My friend Megin speculates that the R.A.B., who left the note with the fake Horcrux in HBP, is liable to be Regulus Black. I think that’s a definite possibility. In fact, I think it’s extremely likely. I also think it’s likely that we’ve seen the real locket horcrux in OotP when Molly and the kids were cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place. They did indeed find such a locket. Because of that, I feel 12 Grimmauld Place just might have a part in book 7.
What I wonder is, where is the locket now? Does Mundungus have it? Does Dumbledore’s brother, Aberforth, have it? (He did seem to be making a deal with Mundungus when Harry stumbled on them in HBP.) Perhaps. I think it’s also possible that Kreature has it either on him or stashed at 12 Grimmauld Place. And that possibility makes me wonder what’s coming from Kreature. We already know he can be a duplicitous bastard. When Sirius died, did Kreature really pass on to Harry? Or did he actually pass on to Bellatrix and is she having him pretend to serve “that Potter brat?” I wonder.
I also wonder what this says about Regulus. Is he dead? Or only pretending? What hanged his mind about Voldemort? Upon searching his name, I found that the Wikipedia has some interesting bits about him–very interesting.
I wonder what it will mean that Snape is indebted & bonded to James, since James saved his life. At the end of PoA, Dumbledore tells Harry that Wormtail and he (Harry) are bonded because Harry spared Wormtail’s life. That means that James and Snape are equally bonded. Perhaps that’s why Snape’s always (or at least for the most part) tried to save Harry. That makes me question my idea that Snape’s impetus for doing so is more or less rooted in his feelings for Lily. I guess I’ll just have to give it some thought…and, of course, wait for the last book.
Shipping may seem silly in comparison to all that goes on in the Harry Potter series. With the supreme conflict of Good vs. Evil and the monumental themes of trust and strength and integrity, something as small as rooting for certain relationships may seem to lack importance. Really though, especially if you consider Dumbledore’s point of view, the relationships are what truly matter. Love, he claims, is a great magic all its own. Love is what allows Harry, and indeed many other characters, to really express their strength and integrity and trust and to keep on fighting the good fight.
Love, it seems, is what it’s all about. Love allowed Harry’s parents to sacrifice themselves for him, imbuing him with a mark of protection against Voldemort. Love of his parents is what keeps Harry strong in the face of evil. Love is what binds him to Ron and Hermione. Love is what has allowed Dumbledore to make the sacrifices he has–both for Harry and for the world at large. Love is what binds Neville to the cause, and not, I feel, the desire to, as Harry claims, ‘have friends.’
Sure Neville and Luna miss the friends they made in the D.A., but there is a stronger tie that pulls Neville into fighting alongside The Order–his parents and the love he has for them. It isn’t hard to see that Neville would give his life fighting against Voldemort, fighting for his parents, fighting, even, for the chance to get just one more gum wrapper from his mother.
It’s love. That’s what matters.
May 7
The Question of MercyWhen he faces Malfoy at the end of HBP, Dumbledore is weak, maybe even (probably even) dying. He is unarmed. He is injured. Malfoy seems to have the upper hand in every way, but Dumbledore is really the one in charge. He even makes it clear that Malfoy is at his, Dumbledore’s, mercy. And Malfoy really is. Even while Malfoy was plotting against Dumbledore, Dumbledore protected and watched out over him. And while Malfoy stood holding his wand at the “defenseless” Dumbledore, Dumbledore was still willing to forgive everything and take Malfoy and his family into protection.
Dumbledore, even at what is arguably his weakest moment, is fully in charge. He doesn’t beg for mercy. Instead, he gives it. That’s his strength of character. And that’s why I believe his pleas to Snape a few minutes later are not pleas to spare his life. He’s not begging Severus to spare him, but to kill him–to end his life. I fully believe this because I fully believe that there is no one from whom Dumbledore would ever need to beg for mercy. I’m sure Dumbledore has a reason for doing it.
Maybe he does it to save Malfoy–to spread the love that he, Dumbledore, has valued so highly. Maybe Malfoy will see this sacrifice and understand the real power of love. I think he does see it there at the end, as he drops his wand. Malfoy doesn’t kill Dumbledore, though he could. He doesn’t cross that line. All the same, Dumbledore knows that if he survives, Malfoy will not. So Dumbledore allows himself to be killed–even, I believe, begs to be killed–in a way that both frees and protects Malfoy much the way Lily begs Voldemort to kill her instead of Harry.
Will Dumbledore’s sacrifice, his love, pass on an extra mark of protection to Malfoy the way Lily’s did to Harry? Will it show him the vast strength and power of love? Or did it merely allow Snape to maintain his footing within Voldemort’s ranks, thereby maintaining a spy for The Order? I think it did all of these things. I hope it did. I hope it wasn’t just treachery by Snape. I trust Dumbledore’s opinion too much to think he was wrong about Snape, to think it was really just simple treachery. I hope that’s justified. Still, right now, I kind of hate Severus Snape.
Either way, it’s pretty clear that this bit of mercy has marked Malfoy as Harry’s counterpart–opposite but equal, in a way. What this will mean is yet to be seen.
My friend Shawn claims that Sirius can’t really be dead, even though he seems to be by all accounts. My mom thinks he’ll be back, too. I’ve been reluctant to believe that because going beyond the veil equals death and that’s just what Sirius did. However, I was just rereading PoA and I found a line that I find interesting:
“Harry looked into the shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of the sunken face that seemed alive. Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.” (Rowling 38)
The Potters and Dumbledore seem to get on very well with “half breeds.” Take Lupin and Hagrid for examples. While being a vampire wouldn’t actually make Sirius a half breed, it amounts to nearly the same thing. So what if Sirius IS a vampire? That could mean that he’d be back. For me, it’s something to think about.
cited:
Rowling, J. K.. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York, Toronto:, Aukland, Sydney, Mexico City, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires Scholastic Inc., 1999.