The AK curse and related/unrelated oddments

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 42263

Topic 1: The Avada Kedavra Curse

Avada Kadavra by its very name hints that it has a different developmental 
track than the two other unforgivables. (They are from Latin, it is from 
Arabic.) It is quite possible that it was introduced to Western Europe later 
than the other two. 

But it is highly unlikely that it was an invention of Lord Voldemort. For one 
thing. If it had been invented within the last 50 years I doubt that the 
official statement regarding it is that there is *no* way to block it. It is 
a good deal more likely that their official line would be that no one has 
*found* the way to block it *yet* and active research would be widely known 
to be going on with it.

My own pet theory on AK is that it was developed around the time of the 
earliest Crusades, but that the Saracens were VERY careful not to allow this 
particular curse to fall into the hands of the Infidels. And so the matter 
rested for some centuries.

Until, that is, about the time of Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, at which 
point it somehow got leaked. (Was Sir Richard Burton -- the explorer and 
scholar, not the actor -- a wizard perhaps? It is likely that whoever brought 
it to Europe had been living in the Middle East among the wizards of the 
Moslem world for some time.) 

[New(?) ramification on this subject:] Is there an "echo effect" between the 
historical progression of the mundane (Muggle) and wizarding worlds?  We 
already know that the wizarding world wwas having problems with a prominent 
Dark wizard at the same time that the mundane world was undergoing a major 
war with a prominent enemy leader. If there IS such an "echo effect" between 
the histories of the two worlds (brought about as a side effect of the spells 
which created the formal separation that the wizarding world initiated in 
1692, perhaps?) the introduction of AK into European wizardry would stand in 
as a parallel crisis to the mundane Industrial Revolution. Since it is 
obvious that the sudden introduction of a lethal curse which cannot be 
blocked would have major fallout upon a society which has developed in the 
absence of such. If the culture placed any strong emphasis upon formal 
dueling -- which is not certain, but sure sounds likely -- that alone would 
be sent arse over teakettle right there. Despite its potential for legitimate 
use in specific, closely proscribed situations, that would have given it a 
classification as unforgivable almost as soon as it was known I suspect, and 
small wonder.

Topic 2: Benign uses for the Unforgivables

As a digression, all three of the unforgivables show potential as having 
legitimate usages. Certainly as tools of war, or in medical situations. After 
all, the existence of a spell which can produce an immediate, painless death 
is not necessarily a curse. At the very least it would serve as a humane tool 
for professional butchers in the processing of meat for human consumption.

Imperius could have been used in training, and may at one time have been 
widely used in the discipline and teaching of children. (Given some of the 
inhumane treatment considered right and natural to subject children to 
historically, it is a positively merciful one -- until inconvienient 
considerations of free will enter the equation)

Crutius is the hardest of the three to justify. But then, torture was 
considered a legitimate interrogation tool for far too long in human history. 
But even Crutius has some thin possibility of having been developed as a tool 
to help rather than to harm. Particularly since it appears to affect the 
nervous system directly and, if so, probably does not require consiousness on 
the part of the victim. At the very least, I can envision it as a very crude, 
very quick battlefield method for finding the injured and unconsious lying on 
the field among the dead. (i.e., cast Crutius on the lot and if anything 
twitches it's still alive and treatable.) In this scenario, it would have 
been a VERY old spell long ago superceeded by more sophisticated techniques 
which do less harm to the already injured. Even in more recent times the 
shock of pain might have been considered a viable last-ditch treatment in 
some forms of illness or injury. (Brutal medical treatment is another 
tradition with too long a history.) 

Topic 3: The House in Godric's Hollow/Lasting Effects on Harry Potter

As to the destruction of the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow; no, AK does 
not normally result in property damage on this wide a scale. The cracked 
tombstone, as well as what I recall (possibly inaccurately) reading as a 
literal translation of the Arabic curse that Avada Kedavra derives from, 
however, ("May this thing be utterly destroyed!") are indications that it is 
able to affect inanimate objects. AK also does not normaly vaporise a human 
body either. But this appears to be what took place when Voldemort's curse on 
Harry rebounded. 

