[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAPDISC:HBP19,Elf Tails

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 157556

KJ wrote:



> 5. Considering the information that we have been given on
> Life Debts, is this fore-shadowing of what will come in
> Book 7? ..

   snipping excellent responses

> bboyminn:
> 
> I think Arthur's voice is reflecting distress at how many
> of his family members have been in danger, that and the
> worry of the moment. So, it is not necessarily related
> specifically to Harry saving them. Certainly that is an
> undeniable aspect, but I don't think the tone of his voice
> fall on Harry, in a manner of speaking.
> 
> As to the Life Debts, as others have pointed out,
> according to JKR, Ginny doesn't own Harry a Life Debt.
> Yes, she owes him her life in the common everyday sense,
> but not in the magically binding sense.
> 
> It seems that the 'life saving' has to be is a very direct
> and deliberate way. Harry's information lead to Arthur
> being saved, but Harry didn't save him with his own hands.
> To save Ginny, Harry had to defeat young Tom Riddle, but
> he did that to save his own life as well. Ginny being save
> was an indirect, unintended, and unknown result of
> defeating Tom Riddle.
> 
> Ron, on the other hand, is a little more unclear. It was
> Harry who directly and personally administered the Bazoar,
> and it seems that it made the critical difference. So,
> perhaps Ron owns Harry a magically binding Life Debt, but
> only JKR can confirm it for sure.


   KJ writes:

       While JKR makes it clear that Ginny does not have a magical life
debt to Harry in the following quotation, there is very little else to
go by.  Life debts obviously have a great deal to do with the plot in
book 7, according to this quote.


> MA: Does she have a life debt to Harry from book two?
> 
> JKR: No, not really. Wormtail is different. You know, 

 > part of me would just love to explain the whole thing to

 > you, plot of book seven, you know, I honestly would.

       I can find nothing in the quotes to indicate whether or not
Hermione would have any kind of Life Debt to Harry or Ron.  When she was
attacked in the bathroom by the troll, she was completely unable to
defend herself and the troll was advancing on her.  Both Harry and Ron
risked themselves to save her, in spite of it "being the last thing they
wanted to do."  It was actually Ron's spell that caused the troll's club
to fall on his head and knock him out.

       In the case of Arthur, Harry sounded the alarm without any regard
to what people might think of him, and was directly responsible for
Arthur being found in time. Borderline, I know, but considering the fact
that Harry was afraid of what was happening to him, it might have been
more in his interest to have kept quiet.

       Life Debts, if we compare Ron, Hermione, Peter Pettigrew, and
Snape, may have more to do with other out-standing debts. Harry would
not have been in the position of saving PP if Pettigrew had not been
responsible for the death of his parents. Harry and Ron felt responsible
for Hermione being in the bathroom, crying, when the troll arrived.
Harry felt responsible for giving Ron the chocolates that caused him to
be in Slughorn's room just to be poisoned. I'm thinking that James
Potter might also have felt responsible in some way for Sirius sending
Snape to the Shrieking shack.

       In the case of Arthur and Ginny, Harry felt badly that he had not
listened to Ginny, and he felt that he had attacked Arthur personally,
but there was not the same sense of responsibility for either of these
events.

Thoughts on that?

KJ