If it can do one, it can do the other. At least that's what I'd assume.

 

But then everyone and their mother would be using it. Voldemort would never have bothered going after the the stone if there was a run of the mill potion that could give him everlasting life.

Now if you want to say that the effects of aging potions are temporary and only change your outer appearance, like a glamour/polyjuice potion, then I'm fine with a 'de-aging' version.

 

Uh.. it's pretty obvious that magic can speed up entropy. It's not so obvious that it can reverse it. (Ignoring everything magic does that completely violates the second law of thermodynamics, of course).

 

Magic can conjure things from thin air. The second law of thermodynamics doesn't even factor into what it can do. As well as that, since potions are seemingly only temporary effects in a bottle, it isn't so much reversing entropy as it is just... shunting it aside for a while.

 

I always thought that wizards viewed age as a good thing. While the young might love to be young, the old definitely love to be old. In a society where people can live 150+, I think age would be a sign of knowledge and power. For them, age is to be respect and embraced - not shunned.

 

I've got two questions:

1. How hard is it to mix apparating while dueling? LV-DD duel in the Ministry Atrium showed us that, effectively, you can. So, why don't witches or wizards show that skill? People like Snape, Bellatrix or Moody could achieve it without doubt. Is it so difficult to accomplish that only Dumbledore or Lord Voldemort think about it? I always thought that Voldemort started to apparate because Dumbledore did it first, so he copied the Headmaster.
Anyone would think to apparate while dueling IMO, maybe not apparate and shoot, but to dodge the incoming spell? Yeah. You have the skill already, it's not a long distance apparition, just a few feet. So, why nobody does it? In some scenes of DH there was plenty of time, and in some places without anti-apparition wards/jinx.
Following this line, why does so few authors utilize this technique when they write the duels? Even if the character is a super!Harry, they don't think about that possibility.

2. At the end of OotP Dumbledore wins said duel, IMO. He strategicaly forced Voldemort to be on defensive and flee. He didn't show weaknes nor tirendness but that the duel was, in fact, average for him. Being "a shade more skillful" than Grindelwald, was Lord Voldemort really the most poweful and talented Dark Lord of the twentieth century?

 

1) In canon apparation requires pretty much full concentration, and in the middle of a fight you aren't going to be able to give it full concentration. So it means you are very likely to be splinched, which means it does not have a good risk/reward ratio to be a widely used tactic. So only the very best even try it. That said, I have seen it in more than a few indy!Harrys.

2) This is actually something that really annoys me in fics, where they make Voldemort out to be the most evil person ever. However it is most likely down to the fact that they see the current Dark Lord as the worst Dark Lord, because the stories of the others get toned down in the retelling. And everything always seems worse when you are experiencing it.

 

I can't really answer your first question, it's not something I've ever thought about. A lot of stories that I read either throw up some annoying anti-travel wards as soon as any serious fight is happening, or does have apparition while Harry fights, although it is mainly Harry.

But the second one, well Dumbledore defeated Grindlewald, didn't he? Did he ever defeat Voldemort? And to be fair, Dumbledore has probably improved his magical knowledge between 1945 and 1995.

And he has the elder wand by then too, which is going to be helpful. We can't be sure the effect it has because we don't see him with another wand, but I'm inclined to think it's minimal - although a nice safety net.

 

For the 1st question, I think Bill Door is right. In the movies they have shown this apparating while dueling thing, but then again movies were just for show off. So maybe people with extreme mental control can only achieve this feat.

2nd question : I think Voldemort was the most dangerous dark lord, because prophecy or not Dumbledore would have tried to defeat him before he knew about horcruxes and as we saw Dumbledore never succeeded in defeating him. Having upper hand doesn't mean you can always win and Voldemort had used horcruxes to cheat death, this makes him failing even harder. So yes I feel Voldemort was the most dangerous.

P.S - If you were looking only for power then I guess Dumbledore was the most powerful. But if you are looking for most dangerous then Voldemort all the way.

 

It's not. I can't remember which book it's in, but there's a Potions lesson in the books where Neville is afraid that his potion will poison Trevor rather than doing the correct thing and de-aging him back into a tadpole. IIRC, his potion works and Snape takes points for Hermione helping him.

 

Snape called that a 'Shrinking Solution' - though Trevor indeed became a tadpole:

EDIT: Oh, and it appears in PoA.

 

Around when in canon -- and how -- does Dumbledore figure that Horcruxes cannot be destroyed through common means?

There's Harry presenting to him the diary destroyed with a basilisk fang. Then there's the ring, which is implied to have been destroyed by Dumbledore using Gryffindor's Sword (before taking the Resurrection Stone from it to enclose it in a Snitch) sometime between two of their meetings. In canon, all that is said about the ring's destruction was that during the first meeting it was on a table in Dumbledore's office and by the next one it disappeared.

