[HPforGrownups] Epilogue (was Re: Ron and Parseltongue)

[Lynda Cordova]

No: HPFGUIDX 183455

Lynda:
> I figured it out earlier than that. Around GOF, think. Since I read a lot
> and my entire family is into the HP books, print versions, audio versions
> and especially since our selection of audios is limited to three of the HP
> books and a couple by other writers, the books get a lot of play. My
> selection of print books is far larger. I just packed up over a hundred
for
> a yard sale in a couple of weeks.
Montavilla47:
Good for you for getting it early on. Once you let yourself make that
leap from James to Snape, it seems pretty sure that it's going to
turn out to be him. But, I must say, it did take me a long, long time
to figure out from there that Snape and Lily might actually like
each other.

Lynda:
My training tends to make me read carefully. And I read books I enjoy over
several times, which helps. Of the three books I'm reading now, two are
rereads, the other is a first time read, but as much as I'm enjoying it will
stay around from now on. It also cuts down on the cost of books--yes I know
about libraries--I'm boycotting the local one.

Montavilla47:
I'll yield to you on the angsty teen thing. You'd think I'd remember my own
angstiness from my teen years. But, as I recall, I was a perfect ray of
sunshine. :)

Lynda:
As was I! A perfect child. I didn't even have a curfew--because I knew if my
parents did not know who I was with and when I was coming home I would have
one--at six in the evening until I left home, no exceptions.
Montavilla47:
Let me clarify. I meant that they were silly in OotP to spend several
hours riding the thestrals to London, when they could have told the
thestrals to take them back to the castle (which might have taken
five minutes at the most). Ron and company had already routed
the Inquisators, so there was no reason they couldn't simply use
Umbridge's fireplace to either contact Arthur and Molly (as they
members of the Order and the kids knew their address) or, floo
directly to 12 Grimauld Place and be in London within ten minutes.

Lynda:
Got it. And in DH, the forgetting to pack food was quite a mistake.  Come to
think of it
I think every other magical bag I have read about or seen in movies has
access to food.
I may be misremembering, though.

> Montavilla47:
> Do you really believe that? That a disarming spell becomes Dark because
> it's used by a Dark Wizard?

>
> Lynda:
> Here's where I need to clarify my idea. I think that the goodness or
> evilness in a spell is in the intent of the spellcaster.

Montavilla47:
Thank you. I seriously stared at the screen for about half an hour,
saying to myself, "She *can't* really think that, can she?"

Lynda:
Nope. I'm neither that morrally bankrupt nor that mercenary.

> Lynda:
> They hadn't gotten along with Percy for years before he left the family. I
> don't think their pretty constant references to him in a derogatory
fashion
> throughout the earlier books was simple sibling rivalry. Never did, really
> (I did not like Percy from SS--thought he was--well a git) so I tend to
> think that his return to the family fold was at just the right time and
the
> right place as well. There was time to apologize to his dad, but not the
> twins. Not then.

Montavilla47:
I think this is something we'll just need to disagree about. I just don't
see
that Percy needed to apologize to the twins at all.
> Montavilla47:
> If you mean Harry wouldn't have survived the AK in the woods, then
> you're wrong about that being due to the Power of Love. That was due
> to the Power of Blood. It was Harry's blood in Voldemort's veins that
> kept him alive.

Lynda:
It was also recently pointed out to me that Percy and the twins were closer
together in age than Ron, Ginny  and Percy, or Bill and Percy and had at one
time probably been close because of  the nearness in age. I left Charlie out
because Charlie spends most of the books out of the country.
>
> So, yes, it was the Power of Love at work there. But it was a Power
> of Love only indirectly connected to Harry himself.
>
> Lynda: I'm going to disagree with you here. The Power of Blood was
> important, but the Power of Love even moreso. It's the key to the books.

Montavilla47:
I suppose Harry's decision to live again was from his love of his
friends, who were still fighting. In which case, I think you can
make a case for the Power of Love extending to others, since
Voldemort isn't able to hurt people quite as badly as he did before.

Lynda:
Yes, that's it I think. I think that the theme of the books is the Power of
Love
in all its various forms.

> Montavilla47:
> They didn't really have a turnaround. When Narcissa "helps" Harry, she's
> not doing it to help him. She's simply lying so that she can get into the
> castle.
>
> Lynda:
> She's doing it to make sure Draco is safe, which is another notch on the
> belt for the Power of Love. Selfish love, maybe, but she's doing it out of
> love.

Montavilla47:
You know, that's another of those things I don't really understand--like
when spells are dark and when they aren't. Why is Narcissa's love
qualified by being "selfish"?
Narcissa is willing to suck up to Snape and she's willing to lie to
protect her son. Molly is willing to KILL to protect her daughter. Why
is there this implication that Molly's love is pure and good,
while Narcissa's is somehow tainted?

Lynda:
That's why I put "maybe" in my answer. I'm not convinced it was a selfish
love. I think its the same love Molly has for her kids (or that any mother
does) but some might consider it to be selfish.

Lynda


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