The Abstract Pensieve

The Unbreakable Vow(s)

2005-12-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Unbreakable Vow(s)

The concept of Unbreakable Vow was introduced in the second chapter (Spinner’s End) of HBP. It was shown that Snape and Narcissa made the vow about three conditions, prominent of which was that Snape would do the work assigned to Draco if in case Draco was unable to complete it.

An unbreakable vow will obviously be an important part in a storyline. A person who made the vow has to do what he promised, or else face automatic death. Making an unbreakable vow requires a great deal of grit and determination; and of course in their absence, recklessness.

What motivates the person in such cases is the fear of death- and Death has always played an important part in the storyline. I really find it hard to believe that there is only one Unbreakable Vow in the whole storyline, and that too between Narcissa and Snape. I also think that this Unbreakable Vow was only shown by JKR to somehow convince the readers that Dumbledore is indeed dead, which of course I do not believe. For my complete theory about how the Unbreakable Vow between Snape and Narcissa could be void and how Dumbledore is indeed not dead, read Dumbledore is not dead.

Back to the Unbreakable Vow, the possibilities of Unbreakable Vows in the books are many….

The crucial role they shall play is well understood. Here are some of the Unbreakable Vows that I think may have been made:

It can be that Big V, as a test of devotion, made his top Death Eaters have an Unbreakable Vow with him. This may explain their unflinching faith in their master, and also the mysterious deaths of the ones who dared to defy him.

But there may be a counter-point. It seems an improbability that Dumbledore didn’t have some spies in Voldemort’s Death Eater circle, given his accurate information about their affairs. Also, Karkaroff died a year later after his rebellion (Though it may be that the Unbreakable Vow had a certain to give the Death Eater the opportunity to return)
It may be possible that the Unbreakable Vow was made by the enigmatic R.A.B. After rebelling Voldemort, he\she realized that now he would die, and as his own revenge, he procured Voldemort’s Horcrux.

Since Snape took Dumbledore’s refuge, old D has been asked the same question by countless people- Could Severus Snape, the fickle Death Eater, be trusted? Harry himself asked the same question at the controversial juncture of almost every book. But Dumbledore was always positive about Snape’s faithfulness.

Can it be that Snape made an Unbreakable Vow of loyalty with old D, which made Dumbledore so confident of him. This speculation may prove another point- on how Dumbledore could not be dead (all roads lead here!). it can be that the Unbreakable Vow made by Snape and Dumbledore contradicted the Unbreakable Vow made by Snape and Narcissa. Since Snape first did it with Dumbledore, therefore it got a priority and Snape was able to somehow alter the vow made with Narcissa. It sounds something like the three laws of robotics (on Asimov’s books)- a certain law could interfere with another law, creating a paradox.

If you do not like over-the-top speculations and hate fan-fiction, please think before reading further. It could have happened that:

A thousand years ago, the great Godric Gryffindor and the shrewd Salazar Slytherin made an Unbreakable Vow. The Vow said that if a stronger member of Slytherin’s family attacked a weaker member of Gryffindor’s family, the stronger member would die, and vice versa. This theory is on the verge of fanfiction, and may sound far fetched, but it explains the following points:

Dumbledore fought with the Dark wizard Grindelwald 50 years ago, in 1945. At that time, Grindelwald was the stronger wizard, and was a descendant of Slytherin. Dumbledore was weaker at that time, and was the descendant of Gryffindor (assuming that). Following the vow made by their forefathers, when Grindelwald attacked Dumbledore, he died. Also, Dumbledore was left with the mark- a scar in the shape of London Underground on his ankle.

Many years later, in 1981, Lord Voldemort arrived in Godric’s hollow. Both he and James Potter were of equal powers, but Voldemort being quicker killed him. Then he murdered his wife Lily and proceeded on to confront their innocent one year old son. Harry Potter, was powerless at that time but was the descendant of Gryffindor (assume that!). Voldemort, being the descendant of Slytherin and the more powerful wizard, went against the vow and attacked Harry. The Vow followed and Voldemort was killed, leaving Harry with a simple scar (like in the case of Dumbledore). But Voldemort still survived owing to his Horcruxes.

Why doesn’t Dumbledore kill Voldemort once and for all. Here is the simple explanation- he knows, by experience of course, that he is the descendant of Gryffindor and the stronger sorcerer, and Voldemort is a Slytherin. If he kills Voldemort, he would die in his place, owing to the vow. Hence, it is prudence that forces him to hold his wand.

