Babbling on on Avada Kadavra mechanics

[Kenneth Clark]

No: HPFGUIDX 172624

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwlerch78" <jwlerch78 at ...>
wrote:
>
> The mechanics at the end are definitely confusing - but here's my
> analysis for what it's worth:
>
> Initial questions I had were:
>
> 1) What was the reason that Harry did not die in the forest?  A few
> possibilities all seemed likely:
> a) He was tethered to life by his blood in Voldemort (per DD at
> King's Cross)
> b) He was master of death (all 3 hallows)
> c) The Elder wand couldn't kill him because he was its master?
>
> 2) If the Elder wand couldn't kill Harry, then what was the point of
> DD's discussion of being tethered by Voldemort's own blood?
> <SNIP>


Ken says:

Yes, I've been puzzling over the two AK attempts as well.  Why were
the results different?  What stopped Harry being killed each time?

In the forest did he survive because:
a. he had the stone.  Did he need all three to avoid death?  Have I
read the Hallows info wrong?  I thought he merely needed the stone in
the ring. (in any case he has all three as it is)
b. he was de facto master of the wand and it would not kill its
master.  But if this was the reason why did it not rebound and kill
Voldemort there and then.  Did the wand know he was its master before
he declared himself so before the second AK attempt?
c. he shared his blood with Voldemort and the latter could not kill
him whatever as a result.  This last is the explanation Dumbledore
gives and if so then Harry has been practically invulnerable for the
past three books.  Voldy has specifically instructed his deatheaters
not to kill Harry and, though he does not know it, he cannot kill
Harry himself. Only contact with rogue elements like Crabbe and Goyle
and the odd werewolf constitute dangers to him.

Maybe he was double (triple?) protected without knowing it.  The
stone appears "at the end" specifically to show he owns/controls it,
the wand is, unknowingly, his and he shares his blood with his
attacker.  So we have a situation where he expects to be killed but
is, in fact, double or triple protected.

When we turn to the second AK he has discarded the stone so is it
still protecting him?  He is still its owner but it is no longer
caried by him (have I got that right?).  He still shares his blood
with Voldy so the latter cannot kill him and he has now explicitly
told the wand (and Voldy) he is its master so whatever its (the
wand's) understanding in the forest it now acknowledges him as such.
The result is that it turns Voldy's spell round on him and kills
him.  Why didn't it do that in the forest? I can't believe it is
because it faces him as it spins around - by that logic it could have
killed anyone it happened to be facing as it spun - it can only be
because it didn't know in the forest that Harry was its master -
which seems a bit unmagical, if you know what I mean.

All in all a tangled series of events which I, for one, am having
real trouble coming to grips with.

Ken Clark