These chapters caused me to update more in favor of Quirrell being genuinely scared. However, there are still some things that confuse me. First, Quirrell’s not citing the prophecy in his favor, even though McGonagall was the one who paired him with Trelawney in the first place, and there’s absolutely nothing incriminating in hearing a prophecy under those circumstances. Second, well, this is a problem with a murder-based solution, and I would expect Quirrell to take it unless (for some magical, personal, or prophetic reason) he finds death preferable to a world in which Harry is dead.
As far as Harry destroying the world goes, I’m most worried about Fred and George. In canon, they become quite skilled at spell creation in later books, and it’s suggested that they experiment in earlier books; they’re probably not especially good
yet, but they might know enough information (or have enough books) to be dangerous already.
Quirrell values Harry—at least instrumentally, for purposes as yet uncertain, and possibly emotionally (if he is capable of valuing a person in that way). He is too valuable to kill except as a last resort, and Quirrell’s actions suggest that he thinks he can avert the prophecy and make the killing unnecessary (otherwise he would not be taking all the measures he is currently taking).
As for not informing others of the prophecy, doubtless he feels that whatever (frantic and desperate) actions they might take in response would interfere with his own much more intelligent attempt to resolve the situation.
That’s fair enough, but I just thought of one more thing that Quirrell could do that he’s choosing not to… Why isn’t Quirrell doing the star thing again, or at least offering to do so?
However, Harry would probably reject it the way he rejected Fawkes’s song—he doesn’t want to be freed or distracted from his pain, since he considers it the proper and correct response to the death of his best friend. He may also believe that it’s powering his dark side, and thus helping him look for ways to save Hermione.
It’s possible that he would reject it, yes, but I don’t think it’s that easy to compare it to Fawkes’ song. If memory serves, phoenix songs actually change one’s mood; the stars wouldn’t do that, just comfort him. And, even if Harry does reject it, it’s unlikely to cost Quirrell anything to make the offer.
Showing Harry the stars at this point would probably kill him. The image of the stars is a talisman to him, representing the necessary triumph of human will over death. Harry has just made a resolution to unmake death, and we know he can do it because of Trelawney’s prophecy. The next time he sees that image he is going to act on his resolution if he hasn’t already, and right now he’s exhausted and confused and desperately unhappy… He needs to be rested.
And besides, given that Quirrell thinks that Harry will destroy the world when he acts on his resolution, he should be diverting Harry’s attention from the stars at all costs, and trying to bind him more strongly to the Earth and the people on it, which he is doing. I’m loving the irony of Voldemort desperately trying to remind Harry of all the people who love him.
Mind you, whilst I think Quirrell is smart enough to not show Harry the stars given what he knows, I could be wrong. So maybe he will try that at some point and it will blow up in his face.
EDIT: Hmm, prediction failed. I guess this means that I’m more swayed by emotion than Harry. No surprises there.
I do kinda feel like “Snape asked for advice on understanding a prophecy; the defense professor should consider it.” Except I’m sure Quirell doesn’t view anyone else as smart enough to be any better at it than him, except possibly Harry/Snape/Dumbledore, except (A) not really and (B) he doesn’t trust any of them with the prophecy, I’m sure.
Unfortunately, he has no way to prove the existence of a prophecy beyond taking asking Dumbledore to take Harry to the Hall of Prophecy. And a prophecy that Harry will end the world, coming from the obviously evil Defense Professor, is… well, obviously evil. Even if it isn’t.
Quirrell can’t prove it, but as it happens, the Headmaster has recently heard a true prophecy with (likely) very, very similar wording. Since Quirrell didn’t hear more than a few words of the other one, the fact that the two are so like each other would be strong evidence that Quirrell’s prophecy is also genuine.
He has a way: Legilimency. Occlumens can let others into their memory, and we are told the intonation of prophecy cannot be faked by false memory charms. Let Dumbledore into a carefully guarded compartment of his identity, expose only the memory of the prophecy, and you’re done—everyone will trust Dumbledore’s word.
Or if you were a perfect Occlumens, you could race ahead of any probes, answering queries as fast as they were asked, so that the Legilimens would enter through your surfaces and see a mind indistinguishable from whoever you were pretending to be.
