Return to Muggledom or the Ruby Slippers Theory

[egility]

No: HPFGUIDX 32708

It seems most readers attribute LV's attacks on HP as an effort to 
eliminate the person(s) who has, or is prophesied to have, the power 
to destroy him.  And this destruction is most often interpreted to be 
LV's death (*really*, irreversibly dead) or, in a minority of 
opinions, conversion or assimilation into the 'Good'.  This line of 
thinking generally leads to a final battle of Good and Evil in which 
LV - and hence Evil in the Wizarding world - is destroyed.  It is 
possible that HP may have to risk his own death to achieve this end.

I like an alternative explanation that is not necessarily more 
likely, but is at least as plausible and in some ways I think more 
satisfying than the common wisdom.  This idea has probably been 
discussed elsewhere in this group before and if so, I would 
appreciate any archival references from the members.

LV seeks to kill Harry not because Harry can kill him, but because 
Harry has the possibility of removing all the magic from the world.  
Imagine a final conflict in which Harry has to choose between a 
magical world dominated by LV or a muggle world where he and his 
friends had to live without Hogwarts, powerlessly with the likes of 
the Dursleys.

It has always troubled me that Dumbledore felt HP was not ready to 
know why LV wanted to kill him.  Since HP had already faced LV and 
placed his life at risk in doing so (and has done so repeatedly in 
subsequent volumes) why is it inappropriate to tell HP that he is 
prophesied to have the power/opportunity to finally rid the world of 
LV?

But if the final choice is between magical and muggle, then isn't it 
appropriate that Dumbledore's disclosure wait until Harry has the 
maturity to understand that life as a muggle will be OK?  Harry's 
journey after all is not about becoming a better wizard, it is about 
becoming a better person.  It is, we are told, the choices he makes 
that are important.  The choice to return to the place from whence he 
came would complete the circle.  In an "Oz" sort of way the journey 
through the magical world is as much a schooling as Hogwarts itself, 
such that upon graduation Harry is prepared to return to the muggle 
world and succeed, not because that world has changed, but because he 
has.  In his first years at Hogwarts his Dursley experiences are 
still too raw and his infatuation with the magical too great.  But as 
Harry matures, grows in confidence and, just as importantly, learns 
the warts and flaws of the Wizarding world are not so different from 
Privet Drive he can choose wisely between the two.

It occurs to me that LV's true motivation and fixation is his hatred 
of mudbloods and muggles and that he seeks power not just for its own 
sake but to excise 'them' from his life.  If HP were to make LV a 
muggle it would be a blow perhaps worse than death itself.  This 
would certainly be adequate motivation for LV to target Harry.

Why/How would Harry have this power?  I speculate that it may be 
through or in concert with a device rather than just an inherited 
trait that is passed to him when he is ready, much in the same way 
the cloak was.  It may also help explain in some way the mysterious 
wealth of his parents.  It is also interesting to note that - and 
please excuse this one reference to the film - that James and Lilly 
were living as muggles at the time LV attacked them, although this is 
more commonly explained as part of their hiding tactics.  It is 
possible that this power has to do with the phoenix that through its 
own regenerative powers would one day enable magic to return to the 
world.

I like this theory because I find the departure/journey/return myth 
more satisfying than the simple battle of Good and Evil ending and 
because it gives JKR a good excuse to stop after the seventh book, 
for the remaining characters would then be muggles with "ordinary" 
lives thereafter.  From the books and her interviews, JKR gives me 
the impression that she would like such an ending too.

Of course I could be wrong...

Chris:)