A question may be asked- Why doesn’t Dumbledore allow Harry to be killed by Voldemort, knowing that it will be Voldemort who will face the consequences. It can be that he isn’t sure that the Vow was void for two times, or he feels that it would be useless as big V is currently immortal.

I wouldn’t think about the vow so much if it wasn’t for the picture of it being made on the cover of HBP. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words…

The Intriguing Hogwarts Motto

2005-12-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, gearing up wizards and witches to face the challenges of muggle and magic for over a thousand years. With scores of magic to tap and a history of powerful wizards, both noble & sinister, it is the talk of legends. But its school motto, given along with the school coat of arms on the initial pages of each book, reads-Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon. Now what is that suppose to mean?! I thought the school’s aim was to impart a brave and bold spirit into potential sorcerers; but what its motto tells them is not to meddle in anything dangerous. Of course, it has many interpretations…

Good ol’ saying- Stay Away from Danger and it stays away from you

The simplest meaning that it could be want to convey is that there is no use inviting trouble, and the best thing is to lie down and keep doing your own work. It is quite a good advice to give as it will ensure a problem free life, but then one thing is clear- neither Gryffindor or Slytherin, both of them bold wizards, designed the motto or had anything to do with it. This is quite not possible as they were the founders and would obviously have an active participation in such important matters.

Another possibility is that they had a major argument over the pureblood-mudblood thing, which resulted in a duel which left both the powerful wizards shaken and stirred. They both decided that it would be unwise for people to get into problems with powerful wizards who may seem reclusive at first but who had the potential to blast their opponents (in short, a sleeping dragon).

A nasty accident

It could have been that one of the founders, probably Gryffindor because of his bold nature, had a nasty accident with a dragon that left him burnt and the dragon fuming. He decided that since the students of his house were quite brave (that’s the criteria for being in Gryffindor), he should leave them a warning not to stretch their luck too far.

~~Who understands this language anyway??~~

~~No student would take the pain to translate it, after all.~~

All right, enough of humor now, let me give some serious propositions:

Hogwarts – The storehouse of Magic

Dumbledore told Harry that one of the main reasons Voldemort wanted to come back to Hogwarts was to tap the storehouse of magic, which no one had yet been able to tap completely. The nature of this untapped magical potential is both noble & sinister. The noble examples are the Sorting Hat, the sword of Gryffindor etc. The sinister ones are The Chamber of Secrets and possibly other horrendous legacies which are better not unveiled. Of course, there are some instances where the nature of the ancestry depends upon that of the user. The best example so far is the Room of Requirement, used by Harry to train Dumbledore’s Army, and used by Draco to repair the Vanishing cabinet, and also used by many students to hide their belongings. Also, Fred and George used the vanishing cabinet at Hogwarts to hide Montague, but the same incident along with Montague’s experience gave Draco the idea on how to transport the Death Eaters. Such subtle examples show that one has to tap the magic of Hogwarts at their own risk, and it is better not to experiment than to suffer the consequences.

A prophecy??

It might be a hidden message for things to come. Maybe Dragon is used as a metaphor for something. Can it be Harry? The sleeping dragon, who was tickled (attempt to be killed in this case) by Lord Voldemort, who got his penance. He may have followed the prophecy given by Trelawney, but he couldn’t follow this one. It is quite common that big V ignored Ancient magic.

Latin- the Language of Magic…

All the spells in the books are in Latin. And this motto is also in Latin. Can it be that it is an incantation? Perhaps used by the Hogwarts four to lay the foundation of the castle, or a password to seal it?

As I said earlier, it has many interpretations, so feel free to offer your own or comment on the existing ones.

Dumbledore- parseltoungue, odd acts... Impostor?

2005-12-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

Dumbledore, Parseltongue, Horcruxes, Impostor &… R.A.B.

Initially, I thought it was just my own awry imagination when I found Dumbledore a little strange in Half Blood Prince. But then, a solid proof rattled me.

In the memories in which Bob Ogden goes to meet Marvolo & Morfin Gaunt, the conversations between the Gaunt father and son takes place only in parseltongue. Harry Potter initially couldn’t deduce why Ogden was not able to understand what Morfin was saying, but then with Dumbledore’s help he realizes the conversation was in parseltongue. Then there is the memory in which Tom Marvolo Riddle goes to meet Morfin, finds that Marvolo is dead, and then proceeds to kill the Riddles. In that memory also, the conversation is in parseltongue; parseltongue being a rare gift of dark wizards. But not once during either of the memories does Dumbledore ask Harry to interpret what was being said in parseltongue, and shows signs that he was perfectly understanding what was being said. Now Dumbledore, a Parselmouth?? A property never attributed to him previously…

If Dumbledore was indeed Parselmouth, Harry didn’t see him using his gift in six years of knowing him. And why didn’t he use his hidden talent to destroy the chamber of secrets. It would have been a piece of cake for him to open the Chamber of Secrets (after all, Big V had opened it at the age of 15), and blow the monster of Slytherin into smithereens. But he didn’t do so.

