accidental magic

[clicketykeys]

No: HPFGUIDX 47473

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Indigo" <indigo at i...> wrote:
> 
> Alina:
> > 
> > Jazmyn, your point was that magic doesn't kick in until kids are 11 
> years
> > old. My point is it does. It may be induced by stress, yes, and 
> something in
> > me seriously doubts that muggles can fly brooms. I think it takes 
> magic for
> > a brook to actually start floating when you say "Up!" and for a 
> muggle it
> > wouldn't do anything. That's arguable, I know.
> > 
> > As for the child with the wand... No, mom shouldn't have been 
> frantic as if
> > the kid was holding a gun. A gun can kill if the person holding it 
> is strong
> > enough to squeeze the trigger. A wand can't do serious magic unless 
> the
> > person holding it is a trained adult. 
> 
> 
> Indigo:
> 
> I'm not so sure about that, Alina. If the kid could intentionally 
> blow up slugs at the World Cup with Daddy's wand, what's to say that 
> he couldn't do worse if he really set his will to it?  
> 

Clicketykeys: 

Because he hasn't been trained in the use of such spells? Magic is 
more than just intent; it's also training.

Indigo:

> Remember, kids don't have the same scruples and rules-related 
> knowledge and restrictions of their abilities as older kids/adults 
> do.  
> 
> A wand in the hand of a particularly gifted or particularly strong-
> willed kid could potentially be very dangerous.
> 
> Harry got Expecto Patronum as a third year, and Remus told him it 
> might be far too advanced for a student his age, because there were 
> full-fledged wizards who still hadn't mastered Expecto Patronum. 
> 
> Harry doesn't study as hard as Hermione does, but he mastered a spell 
> that a teacher said was likely going to be too hard for him to 
> master.  And this is with time and history against him; he had grown 
> up magic-free for his 11 years, as opposed to some of his all-wizard 
> friends, like Ron and Neville.  

Clicketykeys:

I would argue that Harry did /not/ master the Patronus. The only 
reason he was able to conjure one successfully at the end of the book 
was because of the unique circumstances created by the Time-Turner. In 
addition to that, he was being personally coached for months.

Indigo:
> 
> This, to me, implies that kid wizards have a great deal of untapped 
> potential that they only have to focus really hard to realize 
> magically.

Clicketykeys:

I think it's rather like programming a VCR: yes, a child can do it, 
but SOMEONE has to teach them how.
> 
> Alina:
> Remember Crouch!Moody told the class
> > that if they all got their wands out and started screaming "Avadar 
> Kedavra"
> > he wouldn't even get a nosebleed. 
> 
> Indigo:
> I'm not so sure about this.  
> 
> Hermione was doing more advanced magic than the first years her first 
> year, because of her desire to be good at everything.
> 
> See the Patronus mention above.  Harry can do advanced magic far 
> beyond NEWT level in his third year.  If that's possible for him, 
> it's possible for other wizards [though Harry is, in fairness, a 
> special case, due to the Voldemort-touch having given him some of the 
> big V's powers].
> 
> [Just as Lockhart was useless at most magic but had a facility for 
> Memory charms, by contrast]. 

Clicketykeys:

I dunno. I think this merely shows that some wizards are more talented 
and/or more driven then others.
> 
> Fake!Moody could've just been saying that as a precaution so that 
> none of the kids would/could try.   I could just see the subject 
> coming up and  Malfoy sneering at Harry and yelling "Avada Kedavra!" -
> - even if it does require a full-trained wizard to be a kill-spell, 
> Draco's ill-will plus the exponentially growing malice Draco holds 
> for Harry might well have given the spell *some* potency, if not 
> lethal-level.
> 
> This would've resulted in Ron yelling "Avada Kedavra" back at Draco, 
> and Crabbe and Goyle yelling it back at Ron, and it would've become 
> an Unforgivable Curses brawl for any kid in DADA class who wasn't too 
> afraid [Neville] or who wasn't disrespectful of the rules 
> [Hermione].   
> 
> Practially and rationally speaking: I think Fake!Moody thought it 
> better to convince the fourth years that even attempting Avada 
> Kedavra would be a waste of time and effort.  

Clicketykeys:

Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I kind of think it was a "watch and 
learn" lesson for any potential Death Eaters out there -- not enough 
instruction for any of them to master the spell, but enough that if 
they were paying attention, they might be able to benefit from 
practicing and concentrating.

> --Indigo
> [nursing a post-Feast Wars headache]

*patpat* 

- C.K.
clicketykeys