[HPforGrownups] Child of a Love Potion

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 153313

Megan wrote:
>
>  While attepting to fill time during a slow evening at work, I decided
> to puruse the editorials on mugglenet and found one of interest.
>
> Not too long ago, there came a thread about love potions and Merope
> and Tom Sr. The editorial on mugglenet
> (http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-pamelap01.shtml)
> deals similarly with this topic but takes an approach I do not
> remember reading about so I thought I'd bring it up.
>
> What if the evil of Tom Jr stems from the result of his "unnatural"
> birth? Could the love potion that flowed through Tom Srs veins have an
> adverse effect on his ability to love? Could this be the reason that
> the Fidelious Charm was so strong and VM could not touch Harry? If
> anyone has read the Gregory Magurire book WICKED or seen the musical,
> something similar happens. The Wicked Witch of the West was a child of
> an adulterous relationship and therefore was the color of GREEN. She
> was not evil to begin with but events lead her to turn evil. The
> events surround her conception, such as Tom Jrs, lead to her
> personality and adult form.
>
> I don't know if anyone else has thought about it but upon reading that
> editorial, I thought it brought up an interesting question. Could the
> Love Potion (false love) have been a catalyst in the Evil of
> Voldemort?
>
..
.
Kemper now:
Hi Megan.  I wrote a post touches upon this theme entitled 'Contrasting
Harry's and Tom's Beginnings', but I went a different route than the
mugglenet editorial.  Below is the link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/150245

Below is a cut and past (with some minor edits) of the post:

  Dumbledore mentions several times the differences between Harry and
Tom when they had similar upbringing: orphaned.

But does that matter as much as their conception/births?

As love (abundance and lack) seems to be the primary difference, I
think we should look at MeropeandTomSr v LilyandJames.

Merope experienced no love, yet held hope for it though she
misperceived lust for love.  When she stopped the love (should be
renamed to infatuation or fixation) potion, she suffered the truth of
her situation: a loveless life.  In that suffering she lost hope for
love, giving up love entirely.

In spite of the love potion, Tom was not conceived in love (not too uncommon
in the RW,
unfortunately), he was also not in utero with love, and he wasn't
birthed in love.  Yes, she gave him a name but then she went away.

Though the Orphanage had seemingly caring people working in it, I
believe in a real world sense that it would be hard for any staff
working with this population to fully give parental love.  Not
because these staff would be callous, but because they, too, don't
want to be heartbroken or have been heartbroken too much, so they give
what they can.  But sometimes, if not most, it's not enough.

Harry was the opposite, up until he became orphaned.  He was
conceived, in utero, birthed, and reared (for 15 months) in and with
love.


I hope this moves the conversation further...

Kemper


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