There are other subtle evidences of Dumbledore’s odd behavior. In the chapter, Lord Voldemort’s request, Dumbledore shows his own memory of Voldemort’s interview in a bottle?! Why didn’t he take it fresh out of his mind, like he used to do in previous books?

There was one more thing. Dumbledore is always portrayed as a pillar of modesty, and never praises his own talent. But in HBP, there are many cases, when he, in his meetings with Harry, calls himself very intelligent, skilled, powerful, influential and so on.

So, apart from mild case of his memories in bottles and boastful nature (which might be his habits), there is his being a parselmouth, a major thing. It might be a glitch.

But suppose this all points to a big fact- the Dumbledore from whom Harry took classes was an impostor! Maybe he was giving the classes when real Dumbledore had other important things to do.

But Dumbledore got himself a substitute who could speak parseltongue! The impostor also knew a lot about Voldemort. Through these, the duplicate appears to be of an extremely pure blood family, and one that is closely related to the dark arts.

Do we know of any such families? Blacks or Malfoys or Lestranges, perhaps. But no one from these families has been against Voldemort, except from the Black family.

Who was the Black member who became a Death eater turned traitor? It was Regulus Black, the alleged R.A.B. it is known that he was killed not personally by Voldemort, but on Voldemort’s orders. Maybe, he faked his own Death just like Wormtail. It can be that he was helped in faking his death by the kind Dumbledore, who asked him to return the favor after many years, in the form taking his place.

I think that the real Dumbledore or the fake one (R.A.B.) took Harry into the cave (previously discovered by R.A.B. to steal the Horcrux) to give him a glimpse of the dangers involved in destroying Horcruxes. The fake Dumbledore himself replaced the Horcrux with the fake one containing the note. And the real locket must be in No.12, Grimmauld Place. JKR talks about a locket in the chaper The Noble and Most ancient House of Black, Pg 108:

A heavy locket that none of them could open;

I know the theory that Dumbledore was substituted by an impostor, and that too none other than R.A.B., is quite lofty but not utterly unconvincing.

Voldemort's bit in Harry- A horcrux?

2005-12-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

The Connection & The Prophecy

We all know that that on the night of Halloween, Big V involuntarily transferred a bit of himself into Harry. But the exact wordings, which I happened to read in COS, said by Dumbledore himself, are quite disturbing. On pg 245, old D, in reply to harry’s questions about how he can speak parseltongue, and which later explained his connection with big V, are…

'...Unless I am very much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I am sure...'

'Voldemort put a bit of himself into me?’ Harry said, thunderstruck.

‘It certainly seems so.’

A bit of himself?? It is known that Voldemort lost his body and hence his powers at the time of physical demolition would have transferred to Harry. But ‘a bit of himself?’ A bit of Voldemort’s soul? A Horcrux?

I know that I, in my previous article, openly criticized Harry being Voldemort’s Horcrux theory, but some reading of COS has wavered my mind. Maybe, the Horcrux was made involuntarily. If it is so, it would be fun when big V discovers it. Now, how will he kill Harry? After all, he would not destroy his own Horcrux. Now he would be in difficult situation. Harry would try to kill him, but he cannot fight back as in doing so, he would destroy his own Horcrux.

Harry being big V’s Horcrux explains his parseltoungue, his mind connection with Voldemort, and many other things.

Or maybe, it is just some coincidental writing, from which I am taking out the wrong meaning.

Now I will have to contradict myself, and present the other side of the coin. This theory openly contradicts the Prophecy. The prophecy says- Neither can live while the other survives. If Harry his big V’s Horcrux, one can definitely live while the other survives.

So, the situation is here. Give me your views about what you think may be the possibility, after you have read both the views.

Gred & Feorge

2005-12-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

The Weasley Twins

The Weasley twins have been shown as cool light hearted, brave, fun-loving, talented and humorous wizards. they are mostly the joke makers nad sometimes the butt of jokes. JKR recently told that their b'day come on 1st April April Fool's day!
Their bright nature and skilled inventions will ensure a prominent place in the &th book, as it has done in the previous six books ...

