What must happen first (was Re: Sirius' death (was: Dept of Mysteries Veil Room)

[mhbobbin]

No: HPFGUIDX 114458


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> Can someone please explain why Sirius would not be dead?  Either by
> coming back from behind the veil or Harry journeying to the
> underworld or whatever?  What would be the point of bringing Sirius
> back?
> 
> Because in all the hair-splitting, detailed discussions about this
> issue, no one has made a compelling case that Sirius' presence is
> somehow important to the plot of the series.
> 
> Magda
> 
> 
> mhbobbin writes:
Since it's a slow posting day, I'm not going to feel guilty going on 
a bit more about this, and replying AGAIN to the same post.

This is a legitimate challenge.  And as I said previously, I don't 
have a legitimate answer.  So I have been contemplating it and 
instead seek to re-frame the argument into What Would Have to Happen 
before Harry descends like Orpheus beyond the Veil.

First, I don't think Harry would take this Mission on, or be allowed 
to take it on, simply because of his grief. THe War is about to 
begin and no adult--particularly DD--would likely allow the 
potential Vanquisher to undertake a hazardous Quest for emotional 
reasons. With the series 5/7 finished, there's not much ink left for 
Detours not directly related to Vanquishing Evil Dark Lords. And 
with JKR promising more bad news for Harry in Books 6 & 7, the 
Beyond could be full of characters for Harry to rescue by the End.  
He could be completely occupied for years to come by trips to the 
Beyond. If you do it for one...(But then maybe those characters will 
die Proper Deaths.) Such a Mission is fraught with trouble.

So, as I see it, before Harry would undertake such a Quest, two 
developments must occur:

1) Revelations about Sirius that would require him back in the 
storyline.

2) Revelations about the Veil that make Harry see that it's possible.

Two seems more likely than One.  This would require Harry to seek 
out an Unspeakable.  He met Mr. Croaker in GoF so that's a 
possibility (Put Croaker on the list of those who likely will take 
up residence Beyond.) And then what? No idea.

Can there be knowledge that ONLY Sirius has? Yes. What is it? I have 
no idea. But despite the thousands of pages, we sure don't know much 
about either Sirius or Lupin. We've been promised more revelations 
about The Past. 

I admit that there isn't much about either One or Two to go one with.

But I keep coming back to the ambiguity of Sirius' death, the three 
headed dog and the pomegranate. The promegranate especially. It's 
not even supposed to be in the story--it's not an ingredient in 
anything. Harry adds it in error to a potion. And I can't find a 
legitmate reason for it to be there except to sow a particular seed 
in our brains.

mhbobbin
>