Death, Killing and Harry's Angst (WAS: A Simpler Scenario

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, elfundeb <elfundeb at g...> wrote:
> Kneasy:
> Death doesn't seem to be such a big deal in HP. 
> The loss of the Stone means sure and certain death for the Flamels.
> Does anyone care much? Apparently not. It's treated as no more
> than an interesting change of circumstance; not an end but a phase
> boundary.
> 
> Debbie:
> That may be what Flamel and DD think, but for many of the WW, death is a 
> *huge* deal. Hogwarts is full of ghosts who could not face death. The MoM 
> fears death sufficiently that it has decreed that AK is so unforgivable that 
> the perpetrator deserves to spend the rest of his life with the Dementors at 
> Azkaban. 

The ghosts - is it death they can't face -or what happens after death?
A subtle but significant distinction, I think, but from hints dropped it's
the latter. An unwillingness to take the next step.

AKs are evil. Except when the Ministry says it's OK.
Has Moody's soul split because he killed DEs that who would rather die than
surrender? Does Moody beat  his breast, crying "Mea culpa!"? Nope. Mostly
he acts as if it were a distasteful but necessary part of the job. If it was all
cooked up beforehand between DD and Snape, is there any real difference? 

> So you think DD was begging Snape to put him out of his misery? That doesn't 
> seem very . . . noble. I'm more inclined to the view that it was part of the 
> Grand Plan, in which DD died to save both Snape and Draco. The entire Tower 
> scene was one massive delaying tactic by engaging Draco, and then the DEs, 
> in conversation until Snape arrived to do the deed in accordance with the 
> Plan, allowing Draco to escape with his soul intact. 

Why should it need to be noble?
Indeed, if the Puppetmaster!DD theories are accurate DD has done much
which is not very noble - but absolutely essential. These are the hard 
choices that distinguish a realist from a poseur, and the desperate defender
of literally thousands of lives from someone who wants to be well thought of. 

But if you insist on nobility - is it more noble to be zapped by a traitor or to 
ensure removal of oneself from the game because from now on one might be 
a danger to one's own side? Cling to some form of existence by one's finger-
nails come what may - or accept that it's time to go? Which is more noble?

For all that DD irritates me when he slaps the on bullshit two feet thick, I think
that this little episode was foreseen as a possibility and that it had been 
pre-arranged in case DD came up against something ultra-nasty but not
immediately terminal while chasing down Hossclicks. The withered hand
would have been fair warning - he only survived that because of prompt
action by Snapey. He'd have to be pretty dim not to envision a potentially
worse encounter with Voldy Dark Magic and take appropriate precautions.

So, get back to Hoggers and when someone is about to  open the door - 
freeze Harry. He expected Snape and he expected Snape to do the business,
but he had to make sure Harry didn't interfere. But it wasn't Snape. 
Complications ensue, but the end result was what he wanted.


Kneasy