Indestructible - An Addendum on Flight
I've been writing up some of my thoughts on Voldemort and Severus, and it's made me realize how central flight is. Both to Severus' relationship to the Dark Lord, and to his character and arc in general. It all unfolded suddenly in my mind last night and became clear.
It's one of the hidden keys, an important one - like in Filius' challenge in PS/SS.
I know how it works - I'd figured out that part already (I'll explain when we get to Voldemort). And where Severus got the idea - that's obvious.
But I just figured out when and why Severus decided that he needed to work out the secret of unsupported flight.
Not for himself. That's not Severus' strongest motivator.
And not as a welcome-back present for the Dark Lord, although ironically he's the only one Severus ended up teaching the magic to.
For Harry.
Harry?
Why work out flight for Harry? The kid can already fly. He's a natural on a broom, isn't he?
Well, yes. That's precisely the problem. He's wedded to that broom as his favorite means of transport and escape, as well as pleasure.
And therefore it's a weak point that's all too easy to exploit.
At least once a year, every year for his first three years at Hogwarts, we - and Severus - witnessed Harry fall from his broom. The very first time was an
attempt by Voldemort himself to kill the kid, even.
Severus was on hand to counter that attempt. But he wasn't able to keep Dobby's bludger from knocking the kid off the next year, breaking his arm. Or to keep him from fainting and falling in the presence of the dementors the year after that. And losing his broom, to the Willow. And then he received a suspicious gift broom that Minerva felt the need to check for jinxes, to Harry's pouting.
By the midpoint of Harry's third year, Severus had had three clear demonstrations of just how little the kid's intuitive skill on a broom - his father's form of flight - could be counted on to keep him safe or get him out of danger, and a further demonstration of just how fragile brooms themselves were. And how easy a means to get to the boy. Far too unreliable a means of transport when the life of this particular boy is at stake, if something surer could be found.
And no matter how much he tries to, Severus himself can't possibly be there at every moment to rescue the kid from every danger. Especially given his habit of wandering unsupervised while murderers are on the loose.
But if the kid could be given a means to escape under his own power, no broom needed? A method of transport that nobody else is likely to be able to use, since it's currently considered impossible by virtually all trained witches and wizards? That Severus may have suspected might even be possible to do wandlessly, at least for a short time, if need and desire were great enough?
That would be extremely useful. A very meaningful effort toward protecting the boy even when he's away from Severus himself. A gift he could give Harry, in his mother's name and in honor of his mother's sacrifice.
Lily's own skill. That, because of Severus, she never got the opportunity to further refine or to pass on to her son herself, had she ever wished to. Or even realized she could, once childhood magic was left behind in favor of wanded wizardry and anything remotely associated with Dark Magic firmly abjured.
Harry's mother's form of flight, refined and perfected by Severus, forged into something purer and more powerful for her son's protection. To be there for him when his father's form of flight was not enough, and Severus himself elsewhere.
That image, I think, would have been plenty of motivation for Severus to set himself the task. Though likely it took him quite a while to figure out how to do it. And he had limited practice time to dedicate to the task.
And by the time he did perfect it, unfortunately, it had likely become clear that his successfully teaching Harry anything was going to be a fraught and extremely difficult task. Particularly an emotional side-skill that Severus had found to be fairly essential for successful flight. Plus, the Dark Lord had returned and had a Harry's-eye-view of everything Severus did around the boy. And the Ministry's interference then left Severus stretched too thin to do more than hold down the fort.
And by the time the latest crisis was over, Black was dead and Harry was not at all emotionally equipped for anything involving either regulating his inner state or lessons with Severus.
And then Dumbledore made a fatal error and handed the mess to Severus to deal with. And then he had Draco to desperately concern himself with while Harry was having lessons with the headmaster.
And then Dumbledore told him protecting Harry wasn't even the point after all. Lily's sacrifice, and Severus' efforts, were in vain.
And then Severus had to leave, in a manner guaranteed to make the boy hate and distrust him with all his being. And Harry indeed made his feelings quite clear to Severus there, didn't he?
So he never did get to give that particular gift to Harry, though he'd developed it for him.
But it did get Severus himself out of danger when he needed it, so that he could be in place to give Harry the other gift he ultimately did need to give him.
