the DADA jinx

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 138333

Carol's note: This post doesn't link to the original thread, which
begins at 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137961

Sherry wrote:
> I would like to start by complimenting Carol on her excellent post
about the possible ways the DADA jinx has affected events. <snip>
> Was it Valky who suggested the jinx acts on some dark agent in the
life of the particular teacher?  Well, it is actually both carol and
Valky on that I think.  However, I am wondering if it actually acts on
a character flaw in the teacher, leading that person to unwittingly do
Voldemort's will and not do his will.  As Valky said, Voldemort is
again causing his own downfall by his own jinx. <snip>
>
Carol responds:
I agree that the DADA curse works Voldemort's will--ironically,
sometimes backfiring on him, as someone (AmiableDorsai?) pointed out
with Quirrell--and I think you're right that the character flaw (not
necessarily a "Dark side") is more important than what I termed the
"agent" in the original post. (That was the wrong word; an agent is
presumably human. It should have been "agency" or "instrument.) But I
was looking for a term that would tie together the face in the back of
Quirrell's head, Ron's broken wand, and the Unbreakable Vow--the
manifestation of the jinx or the instrument that will be used to
betray the DADA teacher, which appears at the beginning of the term
but only comes into play, in most cases, at the end.

Sherry wrote:
> We are told that Quirrel was smart and curious.  Was his curiosity
the agent that the jinx used against him? <snip>

Carol responds:
I think he was intrigued by the Dark Arts and too weak to resist them.
He was drawn to the vaporized Voldemort, who convinced Quirrell to
transport him to Britain (How?) and later was weak enough and
terrorized enough to allow Voldemort inside his head (unlike Snape,
who would never wear a turban!). On his first term he is seduced by
the Dark Arts; on his second, he is used and discarded by Voldemort as
he used and discarded the animals he possessed. If it was curiosity
that killed the professor, then it was curiosity about Dark beings
(vampires, ostensibly) that led him to LV. But he was also weak and
foolish, as LV himself says, for all his book learning, and easily
manipulated. We don't know whether he was actually a DE, but there was
certainly a master/servant relationship similar to that of Voldemort
and Wormtail in GoF. I think his weakness was the willingness to seek
out and serve evil. At least, that seems to me a more workable flaw
for the DADA curse than mere curiosity. And whatever chance for
redemption Victim!Quirrell may have had seems to have ended when he
drank the unicorn blood, in essence sealing his own doom.


Sherry wrote:
> Ego!  Lockhart's ego, his image was his downfall. <snip>

Carol responds:
Ego and deception, I'd say, taking credit for others' work. He's a
sham and, in a sense, a plagiarist. But to revise my thinking a
little, what I was calling the "agent" earlier but now prefer to call
the "instrument" was not so much Ron's damaged wand as Lockhart's own
favorite (okay, only) spell, the memory charm, which backfired with
such marvelous poetic justice.

Sherry wrote:
> Ah, Lupin.  I am not convinced that he is ESE, but this thought
about the jinx could explain what happened to him.  Not the map or the
feud, but his weakness of personality.  His desire to be liked that
kept him from telling Dumbledore that Sirius was an animagus. <snip> 
If he had been stronger, and if he had told Dumbledore at the
beginning of Sirius' animagus ability, is it possible that Dumbledore
could have caught Sirius, heard the whole story of Peter and then
captured Peter? There would have been no rushing off of Lupin or Snape
to confront anyone in the shack. <snip> Peter could have been
revealed, sent to Azkaban and therefore be unable to go to Voldemort.
But Lupin's weakness, his fear of 'fessing up, led to the events we
have in POA.

Carol responds:
I agree that Lupin's character flaw is (moral) weakness. He knows the
right thing to do; he just lacks the courage to do it. We see that
even in the Pensieve scene, where he hides behind his book and lets
James and Sirius attack Severus without doing his duty as Prefect.
It's that same weakness or lack of moral courage that prevents him
from turning in the Marauder's Map to Dumbledore. 

