[spec] Horcrux's Opposite: or, love is more powerful than the Dark Lord's ki

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 169350

Kemper wrote:
>
> HBP, US soft, 645:
> Bright, white flames had erupted around Dumbledore's body and the
table upon which it lay.... White smoke spiraled into the air and made
strange shapes: Harry thought, for one-heart-stopping moment, that he
saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had
vanished.
> 
> Kemper now:
> I am assuming that the phoenix Harry saw is actually Dumbledore's
spirit as I'm under the impression that the patronus represents the
soul.  The Dementor's Kiss sucks the soul out of it's victim.  It
seems natural that the corporeal patronus would reflect the soul and
hope, fighting back against a soul-eater and despair.
> No canon.  Just running with the idea.
> 
> So, if the smokey phoenix is DD's spirit, then why did it not leave
> upon DD's death?
> 
> Another impression I get, though probably with more canonical
support, is that DD's a planner.  DD's a man who would plan for his
death.  Do we think anyone else came up with magic behind the white
flames, white smoke (with phoenix) and white tomb?  This seems to be
DD having set his affairs in order just in case he loses his life in
the war against Voldemort. <snip>

Carol responds:

I agree that Dumbledore planned his own funeral, probably to symbolize
hope and minimize despair. As Ceridwen says, he's a showman, but never
without reason. Did you notice that Harry smiles at the memory of
"Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak," and almost laughs when Grawp claps
Hagrid on the shoulder to comfort him (reminsiscent of all the times
that Hagrid has brought the kids to their knees by doing the same
thing to them)? Harry wonders what's the matter with him to feel that
way at a funeral, but I think it's exactly what Dumbledore
wanted--love and laughter and happy memories among the tears. And
Fawkes has a special connection with Harry, so maybe the symbolic
phoenix was especially for his benefit.

At any rate, my only objections to your beautiful theory are DD's
willingness to "go on," as NHN puts it, or, as DD himself says, to
undertake "the next great adventure" (he loves that "flighty
temptress, adventure" doesn't he?) and JKR's own onsite definition of
a Patronus as "a guardian spirit." Harry's Patronus symbolizes his
father, not his own soul, and Tonks's symbolizes Lupin, not her own
soul. (And, of course, the etymology of "patronus" supports this idea
of a guardian spirit since "patronus" is an actual Latin word meaning
"protector, defender, patron" which was used in Medieval Latin to mean
"patron saint" and is derived from "pater" (father)--another link to
James.) BTW, I think for JKR, a spirit is a supernatural essence (as
in Department of Magical Creatures: Beast, Being, and Spirit
divisions) and not the same thing as a soul, the eternal part of a
person, Wizard or Muggle. Examples of spirits would include ghosts
(the "imprint of a departed soul," according to Snape, and not the
departed soul itself), ghouls, Dementors, and poultergeists. (I don't
think the phoenix that arose from DD's tomb was anything of that sort;
I think it was his last act of magic, planned for the moment he seems
to have known was coming, even though, of course, he could not have
known exactly how he would die.)

Carol, whose beautiful new "Deathly Hallows" screen saver highlights
that mysterious circle/triangle symbol and Harry's own stag Patronus,
but no phoenix that I can see