It bought him the escape he needed. To be there when he needed to be.
For Lily's son, and so for everyone.
It's one of the hidden keys, an important one - like in Filius' challenge in PS/SS.
I know how it works - I'd figured out that part already (I'll explain when we get to Voldemort). And where Severus got the idea - that's obvious.
But I just figured out when and why Severus decided that he needed to work out the secret of unsupported flight.
Not for himself. That's not Severus' strongest motivator.
And not as a welcome-back present for the Dark Lord, although ironically he's the only one Severus ended up teaching the magic to.
For Harry.
Harry?
Why work out flight for Harry? The kid can already fly. He's a natural on a broom, isn't he?
Well, yes. That's precisely the problem. He's wedded to that broom as his favorite means of transport and escape, as well as pleasure.
And therefore it's a weak point that's all too easy to exploit.
At least once a year, every year for his first three years at Hogwarts, we - and Severus - witnessed Harry fall from his broom. The very first time was an
attempt by Voldemort himself to kill the kid, even.
Severus was on hand to counter that attempt. But he wasn't able to keep Dobby's bludger from knocking the kid off the next year, breaking his arm. Or to keep him from fainting and falling in the presence of the dementors the year after that. And losing his broom, to the Willow. And then he received a suspicious gift broom that Minerva felt the need to check for jinxes, to Harry's pouting.
By the midpoint of Harry's third year, Severus had had three clear demonstrations of just how little the kid's intuitive skill on a broom - his father's form of flight - could be counted on to keep him safe or get him out of danger, and a further demonstration of just how fragile brooms themselves were. And how easy a means to get to the boy. Far too unreliable a means of transport when the life of this particular boy is at stake, if something surer could be found.
And no matter how much he tries to, Severus himself can't possibly be there at every moment to rescue the kid from every danger. Especially given his habit of wandering unsupervised while murderers are on the loose.
But if the kid could be given a means to escape under his own power, no broom needed? A method of transport that nobody else is likely to be able to use, since it's currently considered impossible by virtually all trained witches and wizards? That Severus may have suspected might even be possible to do wandlessly, at least for a short time, if need and desire were great enough?
That would be extremely useful. A very meaningful effort toward protecting the boy even when he's away from Severus himself. A gift he could give Harry, in his mother's name and in honor of his mother's sacrifice.
Lily's own skill. That, because of Severus, she never got the opportunity to further refine or to pass on to her son herself, had she ever wished to. Or even realized she could, once childhood magic was left behind in favor of wanded wizardry and anything remotely associated with Dark Magic firmly abjured.
Harry's mother's form of flight, refined and perfected by Severus, forged into something purer and more powerful for her son's protection. To be there for him when his father's form of flight was not enough, and Severus himself elsewhere.
That image, I think, would have been plenty of motivation for Severus to set himself the task. Though likely it took him quite a while to figure out how to do it. And he had limited practice time to dedicate to the task.
And by the time he did perfect it, unfortunately, it had likely become clear that his successfully teaching Harry anything was going to be a fraught and extremely difficult task. Particularly an emotional side-skill that Severus had found to be fairly essential for successful flight. Plus, the Dark Lord had returned and had a Harry's-eye-view of everything Severus did around the boy. And the Ministry's interference then left Severus stretched too thin to do more than hold down the fort.
And by the time the latest crisis was over, Black was dead and Harry was not at all emotionally equipped for anything involving either regulating his inner state or lessons with Severus.
And then Dumbledore made a fatal error and handed the mess to Severus to deal with. And then he had Draco to desperately concern himself with while Harry was having lessons with the headmaster.
And then Dumbledore told him protecting Harry wasn't even the point after all. Lily's sacrifice, and Severus' efforts, were in vain.
And then Severus had to leave, in a manner guaranteed to make the boy hate and distrust him with all his being. And Harry indeed made his feelings quite clear to Severus there, didn't he?
So he never did get to give that particular gift to Harry, though he'd developed it for him.
But it did get Severus himself out of danger when he needed it, so that he could be in place to give Harry the other gift he ultimately did need to give him.
It bought him the escape he needed. To be there when he needed to be.
For Lily's son, and so for everyone.