More puzzling DH questions from a Muggle

[kkersey_austin]

No: HPFGUIDX 173007

Mindy asked:
>
> 1) We never find out the theory or background behind the veil that
Sirius falls through, and his body is never recovered. was JK ever
planning to address that?

I doubt it. 

This Veil was in, after all, the Department of *Mysteries*. Personally
I really like how she portrayed the whole DoM thing - the idea that
the Ministry has created a bureacracy to address the "big questions"
about death, mind, etc. is kind of funny. What we see in each room is
a physical manifestation of something that symbolizes each Mystery -
the vat of brains (and it was so perfect for Ron, who is so often the
victim of his own negative thinking, to be attacked by the brains!),
the timepieces, and of course veil for death ("beyond the veil"). 

But in spite of all these tools and laboratories, I get the impression
that not a lot of progress has been made by the researchers. These
areas are, after all, Mysteries - not just to the wizarding world, but
to us as well, and presumably to author herself. The door to the Love
room she wisely kept locked - I think that as an author she may have
believed that any attempt to portray its contents would trivialize the
mystery. A big pink valentine card? I don't think so! Each reader can
imagine for his or herself what might lie beyond that door. The locked
door itself echos the idea of keeping one's true feelings locked in
one's heart; Love is a mystery too personal and individual to be
studied in a bureaucratic lab. I doubt that the Unspeakables even have
a key to that room anyway.

So while JKR has shown us the Veil, she has kept a lot of options open
about what exactly happens after death - I think that the stories can
accomodate a wide spectrum of religious views regarding the afterlife.
I got a little nervous during the Kings Cross chapter, but she does a
couple of things there. First, makes it clear that Harry is not
actually dead there, but at the threshhold between life and death. I
love that she chose a train station, a place of transition, and
specifically King's Cross, which has served from the beginning as a
transition between worlds (muggle/WW; home/school). Second, she ends
the chapter with Dumbledore telling Harry that it is "all in his
head", but no less real for being so. Indeed, while Dumbledore does a
lot of talking, his speech is littered with phrases like "...as you
already know", and he never gives Harry any truly new information.
Harry already has most of the facts of the stories Dumbledore tells,
what is new is that he is hearing them from Dumbledore's point of
view. I'll need to reread the chapter to make sure, but my initial
impression is that it works just as well whether the reader sees
Dumbledore's presence as his soul literally coming back to interact
with Harry, or as a projection of Harry's subconscious and imagination
putting together the facts he already knows (along with some
reasonable speculation about motivations) with a new understanding. 

Hmm. Kind of like what we like to do here. ;-)

On the other hand, a hallmark of JKR's writing,or at least her
depiction of the Wizarding World, is to take the symbolic and make it
literal. As a prime example, and bringing this back around to topic,
taking the phrase "beyond the veil" and creating the Veil in the DoM.
So I can see it being intended to really be Dumbledore's soul. But I
think that she is trying to have it both ways here, so it works
regardless of the reader's specific beliefs about an afterlife.

Well, long answer to a short question!

Elisabet