Death and magic

[mooseming]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Amanda Geist" <editor at t...> 
wrote:

> 
> This feeds in nicely to my private theory that Death Eaters are so 
named
> because the share a magical bond with Voldemort that has 
everything to do
> with why he did not die. I think they, as part of their bond to 
him, lent
> him power and/or "took on" or "ate" part of Voldemort's death for 
him, so he
> didn't have to do it.

<snip>

Ah Death Eaters. What's in a name? Always struck me as an odd 
handle. JKR never names things without thought, part of the fun in 
the books is the way she uses names to either entertain (Diagon 
Alley) or to imply character (Remus Lupin). The eternal has been 
depicted as a snake with its tail in its mouth forming an unbroken 
circle, a snake eating itself. Now the Dark Lord's supporters are 
not, in my opinion, offering themselves up on a platter but there is 
a shared intention to eat something or someone. Whatever evil doings 
Voldy is up to he is definitely sharing with his followers, although 
the dynamic is almost certainly going to place him as the first 
among equals. So Voldy identifies something to eat and passes his 
leftovers on to his followers, like the alpha in a pack of dogs. 
They grow stronger but he remains the strongest. 

Let us imagine that what they are consuming is magic, this would 
make the dementors their natural allies. Dementors consume souls, no 
conflict, shared ambition. They can hunt together. Who are they 
going to hunt? Sheep, or in the world of HP, muggles. Muggles have 
souls and they also have latent magic (must do to have magical 
children,) useless, harmless, clueless and fundamentally lesser 
beings. Its simply farming if you look at it the right way.

WARNING. You are now boarding Flight of Fancy no.42, your pilot 
today will be Captain Possession.

Who do we know who first took this view superior view over muggles? 
Salazar Slytherin. If Tom was messing about in the Chamber of 
Secrets he could have come upon potted SS. Say SS first worked out 
how to consume magic from innocents, then industrialised it using 
the wizarding world equivalent of a guillotine,  might look a bit 
like a doorway, shove your victim through it strips out magic and 
the soul and dumps the body elsewhere. Eternal life here we come. 
Rats! Some of those liberal types think this is wrong. Founding 
fathers display a limited understanding of the natural order of 
things and put up a fight, a pretty good fight as it happens. 
However, pretty much immortal, SS figures he has some time to 
regroup, so he licks his wounds and crawls off to await his heir. 
Later, much later than anticipated, Tom opens the chamber, in it is 
a pile of dust and a vapour!SS, weak but still functional and a bit 
peckish. They strike a pact, a kind of symbiosis. SS will share his 
magical buffet with Tom but Tom has to provide the venue. Oh goody 
now we can play the possession card! SS moves into casa Tom and they 
re christen the bachelor pad Voldemort. Its party time!

Years pass during which symbiont!SS grows stronger, casa voldy is no 
longer a commune but a republic which answers to the name of the 
Dark Lord. Then comes a prophecy. A boy who can defeat the Dark 
Lord. Makes sense to nobble him early and it's a shame to waste good 
food so why not drop in and eat out. Rats again! SS slips out for a 
light snack, Tom casts his AK and BANG. SS is splinched, half in 
Harry, half out. Casa Voldy is vapourised.

> Which has always made Snape's choice to serve the good and seek
> Voldemort's downfall, worth a little more substance to me.
> 
> ~Amanda

What of Snape then? When he changed sides did he reject the evil 
tyranny or has he aspirations to take on the alpha role? Snape is a 
proud man, why be a senator when you can be Caesar? usurper!Snape 
might wish to vanquish Tom but retain the symbiont!SS . He'd hate 
Harry because Harry now has part of his legacy, but he'd have to 
help Harry if he wishes to save symbiont!SS. If Snape truly wishes 
to vanquish the Dark Lord he'd be pretty miffed that Harry has 
beaten him to the punch and is the one on whom everyone, including 
him, has to rely. Of course he may not believe in prophecy!Harry in 
which case he is simply biding his time. The joy is how can the 
reader distinguish between usurper!snape and assasin!Snape?

Regards
Jo