Did Harry Kill Quirrel? (Was Literary Themes . . . )

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 64094


--- In HPforGrownups (someone - I'm not sure who based on the citation)
wrote:

> I don't  think we ever see a goodie (i.e. a current friend of 
> Dumbledore's) kill anyone (is this true?). 

Dumbledad replied:

"Sadly not. Harry does kill Quirrel. It's certainly justifiable as 
self defense, but in the end it is an attack by Harry that kills him."


Now me (Wendy):

Well, a case can be made that it was Voldemort leaving Quirrell's body
which caused Quirrell's death. We don't really have canon to say for
certain that Harry is directly responsible for Quirrell's death, and I
prefer to believe that Harry wasn't. In fact, IIRC somewhere in canon
Dumbledore does say that Voldemort "left his servant to die," (don't
remember where, a bit too shattered to hunt through four books looking for
it <g>). This doesn't confirm anything either way, but it does suggest that
Dumbledore lays the blame for Quirrell's death on Voldemort, not Harry. As
for Harry being indirectly responsible, I suppose you could say that he
was, but if Voldemort hadn't been possessing Quirrell, touching Harry
wouldn't have harmed him (Quirrell), so the damage Quirrell did take from
Harry is linked to Voldemort, as well. 

:-)

Wendy St John
hebrideanblack at earthlink.net