Notorious but true Gryffindors & Family first
Fred and George Weasley- doesn’t a mischievous smile come on your face when you hear these names, commonly referred to as the Weasley twins. They have always procured a notorious position for themselves in each Harry Potter book. But unlike other such people, notably Draco Malfoy, they are pure hearted and brave like true Gryffindors, have no grudge against impure blooded people (They hate the squib Filch because of different reasons.) They are free to express their minds leave no stone unturned to have some real good fun.
They also do cute things from time to time, like coming to Hogsmeade to give Ron his Birthday present. And they have always, unlike their big bro Percy, shown an unwavering loyalty towards their family values.

Powerful Wizards & Cool Businessmen
Most interestingly, they are extraordinarily gifted wizards, as even the righteous Hermione pointed out in HBP, also having a corporate mind and a flair for business. They have utilized their talent in their joke shop, and their merschandise is even bought by the ministry and the Death eaters. Their joke shop, Weasley Wizardng Wheezes , is shown flourishing at 93, Diagon Alley.
2 things that Big V should buy from their shop: Hair regrowing potion and Instant Nose rebuilder.

The Twins at School
They always had a certain disregard for rules, and bent them to have fun, aided by the marauder’s map. They can easily be compared to the Marauders (except that they are not Animagus), exploring the school with their best friend Lee Jordan.
However carefree they may seem, they cannot bear injustice and openly defiled the school and Umbridge because of her unruly behavior and flew out of Hogwarts (It made even the poltergeist Peeves bow). Perhaps that is why Dumbledore, having a good eye for the right people, never took too severe an action against them when they were at Hogwarts, in spite of their acts.
They have always been light about things, like the way Fred (or it was George?) invited Angelina to the Yule Ball. The exceptions to their light hearted behavior are money (we all know that Weasley’s are poor) and of course, Quidditch.

The Seventh Book
I feel that they may have an important part to play in the 7th book, because power cannot go unnoticed. Even Draco Malfoy bought the Peruvian darkness powder from them, which shows that they are even respected by Death Eaters. Hence, they may have to make an important choice in the 7th book, as to which side they have to really join, but we all know which one they will choose. This way, they will really make a lot of enemies, but the two of them can always fight it out.
Also, they may be officially instated onto the Order of the Phoenix, and I know that they would lend a good hand on kicking Death Eaters.
Do they have a chance of being killed off in the seventh book? It is well known that JKR has a penchant for killing good people!

Whatever their future may be, we know that they will always put a united, jolly good fight.
I can surmise the Weasley twins in 3 words- my favorite characters.

PS: If you take the Fantastic Beasts quiz and enter F & G as your favorite characters, see what being you'll get.

Dumbledore is Not Dead

2005-11-30T07:52:00.000-08:00

The Champion of Commoners, Mudbloods and Muggles... Lives!!

I have quite a convincing theory that Dumbledore is not dead (quite unlike the one about his Horcrux!)
I am presuming that Dumbledore set up an elaborate plan with Snape about the proceedings.
Now here’s what I think...

Snape was approached by Narcissa and Bellatrix and either Snape earlier knew of Malfoy plan or he got it out of Narcissa by his excellent legilemency.

Snape made the Unbreakable Vow. During the vow, not once it has been said that Snape is vowing to help Draco to kill Dumbledore. He only says that he will help Draco to complete the assigned task. This task could have been fixing the vanishing cabinet, or at least Snape would have thought the same while making the vow. After all, it is magic (seems to me quite like law!)
Also, given Dumbledore unflinching faith in Snape, it can be that Snape earlier made an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore to remain loyal to him. Hence, when he made the vow with Narcissa, it was cancelled as it contradicted the vow made earlier with old D.

Snape and Dumbledore talked about it and made the plan on he to stage Dumbledore’s death. Now we shift to the chapter- The Lightning Struck Tower.

Harry and Dumbledore flew to the tower and were confronted by Draco. Before that, Dumbledore freezed Harry.

The Death eaters arrived, shortly followed by Snape. On Dumbledore’s pleading, Snape muttered Avada Kedavra, the killing curse.

Remember in OOTP, when Harry said the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix. Bellatrix was unharmed, and the curse didn’t work as Harry didn’t mean to cause severe pain, even though Harry was feeling so intense hatred for Bellatrix. That’s the case with Unforgivable curses, you have to really mean them.

Similarly, Snape (in the text, it is written that his face had hatred and revulsion, that means he was revulsed by what he was about to do) muttered Avada Kedavra on Dumbledore without meaning it. Hence, instead of just life being snuffed out and Dumbledore’s body limping lifelessly, Dumbledore was blasted out of the tower.

