TBAY: Harry as Alexander the Great

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 53675

It was sunset, and life in a house on bay front property was getting a
bit nervous.  With the forecasters predicting, with unprecedented
precision, a Hurricane named Jo coming toward the area, the safe house
was attempting to organize itself.  Even though the storm was not
expected for some time, there is an old saying one should always be
prepared.

Grey Wolf and Pip were bringing in the many groceries and sundries
that Sneaky just bought in bulk that they needed like candles, canned
goods, pop tarts, and duct tape - can't have a theory appliance
without lots and lots of duct tape.  Sneaky was walking down the back
stairs after taking Melody her requested box of double stuffed Oreos,
canister of hot chocolate mix, and plaid umbrella.

"Here.  Where should we put the 24 pack of 'D' batteries?" Grey Wolf
asked tossing Pip the lot of Duracells.

"Next to the battery operated radio I imagine.  Do you have the set of
Maglite flashlights in your bag?" Pip asked.  "Oh Sneaky," she said
seeing the house elf come back in the kitchen, "is Mel coming down to
help?"

"Yeah," Sneaky said hopping up her tall footstool to put the columns
of cans of soup away.  "She's got a boy up there."

"Who's got who where?" Grey Wolf asked crossing the kitchen to the
walk-in pantry.

"Melody.  She's got a boy in her room.  He's very handsome," Sneaky
said trying to be nonchalant in her tattle telling.

"Do you know who he is, Sneaky?  There aren't many boys in TBAY," Pip
asked full of curiosity as she sorted through the many bags of pasta,
rice, and lentils.

"Don't know Mistress.  Never seen him before," Sneaky shrugged.

Tumbling down the stairs came Melody followed by her mystery man.
They seem to have not let their current changing of locations stop
their argument.

"But Mel, he is being shown as less human.  You cannot hold him to the
same justice as you would any other character.  JKR is wanting us to
think he is no longer subject to the same rights as a true human.  He
is becoming more snakelike as the series progresses," the tall thin
boy argued.

"John, he *is* still human no matter how she describes him.  Voldemort
does have a human soul, and human souls can be saved," she said
reaching the bottom of the stairs.

"You are letting our brought-up Christian perspective get in the way.
 This is fiction not real life.  In magical Harry Potter world, maybe
the soul *can* be destroyed and changed from being human.  I mean, if
a soul can be sucked out forever, maybe it can be mutated," he pointed
out as they crossed the living room.

Melody stopped, turned, and glared at him gently.  He just gave her
his toothy smile and patted her on the head.

"I hate you," she growled behind her semi-smile pout.

"I know," he said in a triumphant sing-song way.

"Ah, Mel, come and take these bags of hurricane provisions up to the
hall closet," Pip called from the kitchen.

"And introduce us to your friend," called Grey Wolf from the pantry.

Melody and the boy turned into the kitchen, but he froze and turned
pale white.  Seems the sight of a werewolf calmly arranging the stacks
of marshmallows and chocolate chips must not have been what he
expected in the kitchen.  Grey Wolf, of course, just kept stacking but
had a big smirk on his face from amusement.

"Um, Melody.  There's...there's..." John said grabbing the back of her
shirt pulling her next to him to growl under a fearful whisper, "a
*werewolf* over there."

"John, please," she laughed shrugging him off.  "He's very kind and
gentle.  He's my friend."

John looked between Melody and the Wolf.  He gave her an odd look but
did not budge.  Melody rolled her eyes and announced, "Grey.  Pip.
This is my brother."

Nods, smiles, and slight waves were exchanged.

"What brings you here, John?" Pip asked.

John thought a bit and said, "I think it is because Melmel wanted to
bring a character here that she could completely manipul...ouch...I
mean, to see my darling sister."  John quickly kissing Mel's forehead
and nursed his newly thumped ear.

Grey sniffed and glanced up, "Melmel?"

Melody pursed her lips and breathed, "His pet name for me."

John, of course, piped in further.  "Oh, I have tons like Lodi, Mo-Mo,
Mellow Yellow, Melamoostophileez..."

"Alright!  That is enough," Melody interrupted while pushing her
brother out of the kitchen.  "I think we will take these up and go
back my room now."

On his way out, John grabbed two sacks of groceries and called, "Nice
meeting y'all."  Regaining his steps, John glanced over at his sister.
 "Now why did you stop my fun like that?"

