On Human Sacrfice and Dark Magic
I've spent some time archive binging recently and got to thinking about what the new conclusions meant for old issues that weren't directly addressed. In particular, I was reminded of all the old complaints about Lily's sacrifice being held up as exceptional even though most parents would die for their children. And if sacrificial magic is as ancient, wild, and Dark as it is claimed, without needing any channeling incantations or rituals, there should be thousands, if not millions of people throughout the history of humanity clearly benefiting from such sacrifices. Yet canon says there aren't. Few people are even aware of the possibility that it could happen, let alone happen reliably. Why not?
Well. What is one of the most essential things we learn about the Dark Arts?
You have to mean them.
And that was just in reference to such highly domesticated spells as avada kedavra and cruciatus. (They have incantations! They give consistent results! And people want to call those Dark? Puh-lease.) I suspect that the further back you go, the more vital will and intent becomes to any manipulation of magic.
So of course most parents would be WILLING to die for their children, but how many would WANT to? Would PLAN on it?
Of all the mothers who ever threw themselves between their children and an assailant, how many intended to die then and there, and how many were praying that the attacker would show mercy at the last moment, or some savior would miraculously appear, or that any wounds be at least non-fatal? Of every soldier who threw themselves on a grenade, how many wanted to die to save their friends, and how many prayed that this one is a dud and they'd all survive to laugh about this incident later?
I think the lack of intent to sacrifice their lives explains why most sacrificies don't result in such absurdly noticeable effects as we see in Harry.
Does that mean that the intent to gamble their lives means nothing? Canon suggests yes. Mere desire to achieve a result isn't enough to trigger magic. No matter how badly you want to someone to writhe in agony, they're going to be just dandy until you point your wand at them and say, "Crucio." The closest we see is children's accidental magic, but even that requires an emotional jolt, and there's no control over what will actually happen - only that it will somehow mitigate the immediate emotional threat.
So. What does this say about Lily's state of mind when she was bargaining with Voldemort?
Well Terri Testing's Liberacorpus offers one answer:
http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/7569.html
But I don't think we necessarily have to go that dark.
Canon doesn't explicitly support the idea that risking yourself can produce power in the same manner that sacrificing yourself can, but it doesn't contradict it either. I'm quite fond of the fanon theory that Felix Felicis is so tricky to make because the process requires the brewer risk injury, or even life, to make it correctly. Even concentrated into a potion though, the effect is rather short lived, only several hours, not life-long as Harry seemed to enjoy.
Still, let's try this on for size:
According to canon, James charged Voldie without even his wand, trying to buy time for Lily to take Harry and go. Even as arrogant as he was, he must have known that his chances of surviving, let alone winning, were infinitesimal. Though I'm sure he was also convinced they weren't zero. Regardless, he was at minimum willing to put his life on the line. For the purpose of allowing his wife to save their son.
His sacrifice wasn't powerful enough to grant Lily a miracle. They still had no secondary escape plan. No last minute savior appeared to whisk her away. No clever bit of spellwork occurred to her that would allow to escape or defeat an opponent far stronger than her. She had nothing to bargain with... except her life. When Voldie confronted her less than 5 minutes after James sacrificed himself.
And here's where the sacrificially generated luck found an opening.
We know from Harry's use of Felix that it can alter the behavior of those around you in ways that will allow you to reach your goals. Is there any other explanation for why Slughorn allowed himself to become drunk around Harry, when he had been assiduously avoiding the boy because he'd been hounding him for his memory of Tom?
James died so his wife could save their son. It didn't matter that Lily didn't know about sacrificial magic. It was enough that it existed. The luck magic caught the thought that she could save her son by giving her life and reinforced it, giving her conviction that it would work if only she could get Voldemort to accept the trade. But that was the sticking point. Voldemort had to agree. Here's where the second part of James' sacrifice comes in, twisting Voldemort's sadism into a form that would allow his wife to save Harry. Not only did Voldie act like a complete idiot by killing rather than incapacitating her, he ritualized her sacrifice by offering her the chance to save herself three times. Three is a powerful number. No wonder Harry was so powerfully protected.
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Which leads me to one more rather depressing conclusion. Sacrifices of love may be the most powerful force in the HP-verse, but sacrifices of pain and terror are probably more consistent in their outcomes. This goes back to willingness vs. desire. There are far more people who are willing to die for their cause, their city, their country, their family than there are those who actively want to martyr themselves for the same. For every person who volunteered to sacrifice themselves, how many were able to sustain such a desire to the very end? I suspect that any wavering, any doubt or hesitation, drastically weakens the magic generated, leaving a far less potent, and far more temporary, effect. Sacrificing unwilling victims doesn't require them to cooperate. Actually assumes they won't, and are structured to compensate for that and draw out as much power as possible.