James, Lily, Harry's protection

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 106607

In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "entropymail" <entropymail at y...> 
wrote:

> 1. Eihwaz rune: looks like a lightning bolt, stands for life, death,
> rebirth, and protection. Curses are reflected off.
> 2. Lily's wand was good for charms. Since James' wand was good for
> transfiguration and he was talented at transfiguration, we can 
assume that since Lily's wand is good for charms, she is talented at 
charms.
> 3. Lily performed Ancient Magic to protect Harry from Voldemort at
> Godric's Hollow, which Voldie hadn't counted on. It is a charm that
> could be sealed only with her death, with the sacrifice of her own 
life.
> 4. No one seems to understand curse-scars: what they should look 
like, or even if there is such a thing, so we cannot assume that 
Harry's scar is from Voldie's AK curse gone wrong.
> 
> From these facts, I think we might be able to put together a fairly
> reasonable explanation of what happened at Godric's Hollow, how
> Harry's scar came about, and how all of this relates to the eihwaz:
> 
> Somehow, James and Lily realize that Voldemort has found out where
> they are hiding. Knowing that there is no way out of this, Lily
> decides to perform a protection charm on Harry, using her knowledge 
of
> Ancient Magic. She performs the charm and Lily tricks Voldemort into
> killing her first, before Harry ("No, not Harry! Kill me instead!").
> With this sacrifice of her own life, Harry's protection charm is
> sealed. A rune of protection (eihwaz) is formed on Harry's forehead.
> When Voldemort attempts to AK Harry, the curse is reflected off of
> Harry. The rebound of this powerful curse causes devastation. 
Godric's Hollow is destroyed. Voldemort would have been killed as 
well, but because he has taken so many precautions against his own 
death, he is simply rendered a shadow of a human being, a ghostly non-
dead self.
> 
> Dumbledore may have recognized the eihwaz rune when he saw Harry's
> scar for the first time, realizing the Ancient Magic behind it, and
> that is why he decided to leave Harry "marked". He may not have been
> sure it would protect Harry in the future, but he may have decided 
to leave it in case it's protection remained effective.
> 
> So, does it bounce?


So, Entropy, are you hypothesizing that Harry's lightning bolt is the 
result of an ancient charm rather than a scar from a deadly curse?  
Why, then, does the curse hurt when Harry and Voldemort share mental 
and/or emotional awareness?

On the positive side, I like the idea that the charm Lily sets on 
Harry is a multi-part protection culminating in her death.  It is 
reminiscent of the concept behind moat and castle construction.  
Additionally, it follows the model Dumbledore invokes on the Dursley 
household, which is sealed when Petunia accepts the onus of caretaker 
for her nephew.  Thus each sister completes a magic ritual of 
protection through active acceptance of the responsibility and its 
attendant consequences.

If you think about ancient magic that way, there is even a parallel 
in Voldemort's resurrection potion, which requires the bloody 
sacrifice of a willing volunteer:  Wormtail's hand.

The idea of a life for a life and literal blood debts and protection 
because of weregilds goes back through Norse and Anglo-Saxon 
literature, Greco-Roman mythology, and even Old Testament Biblical 
narratives.  Unfortunately, all the examples coming to mind I'm 
fairly sure I'm misremembering...  Jesus, of course, sheds his blood 
and in doing so redeems all of humanity from Satan.  Anyway, in each 
case, an overt act of acceptance, whether of Lily's death or 
Petunia's guardianship, or some other overt act is required to 
complete the initiated magic.

James, as a warrior, does not have the leisure time to set up 
anything so complex.  He's busy buying Lily the time to set her 
charm, (her specialty), in motion.  Who's to say, (besides JKR,) 
whether or not James did, in fact, put in his own two knuts on the 
charm before going to the front door to delay LV while Lily was 
putting on her finishing touches?