Now Harry was de-freezed, and he presumed that the spell was lifted because Dumbledore was dead. But is it that necessary? It could have simply that Snape saw Harry in spite of his Invisibility cloak (Dumbledore could do so in PS, he could have taught Snape that in HBP) or Dumbledore could have told Snape earlier that Harry would be there. Then Snape de-freezed Harry to complete the effect.

Now comes the most interesting part. In the Chapter, The Phoenix Lament, Fawkes is crying while Harry is in the hospital, in the corridor, outside the school and back again. So, Fawkes is crying and crying and crying; that is, he is simply shedding many, many tears. And we all know that Phoenix tears have great healing powers. Now, who could Fawkes possibly be healing so intensely?? Dumbledore, of course!!

Now in the last Chapter, The White Tomb, Dumbledore’s tomb suddenly erupts in flames on its own and his tomb is encased.

Flames… the 1st, yes 1st page of POA talks about a basic Flame Freezing charm, in which a wizard could show that he was being burnt but meanwhile enjoy a tickling sensation. What I am implying is that Dumbledore used it to simply show that he was dead. Also, false flames seem to be Dumbledore’s specialty. Remember, in HBP, how he scared the wits out of young Tom by falsely burning his wardrobe. He really wished that he could do it again to discipline the big V. Well, I think he did.

Again, there is Harry witnessing the phoenix-flying-out-of-the-tomb illusion. I think that this is a probability that Dumbledore is an Animagus in the form of a phoenix! He magically burned himself and then flew out of the tomb as a phoenix, and was not spotted by anyone except Harry because of the high flames.
Also, Fawkes the phoenix, as we go to know in Ootp, can apparate\dissaprate from Hogwarts(this was how old D escaped Fudge). It can be that Fawkes apparated to take Dumbledore with him. We know that teleportation ofa phoenix causes flames to erupt, but the flames could easily be disguised among the flames already erupting arounf Dumbledore's tomb.

Another queation- Where would Dumbledore go? Obviously, there are many places, but the most likely place to me is Godric's Hollow. The Dumbledore-Gryffindor connection is sjown strongly in the books, and it can be that Godric's Hollow (which got a special mention at he end of HBP) could be a residential headquarter for Dumbledore.

So that’s what I think was old D’s plan to fool Voldemort and give him over-confidence. Also, he had taught Harry everything and now Harry would get the chance to become self-dependent and use his powers instead of relying on Dumbledore.

Ollivander-Loyal or Betrayal?

2005-11-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

The Intriguing Wand-maker...

One of the loose threads of the HBP was the fate of the renowned Diagon Alley wand-maker, Ollivander. His only appearances being in the PS and GOF, he may be considered an unimportant character by many but I personally feel that he may have a significant role to play in future, and my belief was restored when he mysteriously deserted his ancient wand shop in Diagon Alley (since 382 BC!) and vanished. Was he abducted or killed by the Death Eaters or he joined them on his own? Or did he go into hiding and now is living as a nomad (like Slughorn)?

One may ask- Why is he so important anyway, what purpose could the Dark Lord use him for? The answer is crystal clear...

How did Harry Potter survive the duel with the big V, whose favorite one liner was Avada Kedavra, with just Expelliarmus, a simple disarming spell? Yes, we all know that it was Priori Incantatem, a phenomenon by which two wands having the same core became interconnected and caused one of them to show the effects of previous spells. In Harry’s and Voldemort’s case, Voldemort’s wand was affected and the ghosts appearing out of it later distracted Voldemort, giving Harry the precious time to run. (The movie shows the scene in perfect detail.)

Hence, what saved Harry’s life was this connecting of wands, and furthermore luck that it was Voldemort’s wand that was affected.

Could be it that Ollivander knowingly, on Dumbledore’s orders, made another wand with the feather of Fawkes the phoenix for Harry, and later sold it to him. Dumbledore must have realized that this would save Harry’s life and told Ollivander to start the work on this second wand having the same core. After all, ten years is quite enough for all this, after which Harry arrived at Diagon Alley and unknowingly bought the wand.

Big V’s work with Ollivander is clear now- make him a Priori-Incantatem-Proof wand, that is a wand which resists Priori Incantatem, or if that is not possible, somehow make Harry’s wand be the affected one, so now big V would not be disturbed the ghosts of the people he killed.

