Possession

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 90786

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" <susiequsie23 at s...> 
wrote:
> 
> Kneasy, I'm not sure if I agree with all of this but, as usual with 
> your theories, it is well thought-out and well-explained.  I do have 
> questions about these last two paragraphs.  Can you please flesh 
> these out a little more?  In particular:
> 
> 1) What precisely do you mean when you say making the wrong choice 
> leads to the "thing worse than death" and that Harry has SHOWN Tom 
> how to do it?  
> 
> 2) Can you describe what you're referring to in the last paragraph I 
> snipped?  Repeating what lesson?  What first real choice?
> 
> I'm not trying to be dense [really!]; I would like to understand more 
> fully.


I'll  admit to a bit of supposition (otherwise known as guesswork) on 
what DD considers to be a fate worse than death, though we can safely
assume it's not the same as that in a Victorian pot-boiler.

If the situation is as presented, Tom has a simple choice - resist and try
for redemption or continue to submit to Voldy!Sally; it is that continued
enslavement that IMO DD considers is worse than dying. Stuck in a near
-immortal being, forever enacting the commands of another and maybe
slowly losing whatever identity Voldy!Tom still retains. An eternal and
irrevocable loss of self, dwindling down to a mere echo. Nasty.

The "shown" bit is simple; Harry  has been possessed but has broken 
free. He has shown it can  be done and perhaps how to do it. Tom can't
have but noticed how Harry got away. An example to follow?

Your second question ties into posts I made a few months back. I had 
them in mind when I wrote the current piece but never thought to refer
to them. Sorry.

Some of us noticed that Harry has not continued with his Occlumancy
lessons, so it's possible he is still vulnerable to intrusion and perhaps
possession by Voldy. If this does happen (and I for one think it makes
a neat plot line for book 6),  then presumably he will have to break 
free again, thus repeating the lesson for Tom.

As to Harry's choices - he's never had any. He had no choice at Godrics
Hollow, he had no choice with the Dursleys, he had no choice but
Hogwarts if he wanted to escape the Dursleys and ever since DD has
manipulated him to suit the ends of his plan, whatever that is. At the
end of OoP he starts expressing his choice - "Not me!" and DD steers
him implacably back onto the rails of his fate, as seen by DD. He is
more or less told that he doesn't have a choice, it's all foretold. But our
Harry is getting stroppy; he's ready to start demanding what he wants.
This is evident right from the start of the book until at the end he's
almost ready to defy DD, his supposed mentor and protector.

If he does make his own choice, what will it be? It will be what looks
best for Harry and Harry  probably thinks that means opting out. 
(see posts 86478-Choices and 86491-Re:Choices for more devious 
thinking of the Kneasy variety). 
And with a bit of luck this is where the blood and guts get spread 
across the page. Ah! the subtle satisfaction of an evisceration! The
gentle pleasures of shrivelled eyeballs! Lovely! And my prime candidate
is DD with a Weasley or two close up on the rails.

Whatever. But I do expect possession to be a main theme in the coming
two books; certainly Harry and possibly Tom. But what do I know?

Kneasy