CHAPDISC: DH24, The Wandmaker

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183671

> SSSusan:
> I found such a rich pool of responses to this question about why 
> Harry elected to NOT use magic when digging the grave, and the 
> possibilities really made my day.  The "end" of magic, no silly wand-
> waving; iow, "forces and feelings more powerful than magic." Harry's 
> penance for the part he played in Dobby's death.  Harry's gift to 
> Dobby.  His gift to himself, in taking the time to reflect which he 
> needed to.  Harry's "message" that Dobby must allow others to serve 
> him as well.

Montavilla47:
I'll throw another perspective into the pot, then.  When I read this 
scene, it reminded me very much of a similar scene from another 
book.

It's the second book from the Lymond Chronicles, written by
Dorothy Dunnett.  Lymond is a sort-of-a ne'er do well (except
he's always doing well) Scottish lord in the sixteenth century.  At 
the end of Queensplay, a character that he found too pathetic to
deal with dies--and he finds the body in a suitably horrid, dramatic
way.  

Whereupon he (and a friend who happens to be there) dig the grave
by hand.  Not that he'd use magic, because it's historical fiction
and not fantasy.  But they do it by hand and it takes a long time.
It's the emotional climax of the book.  It's also the point in the 
series when Lymond (who spent most of the book in this frenzy
of debauchery) realizes that he needs to stop evading responsibility
and start doing something with his life.

It strikes me that this is what JKR may be heading towards with the
scene.  That this is the moment when Harry gets his head 
together and stops flailing around.  And it's because he finally gets
that people are dying--and there *is* something he can do about
it.