managed, for 
the most part, to come out of the Dreadful Dursleys' home relatively 
unscathed.  He even has quite a bit of confidence in himself, if not 
a good deal of pride (as Crouch Jr. mentions to him about Harry not 
asking for help with the 2nd Task).  I believe all of these things 
play a part in his abilities in magic.

I really like how JKR doesn't make magic limitless, like in 
the "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" series.  There are laws and serious 
consequences for breaking them.  If there weren't, there'd be many 
more Voldie types running around, IMO.  For example, if everyone 
could Apparate, that's all anyone would ever do, as well as do a 
little Imperius action if one wanted the object of his/her affectins 
to respond.  

I could go on and on, but I won't.

Thanks again for the great post!

--jenny from ravenclaw*********************************************