I suggest that when the curse rebounded, it reacted with Voldemort's own 
inherent and collected power, producing an explosion (much like Pettigrew's 
curse of the Muggle gas main) in both the physical and psychic planes great 
enough to destroy his own body, the enclosed space in which it took place and 
to disperse his power in every direction. Which is why Harry caught so much 
of it (as in a magical transfusion). I will go so far as to suggest (despite 
the fact that it is almost certainly irrelevant to any future events in 
canon) that any surviving artifacts, particularly artifacts which were 
originally magical that might have been recovered from the Potter's house 
probably aquired an additional charge of power from their proximity to what 
amounts to a small (magically) nucular blast. (A parallel to radioactivity, 
if you will.) Harry survived the destruction of the house because he was 
close enough to the "blast" that not only did he absorb the magic that came 
his way but the physical debris was all moving away from ground zero where he 
was left intact except for the wound on his forehead.

This feeds into another suspicion on my own part in that I believe that the 
reason Harry is able to resist Voldemort as well as he is, despite the fact 
that he and his power are far from fully developed, is because he is using 
power which was once Voldemort's own to resist him. This overlay of Tom 
Riddle's power is probably what caused the holly and phoenix feather wand to 
choose him in the first place. I also think that the kind of magical 
"breakthroughs" which plagued his childhood, are probably very much in excess 
of what is typical among young magical children, and are the result of his 
having carried, from babyhood, a sizable porportion of the power of an adult 
wizard. 

And, as apparant executor of the Potter's estate, Dumbledore would have been 
getting copies of the reports of these breakthroughs all through the ten 
years that Harry spent outside the wizarding world. Dumbledore knew the 
Potters. He knew them very well. He would have noticed anything reported 
which did not jibe with his recollections of James and Lily and the gifts 
that they would have passed on to their son. I suspect that some anomalies 
DID show up, and probably fairly early. This is the data on which his theory 
of the "magical transfusion" was based, which he told to Harry after the 
parselmouth incident. It may well be the basis of Dumbledore's look of 
triumph when Harry reported that his blood was used to facilitate Voldemort's 
return. Because, although Voldemort did indeed get enough of Lily's 
protection spell along with that blood to be able to physically touch Harry, 
I suspect that he also got something he didn't bargain on. Dumbledore has 
been running a gamble throughout the series so far and Voldemort has, 
effectively, taken the bait. By using Harry's blood to create a replica of 
his original body he has somehow opened up a point of vulnerability that he 
does not recognize. As well as having by his own actions increased the ties 
between him and Harry to an as yet unexplored degree. I seriously wonder 
whether Harry Potter even COULD be killed without repurcusions to Voldemort, 
now.

Topic 4: Sirius Black/Peter Petigrew

<< Sirius Black knows that Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper because most of t
he inmates of Azkaban know it - >>

 

Sirius knows that Pettigrew was the Potter's Secret Keeper because SIRIUS was 
the one who got the bright idea for them to switch jobs in the first place! 
What Sirius learned in Azkaban was that Petigrew had been known to be a Death 
Eater spy in Dumbledore's ranks for the year prior to the Potter's murder.

Topic 5: The Disposal of Wizard Remains

<<We have one case of a funeral rite being more preferable with a body. The 
Diggorys thank Harry for bringing Cedric's body back, indicating it is very 
important. >>

Damn straight it's important. Would YOU want your murdered kid's body fed to 
a snake or used for potions ingredients? And, given anyone other than 
Voldemort, the latter is VERY likely. (Gives a whole new order of 
significance to the idea of donating your cadaver to research.) I suspect 
that cremation and scattering of ashes may be the traditional method of 
disposal of human remains in the wizarding world just out of considerations 
of public safety, if nothing else.

It also may explain some of the faint distaste that the study of Potions in 
general appears to have in canon. Snape's opening speach may simply be for 
the purpose of provocation but there is a distinct undertone of a man who 
"knows" that he is facing a room full of people who do not regard his field 
as worthwhile/relevant. (In fanon, of course, Potions tends to fall into a 
grey area all too readily crossing the line between light and dark magics.)

"jodel"