Harry's Protection

[erisedstraeh2002 <erisedstraeh2002@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48539

Pickle Jimmy posed these excellent questions:

> If Harry is so protected (by ancient magic) at the Dursleys, why 
> could Sirius (the dog) find him so easily in PoA?? I know that when 
> Harry saw Sirius!Dog he wasn't at home - he had just escaped Aunt 
> Marge - but surely the protection isn't just over Privett Drive or 
> he'd be vunerable while at school (muggle not hogwarts).

Now me:

In Ch. 33 of GoF, Voldemort tells Harry and the DEs: "Dumbledore 
invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as 
he is in his relations' care.  Not even I can touch him there." So, 
if Voldemort is to be believed (I know MD folks think he's not, but I 
happen to think he is, at least during the graveyard speech), 
the "ancient magic" works when Harry is under the "care" of the 
Dursleys.  However, note that Voldemort doesn't say "as long as he is 
living at Privet Dr."; he says "as long as he is in his relations' 
care."  I think that "care" extends beyond Privet Dr. - I interpret 
this as applying anytime Harry is under the guardianship of the 
Dursleys.  If this interpretation is correct, it would explain why 
Harry was protected when he went to muggle school, why Harry was 
protected when he returned to the Dursleys on the train by himself 
after going to Diagon Alley for the first time with Hagrid, and why 
Harry was protected when he was at King's Cross station trying to 
find Platform 9 and 3/4 for the first time.

Pickle Jimmy again:
 
> And, why not extend this ancient magic to include Black (if it was 
> specific to Voldemort), and/or why not extend it to include 
> Hogwarts as well as Privett Drive - rather than use dementors? 
> And, if it only protects Harry against those that mean him harm, 
> use it on Hogwarts and if Black does get in it is obvious he isn't 
> a threat to Harry.

Me again:

I don't think the "ancient magic" is specific to Voldemort - note how 
Voldemort says "Not even I can touch him there."  IMO, Sirius was 
able to get close to Harry in Magnolia Crescent because he wasn't a 
threat to Harry (same goes for Dobby showing up in Harry's bedroom).

I also think the "ancient magic" is not required at Hogwarts because 
Dumbledore provides the protection at Hogwarts.  As Voldemort 
says, "...then, of course, there was the Quidditch World Cup...I 
thought his protection might be weaker there, away from his relations 
and Dumbledore...And then, the boy would return to Hogwarts, where he 
is under the crooked nose of that Muggle-loving fool from morning 
until night" (Ch. 33 of GoF).  Even Hermione realizes this in 
PS/SS: "Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who 
was ever afraid of.  With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch 
you" (Ch. 15).

As to why the Dementors were stationed at Hogwarts:  I think they 
were put there to catch Sirius, not to protect Harry.  Dumbledore 
even says that he doesn't want them there.

And as to why the "ancient magic" only works when Harry is in the 
Dursley's care, in an October 2000 Barnes and Noble chat JKR was 
asked:

Q: "Does Harry know that he is protected as long as he lives with his 
family?"

JKR: "He sort of knows now, but he won't know the whole truth about 
that for a little while." 

see: http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/text.htm

So there's more to this than we have been told to date!  But here's 
my theory:

In the legend of "St. Godric and the Hunted Stag," a hunting party is 
pursuing a particularly beautiful stag, which runs to St. Godric's 
hermitage for shelter.  St. Godric lets the stag in, but the hunting 
party follows the stag's tracks and cuts through "the well-nigh 
impenetrable brushwood of thorns and briars" to find St. Godric.  
They ask St. Godric where the stag is, "but he would not be the 
betrayer of his guest."  (quotes from: 
http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0521.htm)
 
IMO, the "well-nigh impenetrable brushwood of thorns and briars" in 
the legend of St. Godric and the Hunted Stag parallels the privet 
hedge, which protects Harry from Voldemort (and other evil beings) 
when he is with the Dursleys.  I think the protection is "ancient" 
because it is derived, in whole or in part, from *Godric* Gryffindor, 
and I think this is yet another clue that supports the "Harry as Heir 
of Gryffindor" theory.

~Phyllis