The Ancient Magic Witch theory, the fight back

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 42106

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "grey_wolf_c" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> Still Richelle:
> > So if she did indeed know this ancient
> > magic that just maybe Harry could be spared if she sacrificed herself
> > than she did do something.  But if she didn't know, I guess she was
> > willing to sacrifice herself to allow her baby a few more seconds of
> > life.  Which would be the greatest sacrifice of all if she allowed 
> > herself to die not truly believing it would save him. Perhaps that is
> > the ancient magic?  A love so truly unselfish that you would die to 
> > allow another to live only seconds longer?
> 
> I don't see things that way, although I know several people have 
> expressed that the greatest sacrifice is the one that gives a baby a 
> few more seconds of life. I don't see how that's courageous, I just 
> find it useless (please don't be offended, I do respect your belief, 
> even if I don't understand it). From *my point of view*, sacrificing 
> yourself for the sake of a few seconds, in fact, serves no purpose: a 
> baby cannot survive anyway, especially if your sacrifice does not stop 
> the danger, as in this case.

What if it's exactly the uselessness of Lily's sacrifice that protects Harry?  
Lily is presented with a choice with regards to her life alone - Harry's fate 
is already decided.  Whether she lives or dies makes no difference as far 
as he is concerned, and yet she chooses to die rather than leave him - 
knowing that it is a useless gesture (at least in the pragmatic, save-my-baby 
sense), because the other option is simply unthinkable to her, as I would 
suspect it would be to most parents (and the reason that no other parent 
ever made this choice is simply that Voldemort wasn't exactly in the habit 
of offering the relatives of his victims their lives - which leads us to the 
very interesting question of why he chose to make the exception in Lily's 
case.)  This gesture is motivated by pure love, not self-interest or any other 
purpose - Lily doesn't think it will save Harry's life, and this love is deep 
enough to repel Voldemort's AK curse.

kangasboy wrote:

>I always interpreted the "ancient magic" alluded to in HP as 
> referring to the most basic primeval forces from which all magic 
>stems. Ancient magic could be connected to power of the Heir of 
>Slytherin (and any other heirs out there), plus it could be 
>responsible for magical abilities that cannot be learnt (eg 
>Divination). I believe it to be "pure" magic, in that it is 
>incorruptible; which is why Voldemort can't use it, and has been 
>thwarted by it.

That's pretty close to my understanding of the phrase "ancient magic", 
but I thought of it more in the Narnia, ancient magic from before the 
dawn of time sense - the underlying rules of magic which no force, 
however powerful, can overcome.  Like the magical laws of physics - 
magic and electricity don't mix, an animagus can only turn into one animal, 
and sacrificing yourself for someone leaves a magical mark on them.  I 
think Voldemort's failure to remember this basic principle kind of makes 
sense - he's mastered such advanced magic that maybe he no longer 
thinks about the basic bulding block of how magic works.  

Abigail