Last Judgement Love - Choices

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 137476


Valky wrote:
> It is being revealed that Snape and Lily were comrades of
> a sort, both members of the Slug Club and both extraordinary
> students. Snape could not have kept from himself forever that 
> "Mudblood" was just a dirty word while he was so clearly exposed to 
> the contradiction.

colebiancardi:
where is that revealed? Snape was a member of the Slugclub? Do you
have a page number? The only thing we do know is that Slughorn was
the head of house in Slytherin & Snape was in that house. Where is it
that Snape & Lily were *comrades* of a sort? They were in advanced
potions - but who is to say their relationship wasn't more of a
Draco/Hermoine type?

Potioncat:
Were Lily and Severus comrades? Perhaps no more than Hermione and
Cormac.

colebiancardi:
Who the heck is Cormac? LOL


Valky now:
Ooops sorry cole, my bad, you're right. I should rephrase that to say
that *hints appear to be* revealing that they were comrades of a sort. 
The main thrust of that point is that Snape was exposed to the
contradiction of "Mudblood" through Lily, at the very least from a
short distance in the potions class where they both performed to
remarkable levels, and in likelihood as comrades of a sort given
Sluggy's pet habit of bringing the more brilliant students together in
a club.
Basically what follows for me from here is that: were Snape purely
brutally honest with himself, his snap at Lily about being a "Filthy
little Mudblood" could not be justified by what was likely his
experiences with her. And the point I was leaning to in my post were
what would be consequential of Snape being brutally honest with himself.
The Draco-Hermione relationship, it most likely wasn't since in the
Pensieve scene Lily seems to perceive Snape as a fairly guileless
individual before he says it. 
A Cormac-Hermine relationship probably fits better, actually, as
Hermione ended up quite surprised to find that Cormac became the giant
squid when you got too close. ;D Which is a little more like what
happened in the Pensieve. 

Oh yeah, and Cormac is the one with the bad temper and wandering
hands, who Hermione took to Sluggy's party when she was in the mood
for antagonising Ron.

Saraquel:
In the Horcrux chapter DD spends a long time getting Harry to
understand that he is making a choice to face Voldemort, and that
Harry's power lies in making that choice. If Harry continues to
think that he must face Voldemort because the prophecy tells him
that is his fate, then he becomes, IMO and I think DDs opinion (if
I'm reading it right), Voldemort's victim. Whether he defeats
Voldemort or not, he is the victim of Voldemort's choice to pursue
the prophecy. Some of his power would not be directed outwards on
the task in hand, but inwards. His power would not be illuminating
his will to do the task, but feeding his resentment of why me? So
his attention would not be in the present, but in the past, on the
history of the prophecy and everything connected with it. Only by
connecting with his choices of the present can he access the power
that he has within himself. 

Jen: 
Not everyone is impressed with Dumbledore's assertion that
Harry's power and protection is his ability to love. It seems like a
pretty dubious ability in the face of a well-placed AK.

I'm wondering if Dumbledore means something a bit more magical when
he says Harry's power is his ability to love. What if he's not
referring to love in Harry's day-to-day actions or his 'saving
people thing' or even Agape love, but is instead referring to a
magical transformation which took place when Lily's loving sacrifice
clashed with Voldemort's evil curse and both came to reside in not
only Harry's blood, but in his very skin?

Valky:
I just had to put these two together here. :D I think that from
different ends you're both approaching the same point, Yeah?
As I see it you are both referring to an innate partially magical
partially pure goodness power residing in Harry. 
I see a parrallel in here to the Felix Felicis potion, and the placebo
effect on Ron. 

>From Jens end there is a Felix Felicis and Saraquel approaches from
the placebo end. Meeting in the middle we have something that I think
could look like the final confrontation in a more literal sense than
we had talked about before. >From the approach that Saraquel took, we
are seeing that inside Harry there is this magical power - to access
this power Harry must remove his doubts and bad feelings. And like Ron
can live the effects of Felix through his self belief Harry can access
this magic within him through his emotional journey. Actually all the
HP series finales seem to have something of this theme in them anyway.
For example conjuring the Patronus in POA - Harry says he knew he
could do it, because he already had. 

Now the *other* thing that all the HP finales have is a literal object
of magic; like the Time Turner, the Mirror or the Priori incantatem.
So this is Jens approach, the *real* 'Felix Felicis' because it does
actually exist and it does have a literal background in HP existence. 

Now Jen said above that this magic could be a transformation that took
place when the sacrifice crossed with the curse and it now resides as
a purely magical force in Harry. While Saraquel proposes that Harry
can also use this force against himself if he directs it incorrectly
and becomes tied to the emotions that point it inward and hold him
back, such as revenge seeking, and feelings of resentment. 

So now here is my proposal. I agree with both of you. 

An instance of how it could look, is something like this. First we
have the *real* Felix. Its Harry's blood, the blood that connects him
to his mother and is filled with this very magical power. I have long
believed that DD's gleam was because he knew Voldemort took Harry's
blood because of it's magical power, so he percieved it as something
he could *use* which is true, but Voldemort fails to recognise what is
also true about this power. Something else about it which Voldemort
refuses to acknowledge in his adage that there is *only power*. 
Ok I don't really have a clue what it is, but that's what I have
always thought it was about. 

Next we have the placebo effect, which is Harry's ability to Love. And
like Ron, Harry can access it without incantations or actual magic
potions, because it is within himself all the time.Someone earlier
quoted DD that Harry is not inclined to the powers that Voldemort has
given him, while others would 'kill' to have such power because it can
be used for domination and control, Harry thinks nothing of it and is
not tempted to control or dominate anything. And here we see how the
two connect. This innate magic in Harry's blood is a very great magic,
like the miiror of erised and the Philosophers stone, but there is a
difference between Harry and Voldemort a very great difference. 
Like with the PS, Harry will risk everything to find it not caring
what he'll do next just that he must find it first or Voldemort will.
And Voldemort will realise what power he possesses in his blood and he
will seek to use it for himself. That is where the placebo effect
comes in most strongly. Harry's emotional journey is all important
here because he has something just beyond the power that they fight
with, he has this faith like Ron on the Quidditch field, that he can
win this one. And thats just enough to tip the scales.

Wow I really liked bringing those two posts together Jen and Saraquel,
it really made a lot of sense to me. :D

One more thing:
Saraquel
Who is contemplating writing a PhD on The Concept of Choice in the
Harry Potter Universe :


You know, Saraquel. That would be one awesome dissertation to read,
despite that it might seem like an overstatement from me, I think that
Jo's series shares an immense wisdom and philosophy with her readers.

Valky