DRIBBLE SHADOWS addendum -- FAQ Poll Spoiler

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 129078


Jen wrote:
> Neri, Neri, oh ye of little faith! Ancient magic and blood 
> protection is good and all that, but only if Harry spends the rest 
> of his life at Privet Drive.

Neri:
Er... in the books I'm reading Lily's sacrifice protection saved Harry
from Quirrellmort *at Hogwarts*, according to both DD (in the end of
SS/PS) and Voldy (in his graveyard speech). 
 
Jen: 
> Take the much quoted Graveyard speech. Voldemort admits he can't 
> touch Harry at Privet Dr., but also states he can't reach him at 
> Hogwarts, either. No blood protection there! LV atrributes it to 
> Harry being under the watchful eye of the 'Muggle-loving fool' but 
> really, I doubt even DD would agree his twinkling eyes are enough to 
> keep Harry safe 100% of the time ;). Especially given Harry's 
> penchant for finding adventure whether DD is around or not.
> 

Neri:
All this is well and good, but as far as I understand, the only piece
of canon linking Harry's protection to dragon blood is the expression
"ancient magic", which is mentioned once regarding the protection of
dragons. So "ancient magic" is your only substantial cannon connection
with dragons. However, AFAIK when DD and Voldy mention these words
(twice as "ancient magic" and once as "old magic") they always refer
to either Lily's sacrifice protection, or to its extension to the
Dursley's house. So IMO if you want to link dragon blood to these
specific protections, then you have some basis in canon, but if you
want to link dragon blood to other protections, then you are
stretching canon thinner and thinner. 

Jen:
> And then we have the highly suspect fact that Harry escaped intact 
> in the Graveyard while not only the most feared dark wizard of all 
> times was chasing him, but dozens of DE's as well. Amazing how many 
> spells were whizzing around Harry yet not *one* managed to hit the 
> mark. And in the DOM, Harry once again remained unscathed while 
> running from numerous DE's and battling Bellatrix, who had just 
> extinguished a veteran fighter twice Harry's age.
> 
> And defeating the Basilisk in COS? Amazing how Harry was able to 
> escape the Basilisk multiple times before finally killing him. 
> Fawkes and Gryffindor's sword provided the means, but Harry still 
> had to stay alive long enough to find the end himself.
> 
> The way I see it, the options are: 1)Harry is either extremely 
> lucky; 2) JKR is writing her scenes knowing the readers must suspend 
> reality a bit and accept the hero theme at work; or 3) Harry is 
> protected by something else when he's away from the Dursleys. I'm 
> voting for one of Dumbledore's 'clever ideas' as the answer to that 
> question.
> 

Neri:
Oh, I could add an item or three to this list. I already mentioned 4)
Lily's sacrifice protection, and if this is not enough, how about, 5)
he has several/all the powers of the Dark Lord, and 6) he also has the
power that the Dark Lord knows not. And of course, we must not forget
7) "and either must die at the hand of the other" which might not be
strictly figurative. And there's also 8) he had some good teachers and
lots of training. All these options have considerably more canon than
dragon blood, and I haven't even used any meta-thinking yet.

I'm also sure that DD's clever ideas and Hogwarts' protections also
factor in this, but I still don't see any reason to assume they come
in the form of an "ancient magic" ointment, especially one that is
applied by Snape. The very little we know about ancient magic is that
it requires things like Love, Sacrifice and blood relation. Now, Snape
claims he can brew Glory and stopper Death (although he somehow never
gets to actually demonstrating these abilities) but I suspect that
Love and Sacrifice are a bit out of his range, and he's not
(canonically) Harry's relative.  

> Jen, highly enjoying the ride of the good ship DRIBBLE SHADOWS even 
> if we spring a leak after HBP.

Neri:
Spring a leak? Heh. If the VASSAL will be just "springing a leak"
after Hurricane Jo is through with her, I'll hold myself *extremely*
lucky. I'll consider changing my YahooID to Felix_Felicis_Felicius.