Whose sacrifice? was Re: What if it's not his powers?

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 98708

Ali" wrote:
><snips> 
> Moreover, I think JKR genuinely is in love with the Golden Trio. 
Sacrificing them or anyone close to them, therefore anyone Harry
values, would cause an irreparable rip in the fabric of their
friendship.  To put it simplistically, I don't think she wants to end
the series with the Trio at odds like that.  It's a silly assumption,
but generally, writers don't give characters that they've grown fond
of a sad ending.  Harry having to sacrifice someone close to him would
make for a very bittersweet ending, indeed.
> 
> ~Ali

Eustace_Scrubb:
I think I know what you're saying here, but I hope that JKR isn't so
attached to the characters that she ends the series with a too-neat
ending.

I doubt very much that Harry will make a decision to sacrifice Ron or
Hermione or Neville or Ginny or Luna.  I am fairly certain that any of
those five and undoubtedly others by the end of Book 7 would be
willing to sacrifice themselves for Harry.  Remember in PS/SS, Ron
insisted on sacrificing himself to win the chess match;  he didn't
allow the others to dissuade him.  If one of the central characters
loses his/her life, I suspect it will be a similar self-sacrifice. 
And Harry (and the readers) will need to learn another aspect of
Dumbledore's COS wisdom: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we
truly are, far more than our abilities."  That is, we know Harry by
_his_ choices and we'll come to know others by their own choices.  The
Harry of OoTP would beat himself up if any of those five had died at
the Ministry, despite the fact that each of them chose to go along. 
By the end of Book 7, he may have gained the wisdom to understand that
he is responsible for his choices and that his friends are equally
responsible for their own. (And thinking about it in those terms, I
think Ron and Hermione will probably make it, but that Neville may
well not--he tends to make courageous decisions that go beyond his
abilities--although his abilities are certainly improving).

As hypothetical as that sort of ending is, it gets the Trio to the end
of the series alive, sadder yet wiser than before, with a chance at a
full adult life ahead of them.  (which we'll learn little of, unless
JKR ends up like Conan Doyle, trying and failing to free herself from
her greatest creation.)

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb