Siriusly Alive ...or Gone but not forgotten

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 96897

<Carol snips most of an excellent post with yet another link to the
Metaphysical poets; we had John Donne earlier, now Henry Vaughan.
Thanks, Steve.>

B-boy wrote: 
I think Sirius is gone from this mortal life, but that doesn't mean he
is gone from the books or from the story. Harry's parents are dead,
yet they have returned to the story several times.
 
I could even speculate a hero's journey into the underworld (beyond
the veil) where, in a matter of speaking, Harry meets Sirius again
face to face. But even if that happens, Sirius will still be dead and
unable to join the world of the living. 
 
Harry on the other hand, for no reason other than I SAY SO, will be
able to return from beyond the veil to the world of the living. It
happens all the time in real life; it's called 'near death
experience'. In addition, it happens all the time in legend, myth, and
foldtales; it's called 'a hero's journey'. <snip>

Carol:
I think you're right. I resisted the idea of Harry making the
traditional hero's journey into the Underworld, but what else could
the Veil be but a portal to the land of the dead, and if Harry, as
people here seem to think, can't be killed by anyone or anything
except Voldemort, he (unlike Sirius) would survive such a journey.
It's been done over and over again, as you say, in myth and folktales,
but maybe JKR will put a fresh twist on it--and young readers will be
happy that Harry at least get to meet his parents and see Sirius
again, though perhaps they'll look a bit ghostly and not as they did
in their photos or the Mirror of Erised.

As you say, the symbolism of the Veil is clear and the name of the
place, the Chamber of Death, could not be clearer. But death in the
WW, as in Christianity and other religions, clearly is not the end of
all things, only of this earthly life with all its joys and troubles.

Carol