DD - maybe.

[carolynwhite2]

No: HPFGUIDX 110357

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, gsanderson at c... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt" 
> <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
(...)
> > Is DD much, much older than 150? Is he resurrected, renewed,
> > reborn, revived, refurbished, renovated, restuffed and repolished
> > at intervals down the centuries? 
(...)
> > 3. DD is the enemy of whatever it is (Salazar?) that's animating 
or motivating Voldy. And they've fought before - often. The 
Potterverse is just the latest battleground in a war that goes 
waaaaay back, perhaps to the founding of Hogwarts or even further.
> > 
> > Kneasy

Kristen replied:
>If he is indeed reincarnated, where did Aberforth come from?  Is he 
also reincarnated?  Also, if he is "roused from sleep" at the time of 
trouble, how would you explain him being tested on his NEWTs by 
Professor Tofty (or was it Marchbanks)?  

Carolyn:
Here's my explanation. Professor Marchbank's actual comment was that 
if DD didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be, commenting: 'examined 
him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTS..did 
things with a wand I'd never seen before' (OOP, Chap 31).

In post 108963 I speculated that the one thing that united the WW was 
its admiration for magical ability, even when it was wielded by Dark 
Wizards. Wizard children seem to be born with different degrees of 
latent power, which can then be enhanced and encouraged with the 
right training. I see no inconsistency with Albus being born with 
greater powers than Aberforth, and subsequently honing those skills 
at school and later as he studied deeper into subjects.

Wizards with this level of ability seem extremely rare - Grindewald 
may have been one, Tom Riddle another, a third seems to be Harry. 
They seem to come around about every 50 years, if DD is indeed 150 
years old. It is not difficult to imagine that each and every one of 
them eventually is tempted by the power that their abilities can 
bring them. The old saying - 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts 
absolutely'.

DD, and (so far) Harry have 'just said no'. Riddle and Grindewald, on 
the other hand, have grabbed the opportunity to try and take over -
 'its our choices, Harry..' etc etc. Those that are tempted become 
obsessed by the idea of having perpetual power, those that are not 
are able to see death 'as the next big adventure'.

In this sense, DD is the 'reincarnation' of the original spirit of 
the founders of Hogwarts, who set out nurture magical ability 
wherever it was to be found, not to use it to divide and rule. JKR 
has given him not only a pet phoenix, but now told us that that is 
the form his patronus takes as well, to underline the immortality of 
the concept he represents. As Kneasy suggests, he could be one of a 
long line of wizards down the ages that have held firm, and wielded 
their power for good.

However, as one of the Catch-22s of choosing to fight the good fight 
is that you drop dead in the end, you do need to identify your 
successor and try and nudge 'em in the right direction as early as 
possible. My thought is that DD has decided to use Fawkes' tail 
feathers rather like lightening indicators in the wands they are 
placed in - 'the wand chooses the wizard' - and Ollivander alerts him 
to the wizard as soon as it happens.

I continue to maintain that Tom was one of DD's failures, a potential 
protege that went bad, and he blames himself for that. I might even 
go as far as saying DD had the second wand, the one that chose Harry, 
especially created in order to help him find someone else to kill 
Tom, because he either did not want to do so himself, or was not sure 
he could do so alone. It wasn't until he came to know Harry as a 
person, rather than a potential weapon, that he began to appreciate 
the true difficulty of the situation he was in.

Carolyn