Choices

[B Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 86478

Thinking outside the box.
Is that still  part of management jargon?
'Cos I've been playing at something along those  lines.
This was triggered by a couple of exchanges I've had recently with 
Geoff and his persistent, nay, worrying obsession with LotR. So don't  
blame me, blame him.

What does almost every so-called epic have that  hasn't yet  appeared 
in HP?
(Apart from the femme fatale who introduces the  hero to unspeakable 
(yippee!) sexual practices.)

The Temptation of course.
The offer/realisation that power  can be his for the taking. All he  
has to do is resist the persistent  blandishments of those urging 
peace, love and a macrobiotic diet and step to the other side.

All you need  is  a bit of  lateral thinking.
That  prophecy. It  says that Harry (or so it is presumed) will be 
Voldy's equal.
We have assumed  something slightly different;  that  he will  be  
Voldy's equal *and opposite*.
But it doesn't say that at all. Just that someone equal to the Dark 
Lord will come along and may defeat him. No mention of a saviour-like 
figure, no mention of a paragon of all that is good and virtuous, just 
the two of them fighting it out and there being no certainty as to who 
will win.
A power struggle  to determine who will be top  dog.

Now I can't see  JKR ending the series with Harry as the Evil Overlord 
of the WW (though it would be a refreshing change from the accepted 
convention that good always wins), but I can see Harry going through a 
crisis of conscience somewhere along the way.

Is  this  what that old duffer Dumbledore was on about when he burbled 
on about "choices defining us?"

The Sorting Hat seemed to  think that Harry was prime Slytherin 
material, that it would "help him to  greatness." Harry rejected the 
offer, based on what? Innate goodness? No. An antipathy to *one* 
individual he took a dislike to. Before he really knew what Slytherin 
(or Gryffindor) were all about. But that doesn't mean that the 
Slytherin-worthy potential has gone away; it's still there lying in 
wait, ready to surface if the opportunity arises. And I expect it to 
surface. (Has it started already with the casting of the Crucio! 
curse?) Harry's behaviour in the last book is a case-book example of 
teenage rebellion and bloody-mindedness; why should it not  continue, 
or indeed become more pronounced?

There's been a stuttering on/off thread wondering who will be the next 
to betray the Order. This isn't the first time I've placed Harry  at 
the top of the list of 'those most likely to' as a result of his anger, 
angst and resentment against those who seem to be manipulating him. 
Eventual remorse and reconciliation with his finer instincts are pretty 
much a foregone conclusion, but while he's away he might do an awful 
lot of damage.

The prime target will, of course, be Dumbledore.
Well, you didn't expect him to survive, did  you?

Kneasy