But I still think that the "instrument" was the map. If he'd had the
strength of character to turn it in to Dumbledore, he wouldn't have
seen Pettigrew on the map and rushed out, forgetting his potion,
turning into a werewolf and endangering three children, inadvertently
freeing Wormtail and setting in motion all the consequences,
unfavorable for himself and favorable to Voldemort, that followed from
his inaction. And as you say, Sirius's attacks on Ron and all the rest
of the events in PoA might not have occurred at all if Lupin hadn't
weakly concealed the truth, including the map itself.

Sherry wrote:
> And now, Snape.
> I think this [the character flaw idea] can work, no matter which
side he is on, or even if he's not on any side but his own.  Perhaps a
desire to prove himself?  I think Snape actually has some
self-confidence issues; otherwise, he wouldn't feel it necessary to
demean his students or even to continue his grudge against James
through Harry. He must feel insecure in himself.  That kind of
insecurity can make people do some truly horrible things. <snip> But
if his insecurity leads him to Voldemort, it could have been that he
thought Voldemort could give him something, power prestige, make him
bigger than those old tormenters from school. 

Carol responds:
Well, yes, but to me that sounds more like an explanation of why he
originally joined the DEs in his late teens than how the DADA jinx
operates on him some twenty years later.

Sherry wrote: 
The unbreakable vow, which I do believe is the way the DADA jinx
> seals Snape's doom, could have been a way for him to make himself
feel and seem more important than he believes he is. <snip>
I know Snape may seem to come off as being full of pride and
confidence, but I've never seen him as such. <snip> Whether he is evil
or good or only out for Snape's best interest in true Slytherin style,
his insecurity can drive him to do things that will actually work
against him.  

Carol responds:
I originally postulated his loyalty to DD (or himself or even LV) as
the secret that the DADA curse was exploiting. But if you're right
that it's a character flaw rather than a secret that the DADA teacher
(Boromir-like) carries with him when he takes the position, I'm back
to my original idea that it was pride (not the same thing as
self-confidence) that led him to take the UV--the idea that he could
work around the provisions of the vow (interpreting "help" differently
than Narcissa did, for example). And pride, as we know, goeth before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Sherry wrote:
The vow became his downfall.  He is not dead, but he is most certainly
disgraced.  If he was Dumbledore's man all along, he is now in an
untenable position, because the good guys will never believe it.  If
he is evil, he has still perhaps interfered with Voldemort's
> plans by saving Draco.  He also is no longer in a position to spy on
the order.  If he's only out for himself, he is now in a terribly
dangerous position, because each side could suspect him.  But
definitely, he is out of Hogwarts in a dramatic and agonizing way. 
His insecurity led to his downfall.

Carol responds;
This paragraph I agree with absolutely (may the List Elves forgive me
for saying so)!

Sherry wrote:
> As for how to break the jinx, i like carol's idea that perhaps Snape
and Lupin may have to work together to do that in the end.  If Snape
is good, it would be wonderful poetic justice, if those two old
enemies must come together to break the threads that have twisted all
their lives.  I don't see how that can happen, but Lupin could be the
one Snape could go to to plead his case.  I doubt Lupin would shoot
him on sight.  He didn't even do that to peter in the shack.  <snip> 
Even if Snape is evil, murdered Dumbledore for his own or Voldemort's
reasons, if he is to be redeemed, this could begin with Lupin. 
Perhaps that will be the key to breaking the jinx once and for all.

Carol responds:
I'm so happy that you like my proposed alliance between Snape and
Lupin, who is the only member of the Order both level-headed and
intelligent enough to give Snape a chance to work with him after the
events in HBP, and who (whether he understands it or not) has fallen
victim to the same curse. (Anyone who's mystified by a proposed
Snape/Lupin alliance and wants to read the original suggestion will
need to go back to the link provided at the top of this message.) I
like the idea or I wouldn't have proposed it, but it may be overly
optimistic.

Thanks for your thoughtful responses, Sherry!

Carol