[HPforGrownups] Re: The magic power of love. Was: BANG! You're dead!

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 80499

The other Laura already covered what I wanted to say for the first half 
of this post, so I'm going to skip a little bit here...

> Kneasy: (no hero)
> Death is even more of a puzzle. Death is what happens to old people.
> It can't, won't happen to me. I'm on the good side! Besides, I haven't
> finished my homework. Young people can't grasp the finality, the
> permanence of death these days. Not unless they are very unlucky.
>

And Harry *is* lucky?  I wouldn't say that at 11 he has the *best* 
grasp on the meaning of mortality, but I *do* think that he realizes 
that if he doesn't succeed in saving the Stone, Voldemort *is* going to 
kill him, sooner or later.  He says as much on pg. 270 of the American 
edition of SS/PS, which I'm not going to quote, because I just did it 
yesterday.



> He talks of V flattening Hogwarts, hunting friends and family down,
> destroying everything in his path, yet blithely suggests that three
> children can stop him. How?

The question is not "How?", it's "What else is there?"  At this point, 
HRH have already tried to go to Dumbledore and McGonagall.  Dumbledore, 
of course, is flying to the Ministry, and McGonagall flat out *refuses* 
to even listen to them.  Ron and Hermione seem to have resigned 
themselves to letting it happen.  But Harry has *always* had to go it 
alone, has *always* had to take care of himself.  It's only natural for 
him to at least *try*.  It's certainly not the first time he's kept 
fighting without any hope of ever succeeding (his entire life at the 
Dursley's  was like this).  I don't know if Harry even thought he had 
that great of a chance at stopping Quirrell.  His attitude seems to be 
"Well, if I don't die doing this, Voldemort is going to kill me anyway, 
so I might as well give it a go."


> Heroism is a bit different. A hero knows and *calculates* the risks in
> a course of action, but takes them anyway, even if the odds are bad.
>

Are you sure?  It seems to me that in a lot of cases where heroism is 
required, there isn't a lot of time for deliberation or weighing of 
consequences.  I think sometimes people just have to take whatever 
resources they have an *go* for it.  That said, you haven't *entirely* 
convinced me that Harry has never done anything by your definition of 
heroism.  Aside from the SS/PS example, there is the GoF graveyard 
example.  Harry has *just* seen a peer killed by the Dark Lord.  
Furthermore, he has just been tortured and terrorized by said Dark 
Lord.  He's alone in a graveyard with a score of grown Wizards who are 
trying to kill him.  He's only survived thus far through his wits, 
willpower, a good deal of what seems to be luck, and a power he doesn't 
understand.  I *think* he understands, at this point, that he could 
very well die.  And yet he *still* risks his life further in order to 
retrieve a dead body for the sake of a couple of adults he doesn't 
know, one of which has been quite rude to him in the past.

> One day Harry might be a true hero, but not yet. So far he hasn't
> had to go and deliberately seek out Voldemort, knowing that he
> might fail, but doing it anyway.

What was going to the Ministry of Magic at the end of OotP?  He "knew" 
Voldemort was there, about to kill Sirius.

(As a side note: people criticize his actions at this point as "rash",  
but, IMHO, he only *tried* to act rashly.  In the end, he *did* follow 
Hermione's advice and   tried to verify his facts.  There was no way he 
could have known that Kreacher was even *capable* of betraying the 
Order.)

So, to sum everything up:  I don't agree with your definition of 
heroism, but I think Harry probably lives up to it anyway.  I *do* 
agree he hasn't reached his full potential when it comes to heriocs 
yet, though -- which is a good thing for the Wizarding World, because 
it wouldn't do at all for them if Harry sacrificed himself too soon.

Then who would save them?

Neville, probably.

Laura (who loves Neville....*nuzzles poor Neville*...but not as much as 
Harry.)