Death and magic

[nkafkafi]

> Neri:
> I'd add to this that according to Nearly Headless Nick, only wizards 
> can become ghosts, which indeed suggests that magical power has a lot 
> to do with it. According to NHN, real dying is something that he 
> knows nothing about, but they study this in the DoM, suggesting that 
> the people behind the veil are not ghosts but "really" dead. 
> 
> Also, I find it intriguing that NHN stayed behind as a ghost because 
> he was "afraid of dying". Isn't Voldy afraid of death more than 
> anything? NHN was also very sure that Sirius wouldn't stay behind as 
> a ghost. Why? Maybe because Sirius was not afraid of dying? (Sirius 
> to the twins: "you don't understand - there are things worth dying 
> for").
> 
> So how about this: Voldy was afraid of dying, so he turned himself 
> into a ghost, but he found a way to retain his body and powers. He 
> was a ghost inside a haunted body, but not actually connected with 
> this body.

Neri again:
I've just found more canon support for this theory. In CoS, Ch. 16, p.
290 US, and old library book is quoted: "the Basilisk has a murderous
stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eyes shall suffer
instant death". Sounds almost like an AK, isn't it? But one page later
Harry concludes: "Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly
Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die
*again*" (italics in he original). So maybe Voldy, much like NHN,
couldn't die in GH because he was already dead: he turned himself into
a ghost haunting his own body, and he found a way to retain his powers
nonetheless.

But the dead behind the veil are "really" dead, the way even NHN
isn't, and they can't come back. Therefore, the only way to "really"
kill Voldy is to push him beyond the veil. This might explain for what
purpose the veil was brought to the DoM in the first place, and maybe
also why Voldy was reluctant to enter the DoM and take the prophecy
himself. 

Neri