Harry's protection

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 112956

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "snow15145" <snow15145 at y...> 
wrote:

Snow:
> Yes! Exactly. The curse that was used by Voldemort to kill Harry 
> could not be the AK curse (but it was a killing curse) because as 
> Fake Moody said there is no countercurse to an AK. Along with the 
> fact that Tom Riddle quite plainly says, "So. Your mother died to 
> save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm." 
> Riddle admits that the curse was countered by a charm therefore the 
> AK which cannot be countered could not have been the killing curse 
> that was attempted by Voldemort on baby Harry. There is also the 
fact 
> that Harry only remembers one flash of green light that accompanies 
> the AK curse, which killed Lily. 

Geoff:
Mulling over the comments which have appeared in this thread and 
combining it with the late hour has produced the following set of 
observations.

It has been pointed out that to make a Crucio curse work properly, 
the user has got to be really wound up.

'Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung 
himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed "Crucio!"

Bellatrix screamed: the spell had kncoked her off her feet but she 
did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had......

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. 
she had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! 
You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger 
won't hurt me for long....."'

[OT: Why does Bellatrix's use of "boy" make me think she's Welsh, he 
ponders]

(OOTP "The Only One He Ever Feared" p,.715 UK edition)

Now, the thought crossed my mind that suppose for an Avadra Kedavra 
curse, the same applies - that the user has to really want to hurt 
the victim - or possibly the spell can fail if the used is distracted 
in some way. 

Why do I say this? Because of Crouch!Moody's interesting comment in 
GOF.

'"Avadra Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind 
it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me  and 
say the words and I doubt I'd get so much as a nose-bleed..."'

(GOF "The Unforgivable Curses" p.192 UK edition)

He then reiterates that there is no blocking the curse or counter-
curse; but he seems to imply that the power behind it may have an 
effect on the result.

Suppose Voldemort was not firing on all cylinders at this point? He 
had just killed James and Lily. Maybe his evil battery is a bit 
drained so that he hasn't got the power to break through to baby 
Harry? So then what - a backfire? A ricochet? One flattened Dark Lord.
Hmmm. Back to the hot chocolate.

Geoff
See views of Exmoor and the 
heritage West Somerset Railway at:
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com