DD: an appreciation (Was Re: Snape, A Murderer?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 96405

Kneasy wrote:
<snip> And he's still holding things back from Harry. Chap. 37 again,
where he's explaining blood protection and Petunia:
> 
> "But she took you," DD cut across him, "She may have taken you
grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you,
and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's
sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you."
> 
> "..the charm I placed upon you.. shield I could give you." Not
"..that your mother placed on you" or "..shield you could have." How
the hell does DD come to be involved in Lily's 'sacrifice' charm? It
reads as if he thinks that he arranged it, that it's not the automatic
protection given by Lily's  death and it's continuation through
Petunia that many readers assume. 
> "Unwittingly given" as Voldy says in the graveyard. And if DD did
arrange it, it had to be planned in advance.
> 
> Of course, it is possible that it could be placed by DD unknown to
Lily, that way it would be unwitting so far as she was concerned, but
it implies that he thought the Fedelius charm was not going to be
enough. That would clear up those questions about his power of
Legilimancy and why he never suspected Peter. If he did suspect and
took precautions....
><snip>
> 
> Old magic. That's what was used and that was Voldy's weak spot. He 
> despises it. Again, the implication is that it does not happen
automatically, otherwise he would have known more about it. It must be
invoked, it seems, for it is 'magic' and not an in-built instinctive
response that anyone can call on. But invoked by whom - a young witch,
good but not exceptional, or an old wizard who studies his enemy for
weaknesses.
> 
> DD is not 'nice' but he is effective. That's what matters.

Carol:
As I read it, DD is not taking credit for the charm that Lily
(presumably) placed on Harry, which involved her self-sacrifice and
served primarily to deflect Voldemort's AK, saving Harry's life in
exchange for hers. (I won't get into the complex and probably
unintended effects of that charm's interaction with the AK, which I
don't pretend to fully understand.) The charm DD is talking about,
involving the need for Harry to stay with Petunia to extend the blood
protection Lily gave him beyond the events at Godric's Hollow is
clearly a different charm. So, IMO, both Lily and DD used "ancient
magic," in Lily's case to save Harry and in DD's to preserve his life
until he could come to Hogwarts (and while was was away on summer
holiday). 

As for "unwittingly given," those words relate to Voldemort's father
and his bits of bone, not to Lily's sacrifice. What he says in her
case is that she didn't have to die, which of course is completely
untrue from Harry's perspective--either LV is lying to upset Harry or
 he completely misunderstands what really happened. Lily *did* have to
die and she knew it. Otherwise, she would never have begged LV to
"kill [her] instead." But LV didn't know what she was doing or he
would never have killed her before killing Harry. And if he really
thinks she died needlessly, then he still doesn't get it.

In any case, I don't think that DD is taking credit for Lily's charm.
I think they're two distinct pieces of "ancient magic." DD's is
dependent on Lily's, extending the protection she gave him beyond the
confrontation at Godric's Hollow.

There's a lot that we still don't know--for example, whether Harry is
still protected from an AK and if so, whether it's only Voldemort he's
protected from. We also don't know what powers other than Parseltongue
(and a degree of legilmency?) were transferred to him by the deflected AK.

Just out of curiosity and not really part of this argument, do you
think that Harry could (theoretically) be killed in some other way
(say a fall from a broom, a bite from a basilisk or Nagini, an AK from
Lucius Malfoy's wand, before the ultimate confrontation or do you
think that the Prophecy more or less guarantees that he'll survive to
confront Voldemort? I think that he's either specifically protected
from Voldemort or specifically from AKs and that he could conceivably
die in some other way, which would mean guaranteed immortality for
Voldemort. (It won't happen, of course.) As for his immunity to
Imperios (which required some effort to perfect), I think that's one
of LV's powers that was deflected onto Harry and has nothing
*directly* to do with Lily's charm, much less with Dumbledore's.

Carol