[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry and the Stone/Elixir

[Richelle Votaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 43682

Carol Bainbridge writes:

> On first thought, I like this theory.  (I don't have a second thought,
> yet.)  It may have some lose ends, but it still makes some sense.
Wouldn't

Yes, well, the lose ends are JKR's problem. :)

> I'm not sure I buy into the Harry-will-die theory, in any guise, but I do
> like the idea that Voldemort might *think* he is killing Harry, with Harry
> being protected -- again.  Personally, I'd love to see that.  Pride often
> leads to a fall, and if Voldemort was so sure he had defeated Harry, it
> would be nothing short of delightful for me to watch Voldemort fail --
again.

I suppose it is even possible that the older Harry gets and the better
trained he becomes, if an AK would bounce again, it could perhaps have an
even greater effect?  Destroy Voldemort completely instead of "just" ripping
him from his body.

> I could buy this as long as I don't have to think of Lilly and James
> experimenting on their own child.

Well, I think it all depends on the circumstances.  First, the thought of
Harry being a lab rat isn't so great.  However, depending on the
circumstances surrounding it, maybe it's not so bad.  For example, if he
*were* given pure Elixir of Life and not a concoction, it was well known
that it wouldn't hurt him.  Didn't hurt Nicholas Flamel.

Which brings me to another point.  Do we *know* that there was only one
stone?  The book Hermione got the information from said there had been many
reports of SS over the centuries, but only one was currently in existence.
Are we so certain?  Could the Potters have had one?  It's just that the RED
of the stone and the GOLD it turns any metal to sounds strangly familiar.
Where have I heard red and gold before?  Oh, right, Gryffindor.  And Harry
does have a vault full of *gold* which we don't know where it came from.
Well, obviously from his parents, but how'd they get rich?  Someone at some
point in the past had to aquire the money, it didn't just appear.  Unless,
of course, it did, with the help of a certain stone.  But alas, I'm getting
off track again.

> Now if Lilly administers a potion to
> Harry because at the moment Voldemort is busy in the living room busy
> killing James and she doesn't have a lot of options left, then I can buy

That is certainly a possibility too.

> it.  What other option would there be?  Just leave it all alone, knowing
> that Voldemort will come up and kill them, or at least Harry? I like the
> idea, too, that Lilly begged for her life as a distraction to give the
> potion time to work.

It would explain the begging, if she really knew that Voldemort could care
less anyhow.  And if the potion was highly experiemental Harry was about to
die anyway, so it wouldn't matter.  It would definitely be a last resort.

> Some may say that Voldemort wouldn't bother listening
> to 3 seconds of begging because he's cold-hearted and totally
disinterested
> in such things.  However, some people, like Voldemort, are cruel and
> heartless enough to enjoy listening or watching someone beg.  It gives
them
> an extra thrill they wouldn't get if they just went blasting straight
away.

He did seem to get a thrill from it.  Harry hears over and over the laughing
from Voldemort before Lily is killed.  The laughter seems to be the most
prominent part of the flashbacks and he heard a high voice cackling with
laughter in the nightmares he had in SS/PS.

Richelle