What were the corridor dreams ?

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 116949



While answering other threads, I realised that one of my problems is
that I still don't have a definite idea of what the corridor dreams
Harry's been having all year long in OoP actually are.

Here are the facts I've managed to assemble for now, and some
questions they raised for me.

1. The dreams are accurate. When Harry finally ends up going to the
DoM, things are exactly like in his dreams.

2. LV never went there in his new body. If he had, he would have taken
the Prophecy off the shelf himself.

3. LV went there once as a snake and Harry happened to witness that
time. Was it the only time LV tried that ? If not, how come Harry saw
that time ?

4. It appears that well into OoP, LV was not even aware that nobody
but he and Harry could pick up the Prophecy. Instead he tried to force
other people to do it for him. This to me strongly indicates that he
had no intention to go there himself.

5. The dreams started long before LV even thought of using Harry to
pick the Prophecy up.

6. The dreams became longer and longer, and yet it took almost a year
for them to reach their end. Why ?

So finally I reach my real question : what were those dreams ???

Here are some ideas I've had.

1. They were real dreams that LV was having every night.
I don't think so, for many reasons, like for example :
- Dreams are not reasonable, like those visions were. They go in many
different ways.
- Why would Harry share only those dreams ?
- LV would have to be *very* obsessed to dream of that corridor every
single night.
- There's no reason those dreams should have been longer over time.

2. They were dreams LV was deliberately implanting in Harry's mind.
I doubt it, because :
- LV wasn't apparently aware of the connection between him and Harry
until the Snake Dream.
- Why would LV want to inform Harry so early of the existence of a
potential weapon against him (against LV, I mean) ? LV first did what
seemed obvious : he tried to get people who had normal access to the
Prophecy to steal it for him. It's only when he learned that only he
and Harry could take the Prophecy that he conceived the much more
hazardous plan of tricking Harry into taking the Prophecy.
- LV isn't exactly patient. He wouldn't have made things last so long.
Unless he couldn't manage to stay in Harry's mind long enough. But in
that case, why not jump directly to the moments when Harry enters the
different rooms, once he's been shown how to get there ?

3. They were real explorations of the DoM by LV in his body.
Unlikely, because :
- LV would have taken the Prophecy himself if he could.
- I seem to remember that LV (or one of his DEs) specifically said
that he didn't want to risk exposing himself to the Ministry.
- The dreams wouldn't start and end like that each time. Each time
Harry's dreams start in the corridor, and end somewhere in the DoM.
The only thing that could explain this logically that I can think of,
would be if Apparition is possible from outside the MoM to inside the
corridor but not to inside the DoM, but Apparition from inside the DoM
to outside the MoM is possible. Unlikely, IMO.
- There would be no reason for Harry to follow LV into his wanderings
each night.
- There would be no reason for Harry to start following LV just when
he's Apparating into the MoM until when he just Apparates away. Why
not before this and/or after that ?

4. The only other possibility I can think of, is that those visions
are real explorations of the DoM by LV *out of his body*.
I like this one, because :
- It would explain why the visions got longer over time : because LV
managed to stay inside the DoM longer over time, before getting booted
by some security device, or by his own inability to stay out of his
body for long.
- It would explain why Harry saw all of those visions : maybe the
sheer effort of sending his spirit away from his body made LV's trips
very accessible to Harry. Same with the Snake Vision.
- It would explain why LV couldn't pick the Prophecy up even when he
got in the Prophecy Room.
- And most of all, it would explain how someone who had never been to
the DoM could create such *accurate* visions of what it looks like.
However, there's one thing this hypothesis doesn't explain : the last
dream, Sirius's vision. If LV wasn't actually there torturing Sirius,
how could he make Harry dream of it ? Unless, as Finwitch suggested,
there were Transfigured or Polyjuiced people there pretending to be LV
and Sirius. This would explain why it felt so real to Harry : because
it WAS real.

Del