Grindelwald (was significance in McGonagall’s years of service?)

[Hagrid]

No: HPFGUIDX 78644

--- "meltowne" wrote: (snip)
> --- "Arya" <dequardo> wrote: (snip)
> > 
> > Dumbledore (who we know to have been Riddle's transfig teacher).  
> >  
> > 
> LV graduated around 1945 - the same year Grindewald was defeated 
> by Dumbledore.  This also means he stepped right into the void 
> left by Grindewald's defeat - how convenient.  > Melinda

aussie says:
Grindelwald has probably been discussed at length, but I can't find 
it. But let me point out 2 or 3 things.

- Grindelwald was DEFEATED, he wasn't killed.

- He was beaten by a full time Hogwarts teacher, not an Auror. (does 
that mean Grindelwald was recruiting aroung Hogwarts ... or used 
Salazar's Chamber of Secrets to instruct his protege(s)?

- I agree that LV fears Dumbledore because of him beating Grindelwald,
but not just because of hearsay. Tom was much closer to Grindelwald 
than that. More than just a blood relative. I mean as close as LV was 
to Quirrel in an effort to continue living.

(In the end of PS/SS, Dumbledore said of LV, "He is still out there 
somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share... not being 
truly alive, he cannot be killed.")

- and if Grindelwald can cling to life, why not the source of the 
Drak Arts? SALAZAR SLYTHERIN himself. 

He would only need to live about 50% longer than Nicholas Flamel and, 
in CoS, Salazar was another who conspicuously wasn't pronounced dead. 
Rather, Binns said, "there was a serious argument on the subject 
between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."

Firenze (as all Centaurs) concerns himself with ages, not a decade. 
He was interrupted before he could answer Harry's question, "Do you 
mean that was Vol-?" in PS/SS (that section is quoted below - to be 
snipped in replies)

Firenze may know that "VOLDEMORT" is not just the new name for TOM 
RIDDLE, but GRINDELWALD and SALAZAR SLYTHERIN as well.

aussie_lol
PS: Now that LV came back using Flesh and blood, there may be enough 
left of him to kill off for good ... unless he possesses Draco's body 
later.
PPS: In interviews, JKR hoped that a main secret she was hiding 
wouldn't just be blurted out after planning and secrecy over so many 
years ... so I deleted this theory a few times before. Sorry Jo, if I 
told your punch line. 
Of course, I have other ideas I haven't spoken of yet. Those sub-
plots could be kept for book 7, and you could kill off Voldemort in # 
6 to really suprise everyone - hehehe.

****************************
Delete below this line when replying:

They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that 
Harry thought Firenze didn't want to talk to him anymore. They were 
passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when 
Firenze suddenly stopped.
"Harry Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"
"No," said Harry, startled by the odd question. "We've only used the 
horn and tail hair in Potions."
"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," said 
Firenze. "Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, 
would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you 
alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. 
You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and 
you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the 
blood touches your lips."
Harry stared at the back of Firenze's head, which was dappled silver 
in the moonlight. "But who'd be that desperate?" he wondered 
aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, deaths better, isn't 
it?"
"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long 
enough to drink something else -- something that will bring you back 
to full strength and power -- something that will mean you can never 
die. Mr. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this 
very moment?"
"The Sorcerer's Stone! Of course -- the Elixir of Life! But I don't 
understand who --"

"Can you think of nobody WHO HAS WAITED MANY YEARS TO RETURN TO 
POWER, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?" *emphasis added*

It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Harry's 
heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more 
what Hagrid had told him on the night they had met: "Some say he 
died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in 
him to die."
"Do you mean," Harry croaked, "that was Vol-"
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"
Hermione was running toward them ...
(PS/SS Chap 15)