If Ollivander resisted Voldemort and was killed, or he is on the run, Harry should try to contact him and use Priori Incantatem to the fullest effect as he did in GOF. Or if Ollivander has joined Voldemort and is improvising Voldemort’s wand, then Harry needs to be really trained and cautious, because he may not be so lucky next time when he duels with the Big V. Perhaps the duel between Harry and Voldemort in the 7^th book will not end in the same way as it did in GOF, and it all depends on the loyalty of Ollivander.

Magical Creature Legacy

2005-11-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

The Magical Creature Legacy

Mythical Creatures have always played a very important part in the Harry Potter storyline. They possess different attributes and more importantly, different owners.

The most ancient one may be the venomous and evil Basilisk, the serpent king left by the sinister Hogwarts founder Salazar Slytherin, in order to equip his true heir to clean Hogwarts of muggle-borns (We all know that).

But do you think the brave Godric Gryffindor would die leaving Hogwarts unprotected, when he knew that the Chamber of Secrets existed and could be opened to unthinkable results even many centuries later??

Yes, he must also have left his own magical beast, which could help his true heir to defeat Slytherin’s true heir and monster...

And the creature is undoubtedly Fawkes the phoenix, an immensely powerful and long living creature who could only be domesticated by the most noble and powerful wizards, and he was indeed the pet of the wizard qualifying all the expectations of Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore. Fawkes must be of the time of Gryffindor who entrusted it with the responsibility of eliminating, or helping to eliminate, the Slytherin monster.

The way Slytherin made the litmus test of controlling his monster as being Parselmouth, the same way Gryffindor’s test would be- yes, the ruby encrusted Gryffindor’s sword.

I was curious that where would Fawkes be all these centuries and under whose care? And if indeed my theory about it being Gryffindor’s equivalent of Slytherin Monster, Gryffindor was quite shrewd in making his creature less conspicuous in myths and legends, unlike the much talked about and fanciful Chamber of Secrets.

This way, the heir of Slytherin would have been completely off guard (like Riddle was in the COS, when Fawkes ruined his complete plan) and didn’t prepare himself for the Gryffindor creature, which was immune to the Basilisk’s powers and could thwart it.

Well, I also wonder, we know and talked in detail about fantastic beasts of Gryffindor and Slytherin, but what about the powerful Rowena Ravenclaw (a talking eagle, perhaps) and Helga Hufflepuff (would she leave behind a fire breathing badger)??

Plus: Liked the pictures of the basilisk and the phoenix? Take the Fantastic Beasts quiz given in the Links section (given in the sidebar) and discover which Magical Creature do you relate with. Mail me your results!

Fawkes - Dumbledore's Horcrux

2005-11-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

Dumbledore’s Horcrux

I know that there will be some initial skepticism, but I think that Dumbledore has a Horcrux, in none another that Fawkes the phoenix. He himself said that there can be Horcruxes in living beings, and pointed towards the unnatural behavior of Nagini, Voldemort’s snake, and also saying that he had extraordinary control over her, even for a parselmouth. Now let me point you towards the unnatural behavior of Fawkes, which may point towards its connection with Dumbledore...

Harry is almost in Death’s mouth (like always) in the Chamber of secrets, cornered by the Heir of Slytherin and the sinister monster of Slytherin, the Basilisk, which would have killed Harry by only looking into his eyeballs.

But who saved our hero? Yes, Fawkes. Even though that Dumbledore was not there in Hogwarts, Fawkes went underground and saved Harry, and even carried Gryffindor’s sword with him, which Harry eventually used to slay the snake.

Fawkes saved Harry without any ado in COS, but why didn’t he save his master Dumbledore in HBP? Only because Dumbledore told him not to do so as his death was the part of a plan he formed with Snape. Would a normal pet understand such complexity? I doubt it.

Who are the main villain and Hero? Of course, Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. What do their wands have in common, which subsequently led to Priory Incantatem and helped Harry save his life in the GOF? Of course, the core, Phoenix feather. Whose feather? You got it- our very own, Fawkes (Surely, not by extreme coincidence).

A phoenix is technically immortal, as it is reborn from its ashes, and would have been a really good choice for something that is used to make you immortal.

Voldemort created a Horcrux in a snake because he loved snakes. Similarly, Dumbledore (the opposite of Voldemort), adored phoenixes (he named his group- The Order of the Phoenix), and had one as his faithful pet.

Dumbledore placed faith above everything else, he even trusted Snape, a death-eater, only because of faith. And what did he tell Harry about phoenixes? That they made highly faithful pets. If he could entrust his soul to a death eater only because of faith, why not a part of it to someone who he knew was eternally faithful.

