Harry's Protection (was Re: Questions)

[carolynwhite2]

No: HPFGUIDX 119256


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> 
wrote:
> This aspect of the mysterious power is further established by the 
fact that, when the power was finally rising within Harry and kicking 
Voldy out, it was when Harry was ready to die if he takes Voldy with 
him, and when he thinks that "he'll see Sirius again".
> 
> This suggests that the mysterious power indeed opposes Death, but 
in a subtler way than a simple life force. More than it is "Life", it 
is "The Willingness to Die for What's Right" (if you can express this 
in a single word).
> 

Carolyn:
Sorry, Neri, I don't agree it had anything to do with dying for 'what 
is Right', or that it had anything to do with consciously trying to 
take Voldy with him.

Harry wished Dumbledore would kill him and Voldy purely and simply 
because at that point he was in unendurable pain, no more, no less. 
In this extremis, he (quite sensibly) just wanted to die, and the 
desire carried with it the added bonus, to him, that at least he 
would be with Sirius. There are no false heroics involved.

If you like, it is a version of the euthanasia argument - the 
individual's right to choose to die if life seems not worth living. 
For reasons we don't yet fully understand (but Dumbledore probably 
does), Voldy can't tolerate the effect of someone gratefully 
embracing the idea of death, and it drives him away. 

Personally, I find it a tediously contrived moment. Surely numerous 
people/creatures that Voldemort has possessed have wished they could 
die than go on enduring the pain of his presence? Just like many 
people have probably sacrificed themselves for love, as Lily did to 
protect Harry. 

It creaks as a plot device, and leads me to think that there is 
something a lot more mechanical going on. According to JKR herself 
(Edinburgh chat), Dumbledore certainly knows a lot more than he's 
telling.

Carolyn