To Slay a Unicorn

[terri_testing]

`“… but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Atticus Finch

“Crime… befouling the castle… suggested sentence… ”
“I want to see some punishment!”  Argus Filch

“… it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,”  Firenze

Let’s take a look at Harry’s first detention and the lessons that it taught him, shall we?

Comments

Cursed half-life

[terri_testing]

Unfortunately, we don't know what that means. Although it's worth noting that Quirrell, though restored to strength immediately, died not long (a week? two?) after drinking the blood....

But since we didn't see Quirrell between the forest and the mirror, we don't have any information to evaluate what effect it had. One thing we can say--when he unmasks (er, unturbans) to Harry, he seems to be entirely Tom's slave--we don't, in fact, know if this was true before. Perhaps he'd have seen something different in Erised, before drinking the unicorn blood....

But we do have enough information to know that there's some inescapable drawback to drinking unicorn blood. (Or at least that the WW is convinced that this is absolutely true, not superstition.) Because otherwise, if unicorn blood can keep someone alive even when s/he is an inch from death, unicorns would not be rare--they would be EXTINCT. (Or herded and bled, like the Masai do cattle.) The forest is not full of cancer (okay, the magical equivalent) victims or their parents and loved ones seeking unicorn blood, and we know that neither sentimentality, superstition, nor moral considerations would deter the desperate.

Ergo, something else is, and "a cursed half-life" seems our best candidate.

Hmm, now I'm thinking about Horcruxes too. What's worse than death, for most people, is wanting to die and being unable to. If you've known people with terminal illnesses, a lot of them reach a point where they're content to die, to escape their own failing bodies and the constant pain. If unicorn blood doesn't repair or mitigate whatever damage had caused your body to be near death, just keeps you "alive" despite it (for how long? a week? a year? until a new cause of death happens along?) you might end up in such agony you beg your loved ones to AK you. (Which we wouldn't see directly with Quirrell, because all that was wrong with his body, that we know of, was that it was being drained by Tom.)

And Horcrux-makers might normally end by revealing their Horcrux hiding place and begging someone to finish it--and them--off, to release them....

Re: Cursed half-life

[oryx_leucoryx]

We do know that Quirrell was strong enough, physically, mentally and magically to complete the maze.

Hmm, how long before entering the forest did he become too weak to walk upright? There is no mention of DADA class being canceled in the lead-up.