An Oddity - Dumbledore and Fawkes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168001

Goddlefrood wrote:
> 
> "First of all, Harry, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, 
> eyes twinkling again. "You must have shown me real loyalty 
> down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called 
> Fawkes to you."
> 
> How could this work, I ask myself. A, probably, quite random
> thought occurred to me recently. Basically it runs like this:
> 
> What if the connection between Dumbledore is a little more than
> just simply owner and pet? Dumbledore is acknowledged by many
> as the most skilled wizard of his age (he is, as I've said 
> before the only wizard of his age ;)). <snip>

> In respect of Fawkes my ridiculous suggestion for the evening
> is that somehow Fawkes is a transformed part of Dumbledore.
> 
> Why not? There is indubitably a strong link between them and 
> when needed Fawkes is able to help, even if Dumbledore himself
> is not present. If Dumbledore was ready to die and go on to
> the next great adventure atop the tower, regardless of the
> circumstances of what went on there, then Fawkes would not
> have had to swoop in to save him. Fawkes's lament thereafter
> could suggest a mourning for a close and integral part of the 
> Phoenix, rather than simply grief over a lost master.
> 
> The other little thought I had was that somehow Fawkes could be 
> a repository for a portion of DD's soul, which would then mean
> that Dumbledore is not truly gone and those who ask for help
> will find such help forthcoming from this residual piece of
> Dumbledore that is alive in Fawkes. <snip>

Carol responds:
I don't think that fawkes is "a repository for a portion of DD's
soul." That sounds too much like a Horcrux. Clearly, however, the bond
between Fawkes and DD is very strong and, IMO, parallels that between
Voldemort and Nagini. Both seem to me to be variations on the idea of
a witch's or sorceror's "familiar." Of course, they're not spirits in
animal form but magical animals, but they do the bidding of their
masters without losing their own identities, and their own goodness or
wickedness matches that of their master. (Nagini, of course, may also
be a Horcrux, but that's beside the point here. She's Voldemort's
"dear Nagini," whose venom helped create and sustain his fetal form;
Dumbledore's beloved Fawkes helped him to escape from Fudge et al. and
took an AK for him in the MoM.)

Regarding that first quotation from CoS, my theory is that DD set up
the protection of the Sword of Gryffindor in the Sorting Hat in
advance, anticipating that a certain "true Gryffindor" would need to
literally pull it out of the hat if he entered the Chamber of Secrets,
and he instructed Fawkes to carry the Sorting Hat to anyone in dire
peril (specifically from the Basilisk?) who expressed loyalty to him,
as Harry does.

DD says first, knowing that Harry is hiding under the Invisibility
Cloak and can hear him, "You will find that I will only *truly* have
left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find
that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it"
(CoS Am. ed. 264).

Help for Harry arrives in the form of Fawkes bearing the Sorting Hat
with the concealed Sword of Gryffindor in it. (Fawkes himself blinds
the Basilisk and heals Harry's wound; the sword, of course, is used to
kill the Basilisk.) None of this would be possible, IMO, unless DD had
engineered it in advance, as his words to Harry in Hagrid's hut
suggest. Fawkes is acting as DD's agent, carrying out his will to help
Harry (the only person likely to find himself in the CoS confronting
the Heir of Slytherin).

How, exactly, does this work? I'm not sure, but I think that Harry's
words expressing loyalty to DD worked as a kind of charm to summon
Fawkes, rather like the words "I solemnly swear that I am up to no
good" work as a spell to reveal the Marauder's Map. Fawkes appears,
bearing the Sorting Hat (which he must know conceals the sword and
must be carrying on DD's instructions) when Harry says, after
defending DD as the greatest sorceror in the world, "He's not as gone
as you might think!" (315) At these words, which echo what DD said to
Harry in Hagrid's hut, Fawkes appears. And even Diary!Tom knows that
the protection has been set up by DD: "This is what Dumbledore sends
his defender! a songbird and an old hat!" (316)

Probably the specific words that Harry spoke didn't matter; it was the
sentiment--fierce loyalty to Dumbledore in a time of need--that
summoned Fawkes to help Harry.

Similarly, a mere thought, or a sense of his master's need, seems to
summon Fawkes to Dumbledore in OoP. He appears out of nowhere as "a
burst of flame in midair" as Voldemort reappears after taking the form
of a serpent and casts an AK, which Fawkes swallows (OoP Am. ed. 815).

The question is, of course, given this bond between them, this
instantaneous, silent communication, why Fawkes didn't swoop down and
swallow Snape's AK on the tower. And the only answer I can think of is
that Dumbledore didn't want him to.

BTW, I almost forgot. DD is not "the only wizard of his age." Madam
Marchbanks, who tested the young DD in Transfiguration and Charms,
IIRC, is obviously older than DD. So are some of the other examiners,
e.g., Professor Tofty, and possibly some members of the Wizengamot.
(Tiberius Ogden?) And, at a guess, Aberforth Dumbledore isn't more
than, say, ten years younger than Albus--probably less, as brothers
and sisters in the HP books are generally no more than a few years apart.

Carol, who is not suggesting that Fawkes or any other magical animal
in the HP books is an evil spirit, only that the bond between JKR's
witches, wizards, and even Squibs and their pets resembles the bond
between a witch and her familiar in old tales and legends (stripped of
any connection to demons and devils)