Melody just glared back and lead him to the stairs trying not to pound
her way up.  "You did that on purpose."

Following behind her, he smiled mischievously, "I did nothing of the
sort.  I was just being friendly."

Reaching the closet, they dropped the bags inside and continued on to
her room.

"What did you do to be allowed to stay here anyway?" John asked
jumping up on the corner of the bed and situating himself to lean
against the bedpost.

"I added a prologue to the dishwasher housed here and help to defend
the thing," Melody explained putting her new flashlight on her
nightstand and crawling up into her bed.  "I explained that to you,
right?"

"Yes, yes," John said rolling his eyes and extending his arms behind
his head.

"What?" Melody looked at him.

"The fact you believe that.  Just a bit silly really.  I mean these
are kids books.  Dumbledore could never manipulate all like that,"
John said rationally.

"Don't say that too loudly.  The last thing I need is for Pip and Grey
to know I can't even convince my own brother that MD is valid," Melody
said shaking her head in her hands.

John glanced up.  "Hey, I never said it wasn't valid.  It is just not
that plausible."

Melody threw a pillow at him and growled, "Jerk."

John laughed and slid off the bed.  "What should we argue about now?"
he asked staring out at the bay filled with ships and the occasional
speeder.  "What have you been pondering recently?"

Melody's eyes twinkled.  "You know better than to ask that and not
expect a long answer."

"That is why I asked," John said while stretching out his legs and
getting comfortable in the chair next to the bed.  He knew his sister
well enough to know, he had broken open the dam, and it won't stop
till she does.

"Well it is about Harry.  Hmm, let's start with the philosopher's
stone," Melody began.

John looked up and gave her a very patronizing look.  "Mel, we're
Texans.  Say Sorcerer's," John said patriotically.

"Oh, gracious, John.  It doesn't matter," she fussed.

"Maybe so, but you can't even pronounce 'philosopher' correctly," he
said leaning his head back against the wall.

"They don't know that," she shrugged.

John squared his eyes on Melody and threatened, "Well they don't know
*why* you can't pronounce it either."

Melody glared at her brother while he just sat there with twinkles in
his eyes.  She managed to growl out, "You can go home right now if you
came here..."

However, John, sensing he had pushed her too far, quickly interrupted,
"Ok, ok.  Tell me you little ponderings.  I'll be good."

Knowing her brother meant it, she continued, "Ok, I'll shift from the
*Sorcerer's* Stone and start with this.  Let's get one thing straight
? Harry does not know he is in a series of books named after him.  So,
to say he is special just because the books are thusly titled is a
misconception and great assumption on our part.

Hagrid said to Harry in GoF Ch18, "everythin' seems ter happen ter
you, doesn't it?"

"And we as readers say 'of course' because we know Harry is the center
of the story.  But from this quote, it seem JKR does not want us to
forget that Harry is not prince charming of the fairytale WW.

So, suspend reality for a moment and sink into the story.  From all
perspectives, Harry is not special except for his little bouts with
Voldemort.  Now, Harry is just a kid and a fairly normal one at that.
 He is never mistaken from brilliant or even charismatic.  He is just
Harry.  Don't forget that, and don't let our reality muddle your
perception.

So then, we have little Harry Potter.  Endearing.  Brave.  Pure of
Heart.  All things wonderful and hopeful in the world really.  That's
just lovely," she said with a bit more sarcasm than is normally heard
in such a run of words.

"What do you have against Harry?" John asked surprised at his sister's
tone.

Melody looked up.  "Nothing, I just find that JKR has written him
borderline ideal."

"Harry is far from ideal, Melmel," John pointed out, "really I find
him to be a very good everyman."

"But he does *always* win his battles.  Until he fails, he *is* ideal.
 Gracious, ever since he's been in Gryffindor they have received that
silly house cup.  He even wins the fluff battles...well most of the
time.  But forget potion class marks, and think about what really
matters.  He does always manage to land on his feet.  *That* is
annoying to me," Melody said.

"Why should that annoy you?  He is the hero.  Heroes win," John said.

"But you are forgetting what I first said!" Melody said raising her
voice a bit more than normal since she was talking to her brother.
"Harry does not *know* he is in a book.  He is just a boy trying to
live.  JKR is creating a character that she wants us to believe is
human and yet she won't let him fail."