I said a lot about Dumbledore’s fondness about Fawkes, but wasn’t it equally reciprocated by the phoenix towards his master. After Dumbledore was murdered, The Phoenix Lamented and then flew away.

Read HBP, Pg 601, last paragraph. It says-
Harry thought, for one Heart stopping moment, that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. Ring any bells??

I know that Dumbledore is the epitome of goodness, but how did he gain so much knowledge about Horcruxes, which are the darkest magical inventions, considered unmentionable even by the standards of Magick Moste Evile. Surely some experiments may have helped…

Conclusively, I would like to say that I made this guess only because I couldn’t stand to see Dumbledore die.

Also, thanks to Rohit Rajaram for the inspiration.

Weird rumour- Harry is Horcrux!

2005-11-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter- Voldemort's Horcrux
No Way!

I recently got the weirdest rumour that Harry Potter is one of Voldemort's horcruxes, and he would have to kill himself at the end.
After mulling over it, I came to the conclusion that I disagree!

Firstly, the reason Harry Potter got the scar is that Voldemort attacked him. And hence HArry could not be a Horcrux Because of the simple reason that Voldemort wouldn't scheme with his followers and keep trying to destroy his own Horcrux!
And Voldemort tries his best to kill off Harry Potter whenever they confront each other (take their meeting in the ministry of magic in OOTP), and do you think that Big V is so foolish that he will himself try and order his followers to destroy his own Horcrux ??!! Come on, he even duelled with Harry in GOF, and did his best to kill him.
All his death eaters keep trying to kill Harry, and get quite close to it. Would they dare touch a piece of their master's soul?

But, nobody can tell what JKR can do. Then also, it will be highly illogical if such a thing is there.

The Goblet of Fire Movie- My thoughts

2005-11-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

The Goblet of Fire- Movie

Well, like all of you, I also checked out the movie.
My initial reaction was (especially on seeing the graphics and special effects), Wow! But more commendable than the graphics was the way the movie unfolded, deleting unnecessary elements from the book and even adding some scenes from own imagination. Overall, it was a fantastic movie. I would give it **** (4 stars) out of five.

I just loved the new scenes. The first one in which Snape hits Ron on the back of the head for talking in the class (How come Ron, Harry, Fread, George are in the same class??), and then pulls back his cuffs and thrusts down both Harry's and Ron's heads for talking was really funny.
The other one, in which Ron waltzes with none other than Mcgonagall, was simply hilarious.

Thanks God they deleted the SPEW part. Well, I believe that the elf part was a little bit overplayed in the 4th book, but it was heavily underplayed in the movie (Not a single elf was shown in the film!) They made Neville give the Gillyweed. The way he said "I have killed Harry Potter" was very funny.

What with the director and the Black Family??!!
Firstly, all we get of good old Sirius is a few splinters in the fire. Poor man, he will be gone in the next movie and all he gets is to be a part a of special effect.
Secondly, Narcissa Malfoy was also not shown (I didn't see her) in the Quidditch world cup. Isn't she necessary in the future (Who makes the Unbreakable Bow with Snape?)
Lastly, the scene with Bellatrix Lestrange was not there. It was quite smart to fuse both the scenes of the pensieve into a single one, in which no one knows the reality of Crouch junior and is revealed by Karkaroff (his cage was quite nice). But Bellatrix is also an important character. After all, she is the one who kills Sirius.

Now why was Dumbledore just bubbling with excitement in the movie?? Did you see the way he was shaking Harry, asking whether he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire or not.
I always pictured Dumbledore as a majestic and imposing personality who looked into the situation calmly and almost magisterially. This new and strange behavior of Dumbledore was quite a shock.

The scene of Voldemort's resurrection was simply spellbinding!! The way the dark mark formed in the sky with sturm clouds and Death Eaters (Why so few??) appeared out of his mouth in smoky apparitions was really cool. Ralph Fiennes is just the right man for the big V.
The graveyard was quite spooky and cool, with all the fog and shadows. Also, the statues of the undertaker and the angel gave quite an effect.

Lastly, the girls looked quite good. But why weren't the Veela shown in the world cup, when they showed the leprauchauns (Partiality!), I was quite expecting them.

Great movie, wasn't it?!

R.A.B. and the Locket

2005-11-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

Regulus Black and the Locket

The intriguing letters R.A.B. (not intriguing anymore, as we all know they refer to Regulus Black) might prove Sirius (may god bless his mysteriously departed soul) seriously wrong. He told Harry that Regulus was quite an unimportant person according to Voldemort’s standards and probably wasn’t even killed personally by him, but he was the one who became the Bond managed to steal his well-guarded Horcrux.