Even the best Legilimens could be fooled that way. If a perfect Occlumens claimed they were dropping their Occlumency barriers, there was no way to know if they were lying. Worse, you might not know you were dealing with a perfect Occlumens. They were rare, but the fact that they existed meant you couldn’t trust Legilimency on anyone.
The voice of a seer has a quality, an enigma which even Legilimency cannot share, how could that be imbued in a false memory? Do you think the Dark Lord would believe my mere words? The Dark Lord seized my mind and saw the mystification there, even if he could not seize the mystery, and so he knew the prophecy had been true.
but, we have no confirmation that Snape is a perfect Occlumens and if the Defense Professor is, or is suspicious enough that people think he might be, its unclear if even Legilimency could be trusted to confirm the prophecy
Actually, examining Snape’s words more carefully than my memory, I think I was simply wrong. Snape says that the ‘quality’ is something that ‘even Legilimency cannot share’, and so how did the Dark Lord then verify Snape’s memory? He seized Snape’s mind with such force and magic that Snape’s Occlumency would’ve been hopeless and instead of perceiving the prophetic quality of voice, he looked for Snape’s personal confusion at not understanding the prophecy.
So it seems that Dumbledore could not verify it after all: he could not be sure of breaking Quirrel’s Occlumency both out of ethics and because Quirrel seems to be closer to Dumbledore in power than Snape was to Voldemort, and he cannot simply verify the prophetic quality in whatever memory Quirrel chooses to provide.
Which of course still leaves the Hall of Prophecy: surely Quirrel’s word about a prophecy of the apocalypse would be worth defying the Department of Mystery over, in order to verify?
To hear the prophecy you need to be mentioned in it. So maybe anyone can hear this prophecy because the end of the world effects everybody. But if not, taking Harry there and him hearing it would be confirmation that its about him.
Though, verification may be a moot point and Dumbledore may already know the prophecy about Harry. After all, Dumbledore heard the end of the prophecy in the dinning hall back when it was “he is coming” rather than “he is here”. And Dumbledore also gave excuses not to take Harry into the hall of prophesy
Harry was staring directly at Albus. “Can I go to this Department of Mysteries place and hear the recorded prophecy? The original tone of voice might be helpful, from what I’ve heard.”
Light glinted from the reflection of Albus’s half-moon glasses as the old wizard slowly shook his head. “I think that would be unwise,” Albus said. “For reasons beyond the obvious. It is dangerous, that place which Merlin made; more dangerous to some people than others.”.
These chapters caused me to update more in favor of Quirrell being genuinely scared. However, there are still some things that confuse me. First, Quirrell’s not citing the prophecy in his favor, even though McGonagall was the one who paired him with Trelawney in the first place, and there’s absolutely nothing incriminating in hearing a prophecy under those circumstances. Second, well, this is a problem with a murder-based solution, and I would expect Quirrell to take it unless (for some magical, personal, or prophetic reason) he finds death preferable to a world in which Harry is dead.
As far as Harry destroying the world goes, I’m most worried about Fred and George. In canon, they become quite skilled at spell creation in later books, and it’s suggested that they experiment in earlier books; they’re probably not especially good yet, but they might know enough information (or have enough books) to be dangerous already.
Quirrell values Harry—at least instrumentally, for purposes as yet uncertain, and possibly emotionally (if he is capable of valuing a person in that way). He is too valuable to kill except as a last resort, and Quirrell’s actions suggest that he thinks he can avert the prophecy and make the killing unnecessary (otherwise he would not be taking all the measures he is currently taking).
As for not informing others of the prophecy, doubtless he feels that whatever (frantic and desperate) actions they might take in response would interfere with his own much more intelligent attempt to resolve the situation.
That’s fair enough, but I just thought of one more thing that Quirrell could do that he’s choosing not to… Why isn’t Quirrell doing the star thing again, or at least offering to do so?
That… is an extremely sensible thing to do.
However, Harry would probably reject it the way he rejected Fawkes’s song—he doesn’t want to be freed or distracted from his pain, since he considers it the proper and correct response to the death of his best friend. He may also believe that it’s powering his dark side, and thus helping him look for ways to save Hermione.
