DH reread CH 18 - 19

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186678

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Zara" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
>
> > Alla:
> > What acts that would be? I mean, is narrator talking about the acts of same magnitude as Lily's sacrifice? Or something on the smaller scale?
> 
> Zara:
> I presume that in this quote Harry refers to the twins acts of Ron saving his life, and taking possession of the Sword of Gryffindor. Both the importance of saving a life, and the significance of the Sword, are facts Harry has discussed with Albus in the past.
>
Carol responds:

DD has told Harry about "the incalculable power or certain acts," but he can't have meant Ron's leaping into the pool to save Harry, which hadn't happened yet. I think Harry is remembering, primarily, Lily's self-sacrifice and, secondarily, DD's words in relation to Harry's own act of mercy in sparing Wormtail, which, he predicts (correctly), will have important consequences in the future. Putting all this together with what he knows about the Sword (Scrimgeour has told him that it will present itself to a "worthy Gryffindor" and he knows how he, himself, earned it the first time), Harry deduces (IMO) that Ron's act in selflessly saving him (and retrieving the Sword) has made him, not Harry, the "worthy Gryffindor" who is (to use Harry's word) "supposed" to destroy the Horcrux. 

So, yes, Harry is thinking about "the importance of saving a life and the significance of the Sword," but he's also, IMO, equating Ron's actions with other "acts" he's aware of that have had powerful magical consequences. (His own action in entering the CoS to save Ginny may also be included even though he's not specifically aware of the conditions of "need and valor" that Portrait!DD described to Snape. He certainly understands that Ron's actions fit the criteria of "valor, nerve, and chivalry" that "set Gryffindors apart.") There's no question in his mind that it's "supposed" to be Ron who destroys the Horcrux, apparently because Ron has just performed one of those incalculably powerful acts that Dumbledore had in mind.

Ron's unthinking courage in just diving in and rescuing Harry is, of course, different from Lily's terrified begging of Voldemort to kill her and spare Harry (which would have had no magical effect at all had LV not already promised Snape to spare Lily though Harry doesn't yet know that--as DD has told Harry, she had a choice and could have lived but chose to die for Harry). Nevertheless, Ron's leaping fully clothed into the frozen pool is an act of remarkable courage that sets aside the possible consequences to himself (drowning in freezing water, held down by his water-logged clothes) to rescue a friend who would have died without him (or perhaps been vaporized like Vapor!mort because of the soul bit, but neither he nor Harry knows that).

Anyway, even though Ron's action isn't quite comparable to Lily's in the magnitude of his (potential) self-sacrifice--it's not going to provide Harry with any sort of love protection (impossible, anyway, because they don't share the same blood) and he didn't actually die as Lily did--it nevertheless qualifies (IMO) as an action with powerful magical consequences, in this case, the right to use the Sword of Gryffindor to destroy a Horcrux.

Of course, "the incalculable power of certain acts" is one of those phrases that we can interpret in any way that makes sense to us, but this explanation makes sense to me.

Carol, still wondering what would happen if an "unworthy Gryffindor" or a non-Gryffindor ("worthy" or "unworthy") tried to use the Sword