The Alchemy of JK Rowling

Chapter 18 - Harry 14

The Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire takes us on to the mental plane. Once again the first Defence against the Dark Arts class gives us the clue. Professor Moody starts by talking about the Imperius Curse. This is a curse to make a person do exactly what you want them to. It’s total mind control. In later lessons Moody actually puts the curse on the students. We see that Harry is the only one who can resist the curse.

Moody insisted on putting Harry through his paces four times in a row, until Harry could throw off the curse entirely.

These lessons are vital for Harry, for although (fake) Moody is Harry’s deadly enemy, Harry’s will-power is strengthened, which helps him defeat Voldemort.

At the end of the year Harry and Voldemort fight a duel. This is what happens:

As Harry shouted, ‘Expelliarmus!’ Voldemort cried, ‘Avada Kedavra!’ A jet of green light issued from Voldemort’s wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry’s – they met in mid-air – and suddenly Harry’s wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn’t have released it if he’d wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Harry, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort’s long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating. [...] The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Harry and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, domeshaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled now… [...]And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air… It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song. It was the sound of hope to Harry… the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life… He felt as though the song were inside him instead of just around him… It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear… Don’t break the connection. I know. Harry told the music, I know I mustn’t… but no sooner had he thought it, than the thing became much harder to do. His wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever… and now the beam between him and Voldemort changed too... it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands – Harry felt his wand give a shudder under his hand as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily his way… The direction of the bead’s movement was now toward him, from Voldemort, and he felt his wand shudder angrily… As the closest bead of light moved nearer to Harrys wand tip, the wood beneath his fingers grew so hot he feared it would burst into flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder Harry’s wand vibrated; he was sure his wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under his fingers – He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the bead back toward Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his eyes furious, fixed… and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way… and it was Voldemort’s wand that was vibrating extra-hard now… Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful. One of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Voldemort’s wand. Harry didn’t understand why he was doing it, didn’t know what it might achieve… but he now concentrated as he had never done in his life on forcing that bead of light right back into Voldemort s wand… and slowly… very slowly... it moved along the golden thread ... it trembled for a moment… and then it connected… At once, Voldemort’s wand began to emit echoing screams of pain…

We can see here that Harry’s will-power is actually greater than Voldemort’s. Harry’s resolve is strengthened by the song of the phoenix, the symbol of the resurrection.

The microcosmic self wants to kill the New Soul as it’s not under the control of the microcosmic self, but the New Soul is able to resist the microcosmic self. The latter can neither control nor kill the New Soul. It has won the victory on the mental plane, fortified by the power of the resurrection. It has broken the fourth chain to the universe of time and space.

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