Chapter Discussion: Goblet of Fire Ch. 4: Back to the Burrow

[sigurd at eclipse.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 191485

Dear Eric

Ah, but you're forgetting the over-arching theme of the book.

WHAT is Narcissa asking of Harry. She is asking about the life of her son. At that moment she is no different than Lilly Potter. Her overriding concern is not Voldemort, not the battle of good and evil, but her son-- Draco. It's the tale of a mother's love, and if Voldemort had attempted to blast Draco for some reason, she would have stepped in front of him and the question would have been would Voldemort's body been blasted out again when, after "taking the bullet" for Draco, he attempted to kill Draco. Would Narcissa's self-sacrifice (even though she is evil) shrouded Draco as Lilly's did for Harry. Would Draco and Harry have achieved a sort of symbiotic brotherhood in BOTH being destroyers of Voldemort. To a mother, like Narcissa, her son-- her ONLY son-- her only child-- loyalty to even a Voldemort is as disposable as a well used kleenex.

But remember, Harry owes Narcissa nothing. She cares nothing for him, she only wishes to know if her son is alive. Her gratitude to him is for that news. Further-- remember-- she already has sold out to Snape and asked him for the pledge that can't be broken to save her son. Voldemort is already betrayed. In fact, he's already surrounded by traitors (except for a few) who have sold him down the river once, and who obviously do it again. They all wish to be in power but they don't really want to be in power under him.

Everyone around Voldemort is already a traitor to him. All of them abandoned him once and all of them  were ready to do so again because they realized what they had on their hands. Only a few of them were actively working for his return and the others were largely keeping low.

The weakness of Voldemort is first that he KNOWS he is surrounded by the disloyal, but he eventually forgets it through his own pride and his belief that terror is the ultimate motivator. As we see-- it's not. Indeed, nothing is so clear of this than an example from real life.  When Stalin dies, he's killed off all of any who would oppose him, and all that is leaft are his own creatures. When the politburo meets during the time when Lavrenti Beria is the up and coming star,  there is an episode where Beria says "So let's talk about the situation in Hungary." Kruschev interrupts him and says "No, let's talk about Lavrenti Beria." It's at this point that Beria notices that all the guards in the room have changed and they are not from the NKVD but from the Army. Beria is finished he dies in the dungeons of the Lubyanka and his name is erased from the great Soviet Encyclopedia. Then Kruschev, Molotov, all the rest of the people Stalin put in, who were his creations, and all mini-Stalins themselves decide "never again." Never again is there going to be rule by pure terror.

No, sorry there's no virtue in Narcissa's action, only concern and lover for her own son, and Harry owes her nothing. "Nomen est Omen" her name betrays her soul. She is interested only in herself and her son. There's small virtue there. Harry owes her nothing. Without doubt she felt her son Draco was being held hostage for Harry for-- it is something she would have done. If her son is alive, all she wishes is to have him in her arms again, and she will do NOTHING to endanger that.

Let us not forget that under Kruschev and Breshnev millions were trooped off to the Gulags to die of cold, starvation, and overwork, but the creatures of Stalin did not want Stalin. So there's small virtue there, just as there is small virtue in Narcissa's actions. Only Bellatrix (the childless) is devoted to Voldemort to the end.

She was thinking only of her son.

Otto