Harry's bit of Voldy - Just a Part

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 123314


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dungrollin"
<spotthedungbeetle at h...> wrote:
> 
> ...
> 
> It's about what really happened at GH (again, again).  
> When DD and Harry are talking at the end of CoS, after 
> they've got rid of the Weasleys and Lockhart, and before 
> Lucius Malfoy interrupts, DD says (I'll quote it again, 
> for those without their books to hand)
> 
> Chapter 18: Dobby's Reward, p245 UK:
> 
> "You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbeldore 
> calmly, "because Lord Voldemort – who is the last 
> remaining descendent [ancestor in my copy] of Salazar 
> Slytherin – can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much 
> mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you 
> the night he gave you that scar.  Not something he 
> intended to do, I'm sure..."
> "Voldemort put a bit of himself in *me*?" Harry said, thunderstruck. 
> "It certainly seems so."
> 
> Now, what's bothering me is that use of the word 'transferred'. That 
> implies taking from one place and putting in another. But at the 
> beginning of GoF, Voldemort can speak Parseltongue too. So he 
> retained that ability, while giving it to Harry at the same time. 
> Strictly speaking it should have read "copied", shouldn't it?
> 
> ...edited...
> 

bboyminn:

First, I think we need to remember that inner magical essense is a
very abstact and intangible thing; almost spiritual in nature, and
therefore we can't necessarily make any assumptions about it's nature
and how it will or won't behave.

While I concede that /magic/ is not tangible, a tangible analogy will
still work to make my point. If I loan you a cup of sugar and a pound
 of flour, that doesn't mean I am then left without sugar or flour. 

A part of Voldemort's magical essense, in this case, his ability to
speak parseltongue could be transferred to Harry without Voldemort
being left without that ability. By illustration, Harry speaks
parseltongue with difficulty, Voldemort on the other hand speaks it
with an easy comfort. That could imply that some portion of Voldemorts
ability to speak to snakes was transferred; some portion, but not all.

To use a different illustration, Jame Potter could be said to have
transferred some of his fine flying and Quidditch ability to his son,
but that transfer doesn't leave James without that ability.

Since the nature of magical essense is a very mysterious intangible
commodity, I don't think we can really say that Voldemort's skills
didn't pass in the same nature as James's skills.

Another way of looking at it is that some of Voldemort's magical
essense was mirrored in Harry by the failed curse; in Harry, we are
seeing a /reflection/ of some aspects of Voldemort's power.

For a further discussion on the Transfer of Power, see this thread....
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/122358



> dungrollin continues:
>
> It went something along the lines of: Voldemort didn't transfer 
> *some* of his powers to Harry, he transferred *all* of his powers to 
> Harry. Now, whenever Voldy does magic, he has to access his powers 
> *through* Harry, which is why Harry's scar hurts. 
> 
> Much as I like this idea, it doesn't seem (to me) to be a 
> satisfactory explanation either.  Harry's scar wasn't hurting while 
> Voldy tortured Bertha Jorkins, for example, ...
> 
> ... Any ... thoughts, speculation or full-blown theories would be 
> very, very welcome.
> 
> Ta,
> 
> Dungrollin


bboyminn:

I'm not buying that theory either. Although there is some school of
thought regarding the end of the series in which Voldemort's death
draws all his/Voldemort's magical power out of Harry, and that leaves
Harry will little or no magical power of his own -- doomed to live the
rest of is life as a muggle or a marginal wizard.

It's a nice theory, but not well supported, afteral, Harry's name was
in the 'Book' since the day he was born. That implies some magical
ability was recognised in him before his encounter with Voldemort.

Also, as someone else pointed out, Voldemort engaged in pretty
substantial magic before the morning when Harry's scar started
hurting. Although, we must consider, that the scar started hurting
after Voldemort had gained his ugle_baby!mort body. Perhaps, it was
Voldemort gaining a body that completed the connection.

Still, I just don't buy Harry's body containing the sum total of all
Voldemort's power, and Voldemort accessing it by Scar!Internet connection.

On the other hand, I am thoroughly convinced that Harry having some
essense of Voldemort is significant, and will somehow come into play
in the final resolution. 

When I ponder mysteries like this, I can't help wondering how JKR can
tie up the many loose ends and mysteries remaining in the books. It
would seem like it would take two full books even if she dropped the
stories and just explained all the loose-ends.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn