Long lived

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 100664

We've got used to Harry  and Hedwig, Hermione and Crookshanks, Neville 
and Trevor, but unless she is actively brought to our attention Nagini 
tends to blend into the background. Snake, Slytherin, evil Mastermind;  
what else do you expect?

The DD/Fawkes  cooperative is a bit different. For a start Fawkes is an 
active participant when necessary in ways that Hedwig, Crookers and 
Trevor (presumably) aren't. The Voldy/Nagini axis is more or less an 
exact parallel to DD/Fawkes.  Voldy uses Nagini as a gopher and she was 
used as a source of nourishment/vitamins while in retreat in Albania 
and  before his rebirth. Nagini is his eyes and ears and can be 
possessed by Voldy when he wants a closer view of the action, when 
putting the bite on Arthur being a prime example.

One possible plot hole that niggles: why didn't Voldy use Nagini as his 
'carrier' during his enforced holiday abroad? He was desperate; he was  
reduced to inflicting himself on rats and other small creatures, yet 
Nagini was presumably there. After explaining that Wormtail was 
unsuitable for possession, he continues:

  "... a spell or two of my own invention...a little help from my dear 
Nagini" Voldemort's red eyes fell  upon the continually circling snake 
- "a potion concocted from unicorn blood, and the snake venom Nagini 
provided...I was soon returned to an almost human form, and strong 
enough to travel."
(OoP  chap 33.)

There is the alternative explanation that Wormtail took Nagini with him 
when fleeing to Voldy, but since he was in rat form and didn't speak 
Parseltongue he likely wouldn't be Wormtail for long; he'd be lunch.
And was the "little help" just the provision of snake venom or 
something extra? The phrasing is just ambiguous enough to make you 
wonder.

And if Peter did take Nagini with him after the Shrieking Shack 
debacle, where did he collect her from and why would he think Voldy 
needed her?

Nagini is no ordinary snake, possessed or not; it can tell the 
difference between Wizard and Muggle and is able to deduce that an old 
man outside a room is eavesdropping on a conversation. It can see 
through an Invisibility cloak (yes, I know Voldy was in there that 
time, but he still had to use Nagini's eyes with all the physical 
limitations thereto). Just how magical are magical pets? Do they have 
any limitations at all?
How did Nagini get into the Ministry to attack Arthur? Presumably it 
can't apparate, use Floo powder or dial a number on a telephone, but it 
got there just the same. Fawkes has similar abilities, can transport 
itself elsewhere in a flash of fire and can even transport a single 
feather to where it wants it to be. (OoP chap 22).

Why is a serpent the symbol of Slytherin? In mythology serpents were 
not generally considered to be symbols of evil (or ambition, come to 
that) - they were the symbol for wisdom, eternity and subtlety - 
seemingly admirable qualities for a wizard. But we generally accept the 
summing-up that Ron made of Salazar - " a raving old loony".
And if he wasn't? What if he really was what Tom called him in the 
Chamber - "greatest of the Hogwarts four"? Up to now I've considered 
this to be hyperbole, Tom doing a bit of brown-nosing, flattering the 
inspiration of his philosophy. But why should he? It's not as if 
Slytherin himself were there, is it?

It's intriguing that the 'pets' associated with the leaders of the 
warring factions, the serpent and the phoenix, are on one hand symbolic 
of wisdom and eternity and the other with resurrection and alchemy. And 
alchemists, as we all appreciate were obsessed by the search for the  
Philosophers Stone, one by-product of which is immortality. And DD  is 
(was?) it's keeper. There seem to be a whole bunch of mythological 
pointers associated with extremely long timelines - immortality, 
eternity and serial resurrection, all connected to DD and Voldy. It 
gives one to wonder.

Last year I posted an hypothesis that Harry and the Voldy wars were 
just the latest episodes in a much longer struggle (79546, 79455) and 
that  DD and Voldy might, in various incarnations, be more or less 
permanent opponents. In which case having pets symbolising resurrection 
and eternity respectively would be apposite indeed.

"Ah!" you say, "but we know about Tom, his birth and his antecedents. 
That doesn't fit. So there. Weasel out of that one."

If Tom is Voldy, pure and simple, I can't. But I don't believe he is; 
Voldy is Tom plus something else IMO, something that  was in the 
Chamber.  Something that  had been hanging around, tapping it's foot, 
waiting for somebody like Tom to turn up and be possessed and do it's 
bidding. Something that in form is  very like the vapour of the 
Vapour!Mort formed after Godrics Hollow and Crumble!Quirrell. It wasn't 
a spell  that created the vaprous entity - that was it's natural form; 
take away the body it's possessing and that's what's left. It'll hang 
around, weakened until it finds another victim. And it's damn near 
immortal; as DD says "Not being truly alive he cannot be killed"  (PS 
chap 17) And unrepentantly evil to boot.

DD is supposedly 150 years old, yet we hear nothing of his first 100 
years; not until the Grindelwald dust-up 50 years before the events in 
HP does he hit the headlines. Well, OK, maybe. Feasible, I  suppose. 
But the Stone, why does he have the Stone? Flamel is/was his friend and 
partner. Partner -  now there's an interesting word. Partner in what? 
Making the Stone?  Flamel was hundreds of years old before DD was 
supposedly born, he doesn't need a partner. Partners share any benefits 
the partnership brings, perhaps DD uses the Stone as opposed to just 
guarding it. He's looking old, tired - he needs a boost,  a 
resurrection like Fawkes undergoes.

At the end of PS/SS DD  tells Harry that Flamel has enough elixir "to 
put his affairs in order". Five years later I'm still  waiting for the 
Daily Prophet to announce the death of "the oldest wizard in the 
world". Haven't seen it yet but I suspect that it isn't Flamel's but 
DD's affairs that are taking a lot of putting in order. Five years and 
Voldy still hasn't been vanquished. Hope  he's got plenty of elixir.

Kneasy