Harry Potter 5: New Mysteries

At the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, some new questions are raised.

[spoiler]Dumbledore mentions that there’s a room in the Department of Mysteries that is always kept locked, and that this room contains a power stronger than death. He also mentions that Harry possesses this power, and Voldemort cannot stand it. If I’m not mistaken, Harry encounters this room and can’t unlock it even with Sirius’s knife. Just what is this power?

Also, what is that archway with the veil in the Department of Mysteries? Sirius mysteriously disappears into it, and Harry and Luna hear voices from it, which Luna says are voices of people in the afterlife! And, of course, there’s Harry’s discussion with Nearly Headless Nick about death. Nick doesn’t know exactly what lies beyond death, but he knows that there is a “beyond”, and says that the Department of Mysteries does research to determine its nature. If you put both of these things together, it would seem that the Department of Mysteries has actually discovered the nature of the afterlife itself, and may have even created a portal to it!

Finally, when Dumbledore confronts Voldemort, he ominously states that there are more ways to destroy a man than kill him, and that there are far worse things than death. What does this mean? Does Dumbledore know about some form of eternal torment in the afterlife?[/spoiler]

a. i’m thinking gentler emotions. ie love. that was my first thought when d was speaking to h.

b. perhaps the arch is a gate. i remember in poetry and church hymns the word veil is used when the separation between the worlds. as soon as i got the book i checked the table of contents. i knew immed. where in the book “falling asleep” would occur.

c. there are many things that are worse than death. just off the top of my head i can think of alzheimers, coma, a.l.s., etc.

[spoiler]A. OK, so why is “love” kept in a locked room in the Department of Mysteries?

B. I definitely agree that the arch is a gate to the Great Beyond. The thing is, Sirius fell bodily into it. Is he really “dead”, and, if so, how can anyone know this for sure?

C. Somehow I don’t think Dumbledore was threatening to give Voldemort Alzheimer’s disease.[/spoiler]

a. cupid is dangerous.

b. perhaps you can’t pass through the veil more than once.

c. not quite suggesting that, just some worse that death things that jump right to mind. for “tom” i think that there would be quite a few things you could do. ie longbottoms or lockheart.