Re: Mommy can’t protect you forever

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 99382

> Neri wrote:
> > Had Voldy done this simple test, I think he would have found that he
> > can touch Harry without feeling pain even before the resurrection. 
> Of
> > course, he didn't bother to check it, but we have another proof,
> > almost as good: Wormtail DID touch Harry. He was dragging him 
> several
> > feet and tying him to the gravestone. And he was not showing any 
> pain
> > at all.
> 
> Reed answered:
> 
> Well, I always believed that the protection Lily gave Harry when 
> dying for him protected him against the one person who threatened him 
> at this moment: Voldemort. It will not ward off *everyone* who 
> touches Harry with bad intentions.
> <snip> 
> 
> 
> Neri again:
> According to your interpretation, Lily's protection is very Voldemort-
> specific. Suppose for a minute that Voldy in GH, after getting rid of 
> Lily, would have suddenly become cautious, and instead of AKing baby 
> Harry himself, he would have summoned Lucius on the dark mark line 
> and order HIM to AK Harry. Do you say that Lucius could have nailed 
> Harry with no damage to himself?
> 
> Not a very smart protection.

Annemehr:
Actually, I quite agree with Reed.  I don't know about how "smart" it
is; it's just how the magic works: Lily died defending Harry against
Voldemort, and Harry is protected from Voldemort's touch.

Remember in PS/SS that Quirrell, with LV residing inside him, could
not even withstand mere skin contact with Harry without getting
blistering burns, not even when *Harry* touched *him.*  Yet, Dudley
has always been able to punch Harry with no ill effects (and wasn't it
Piers who was normally the one to *hold* the victim's arms while
Dudley beat him up?), and he did it for years before Harry ever met
Quirrell.  So, yes, I'm sure the skin contact protection applied only
to Voldemort, and furthermore that it was triggered by contact alone
and not just when Harry was being attacked.

Neri:
> But suppose we buy your explanation for a moment, and Lily's ancient 
> magic works only against Voldemort specifically. In GoF, Voldemort 
> bought himself immunity against this protection. He proved it, 
> remember? He touched Harry in the graveyard without feeling pain. So 
> how come in OotP he fails to possess Harry because he "can't reside 
> in a body so full of a power he despises"? Why didn't Lily's ancient 
> magic work against Voldemort in the graveyard, but then does work 
> against him in the MoM???
> 
> I see only one logical explanation: the power that saved Harry in the 
> Mom was NOT Lily's ancient magic.

Annemehr:
Here, I agree.  The power that saved Harry in the MoM came from his
own heart.  I hadn't noticed that anyone thought it was part of Lily's
protection before, but it had never even occured to me that Lily had
anything to do with it.  The power of Lily's love saved Harry in
Godric's Hollow, but Harry has his own powers and goodness himself.
 
Neri: 
> In his end-of-the-year-talk in OotP, DD first talks about Lily's 
> ancient magic, explaining how he used it to protect Harry in the 
> Dursleys house. Note how he manages to avoid saying that the ancient 
> magic had also protected Harry tonight in the MoM. In the last part 
> of his talk he speaks about the power behind the locked door. He 
> tells us that this is the power that sent Harry to save Sirius 
> tonight. Why would Lily's ancient magic protection send Harry to save 
> Sirius? DD also tells us specifically that this power had saved Harry 
> from possession in the MoM. Note how he manages to avoid saying that 
> this power is Love, or that this power is Lily's ancient magic.
> 
> So why do we assume that the-power-behind-the-locked-door and Lily's 
> ancient magic protection are one and the same?
> 
> I'll tell you why. Because JKR is playing her little games with our 
> minds. Again.
> 
> Neri

Annemehr:
It might be useful to try and sort out all these protections, if only
because I myself find them all confusing and tend to forget which
applies where.  Please tell me if I'm not making sense!

1)Lily's Sacrificial Death

-1a)Caused AK rebound. Was it limited to that *one* AK, or was LV then
generally unable to AK Harry, if only he could hold a wand?  As for
other wizards, I believe that they could still AK Harry if they tried.
 In any case, LV is quite unafraid to attempt AK on Harry since his
reembodiment, and DD felt compelled to block the one aimed at Harry in
the MoM with a statue.

-1b)Touch Protection. IMO, LV, and LV alone, could no longer stand
skin-to-skin contact with Harry; extended to those LV possesses. 
Overcome by LV by using Harry's blood in reembodiment potion.

2)Privet Drive Protection.  DD used Lily's sacrificial death to
arrange protection for Harry at the home of Lily's blood relative as
long she takes him in and Harry can call it "home."  Unclear to me
exactly who this applies to and what the boundaries are.  As DD sent
Harry back there after LV's overcoming of 1), it's implied that it is
still in effect independently of the sacrifice which made it possible,
which is why I listed it separately as 2) rather than 1c).

3)Resistance to Possession by LV.  As I said, IMO this is a power of
Harry himself. Here, I will agree that Jo is playing games with us,
though. DD is so cagey about explaining it to Harry, telling him Harry
knows what that power is as if it's obvious, yet he takes pains not to
name it.

I assume that Harry's resistance to LV's possession is very important
to how Harry will defeat him, which is probably why Jo doesn't want to
define it too closely.  Though we've toyed with various ideas on this
list, I always come back to "love" being the most fitting explanation.
 The key to the whole thing may be the particular form or
manifestation of love that will come into play, which she's still
keeping secret.

So -- Mommy can't protect you forever. I believe you are right. I
think LV can AK as well as touch Harry, and I think it's a good bet
the Privet Drive protection will fall, too (though I hope we get a
better explanation of what exactly it *is,* as well). What Harry will
always keep from Lily is the fact that she loved him that much.  He'll
have that, the support of his friends, and his own heart to help him
in the end. Not to say there won't be other things involved as well
(Neville, Harry's and Lily's eyes...), but that much at least.

Annemehr
who feels odd calling her "Jo," but a bit curmudgeonly typing "JKR"
after she'd written "Jo, to you" so nicely...