Ghosts

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53183

Greicy wrote:
*If* ghosts have unfinished business, 
like Moaning Myrtle bothering Olivia 
Hornby, then why aren't James and Lily 
ghosts?

I reply:
It's Olive Hornby, BTW. ;-)

Well, we can only speculate here, 
but I don't think it's reasonable 
to assume that parents who want 
to raise their kids have unfinished 
business, necessarily. What I mean 
to say is, there must be something 
else, otherwise everyone would 
become a ghost and no-one would 
die, right? We'd all be back as 
ghosts, unless we were ready to go.

In that light, then Cedric should be a ghost, since I'm sure he 
wasn't ready, and everyone else that Voldemort murdered along with 
him. Sadly, I just don't think that it works that way.

What we know of Moaning Myrtle was that she felt taunted by this 
Hornby girl – I'd say that Olive pretty much made her life miserable. 
Even in death, Myrtle is terribly, comically sensitive about 
everything. I'd say that her desire for revenge was fairly strong, 
maybe even overwhelming. 

My guess is that what Myrtle needs is acceptance of some sort, which 
she hasn't really gotten yet.  But I'd assume that this haunting of 
Olive didn't necessarily achieve the objective, since Myrtle's still 
around.

Speaking of which, it begs the question why all of these ghosts are 
at Hogwarts in the first place, right? I mean, it's not necessarily a 
foregone conclusion that they all died there. So, if they have 
unfinished business, why aren't they *finishing* it?


Greicy wrote:
Do the souls of Avada Kedavra victims get sucked into the wand of 
the person committing the murder? Now that Priori Incantem was done 
those souls are freed and James and Lily could help Harry defeat 
Voldemort.

I reply:
No, what we saw as a result of Prior Incantatem is what Dumbledore 
describes as an 'echo,' and he is careful to correct Harry when he 
uses the term `ghost' by mistake

"All that would have appeared is kind of a reverse echo. A shadow of 
the living Cedric <snip>"
"He spoke to me," Harry said. He was suddenly shaking again. "The... 
the ghost Cedric, or whatever he was, spoke."
"An echo," said Dumbledore, "which retained Cedric's appearance and 
character."
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch.36, 698)

Remember when Amos Diggory used Prior Incantato in GoF Ch.9 to 
recreate the Dark Mark from Harry's wand? It shows us what Harry 
perceives as looking "as though it were made of thick gray smoke: the 
ghost of a spell." (GoF, US hardcover, Ch.9, 136) Harry doesn't know 
any better and perceives it as a 'ghost of a spell.' It's really just 
an 'echo' of "MORSMORDRE!" 

Incidentally, that's a terrifying incantation for a spell, IMO.

All that the induced Priori Incantatem shows us in the graveyard 
scene are the results of the spells that were cast from the wand, in 
reverse order. That's why we hear screams, and see echoes emerging, 
and so forth.

As for Avada Kedavra, do you think there's more to learn? I dunno. We 
know a lot already: it's use results in a life sentence in Azkaban, 
it's unblockable, it involves a green light, it requires a very 
powerful magic behind it (Moody's "nosebleed" quip in Ch. 14), and it 
results in a death with no noticeable cause, which, I guess, for 
those who know what to look for, *is* the noticeable cause. ;-)

I wonder what she could add to that. Well, if there's more, I'm sure 
it'll be good. ;-)

-Tom