"So ok, you have problems with Harry's perpetual success.  Fine.  Big
deal.  What is your point?" John asked in a semi-condescending way
only a brother to his sister can pull off.

"My *point,* which I thought would be *obvious* by now John, is that
Harry will have to eventually fail," Melody concluded.

John sat up in his chair.  "I see no reason from *that,* Sis.  If
Harry fails..."

"What?" Melody interrupted.  "What do you suppose will happen?  It
would just be one battle that is lost.  Frankly, no war is perfect.
Someone will slip up somewhere, and truthfully, the 'good' side's time
to slip is coming up.  Oh, it is coming up soon, and Harry's time to
slip is too.  That is a *huge* lesson in life.  What to do when you
have messed up.  This story is longer than a fairytale.  In
fairytales, you can be perfect for that short run because it is short.
 But over a seven year stint, someone somewhere on the good side will
have to do something so bad that good will take a blow.  It is
inevitable."

Melody took a breath and looked at her brother.  He seemed quite
annoyed and was watching the waves hit the shoreline in the moonlight.
 "Oh come now John, you expect Harry to keep treading water and not
ever take a little in?" Melody asked him.

John turned his head back frowning.  "No.  But I guess he has done it
so well thus far, there is a good possibility he will continue this
plight."

"Why do you even assume he is still a major player in the rest of the
war?" she asked him wanting to coax out his reason.

"Because the title is...because Harry is the main...because it is from
his...Melody that is a *trick* question," John finally growled and got
up to pace the floor.  "You can't assume these books are meant to be
taken as a RL point of view."

Melody slyly smiled and glanced up at her brother.  "Can't I?  Seems
JKR works perfectly well weaving the magical world in and out of our
own RL world quite precisely.  Seems she wants us to know both worlds
are existing simultaneously, and thus there is a reality of magic
world and the real world where we live.  Events from RL can be
paralleled to the books quite well."

"But that is not what I meant, *Mel,*" John said slightly annoyed.  He
knew she avoided his point on purpose.  "I meant that the viewpoint
that fictional characters are meant to be seen as normal complex human
beings that could exist in the RL is a very precarious viewpoint.  It
assumes the author wrote them to be people and not symbolic in anyway."

"But from Hagrid's quote it seems JKR wants us to see Harry as real,
John.  And frankly, I find that to study Harry as a real person, I am
not disappointed.  He is complex, except for this one flaw here.  He
always come out on top," Melody said.

"First Mel, but it does seem that Harry will play a big part in the
rest of the series without reducing my logic to an outside the book
viewpoint.  He will not stop from being a central part of it all, so
you cannot say Harry will stop being the hero," John said firmly.

"What proof do you have John?" Melody said challenging him.

"Well, ok what about that fact that it is Harry is the one who has the
life dept to Peter?  Seems Harry then would be the only one to receive
benefits from that little big of magic, and also, Harry is still the
only wizard *known* to have an adverse effect on Voldemort," John said
folding his arms and sitting full back against his chair.

Melody twitched her mouth.  "Ok, I will give you that.  It *does* seem
Harry has a bigger role to play and is *the* wizard that will receive
the benefits of the whole situation right now, but then the problem I
do have with his tremendous success rate matters even more.  He does
always come out on top."

"Yes and no," John said bobbling his head in deep thought.  "Harry is
slowly having a more difficult time with his enemy, but Mel, some
times his victories are just survival.  He *is* the boy who lived."

"Yes I know," Melody nodded gravely.  "He does have a knack for
survival, but at some point he will fail.  And if he never does, then
he is not human at all."

"He has failed to find a plan for task two in GoF," John pointed out.
 "But that time he had Dobby's help."

"That he did so let me shift my last statement.  Harry and Harry's
hidden support will fail him at some point.  His hidden support did
fail him in the graveyard and yet didn't since the wands pulled
through along with Fawkes.  Damn, that bird gets around.  However, a
true, long lasting war that must ensue for at least three more books
cannot keep ensuing unless good fails at some point," Melody concluded.

"*Now* who is using the books to predict the future?" John sniffed.

"I am only using the resources available to me John," Melody smiled
sweetly.  "I will even go out on a limb and say Harry will live until
book seven, which also adds rise to why I say Harry will fail and
there will be consequences that *he* has to deal with.  Whether or not
someone else survives his failure is left to be seen."

"Hasn't Harry already dealt with failure with Cedric?" John asked
picking up and examining the old TBAY figurines on Melody's window seat.

