book jacket, stag/ woman's face on the back cover?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 167303

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dana" <ida3 at ...> wrote:

India Jones:
 > > > I noticed that on the inside jacket of DH there's an image of a 
> > > stag, I don't remember seeing it on the other books  (so I'm guessing 
> > > it's not a company logo). Do you think it means that somehow Harry will be 
> > > helped by his dad? I know James isn't coming back but do you think 
> > > something he may have left behind will help Harry in his search?
 
> > Geoff:
> > It doesn't necessarily indicate anything to do with James.
> > Remember that Harry's own Patronus is a stag. JKR hammered this 
> > home to us in a  number of sources in canon:
 
> Dana: 
> I do not totally agree because we are also told that his Patronus = 
> Prongs not just any stag.
 
> This is what DD told Harry in PoA.
 
> Pg312 UK ed paperback: 
 
> `Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly 
> when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular 
> Patronus? Prongs rode again last night'
 
> `So you did see your father last night Harry 
 you found him inside 
> yourself.'
 
> End quote from canon. 
 
> For what it is worth I do think Harry's father and mother (and the 
> once we love that never truly leave us, like Sirius and DD)will play 
> a significant role in DH. 

Geoff:
I believe that Dumbledore was speaking figuratively at this point. 
Look at what he says in Goblet of Fire:

'"One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has 
performed - in reverse. The most recent first... and then those 
which preceded it..."

He looked interrogatively at Harry and Harry nodded.

"Which means," said Dumbledore slowly, his eyes upon Harry's face, 
"that some form of Cedric must have re-appeared."

Harry nodded again.

"Diggory came back to life?" said Sirius sharply.

"No spell can reawaken the dead," said Dumbledore heavily. "All 
that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo. A shadow of 
the living Cedric would have emerged from the wand... am I correct, 
Harry?"

"He spoke to me," Harry said. He was suddenly shaking again. "The.. 
the ghost Cedric, or whatever he was, spoke."

"An echo," said Dumbledore, "which retained Cedric's appearance
and character. I am guessing other such forms appeared ... less 
recent victims of Voldemort's wand..."

"An old man," Harry said, his throat still constricted. "Bertha Jorkins. 
And..."

"Your parents?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Yes," said Harry.'
(GOF "The Parting of the Ways" pp.605-6 UK edition)

Interestingly, I have never previously put a lot of thought to what 
these beings are which the wand produces - until now.

The fact is that, whatever Dumbledore may have said to Harry in 
POA, he makes it uncompromisingly clear here that Harry will not 
see his parents as living people as such. What does he mean by 
saying that the ones we love never truly leave us? They are not 
going to be present in a corporeal form - although maybe perhaps
in the intangible form of as ghost or as a portrait or, as I consider 
later, as an 'echo'.

There are a lot of intriguing questions arising from canon. Is it a 
coincidence that James' Animagus and Harry's Patronus are 
the same animal? Has a person got any control over what form their 
Patronus takes or is there some sort of family connection?

Interestingly, we do not know for sure that Harry's Patronus is a stag 
until after he learns that James transformed into one. The description 
of the Patronus conjured by Harry during the Quidditch match is only 
described by Lupin as "quite some Patronus" so was there some sort 
of change later?

Returning to your suggestion that Harry may be helped by his father 
raises the question of what exactly are the 'echoes' produced by the 
forced Priori Incantatum spell.

Unlike the ghosts they appear to be able to influence events 
physically; those present in the graveyard were able to hinder 
Voldemort and block him while Harry escaped. Also, they are 
certainly aware of their surroundings and are able to hold a 
conversation like the ghosts and the portraits.

I have have taken the view in the recent past that the Deathly 
Hallows is an actual place rather than people. Perhaps it is a 
gathering place for these beings who may be able to assist Harry 
again in a confrontation with Voldemort.

I fear I have probably created more questions than answers; I wait 
in the hope that JKR will pull all these threads together and tie all 
these contacts with the deceased together satisfactorally.