Timing of the final confrontation

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 114810


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dzeytoun" <dzeytoun at c...> 
wrote:

Dzeytoun:
> At this particular juncture, my guess is that DD and the Order 
(those 
> of them in the know, anyway) expect that the final battle is still 
> some years down the road, and that Harry will have plenty of time 
to 
> finish Hogwarts and complete training (probably Auror training) to 
> meet the prophecy.  I would not be surprised if they actually 
> *discourage* Harry from going all out to prepare himself for 
battling 
> Voldemort.  I can easily see them *insisting* that Harry do such 
> things as take Hogsmeade trips, play Quidditch, etc, arguing that, 
> pressing as the needs of the WW are, Harry meeting Voldemort too 
soon 
> would be an absolute disaster.

Geoff:
On the other hand, we need to remember that it will probably be 
Voldemort's actions which drive the timing of this confrontation. The 
Wizarding World cannot make assumptions about how prepared he is or 
when he will move; that is the sort of action which wrong-footed the 
free world against Hitler in the mid-1930s.

I would imagine that Dumbledore, among others, is perceptive enough 
to remember that Harry has faced up to Voldemort (including via 
Quirrell and Tom Riddle) four times in five years. Voldemort wasn't 
defeated in OOTP, he was forced into the open. He still retains his 
powers and although he didn't get the prophecy in the end this may, 
in fact, accelerate his wish to finish things off and take the risk 
of attacking Harry (as he has done previously) without knowing the 
potential dangers of what it holds.

So anyone who is assuming that Harry has got stacks of time in which 
to train up may well be living in cloud cuckoo land.

Geoff
Enjoy views of Exmoor and preserved 
West Somerset Railway steam at:
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