"No," Melody shook her head.  "Harry did not have to deal with true
failure there.  He just had a taste of it.  Sometimes you have to
acclimate a person to what will happen.  That way it is not as big of
a blow when it does occur.  Kind of like having a crush before you
truly fall in love.  One needs to get the jitters and butterflies out
before they understand what is really going on and how to deal with it."

Melody crawled over and laid stretched out across her bed on her
stomach to watch her brother attack the herd of
He-man/MyLittlePony!centaurs with the Voldemort!Thundercat figurine.
There were no survivors.

"You know, I just thought of another time Harry has failed," Melody
said finally resting her chin on her hands. "He failed to get the
snitch in PoA during the first Quidditch game opener, so then, we have
two times Harry has felt failure."

"But he was not the cause of either of those times.  They were not his
fault," John pointed out as he returned to sit in his chair.

"But Harry has felt the twinge of failure on two levels then.  One in
a fluff matter in Quidditch, and another in a serious matter in
Cedric's death," Melody concluded.

The room was quiet for a while.  They both were quite tired.  John
looked up and asked, "So what do you think he will do?"

"Probably something that merits a big bang notoriety," Melody quietly
said.  "You remember what I explained about that ship, right?"

John nodded.  "I like that one."

"You would," Melody smirked.  "But frankly it is hard to not bang
failure, though I guess she did quite well with Senior Crouch's
failure.  I guess I am saying, that JKR would be hard pressed to not
bang *Harry* failing."

"Mel, you have any food?  I am starving," John asked looked around the
room.

"Down in the kitchen," Melody said pointing down the stairs.  "I'll go
with you; I missed dessert."

They crept down the stairs to not awaken the house.  The kitchen sat
silent with a grey-ish hue from the light of the moon streamed through
the bay windows.  John pulled out one of the barstools while Melody
dug through the fridge.  She tossed him a cherry coke and took out a
sprite for herself.  She walked over, kicked her legs up, and sat
Indian-style on the countertop with her side to her brother.  They sat
not disturbing the house's silence and munched on the plate of cookies
Sneaky had laid out.

"Harry failed to take Cho Chang to the ball," John finally said
between swigs of coke.

"Oh please John," Melody said shooting him an exasperated look.  "That
is not that important."

John tipped his head, raised his eyebrows, "You've never been a 14
year old boy."

"But is that per se failure?" she asked taking a bite of cookie.

"To him it is, and the perception of a teenage boy *is* what's in
question here," John pointed out.

Melody stared in annoyance at the sink faucet at her knees.  She hates
it when he has a valid point.  "Ok, he *has* failed to get his crush,
but he doesn't know impacted deep failure," she said trying to salvage
her argument.

"You forget your youth so easily sister.  And it wasn't that long ago
either," he smirked.

"Look - the failure perception of a teenage boy and a teenage girl are
very different, so I don't think *my* youth needs to be in question
here," she warned her brother.

"Well, we aren't going through *my* youth, so let's just say that
failure to not get the one we like is a big failure in both youths,"
John said.

Melody sized up her brother but nodded.

"But whether or not *Harry* finds his not taking Chang to the ball a
failure, I defer to the text," Melody said,  "Yes, I give you he is
disappointed, might of even cried in the shower..."

John shot her a look.

"What?" Melody said indignantly.  "Guys do cry in the shower, John."

"I know that Mel, but I cannot see Harry doing that," John said
rumpling his brow.

"And why not?" she asked suppressing a smile.

"Because...because..." John stumbled and shot Melody another look with
a severe frown.  "I hate it when you do that."

Melody had a broad grin.  "I want to hear you say it little brother."

John spun his bar stool around to have his back to her.  "Because
Harry is not that broken up over her rejection.  *But*," he said as he
spun back around, "that is because her rejection is so gentle.  She
did not pull what Fleur did to Ron."

"So then, Harry's failure did not seem like one to him because there
is still hope in his mind with Chang even if he did not comment on it.
 It is just a small failure.  Not too impacting.  And after all, dear
brother, this is about a teenage boy's perspective," she said with
twinkles.

John drummed his fingers on the counter.  "I hate you."

"I know," she smiled sweetly grabbing the plate, "Here, have the last
cookie."

