Life+Loyalty: A Voldemort/Dumbledore Connection

[Risti]

No: HPFGUIDX 44205

Ok, let me first of all start off by saying I'm new here, so forgive 
me if this has already been discussed, and possibly give me a 
guideline as to when.  I would have searched your archives, but well, 
reading thousands of emails isn't quite something I have the time to 
do(unfortunately, as I'm sure they are all fascinating.)

In any case, I have a theory to expound upon, and I would love to 
here your opinions of it.  It began with me trying to find the answer 
to a question that I'm sure has plagued most of us:Why is Voldemort 
scared of Dumbledore?  The answer that I've found becomes more and 
more plausible every time I think about it.

First, a quote from GoF, as Voldemort is explaining to his followers 
how he survived the rebound of the curse he performed on Harry, "I 
miscalculated, my friends, I admit it.  My curse was deflected by the 
woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon me.  Aah... pain 
beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it.  I 
was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the 
meanest ghost ... but still, I was alive.  What I was, even I do not 
know ... I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that 
leads to immortality.  You know my goal - to conquer death.  And now, 
I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had 
worked ... for I had not been killed, though the curse should have 
done it..."(GoF Hardback Canadian/British Edition, pg 566)

This was the quote that put it all in perspective.  Think about this 
as I go through a few more things first.

Fact: Pheonix's are magical birds, whose traits include extreme 
loyalty and the ability to return to life from the ashes, essentially 
meaning eternal life.
Fact: Dumbledore has a Pheonix, named Fawkes, who gave two feathers 
to be made into magical cores for wands.
Fact: A wand is very important to a wizard's ability to do magic, and 
the type of wand, and especially wand core, can affect a 
witch/wizard's magic(The whole weighing of the wand scene proves 
this, as well as the confrontation between Voldemort and Harry)
Fact: Voldemort's wand contains one of those feathers that belonged 
to Fawkes, a Pheonix who is loyal to Dumbledore.

Does this mean then, that Voldemort's wand core, the core of his 
magical ability, is loyal to Dumbledore?  How would a wand made up of 
a feather from a bird loyal to Dumbledore react if asked to perform a 
killing curse upon its master?

Now ponder this.  I will admit that this next section is much less 
grounded in fact, and more in my overactive imagination then the 
last.  Approximately fifty years ago, Tom Riddle came to Hogwarts, 
and the Chamber of Secret's was opened.  Dumbledore was the one 
teacher who didn't trust Riddle as much as the others.  In book one, 
according to his chocolate frog card, Dumbledore defeated the dark 
wizard Grindlewald in 1945.  Whether you use the (flawed) Death-Day-
based timeline or not, this is still approximately 50 years before 
the events of the books, maybe a little more.  So end the facts, and 
so begins my imagination.  I think that one of the things Dumbledore 
discovered during his battle with Grindlewald was the true nature, or 
at least lineage, of Tom M. Riddle.  I also think that he saved his 
life from Grindlewald, who wanted to kill off any competition in the 
way of dark wizards.  This would definately make Tom Riddle, a.k.a. 
Lord Voldemort, in Dumbledore's debt.  Using a theory I have about 
Snape and the Potters(ask me about it, it's off topic for here), and 
the Pettigrew-Harry incident, I think that it is impossible to kill 
someone who saved your life.

So now let me go back to what I began with.  Life, and the search for 
it.  Voldemort admits that it is his goal to conquer death.  Would it 
not make sense then that his arch-enemy would be the person who has 
succeeded in doing this?  Albus Dumbledore, along with his defeat of 
the dark wizard Grindlewald, is also famous for something else:his 
work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.  Nicolas Flamel is 
holds the only KNOWN(I'll get into that in a later post...) 
Philosopher's stone.  The one thing that can truly conquer death.  
Unless of course, it's the tears of a Pheonix.

Kinda makes you wonder just what the Order of the Pheonix is, doesn't 
it?

Kinda makes ME wonder what the twelve uses of dragon's blood 
are...after all, they're the only other thing Dumbledore's famous for.

~Risti