Well, it all quite fits. Regulus, following Black family tradition, joined the Dark Lord, but like Sirius, his moral vein got hurt when he saw the real evil of Voldemort. He must have done something evil and would be hit with a wave of remorse (like Snape felt after giving the contents of the prophecy to Voldemort), and then decided torectify his mistake by making Voldemort mortal by destroying his horcrux. He must have thought that the locket was the only horcrux, as he wrote in his note that destroying it would make Voldemort mortal.
Voldemort would not have known it (as Dumbledore told Harry that he would not know when his Horcrux is destroyed), and thought Regulus's rebellion as petty.

Something interesting: Read OOTP, Pg 108, 4th paragraph. a line says: a heavy locket that none of them could open. Now don't you wonder what this locket could be ??? yes, its must be the same horcvrux and its no coincidence that it was found in The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, in Regulus's residence.

The Sixth Book: Alternate titles

2005-11-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I surely loved loved the sixth book for giving an insight into the life of the most mysterious character of the book, Lord Voldemort. Rowling devoted volumes of pages to Harry Potter but ppreviously ignored the strange life and origins of the Dark Lord.
I have suggested a few alternate titles for the sixth book:

Me, Myself and My Horcruxes- A biography of Lord Voldemort
How to be Charming and do Evil- by Lord Voldemort
I am the Dude- by Severus Snape
Really Detailed Guide to Good Potions
Enjoying School Life!- By Harry, Ginny,Dean,Ron,Lavender

Introduction to this Blog

2005-11-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

Introduction

I’ve started this blog to express my thoughts and opinions about the world of Harry Potter.

Anyone who has read Harry Potter would know that a Pensieve is an object used to see thoughts. In the same way, you can read my thoughts through this bllock and I can read yours through your comments!

I will use this blog to give my speculations about the seventh Harry potter book, the characters and the movies. They may be a little unimaginable, unusual or simply weird! But nevertheless, the five books the sixth book (HBP), are so brimming with events and previously undisclosed information that it’s hard to stop yourself from forming opinions about what J.K. Rowling will do next.

A difficult question for many Potter readers will be: Which is your favorite Harry Potter book? But for me, it is quite easy- The Half-Blood Prince. The way the biography of Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord and the most mysterious character in the book, unfolds is simply great. How the handsome and charming lad T.M. Riddle slowly and secretly develops his powers under his teachers’ eyes, and then emerges as the most frightening and terrible dark Lord in the history of the wizarding world, closer to immortality than any other sorcerer, shows the intricacies of the magical world.

All of us were greatly shocked when Dumbledore was murdered by Severus Snape, whom he trusted as a faithful ally, and who according to him, saved his life when he returned to Hogwarts greatly injured by destroying the ring Horcrux.

But as I tried to fathom this merciless cruelty, I realized some hidden meanings. Didn’t Hagrid tell Harry that he overheard Snape and Dumbledore arguing about something? And how can one expect the great Dumbledore to beg for his life (please, Severus! The only hypothesis is that Dumbledore and Snape had already formulated this plan about Snape becoming Voldemort’s ally, and since Snape would be unwilling to kill his mentor, Dumbledore pleaded to him to perform this cruel act to prove his loyalty to Voldemort and come in his inner circle.

Now you can explore this blog to enter the pensieve and see some of my thoughts,. Awaiting your feedback and ideas!

12, Grimmauld Place

2005-01-01T12:00:00.003-08:00

12, Grimmauld Place

Myths, Legends & Heirlooms- The legacies of Magic, some of which have been used to incredible effects, and some of which are still to be explored. These relics are everywhere, muck like the objects in The House of Black, but one has to explore at one’s own risk.

The Intriguing Hogwarts Motto

Magical Creature Legacy

R.A.B. and the Locket

The Prophet

2005-01-01T12:00:00.002-08:00

The Prophet

News Regarding Harry Potter- News is always there, and your reaction is up to you.

The Goblet of Fire Movie- My thoughts

The Talking Portraits

2005-01-01T12:00:00.001-08:00

The Talking Portraits

Character Analysis- Each character, Noble or sinister, Devoted or Fickle, has an important part to play. Everyone has a flighty wand (Not non-humans, of course) and a role assigned in the Magical World.

Gred & Feorge

Ollivander-Loyal or Betrayal?

The Forbidden Forest

2005-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Forbidden Forest Murky Marshes of Guesswork

Intriguing Theories & Speculative Ideas about the 7th Book derived from the previous books. Logic intertwining with fan-fiction for the formation of hypothesis.