The Ministry's Bombs--Was: Is Sirius Really Dead?

[Kristen]

No: HPFGUIDX 72526

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Danger Mouse" 
<dangermousehq at h...> wrote:
> Lauri:
> Unless she wanted to illustrate that when a live person goes 
through the veil/archway he *dies*.  Whether he walks through, is 
pushed/forced through, falls through - whatever - he's dead.  
Obviously we're seeing this from Harry's POV and he doesn't 
understand exactly why. (Which is why we don't.) However, the adults 
in the room seemed to understand some unspoken truth that once you go 
through - that's it.  
> 
> Me:
> Perhaps. Here we go. First, you have Avada Kedavra (which, as many 
others agree, is truly a Killing Curse in that in creates a big green 
ball of death--Cruciatus creates pure pain--Imperius produces 
absolute control), but that's like a gun--just another way of killing 
someone, slicing their soul away from their body without so much as a 
mark (well, a scar, but only if you have a very popular book series). 
Sure, it's Unforgivable (because it requires pure intent and desire 
to destroy/murder without regret, I assume), but there's other charms 
that could be used to kill (discussed before, iirc), such as 
Levitating a piano over someone's head, Severing someone's head, or, 
as Pettigrew did, blow up a street. 
> 
> What shocks and disgusts me about the Veil, Time, and Love room; is 
that it seems to take magic too far. It's like the nuclear bomb, the 
poisons, the embarrassments to science that have only cropped up 
within the past 100 years. Things made to kill and destroy, to tamper 
with the vast powers and deep secrets humans have proved themselves 
irresponsible in using. Sure, genetics has given us great things, but 
it's also given us even more creative ways of killing and torturing 
each other. Nuclear bombs allowed for nuclear power, but made 
possible the destruction of our entire world... now, before I get too 
off topic...
> 
> Our perspective has followed Harry in the past five years from a 
childlike adoration of magic, to a disillusioned reality. The 
Ministry is corrupt. People use their power to destroy and 
manipulate, rather than create. Sirius said that there are shades of 
morality, not just Death Eaters and the Good Guys. 
> 
> Rowling has showed us the nuclear bombs of the wizarding world, and 
those capable of using them. Is it ethical for the Ministry to create 
big vats of Love and Time, and a sheet of Death? I don't think so; I 
think it's going too far, and who knows what other things the 
Department of Mysteries contains... I think that they're tampering 
with forces that are too intimate to ourselves and intrinsic to the 
Universe, and that it's going to disastrous in the end. 
> 
> -Dan (the melodramatic one), who wants the whispering Veil burned 
before any more father figures die.
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dan:

I've been under the impression that the whispering veil was contained 
in the Chamber of Death. To my recollection, the purpose for that 
room was never explained. One of my theories is that it was a room 
that was used in conjunction with the Wizengamot. Possibly an 
execution chamber they abandoned centuries ago? Or maybe when a 
wizard/witch reaches an advanced age and doesn't wish to live any 
longer, he/she simply walks through the veil to a different realm. It 
was a place well known to everyone and, yet, there was a sense of 
acceptance of its purpose. Perhaps we'll be let in on its secret in 
Book 6. In any case, I don't think that the Dept. of Mysteries was 
dabbling in apocalyptic mayhem.

madeyesgal