TBAY: Thestral and Dark Magic

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 78390

Abigail, who's been testing out her new persona as a bohemian 
artiste, enters the Royal George in style.  She's dressed entirely in 
black, with a single string of pearls hanging all the way down to 
her waist.  Of course, Abigail can't really afford pearls, so what 
she's actually wearing is a string of pshychedelic love-beads that 
she found in the back of Stoned!Harry's closet.  Nevertheless, she 
makes a grand entrance, flinging the doors wide open and striking 
an impressive pose against the setting TBAY sun.

The image is somewhat spoiled when an overjoyed Prank leaps on 
her, knocking her to the ground, and begins licking her face.

"Stupid mutt... gerroff!"  She tries to shove the enthusiastic dog away.  
"George!  Help!"

George helps Abigail to her feet.  "Whose dog is that?"  She snaps at 
him, as she makes a vain attempt at brushing the dog hair off her 
clothes.  

"I think Marina brought him with her."  He replies.  

"Well, in that case drinks are on her."  Abigail says crossly, and 
trudges, artistic refinement all but forgotten, over to Marina's table, 
where a large group, including Derannimer and Kristini, are 
arguing happily.

"Abigail!"  Marina greets her happily.  "Pull up a chair!  We've just 
been discussing the mechanics of the Prank.  We're trying to decide 
who told James about what Sirius had done.  Some people say it was 
Lily, others that it was Peter, and still others say that there was no 
middleman and Sirius told James himself, JKR's awkward phrasing be 
damned.  Care to offer an opinion?"

"On the Prank?  I don't think so."  Abigail shakes her head as she 
accepts a drink from George.  "I'm strictly a non-dog person when I'm 
on TBAY.  But may I ask, who does that remarkable ship berthed 
outside belong to?"

"You mean the ship that's covered in black crepe bunting?"  Marina asks.

"Yes."

"The one with life-size mourning cameos attached to all the sails?"

"Uh-huh."

"And the flag-pole that's only reaches to half-mast?"

"That's the one."

"Why, that's my ship."  Marina says proudly, but with a twinge of grief 
in her voice.  "The USS SAD DENIAL."  She lowers her glass and stares 
wistfully into the middle distance.  "He will rise!"

"Um, yeah."  Abigail says, rather uncomfortably.  "I only asked because 
a rather dour-faced person standing next to the gangplank gave me 
this pamphlet, and I've been hoping to discuss it with someone."  She 
pulls out a piece of paper in shades of grey and dark purple.  Sombre 
letters spell out 'The Importance of Thestrals'.

"I think that's one of mine."  Marina says.  "Although Terry, that is, one 
of the Terrys, gave me the idea.  You see,"  she settles herself more 
comfortably into her chair, "Terry said that we know the thestrals can 
find their way anywhere, and wasn't it a little mundane to waste that on 
the Ministry of Magic?  Terry suggested that the Thestrals would take 
Harry to the place behind the veil."

"And you agreed with her."  Abigail says.

"Oh, most certainly."  Marina replies.  "JKR did emphasize the Thestrals' 
connection with death and their ability to find any location you ask them 
to go to.  And you know what that means, don't you?  Not only can they 
find their way beyond the veil, but..."  She pauses dramatically.  "They 
can also find the way *back*!  And Sirius is a special case, isn't he?  Most 
people pass behind the veil as spirits, leaving their bodies on this side.  
You can't bring back a disembodied spirit.  But Sirius went through 
physically.  He should be able to come back physically.  All he needs is 
transport."

Abigail considers this for a few minutes.  "I like it."  She says finally.

"You do? Oh, wonderful!"  Marina enthuses.  "Can I interest you in one of 
our STUFFED BEARs?"

"Not hardly."  Abigail says, accepting another drink from George and 
picking some more dog hair off her clothes.  "I like the idea that Harry 
will travel to the underworld to retrieve Sirius.  After all, by the end of OOP 
he's already attempted several desperate measures to contact him.  He 
tries to go beyond the veil himself, he tries to use the mirror to contact 
Sirius, and he tries to find out if Sirius could become a ghost.  His behavior 
when he speaks to Luna notwithstanding, it's clear that Harry hasn't 
accepted the fact or the finality of Sirius' death.  Where we disagree is in 
whether Harry will succeed."

"Oh, heavens, not another one."  Marina says.  "I've been hearing this 
argument day and night, you know.  The one about thematic consistency.  
About how JKR worked so hard to show us that death is definite, the 
millions of assurances that no one can return from the dead.  It's getting 
a bit old, you know."

Abigail smiles.  "Oh, I'm quite certain that it is possible to return Sirius 
from the dead in the manner which you've described, using the Thestrals, 
and I believe that Harry will attempt to do so.  It's just that I firmly believe 
that any such attempt will fall under the category of Dark Magic."  

With a flick of a wand, Abigail produces a scroll of parchment so faded 
and covered with dust that it is barely legible.  Marina can almost make 
out a message number - 35276.

"I wrote this ever so long ago."  Abigail says wistfully.  "During a discussion 
on Harry and Voldemort's wands.  Listen to this:

>>Voldemort, representing and embodying evil, is all about the defeat 
of death.  The name "Voldemort" with which he had been associated with 
since he was a child, means "the death of death", his followers are the 
eaters of death, even his symbol is the Morsmordre - death of death again. 
By his own admission, his final goal in the bad old days was to achieve 
immortality, and he worked very hard to protect himself against death so 
that, having been hit by the Avada Kedavra curse, he still managed to 
survive in some basic, bodyless form.

Taking these ambitions away from Voldemort's other ambitions (namely, 
ruling the world, killing muggles and muggle-born wizards, and general 
murder and mayhem) they don't seem so terrible.  After all, what could be 
better than conquering death? ...  It's Hagrid who answers this question at 
the very beginning of the series when he says of Voldemort "Some say he 
died... Don't know if he had enough human left in him to die."

In other words, in Potterverse, evil isn't represented by death and good 
by life, but almost the other way around. ... The pheonix, then, represents 
not immortality but resurrection - life *through* death, not without it, just 
as Harry's life is saved through the death of his mother. To be a dark wizard, 
then, is to dispute the natural order of things - that everything must change 
and die - and attempt to change it.>>

"Voldemort's obsession with escaping death is reiterated in his 
confrontation with Dumbledore, immediately following Sirius' death.  
'There is nothing worse the death!', he avers.  I think at this point Harry 
agrees with him.  I think he will attempt to change the natural order of 
things, and I think that it will be his darkest hour - we already see a hint 
that Voldemort's actions are beginning to draw Harry into darkness when 
he attempts to Crucio Bellatrix.  I believe that, like Orpheus, Harry will 
find himself at the end of his trip to the realm of Hades clutching nothing 
but air, with the taste of ashes in his mouth."  Abigail smiles.  "His 
salvation will come only if he accepts Luna's assurances that he will 
indeed see Sirius again, and not through trying to defeat death but by 
accepting it."

Abigail is silent for a few moments, and then begins frantically brushing 
at her clothes again.  "Damn, Marina, how much hair does that dog have?"

Abigail