He broke a smile and accepted the cookie.  Melody slid off the counter
and started walking toward the stairs back to her room.  She stopped
in the middle of the moonlit living room and turned to face her
brother who has not budged.  "So then the only times Harry admits
feelings of failure is over quidditch and death.  Two central parts of
his life actually, and two times he really did not cause the failure.
 Or let me rephrase that.  He *alone* did not fail.  Circumstances
beyond his control and all."

John dusted his hands free of cookie crumbs and slid off the barstool.
 Melody turned and continued towards her set of stairs with her
brother behind her.

"Interesting pattern there, Mel.  I mean, Quidditch, girl, then
death," John said a few stairs behind her.

Melody paused mid-stair and thought a minute.

"Yeah it is.  Three noted failures and three books left.  I wonder if
it *could* be a pattern," Melody rationalized.

"Man I wish I would not of said anything," he said pushing her upward.

"Oh course, that would kind of work.  Build up to the end sort of
thing," she said resuming her ascent.

"So he will fail in all three?  That is kind of harsh, Melmel," John said.

"Hmmm...good point.  That would be kind of harsh.  Maybe not in all
three ways, but he does need to conquer all three realms by the end.
Though really, he has already conquered quidditch, he needs to fail
there to keep the quidditch plot going.  As for girl, unless he needs
to fall a bit more, I think he can only go up.  And Voldemort, well he
has rather ticked him off now it seems.  While failing against
Voldemort to his face is almost certain death, failing in the path to
Voldemort could not be as deadly for him and yet very important.

The key is though, Harry needs...no, must...no, will fail eventually.
 He is not prince charming of the wizard world.  He is a boy," she
said not sure if she was repeating herself at this point.  She pushed
open her door and went to the closet to pull down a sleeping bag,
pillow, and cot for her brother.

"Fine Melmel.  He will fail.  *Big* revelation there," John said
exhausted with her and closing the door.

"Ok, so it is a broad theory.  I give you that," Melody conceded
closing the closet door to change inside (muffled voice).  "But it is
an important one in my opinion.  Working through failure not only is
important, but it also manages to drag the series on for two more
books past OoP.  Come now, she can't keep having Harry giving Voldie
the finger, now can she?"

"Melody!  What would Mom say?" John said fluffing out the sleeping bag.

"What?" she asked opening the closet door to step back out dressed in
one of her long white cotton nightgowns and quickly skipped across to
the bathroom.  "Come on, that is exactly what Harry is doing."

John just shook his head and stretched out on the cot.  "You think it
will be something big, I assume?"

"Uh, huh," she said through a mouth full of toothpaste.

"So no failure on the quidditch field, or failure to get the house cup
sort of nonsense?  That failure is not big enough for you," John
continued.

"Pwobabwee, naught," she said thickly.

"He does need proper quidditch rivals though to fail in it.  That way
he truly has rivals and not the bad kind," John said.

Melody stuck her head out wiping her mouth with a towel.  "Yeah, JKR
killed Harry's only true rival."

"So, then quidditch is at a passing at least.  Hopefully some of these
other students are actually good at it and give him a run for at least
a true fair rivalry.  Then Harry can fail and not take it *that*
hard," he said.

"Your turn, John," she said crossing the room and hopping into bed.

Her brother dug through his bag for his toothbrush and pjs.  Just
before he closed the bathroom door, he turned and asked, "So then,
Harry will fail with a death then?"

"I don't know," Melody said leaning her head back on her pillow
resting one arm above her head.  "That is such a *big* failure."

John nodded and closed the bathroom door leaving Melody alone lost in
thought and twisting her finger around one of her curls.  She barely
even noticed when he came back in the room and asked, "Turn off the
light?"

"Huh?" she asked not focusing her eyes.

"Nevermind sis," ha said turning out the light and cozying himself in
his makeshift bed.

"John?"

"What?"

"I don't want Harry to hurt.  He has had enough pain."

"Then why even suggest this theory?"

"Because I see more pain in his life if he does not fail," she said
sighing deeply.

"How do you see that?"

"Sooner or later he will realize he never fails.  *That* is dangerous."

"I don't know Mel.  Seems Harry is well aware he is no prince charming."

"But John.  If Harry reaches the end of year seven and never ever
failed, I think that is quite damning.  How would he *not* get a big
head?"

"Mel, what makes you think he will live?" he asked as he turned over.



Melody
Who talks enough about her brother on the site that she might as well
as introduced him to tbay