Between life and death (Re: The Dead Are Not Gone...)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 83957

Hi, 

I'd like to add some comments to one of the messages. Bboy_mn wrote:

"Perhaps he will return in a flashback; in the recolections of a 
living
person. Perhaps in a pensive scene. At the moment I am strongly
leaning toward Sirius speaking to Harry from beyond The Veil. That is
Harry returns to the Death Chamber, pulls back the curtain, and has a
short conversation with Sirius.

The nature of that conversation, you might ask? Perhaps, Harry feels
it is better to abondon the 'moral coil' and find freedom from life's
torment by joining his parents, so he returns to the Death Chamber.
There, behind The Veil, he finds Sirius, who convinces him that life
is too precious, with too much potential for love and joy to be
abandoned because it's gotten a little hard. This could be the
heart-to-heart that would have made Sirius's death more meaningful,
and as odd as it is to say, more satisfying.

I'm not saying that will happen, I'm just pointing to a logical ways
in which Sirius could be completely and irreversibly dead, and yet
still appear in the next two books."

That would be indeed a very plausible possibility. At the end of 
Book 5, Harry is overwhelmed with all he learned about himself, with 
the prophecy.
How couldn't he be? It's such a burden. The scene at the end of the 
book, when he is alone, watching the other students, contains seeds 
of temptation: why couldn't he be just a normal boy, instead of 
being "a marked man", as JKR wrote? Why should he accept to play the 
part destiny wrote for him? It's the parting of the ways. On one 
hand, the normal destiny, a teen age wizard boy's life, with 
preoccupations such as girls, OWLs, Quidditch, etc..; on the other 
hand, a hero's destiny, with a messianic part to play, with a murder 
or a sacrifice to accept. This is not fantasy; Harry is not playing 
any role game at all. How couldn't he be overwhelmed, how couldn't 
he be scared? And how couldn't he wish to escape from all that?
The temptation of suicide (let's call things by their proper name) 
could be a very logical topic in the forthcoming book. As you write 
it in your message, joining his parents and Sirius beyond the Veil 
could appear to Harry as a solution to his torments. And the story 
would be about how he finally accepts his destiny, his mission, and 
chooses to follow the way of heroes. Laying between life and death 
could help Harry to make his choice.
Yes, the more I think of it, the more it seems plausible. Moreover, 
I'm sure it would give JKR the occasion to write a new moving 
psychological portrait of her young gentleman.
Now, I'm not sure that Harry would try to commit suicide going 
beyond the Veil. We can be sure that Dumbledore and Co will manage 
to keep him far from the Ministry, to keep him from the fascination 
he fells towards the Chamber of 
Death.                                                          I 
would buy on an option involving poison and antidotes.
Maybe you remember a post I sent last year; it was called "The Seven 
Ordeals". I wrote that the seven ordeals the kids have to face while 
they are looking for the Philosopher's Stone in chapter 
titled "Through the Trapdoor", were metaphors of the seven books of 
the series.
The sixth ordeal deals with potions, poisons, antidotes. Harry 
managed to pass through the obstacle thanks to Hermione's help.
What happens in OotP? We learn that Harry has a huge problem with 
potions, and that Hermione is a very good potion brewer. I can't 
explain exactly why, and after all, it's JKR's job to invent the 
continuation of the story, but I can't help betting that Harry will 
be poisoned in Book 6, and that Hermione will help him to survive. 
Will he take poison in order to commit suicide? Will someone (Draco? 
Snape? Peter? A new villain) try to kill him? Will he take poison 
accidentally? Will it be part of a plan in order to protect him, 
making Voldemort believe he's dead? Will he need to "visit death" in 
order to get an information? There are so many possibilities

Concerning Hermione's part in "the poison affair", about her helping 
Harry to go through that dangerous experience, we have not only the 
sixth ordeal in PS/SS, but also her Patronus in OotP: it an otter, 
an animal  traditionally presented as a "psychopompe"(sorry, I don't 
know the English word),ita est , that helps souls to travel through 
the beyond. Just like Hermione did in the first book, when she 
helped Harry to cross the walls of fire. By the way: dogs are also 
traditional psychopompes, and in Egyptian mythology, Sirius is the 
gate to the beyond. He could be a guide to Harry while he lays 
between life and death

Ok, I must confess that all that stuff is rather complicated. Should 
I add that, as many members of HPfGU, I would miss Sirius if he 
didn't come back at all in the series, on a way or another?

Amicalement,

Iris