Ancient Magic

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 42302

> Tara First Comment:
>  
> > First of all, I really enjoy the idea of Lily using ancient magic
> with the help of Dumbledore to protect Harry "just in case".  And I
> feel it only makes sense that she had to sacrafice her own life in
> order for the spell to work.  Especially since Ollivander pointed out
> in SS that her wand was excellent for *charms*.  Seems like JKR was
> giving a little hint right there, IMO. 
> > 
> 
> BBOY_MN Responds:
> Why does it need to be anything more that the pure power of the pure
> essense of love? Isn't the power of a selfless act of love enough to
> give Harry the protection he needs? You have to admit that love is
> powerful force; people live for it, they die for it, they kill for 
> it, kings and queens give up the throne for love, people are healed
> by love, spirits are renewed, tormented souls are made whole again.
> If you are of Christian belief, then the sins of the entire world for
> all time were redeemed by a single selfless act of love. You're more
> than welcome to your theory, but as far as I'm concerned, to be
> marked by such pure powerful selfless love if more than enough power 
> to save Harry. 

Why does it have to be "just love" as you put it? Nothing in canon 
points towards it, and there is no way to explain why, if the love 
shield is as simple as love, isn't it extremely common. I'd say that 
people *have* loved their children before. You won't accept a spell, 
even when the whole books are built around the spells, but you give no 
reasons execpt metathinking "nah, it's not literary enbough". In 
potterverse, even modern spells require no words or even wand (check 
Snape creating ropes to bind Lupin in the shack, or Dumbledore's magic 
tricks), but in this situation you keep insisting it's just love. You 
even mention a good number of examples, but none of them created an 
impenetrable love shield in the recipient.

On the other hand, I've given enough examples of canon that point 
towards an ancient spell -not an *elemental* force of magic, or *simple 
love*. Voldemort describes the shield as "the mark of the sacrifice 
...this is *ancient magic*" (my emphasis). He does not speak of love, 
since he wouldn't understand it, but he *does* speak of magic, and he's 
an expert on magic. 

On the same line, he identifies the ancient magic used by Dumbledore to 
protect Harry at the Dursley's as "invoked", indicating that ancient 
magic requires invocation, and thus it's controlled by a spell. It does 
*not* give any hint of being a primal force channeled through love or 
any other sentiment.

Dumbledore does *not* speak of the love shield in the first book. He 
explains how the combined Quirrellmort could not touch him, but he does 
not tell Harry how he survived the AK. We are told at that point that 
what *burns* Quirrellmort is the love of Lily for Harry, but Dumbledore 
tiptoes around how that love got to permeate Harry. He does mention 
that lily "died to save [Harry]", which gives weight to the *sacrifice 
is a important part of the love shield* idea, though. Then too, in GoF 
Dumbledore describes that when Voldemort took Harry's blood he had 
"surpassed that barrier", which indeed tells us that the love shield is 
in his blood.

I admit that the clues are not very clear, since Dumbledore won't speak 
about the fateful night, and Voldemort will ignore the part love played 
in the protection, but I think we've got more than enough proof that 
ancient magic is, infact, invoked (i.e. it's "spelled" or requires some 
sort of ritual), while there is no mention whatsoever of primal forces 
tied with that magic. I'll agree that it's the love in the love shield 
that burnt Quirrellmort, but that love cannot be simply the result of 
having loving parents, or Voldemort wouldn't be able to touch a single 
person. And what is more, if that protection was present in almost 
every wizard, Voldemort would not have aimed Harry exclusively but, as 
Peter suggested, any witch or wizard would have served equally.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf