Harry's Protection

Thu Dec 19 19:58:55 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 48552

> > > Pickle Jimmy wrote:
> > > 
> > > >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).
> > > >
<Snip>
> 
> > > 
> "heiditandy" <heidit at n...> wrote:
> > There are a variety of possible answers to these questions.
> > > It's possible that the ancient magic protecting Harry protects 
> him only from wizards or witches who intend to do him harm (which 
> would make the protection useless at keeping the house elves awak 
> <snip> 
> > I can't see how the ancient magic protects him from anyone who 
> > wants to hurt him, though, as Dudley seems to do a bit of that 
> in canon, so it seems like it should be something in between total 
> > protection and something limited. 
> 
> Becca Fran:
> Here's my thought on this (my first on this board!):
> a) I think the protection is tied to the Dursleys, not to the 
> location (Privet Drive). Dumbledore sends Harry to live with them 
> because they're his only relatives, even though they're Muggles 
> and hate magic. Also, I don't have my book with me, but doesn't 
> Voldemort state that he can't touch Harry "when he's with his 
> relations"?

Pip:
Good idea, Becca, I think you are probably right about it being tied 
to the Dursley's - or to be precise, to Harry's blood relations, 
Petunia and Dudley.

Harry attends the same primary school as Dudley.

PS/SS Ch. 3 p28 UK paperback: "When September came he [Harry] would 
be going off to secondary school, and, for the first time in his 
life, he wouldn't be with Dudley."

So, if he is protected when he is with his blood relations, he was 
always under protection at school (except when Dudley was off sick - 
and I do wonder whether Petunia bothered to take Harry to school on 
those days, or just phoned the school to say both children were ill).

Becca:
> b) I think Heidi must be right about the protection being limited 
> either to Voldemort specifically or just to "witches and wizards" 
> since Sirius!Dog (animal form), Dobby (house elf), and Dudley 
> (Muggle) all manage to get to Harry while he's there.
> 
> Another question on this: Are Sirius or Dobby actually intending 
> harm to Harry when they go to Privet Drive?  Could the spell be 
> limited to only restrict those with evil intent?
> 
> BeccaFran
> *excited to be joining the discussion*

Pip:
Welcome!

Dredging out my limited memory of folk magic, there are several 
protective charms that prevent evil from entering your home - so I 
would speculate that the Ancient Magic could indeed be limited to 
preventing those of evil intent getting near Harry.

This would cover Sirius, Dobby, the Weasley's having no problems 
(apart from Sirius not actually knowing where Harry was). They all 
want to protect Harry, not harm him.

Plus Dumbledore would have been setting up the protective spells 
within 24 hours of the Potters Fidelius Charm having been so 
disastrously broken. It's theoretically possible, from what we know 
of the Fidelius Charm (very little), that Dumbledore may have known 
in advance that the Potter's were to be betrayed - and have been 
completely unable to do *anything* about it until the charm was 
actually broken. The Potters may have been hidden from him, too. 
[This is speculation].

So Dumbledore may have wanted to use a protective spell on Harry 
that *does* allow people [of any species] trying to help him to get 
through.

There is one difficulty in the field of ancient protective magic, 
though. Various folk tales emphasise a particular problem. The 
protective spells only protect against the *uninvited*. So it 
wouldn't work against Dudley or Aunt Petunia, because they live 
there, it wouldn't work against Aunt Marge [who whacked Harry on the 
shins once] because she was invited as Vernon's sister, they don't 
stop the Mason's entering because they also have an invitation.

Nor would they stop Vernon's new business acquaintance who's 
thinking of making such a big order for drills - Mr L. Malfoy. 
Though I think even Vernon would be suspicious of his employer, Lord 
V De Mort [it's the glowing red eyes. *Such* a give-away ;-) ].

Though it is interesting to speculate that Vernon and Petunia may be 
so paranoid about the magical world because they have already been 
warned (in the famously unseen Dumbledore letter of PS/SS) not to 
invite any strange magicians to their home... [grin].

Pip!Squeak