Trial and error, perhaps?

 

Dumbledore would have read that in the book about Horcruxes or as knowledgeable he was, he would have researched himself.

I think the information to destroy Horcrux was given in the book which Hermione had taken from Dumbledore's office. Though, I am not sure.

 

Read through the first chapter of HP1 last night. And wow. There's one big thing that made my go 'wtf'. Books been out for some 15 years now or so, so I bet it's hardly a new revelation, or hell, maybe it's been brought up in this thread already, idk.

But, when McGonagall is waiting, Dumbledore appears from the top of the lane and walks over to her. She mentions that Hagrid told her that Dumbledore would be there. Dumbledore says 'passed at least a dozen celebrations on the way here.' Is JKR really suggesting that Dumbledore walked to #4 Privet Drive? If so, that's pretty bad ass.

Also, Vernon starts seeing all the wizards doing wizardly stuff at early in the morning, and Harry doesn't arrive until nightfall, suggesting it took nearly a day for him to get there. Hagrid says he rescued Harry nearly immediately. Yet Hagrid also has time to talk with McGonnagal somewhere before heading off (And Dumbledore presumably, at separate times), and getting to Privet Drive a good 12 hours before him. McGonnagal > Hagrid > Dumbledore in terms of transportation speed I guess.

It doesn't really take away from my enjoyment of the story, as rereading the first chapter reminded me how awesome the books are, but the mindbogglingness of JKRs concept of time is pretty odd.

-edit-

Here's a transcript of the timeline as I see it.

Hagrid and McGonnagal are at Hogwarts, presumably. Hagrid could actually be anywhere I suppose. DUmbledore should be at Hogwarts, but he could be busting some caps.

First thing: Hagrid recieves a Patronus Message from Dumbledore: "I need you to go to Godric's Hallow ASAP and investigate the Potter's House. Then, I want you to meet me at 4 Privet Drive Surrey Tommorow Night"

Hagrid and McGonnagal are chilling or something. He tells her where he's going to meet Dumbledore. Hagrid presumably uses Instant Transmission to arrive at the house minutes before the Muggle Authorities. Sirius was already there (And leaving?), gives Hagrid his motorcycle. Spends the next 24 hours flying that bitch across the sky at the slowest speed imaginable instead of using the same method of arrive in Godric's Hollow.

McG gets to Privet Drive ASAP, which presumably means apparating as close as possible, taking a Floo as close as possible, flying or taking the Knight Bus (Which was probably overloaded). Presumably, you can't apparate somewhere you've never been before, but she still gets there sometime in the morning. Dumbledore, well versed in what a motorcycle is, and what the London Underground is, decides to just walk instead. The fresh air is good for his old bones. And he somehow manages to correctly guess how long it would take both him and Hagrid to arrive simultaneously, since that's what happened.

Alternatives? Perhaps. Perhaps Hagrid got the kid, and took him somewhere safe. Dumbledore, being a busy man, only has time to stop by the safehouse for but a minute to give Hagrid instructions (or use a patronus again). Dumbledore goes off to do damage control, and can only spare a few minutes at night to drop Harry off, so Hagrid watches football and drinks a few gallons of beer before setting off with Harry to meet Dumbledore.

 

I think Hagrid must have taken Harry somewhere safe because apart from attending parties(cool parties) Dumbledore would have spend some time in Godric's Hollow and then planned what to do next.

Most horrifying thing is that in those 24 hours Hagrid would have had to change Harry's nappy. Those large fingers....Poor Harry.

 

"Harry, you were molested."

"I...I was what?"

"Molested, Harry"

...I think I just ruined that scene for myself.

 

Dumbledore's late arrival could be explained by the need to actually do something to set up the protections at Privet Drive, rather than it just happening. And I figure he probably had a few things with regard to the Ministry, not to mention the business of actually confirming that Voldemort was, if not dead, at least disappeared.

Hagrid taking his time...dunno. Maybe he had to stop for petrol? And petrol for a magical flying bike can't be easy to come by

 

Yeah, the so-called "Missing Day" is a massive screw up that JKR has admitted in interview, lol.

 

Was there any metaphysical/spiritual effect of Lily´s protection on Harry that actively pushed him towards "goodness" as JKR sees it ?

Could there be some effect of sacrificial protection that could have messed with Harry´s consciousness and pushed him to be polar opposite of Voldemort despite his similar childhood, critical shortage of "love", multitude of reasons to abandon/despise Wizarding World and possible influence of Scarcrux ?

Maybe it was one of reasons just why Harry could not successfully cast Unforgivables before his 17th birthday ?

This theory is probably really out-there and implausible but protection is the ancient magic, isn´t it ? Just what are its true limits and effects ?