The Boy that Lived: Final fate

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 72129

Annemehr:
 >> I didn't mean that mute people are doomed to be unhappy, I 
just  meant, what would it have to do with the story if Harry 
became one?    It would be a pointless misfortune as far as 
theme or plot go.  <<

That depends on what you think the theme or the plot is <g>.  
Magic in stories  can be a metaphor about the way that the 
powers of grown ups   seem magical to children. After all, what 
conjuration could be more magical than the power to create new 
life? And what is more transforming than love? 

That is, as JKR has said,  the only magic, and in order to 
emphasize that it *is* the only magic, the hero, in modern 
fantasy, has to choose between it and  the make-believe magic 
of spells and wands and so forth.  So in countless tales,from 
Prydain to Earthsea to the Land of Oz, one must surrender  
magical power in order to save the world and/or to  regain a 
family of one's own. To be worthy of real  responsibility, that is,  
one must cease to expect a make-believe solution to one's 
problems.

Now it is only fair to say that as a child I found that extremely
frustrating, and thought it was a pointless misfortune that 
Dorothy lost her silver shoes on the way back to Kansas. I 
wanted to have magic, and of course I wanted to grow up too, 
and I thought the authors were very tiresome for saying that one 
always had to choose in the end. But they were only telling the 
truth: there isn't some power that is magical and some that 
isn't,  there's only the power we have and the powers beyond 
us.

JKR has said that she simply detests Peter Pan for not growing 
up, so I think we can count on it that Harry, if he survives, will
find love and make a family of his own.  JKR has laid the 
groundwork for Harry to find a place in the Muggle world. The 
story begins in Little Whinging; it will be unbalanced if it does not 
end there. Harry has discovered a talent, teaching, which does 
not depend on magic.  JKR has also introduced the  dragon's 
claw potion which allows one to learn at a fantastic rate. Any 
gaps in Harry's education can thus be filled in.

As for the mechanics, we already know that wizards can lose 
their powers: Voldemort did. I am sure JKR has worked out 
something terribly complicated involving the silver 
hand, the Veil, the locked room, the silver sword of Gryffindor, 
the prophecy, and the various lifedebts outstanding. 

Pippin