Re Harry beating Voldemort in the Graveyard: was Re: Snape's Psychology: WAS: Mo

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 187560

Montavilla47 wrote:
<snip>
> The only reason Harry made it out of the graveyard that night was because of a fluke. His wand shared a core with Voldemort's. Of course, if Harry had been less magically powerful than he was, the golden bead thingy would have been forced into his wand and we would have seen a couple stunning spells and some red flare sparks instead of the shades of James, Lily, Bertha, Frank, and Cedric.
> 
> But it was still a fluke and Voldemort had no way of knowing that it would happen.
 
Cyril replied:
> 
> IMO, the one reason I believe that Harry won this war of the brother wands was because of the Horcrux in his scar. I do not believe that Harry was in any way more magically more powerful than LV. However, the Horcrux has self-preservation capability that is extremely powerful, and would have given Harry the required power to push the beads LV's way. I also believe that it had a role to play in Vernon suddenly getting a jolt of electricity when he's trying to apparently strangle Harry (I forget which book this occured in). <snip>


Carol responds:
I always thought that Harry won the battle of the wand cores for the same reason that Fawkes (as arranged by Dumbledore?) helped him in CoS: Phoenixes are on the side of good. The wands share a Phoenix-feather core (from Fawkes) and Harry hears Phoenix song as the cage of golden light surrounds him and Voldemort. Presumably, Voldemort and the DEs hear the music, too, but according to Fantastic Beasts, "Phoenix song is magical; it is reputed to increase the courage of the pure of heart and to strike fear into the hearts of the impure." Phoenixes are gentle birds that live on herbs and are, of course, associated with healing (FBAWTFT 32). In a contest between Voldemort and Harry using twin Phoenix feather wands that don't work properly against each other, Harry would have the advantage if the wand core shares the qualities of the bird it came from.

"And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air . . . . It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song.

"It was the sound of hope to Harry . . . the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life. . . . He felt as though the song were inside him instead of just around him. It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear . . . *Don't break the connection*" (GoF Am. ed. 664, ellipses and emphasis JKR's).

Clearly, the Phoenix-feather-generated light and music are on Harry's side. 

IOW, I agree that Harry's victory has nothing to do with his power (which is too weak to register with Voldemort's boat even in HBP), but I don't think it has anything to do with his having a soul bit in his scar, either (surely the soul bit was on Voldemort's side in GoF, just as it was in OoP--note the snakelike urge to bite DD--and just as the diary and locket Horcruxes are in CoS and DH); it's his courage and strength of will (helped by the Phoenix song) that give him the victory over Voldemort in the graveyard, IMO--or basically love, innocence, and goodness giving him "the power that the Dark Lord knows not." If the brother wands had had cores of dragon heart string, Voldemort might have won the battle of wills, but when Fawkes is involved directly or indirectly, he always loses.

As for the electrical charge that attacks Uncle Vernon when he tries to throttle Harry in OoP, I can't decide whether that's the scar (although he doesn't feel any snakelike urge to bite Uncle Vernon), the Love Magic that protects him at 4 Privet Drive (if it extends beyond Voldemort and his supporters), or accidental magic triggered by anger (not to mention a need for self-defense). We see sparks coming out of the wands even of adult Wizards (Snape, for one) when they're angry, so I'm inclined to think that it's accidental magic.

Carol, who thinks that the scene foreshadows Harry's ultimate victory over Voldemort through the power of love