Two-way mirrors (Re: Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and the ....)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 116978


In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/116914, Aura 
quoted Juli :

> On another idea, WHY didn't he open Sirius' package (the 2 way
> mirror)??

And then replied:

>That was just ... bad writing. Sorry, but, that was rediculous. I 
don't
>think JKR meant to taunt us with, "oh, the irony! he could have 
saved
>Sirius!" or to trivialize Sirius' death by showing us that it could 
have
>been easily averted. But that's how it came off. FWIW, she's said 
that 1)
>the mirror probably wouldn't have helped as much as we think it 
would and
>2) aluded to a magical device important in the next book that is 
better
>than cell phones, so I suppose the mirror will be it. So it was
>introduced because it'll be important later.

Hi,

Talking about mirrors
 that's what I see in them when they reflect 
the Potterverse.
Forgive me if it happens to repeat something already "debated to 
death"; currently, I don't have all the time I whish I had to read 
the messages.

The two-way mirror reminds me the Mirror of Erised.
It's probably nothing but one more speculation. I don't know why, 
perhaps it's because of Lewis Carroll and Jean Cocteau, but since 
the first time I read PS/SS the chapter concerning the Mirror of 
Erised, I've been thinking it could be a two-way mirror.

I always thought that the sentence written `back to front' on the 
frame wasn't just a pleasant detail, a game between JKR and her 
readers. I suppose it's written `back to front' because it's 
actually the reverse of an inscription you can read `normally' when 
you stand on the other side of the mirror. The Mirror of Erised 
could be just like the Stone Arch in the Death Chamber: a gate 
between two worlds, two dimensions or two realities. JKR herself 
suggests that the Mirror could be just a gate, when she writes in 
PS/SS (chapter 12): "The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he 
stared hungrily back at them, his hand pressed flat against the 
glass as though he was hoping* to fall right through it* and reach 
them."
And at the end of the book, the Philosopher's Stone passes through 
the mirror, from Harry's reflection to Harry himself.
One last detail. You probably all know what JKR said concerning the 
PoA movie (Forgive me, kind little list elves; I know this is not 
the movie list): some details anticipate what happens in the two 
last books. I know we need to be careful with "movie contamination", 
but
 did you notice what happens during Lupin's Boggart class? We 
see a huge wardrobe with a mirror. In the mirror, we can see the 
students' reflection. The camera moves forward, `passes through' the 
mirror, and joins the students, who are waiting for the class to 
begin. The same thing happens at the end of the class, and this time 
the camera moves `through the mirror', from Harry himself to his 
reflection.  I've read some say this scene is a goof, because the 
scar on Harry's forehead `is not at the right place': in fact we are 
facing Harry's reflection, but the camera movement gives the 
impression that we are facing Harry himself (hope I'm not too messy 
here!). Maybe that's one of the `foreshadowing details'? We 
pass `through the mirror'
If you are not convinced, well
 see the 
movie again.
Back to the books.
 The Mirror, in PS/SS, represents the seventh ordeal Harry has to 
pass through on his journey to the Stone. Well, I suppose we'll see 
it again (the Mirror, or something similar) in the seventh book. 
And, why not, Sirius' small mirror might play a part in the outcome. 
Simply because mirrors, small or huge, play an important part in 
initiatory processes, like Alchemy and its "satellites". For 
example, they are used in the Masonic loges; the initiate is locked 
in what they call a `meditation room', where he/she finds a curtain 
and the following sentence: `If you have a genuine wish, if you 
possess courage and intelligence, draw this curtain.' 
I saw one of those cabinets once in Venice. I drew the curtain, and 
faced my own reflection in a mirror.
I'm not a Mason myself, but the message seemed to be quite 
clear: `Face what you are; face your own consciousness'. 
I suppose it's what Harry will have to do if he wants to defeat 
Voldemort. In OotP, he's not ready to do it, as JKR states on her 
website. She writes: 
"[
] the short answer is that Harry was determined never to use the 
mirror, as is clearly stated in chapter 24: `he knew he would never 
use whatever it was'. For once in Harry's life, he does not succumb 
to curiosity, he hides the mirror and the temptation away from 
himself, and then, when it might have been useful, he has forgotten 
it."
In my opinion, Harry doesn't want to use the mirror because he 
worries for Sirius, and doesn't want to endanger him. It's because 
he loves his godfather, but also because of what happened before 
Christmas, because of the nightmare he had  in which he `was' a 
snake and `attacked' Arthur Weasley. At that moment, when he is 
given the mirror, Harry is afraid of himself. He doesn't know what 
is going on, and he probably prefers not to know, because he feels  
he could discover terrible things, things he is not ready to face 
yet. That's probably why the Occlumency lessons are pointless. They 
don't work, maybe not because Harry doesn't want to learn, or 
because Snape is a `bad' teacher. Harry fails because he's not ready 
to learn, because he's afraid of what is hidden in his heart, in his 
soul. He's afraid of what he could be, of what he could become. So 
he doesn't want to face himself, to face this consciousness the 
Occlumency lessons make him feel painfully. His scar burns when he 
tries to learn; it burns because consciousness is a burning thing. 
We can't blame him for trying to avoid the pain, for trying to 
forget. 
Okay, say I always repeat the same thing. But the more I consider on 
one hand Alchemy and its "satellites", and on the other hand, the 
Harry Potter series, the more I feel the solution is hidden in 
Harry's heart. He simply needs to find his own key, and it's not 
necessarily a complex process. It could be as simple as a direct 
look at who he is, at what he wants to be. 
Harry will have to learn to face himself in order to defeat 
Voldemort; he will have to face his own heart and soul. It's a vital 
question: Voldemort didn't manage to face his own consciousness; we 
see the result.

`Erised stra  ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'; `I show not your 
face but your heart's desire': how could Harry learn better than 
facing a Mirror of Erised? 

Two Knuts, and just my opinion,

Amicalement,

Iris