Wands and Wizards...Again (Was: Epilogue ...)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 183571

---  "montavilla47" <montavilla47 at ...> wrote:
>
> ...
> 
> bboyminn:
> > Was Harry using an Unforgivable a good thing? No, it was 
> > certainly a bad thing and a wrong thing, but it was those
> > things within a certain context. ...
> 
> Montavilla47:
> But not at the hands of Amycus.  That's really like saying that
> if Draco were beaten by his father, he would be justified in 
> torturing Harry for being rude to Narcissa in Madame Malkins.
> 

bboyminn:

Not at the hands of Amycus, but only because Amycus never got
the chance. Given his treatment and torture of students for
minor infractions, which Harry was well aware of and therefore
constitutes /part/ of the provocation, Amycus would have
tortured Harry or anyone else in a blink. 

Further, Amycus is a willing and eager participant in the
torture and murder of random people, and in the overthrow
of the duly elected and/or appointed government. I would
say that random torture, murder, sedition, and open revolt
put this person in the realm of a terrorist. And as such,
a policy of shoot first and ask questions later would not
be out of order. 


> bboyminn:
> > Further, he was in an unusual  situation. He was in the 
> > very heart of the lion's den. He was in a sufficiently 
> > dangerous situation, having invaded Hogwarts, that 
> > virtually any action could be justified against people who
> > would have killed him and his friends in a heartbeat. 
> 
> Montavilla47:
> No, they would not have killed him in a heartbeat.  They were 
> under strict orders (as Harry was aware) *not* to kill him, 
> but to summon Voldemort.  Which had already happened at that
> point.
>

bboyminn:

OK, let me amend that then, Amycus would have directly and
actively conspired to cause Harry's death, and would have
easily and casually killed any student, teacher, parent, or
random person that he thought threatened him in even the
slightest way.

No matter how you slice it and dice it, this was an incredibly
dangerous man with many equally dangerous accomplices, in an
incredibly desperate situation (Voldemort has been called). 

I just don't see how Harry could have possible been in a more
dangerous and potentially deadly situation. Consequently, I
say, rules of war are in force. You see the enemy; you shoot
him, no questions asked. 

Further more, as I have pointed out several times before,
Harry did not extend the 'torture'. It lasted two seconds
and wasn't repeated. He did what he had to do and stopped.
I find it hard to believe that some one can be hurt within
any definition of torture when it only lasts 2 seconds and 
is only done once. No matter how painful, that just doesn't
fall into the realm of torture in my book.

Back on the issue of wands; yes, we hear Harry's explanation
of events (regarding the transfer of the Elder Wands 
allegiance), but we actually don't see any indication or 
proof that he is right. 

Since Draco never touches the wand, we get no chance to see
Draco demonstrate the power of the wand in his hands. We
know Voldemort has the wand, but he also feels it is not
delivering on the spectacular abilities it promised. We never
see Snape use the wand, so we don't know if the allegiance
transferred to him when he killed Snape. Harry and the 
narrative suppose not. But we don't get to see. 

Neither do we really get to see Harry us the wand to its
fullest. He does repair his original wand, but was that
because he was the Master, or was it merely that the wand
was sympathetic to Harry. 

Did the black thorn wand (isn't the the one he previously
obtained from Ron?) not work for Harry because he was not
its Master, or was it simply because the wand was 
UNsympathetic to Harry. 

By 'sympathetic' or 'unsympathetic', I am merely referring to
the general compatibility between wizard and wand. It's the
'wand picks the wizard' in varying degrees. Harry is
probably more compatible, though not totally, with Hermione's
wand, so it works well for him. He is more compatible with
Ron's wand, though again not totally, so Ron's wand works for
him. Obviously, Harry was completely incompatible with the
black thorn wand. 

So, are we seeing allegiance, or lack thereof, or are we 
simply seeing an unsympathetic incompatibility between wand 
and user? Remember Harry is not the Master of Herione's wand
nor Ron's wand, yet the work acceptably well for him. 

In a sense, it doesn't matter, Harry simply needs to believe
it in that moment in order to make Voldemort believe it and
therefore let his guard down. Voldemort lets his guard down,
and that lets Harry into his mind, into his thoughts. If 
Harry is in Voldemort mind, then he can predict when the 
final spell is coming, and he can cast his simultaneous
counter curse. Perhaps, that simultaneous counter curse was
all that was necessary for Harry to win, and the rest was
just a good story that Harry made up to calm his fears.

Certainly, I could be wrong, but I could be right too,
because, while we have in-book speculation, we see no 
confirming action.

Hey...it's just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn