The magic power of love. Was: BANG! You're dead!

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 80543

"arrowsmithbt" wrote:

> Kneasy: (no hero)
> I have to agree with Del.
> Does Harry  really understand who or what Voldemort is? It's only 
> been a few months since he first heard of him. He hasn't lived with 
> years of seeing adults, your parents even, turning pale at the mere 
> mention of his name. The ultimate bogey-man. The merciless killer.

It's just like us when we grow up. We discover about past and present 
tyrants, about past and present wars. But at first they mean nothing 
to us. We might see our parents react strongly, but we don't 
understand why. It takes time and some kind of personal experience to 
understand what's going on.
I grew up in France, and when I was a kid, I would sometimes hear 
people saying mean things about Germans. I knew about the Wars, of 
course, but I felt like saying : "Hey, this is the past ! Can't you 
see that it's all over ? Can't you move on ?" It's only as I 
discovered a bit through testimonies, books, movies, what the Wars 
had been like, that I started to understand their feelings. And it's 
only as I discovered fear, pain and hatred in myself because of 
things that were happening in the world around me because some people 
were being mean to others, that I started to understand what war, 
violence and death are about.
In PS/SS, Harry knows intellectually what LV is, he's mad because LV 
took something from him (his parents), but that's all. He doesn't 
have any gut feeling of fear of LV.

> 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. Cedric has given him a nasty taste
> of the realities. If you fall, you don't get up again.

And Sirius's death will teach him that the action-reaction mechanism 
can also work against him. He can make bad decisions, and they can 
end up in horrible consequences.

> Up to now it's been skirmishing, chance encounters, no planning 
> from Harry. The real battle is to come. Then he will have a chance 
> for heroics.

I think he will be ready for heroism as soon as he's digested what 
happened in the DoM, and understood and accepted his responsibility 
in it. Then he will be aware of what he's got to loose, what 
tragedies he can bring upon himself and others, and that he can't 
escape the consequences of his actions. And he will be ready to 
choose a truly heroic path.

Del