[HPforGrownups] Harry and Black in Shrieking Shack

[yr awen]

No: HPFGUIDX 42930

Melody was wondering:
In the Shrieking Shack before Lupin arrived, Harry, Ron, and Hermione
struggled and fought Black off and tackled him to the ground.  Harry
then stood above Black with his wand raised to "kill" Sirius.  Now how
was it possible for Harry to kill Black with his wand when Harry did
not even learn of the words that brought the killing spell about until
Moody's class in GOF?<<<<<<<<<<<<

Presumably there are other ways to kill a person other than the Avada Kedavra curse, which Harry obviously doesn't even know at this point. It appears from the text (American paperback, which I am beginning to look upon with suspicion, PoA17)that Harry may attempt to put some kind of freezing spell on Sirius' heart or otherwise stop his blood from circulating -- at least, Sirius' heart is mentioned twice:

"Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.

"'Going to kill me, Harry?' he whispered.

"Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him....

"Before either of them could say another word, something ginger streaked past Harry; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat."

Throughout this confrontation, Harry's wand doesn't waver from its aim at Sirius' chest, and even though Crookshanks is physically on top of Sirius' heart, Harry figures that he'll kill the cat if he has to. Or maybe he wants to make Sirius' chest explode (or similiar.) Maybe set him on fire. In short, killing someone doesn't require the use of an Unforgivable; a simple charm would probably be just as effective, and something Harry could work with a minimum of difficulty.

Before that, though, Harry's in a blind rage: "He had forgotten about magic -- he had forgotten that he was short and skinny and thirteen, whereas Black was a tall, full-grown man -- all Harry knew was that he wanted to hurt Black as badly as he could..." Of course, once he has Sirius on the ropes, the text never actually states what Harry's planning to do outright, so he might not even know what he's going to do to finish off Sirius, who seems to pick up on it ("Going to kill me, Harry?")I'm not entirely sure how to read that particular passage; it sounds that Harry's nowhere near as resolved as he thinks he is.

HF.
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