It’s possible that he would reject it, yes, but I don’t think it’s that easy to compare it to Fawkes’ song. If memory serves, phoenix songs actually change one’s mood; the stars wouldn’t do that, just comfort him. And, even if Harry does reject it, it’s unlikely to cost Quirrell anything to make the offer.
Showing Harry the stars at this point would probably kill him. The image of the stars is a talisman to him, representing the necessary triumph of human will over death. Harry has just made a resolution to unmake death, and we know he can do it because of Trelawney’s prophecy. The next time he sees that image he is going to act on his resolution if he hasn’t already, and right now he’s exhausted and confused and desperately unhappy… He needs to be rested.
And besides, given that Quirrell thinks that Harry will destroy the world when he acts on his resolution, he should be diverting Harry’s attention from the stars at all costs, and trying to bind him more strongly to the Earth and the people on it, which he is doing. I’m loving the irony of Voldemort desperately trying to remind Harry of all the people who love him.
Mind you, whilst I think Quirrell is smart enough to not show Harry the stars given what he knows, I could be wrong. So maybe he will try that at some point and it will blow up in his face.
EDIT: Hmm, prediction failed. I guess this means that I’m more swayed by emotion than Harry. No surprises there.
I do kinda feel like “Snape asked for advice on understanding a prophecy; the defense professor should consider it.” Except I’m sure Quirell doesn’t view anyone else as smart enough to be any better at it than him, except possibly Harry/Snape/Dumbledore, except (A) not really and (B) he doesn’t trust any of them with the prophecy, I’m sure.
Unfortunately, he has no way to prove the existence of a prophecy beyond taking asking Dumbledore to take Harry to the Hall of Prophecy. And a prophecy that Harry will end the world, coming from the obviously evil Defense Professor, is… well, obviously evil. Even if it isn’t.
Quirrell can’t prove it, but as it happens, the Headmaster has recently heard a true prophecy with (likely) very, very similar wording. Since Quirrell didn’t hear more than a few words of the other one, the fact that the two are so like each other would be strong evidence that Quirrell’s prophecy is also genuine.
He has a way: Legilimency. Occlumens can let others into their memory, and we are told the intonation of prophecy cannot be faked by false memory charms. Let Dumbledore into a carefully guarded compartment of his identity, expose only the memory of the prophecy, and you’re done—everyone will trust Dumbledore’s word.
It seems like there is some conflicting text here
in 27 we read:
http://hpmor.com/chapter/27
But on the other-hand Snape says
but, we have no confirmation that Snape is a perfect Occlumens and if the Defense Professor is, or is suspicious enough that people think he might be, its unclear if even Legilimency could be trusted to confirm the prophecy
Actually, examining Snape’s words more carefully than my memory, I think I was simply wrong. Snape says that the ‘quality’ is something that ‘even Legilimency cannot share’, and so how did the Dark Lord then verify Snape’s memory? He seized Snape’s mind with such force and magic that Snape’s Occlumency would’ve been hopeless and instead of perceiving the prophetic quality of voice, he looked for Snape’s personal confusion at not understanding the prophecy.
So it seems that Dumbledore could not verify it after all: he could not be sure of breaking Quirrel’s Occlumency both out of ethics and because Quirrel seems to be closer to Dumbledore in power than Snape was to Voldemort, and he cannot simply verify the prophetic quality in whatever memory Quirrel chooses to provide.
Which of course still leaves the Hall of Prophecy: surely Quirrel’s word about a prophecy of the apocalypse would be worth defying the Department of Mystery over, in order to verify?
To hear the prophecy you need to be mentioned in it. So maybe anyone can hear this prophecy because the end of the world effects everybody. But if not, taking Harry there and him hearing it would be confirmation that its about him.
Though, verification may be a moot point and Dumbledore may already know the prophecy about Harry. After all, Dumbledore heard the end of the prophecy in the dinning hall back when it was “he is coming” rather than “he is here”. And Dumbledore also gave excuses not to take Harry into the hall of prophesy