That Night at *Godric's* Hollow...and more

[msbeadsley]

No: HPFGUIDX 138279

We all want to know exactly what happened the night Harry got his
scar. (Don't we?) Mostly, we want specifics as to why Harry survived
and Voldemort didn't. I think we have enough canon to sketch the
answer. (And it fits nicely with the notion that CoS almost gave too
much away, too.) Is this new? Probably not very. (I am standing on the
shoulders of too many posters to cite. <waves> Thanks.) But it might
be useful anyway. 

I went trolling through my memories (oh, for a Pensieve!) of the books
and the books themselves and found myself drawn back to CoS,
specifically events starting in Hagrid's cabin with
Dumbledore's suspension. He carefully announces that he will have
a presence at Hogwarts until "none here are loyal" to him. He
goes on to add, "You will also find that help will be given at
Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

In the Chamber, Harry defies Diary Revenant Tom Riddle by comparing
him unfavorably to Dumbledore, and even paraphrases what Dumbledore
said in Hagrid's hut: "He's not as gone as you might
think!" Harry is "speaking at random, wanting to scare
Riddle, wishing rather than believing it to be true—"

On the heels of this statement, Fawkes appears with the Sorting Hat.
Fawkes handicaps the Basilisk, but it is still a threat. And there is
still the revenant to deal with, too. Harry puts on the Sorting Hat
and is silently pleading for help when a sword very helpfully
materializes. He manages to kill the Basilisk. Fawkes's tears
heal his injury from the fang and its venom. He plunges the Basilisk
fang into the diary without making a conscious choice to do so. It
works. Both Basilisk and revenant are history. Again.

In his office, Dumbledore thanks Harry for his "real
loyalty," saying, "Nothing but that could have called Fawkes
to you." Dumbledore assuages Harry's doubts about any
similarities between himself and Tom Riddle, pointing out that the
sword bears the name of Godric Griffindor and that Harry's
ability to pull it out of the hat is proof positive that Harry is a
true Griffindor.

In CoS, Harry is twelve years old and facing a very powerful evil
wizard (not to mention the Basilisk) while trying to save a fellow
student even younger than himself. In each of the books he triumphs or
at least survives using a combination of resources, with courage
always at the forefront.

We are not privy to the very first incident wherein Harry triumphs
over or survives an attack by Dark forces; it happens at Godric's
Hollow, and his mother (one who has defied the Dark Lord thrice) is
the one who triumphs, while Harry is the one who survives.

Fawkes's appearance in Chamber was due to Harry's loyalty to
Dumbledore. How? Does any student who expresses intense loyalty to
Dumbledore get a visit from Fawkes? Does Fawkes bring the Hat every
time this happens? Does each visit involve a magical artifact
appearing out the the Hat? Or were Harry's loyalty, courage and
need the prerequisites? What sort of magics were in place that could
result in the unexpected advantages Harry benefitted from in the
Chamber?

In the post-HBP MuggleNet/Leaky Cauldron interview, JKR specifically
refers to "the caliber of Lily's bravery" the night she
died. There, in that place which is named for the man whose sword will
fall out of a hat in response to her son's extreme need a few
years later, Lily chose to stand between her son and Voldemort. She
deliberately sacrificed herself, there in Godric's Hollow. (How
much would you be willing to bet that the expression on her face at
that moment accurately presaged those her son would wear at certain
times in the following years?)

Why were the Potters hiding out in Godric's Hollow? What is the
source (are the sources) of Hogwarts' long-extant protective
magics? Part of Harry's help in the Chamber is a result of magics
obviously connected with Dumbledore: at least Fawkes's appearance
must be read this way. But it seems the help is from sources even
greater than Dumbledore. I believe that Godric also left protective
magics behind, quiescent in the place he gave his name to as well as
the school he helped found. I think Lily called on those magics,
probably unconsciously, the night she died, that her courage and her
need triggered enchantments still in place since the time of the
founders. Maybe her love and sacrifice would have been enough to save
Harry that night. Maybe not. But the strength of the protection that
came away from the wreckage of that house with Harry was pure
Griffindor.

It makes even more sense if we consider Lord Voldemort the logical
conclusion of a series of choices made within that bloodline starting
with Salazar Slytherin himself. (An idea which is one of my current
favorites.) Whose magics, whose essences, would react to each other
more explosively than Slytherin and Griffindor? (Is Harry a Griffindor
descendant on his fathers' side? Maybe. But blood was something
Slytherin worried about. Griffindor's heirs were the courageous.) 

I also believe that I know why Harry ended up with something of
Voldemort inside him. While I do not believe that Harry is a horcrux
per se, I believe that the magical violence that night was sufficient
to send a piece of Voldemort's fractured and tattered soul flying
into Harry's forehead. It will be another irony, that
Voldemort's ultimate downfall will actually be partly the result
of his work in creating the horcruxes. A man with a whole, unfractured
soul could not have lost a piece of it to have it come back and be
instrumental in his defeat later. (It has happened at least once
already, with Harry's ability to speak Parselmouth leading to
Diary Revenant Tom Riddle's defeat in CoS.)

I think that Harry's ability to love will be sorely tested in the
final confrontation (will Snape will be there?). Harry will have to
chose between vengeance/justice as he sees it, and love. (I suspect
that some of what JKR insists will show the books to be less secular
will be a measure of Harry's ability to turn the other cheek.) The
protection that has kept him safe all these years has a linchpin
placed there by his mother's love. His own love for others
strengthens and reinforces it; his hatred and desire for vengeance
weakens it. In the final confrontation, only his courage and ability
to love will frustrate the "ambition" of that part of Voldemort he
carries to turn him into a tool of the man it sprang from.

Whew! So, is there anything of value here?

Sandy aka msbeadsley