OOP: A Room at the MoM

[Louisa]

No: HPFGUIDX 63465

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "John Hatch" 
<john at s...> wrote:
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> Many apologies if this has already been dealt with - I searched 
the archives as thoroughly as I could and only saw a few 
discussions about it. Those discussions actually bring me to my 
question:
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> In one paragraph, Dumbledore tells Harry there is a room at 
the Department of Mysteries where a power more great and 
terrible than pretty much anything (I'm obviously paraphrasing) 
exists and that Harry has this in abundance and Voldemort has 
none of it. It is also the reason Voldemort could not stand to 
possess Harry for very long.
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> Is this supposed to be a tremendous mystery? At first, I thought 
so. Then I thought it must be obvious that she is talking about 
love, compassion, charity (as in the Biblical usage), etc. But I've 
been second-guessing myself. JKR is usually more direct about 
these issues when Dumbledore is explaining things. Could it be 
that what Harry possesses is a mystery for the future? Or am I 
reading WAY too far into this.
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> John
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I puzzled about this for quite a while, and was happy to see your 
question.  When I reread the scene where Harry is actually 
possessed by Voldemort, it really does seem to be that it is 
simply Harry's love for Sirius that makes it so that V cannot 
possess him any further.  

So what's with the room in the MoM?  Are the Unspeakables 
simply trying to understand love?  that seems somewhat absurd, 
but what if they are simply trying to understand the effect that love 
has on evil?  That might make more sense.  Ultimately, I think 
this is very important, perhaps because I don't much like thinking 
of Harry as a murderer, even of Voldemort.  HOW is he going to 
kill Voldemort?  By Avada Kedavra?  I doubt it.  JKR must  have 
something much more profound up her sleeve.

(And I suspect that Neville will play an important role!  and Luna 
too -JKR did not introduce for no reason, I'm sure)

Louisa (aka naprous, a 14th-century heretic)
a newbie here, but I hope you won't take that against me...