The Gleam Revisited

[jayenks]

No: HPFGUIDX 45123

Lizbot Said: 
> > I like this idea.  I don't think it's too simple or anything.  I 
> just 
> > wonder why, if that's the case, Dumbledore couldn't just say that 
> to 
> > Harry at the end of GoF.> 

draco382 Said:
> Concerning why he didn't just tell Harry this, maybe he didn't want 
> Harry to get the impression that now Voldie would be "easy" to 
> destroy.  Even though Voldemort is now no longer vapour and gas, he 
> is no less dangerous to Harry or the rest of the WW.  But of 
course, 
> now maybe there is a little vulnerability to Voldemort that will be 
> the key to his un-doing, so to speak.  So Dumbledore keeps it to 
> himself and Harry is still on his toes.  Constant Vigilance, and 
all 
> that.


I think it's more a matter of the gleam being what Dumbledore 
_thinks_.  Voldemort says: "His mother left upon him traces of her 
sacrifice. . . . This is old magic, I should have remembered it, I 
was foolish to overlook it . . . but no matter."  (GOF, US addition, 
pgs. 652-3).  Later on he says of the spell that resurrected 
him "(cut)--it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the potion that revived 
me tonight--(cut)"  (GOF, US, pg. 656)  and later on, of Harry's 
home, "Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's 
protection (snip)"  (GOF, US, pg. 657).  It seems to me that all of 
these are powerful spells and workings that are not done very often, 
or at all in recent times, so simply not much is known about them.  
Therefore, Dumbledore may _think_ that Voldemort is human, but how 
can he be sure?  And what if Harry acts on it?  I really wouldn't 
want to hear 'oops, sorry, well, guess I was wrong; tricky thing this 
whole old-magic thing.'  It could also be that Dumbledore is sure, 
but that he doesn't know what to do with the information yet.  

just adding fuel to the fire

~Jaye