Blood wards? What blood wards?
To be completely honest, I do not buy the existence of the blood wards. Particularly as Dumbledore described them.
If they ever existed in the first place, they either did not last long, or were so weak as to be completely useless.
Part 1 The basis for the wards existence.
1. Not to diminish or negate her sacrifice in any way, But I highly doubt Lily was the first person to sacrifice themselves for another.
Even going with Lily having been given the option to step aside, No parent, spouse, etc. worth their salt would do so. And considering sadistic psychopaths such as Bellatrix, who enjoyed playing with their victims before killing them, I find it impossible to believe that no one was ever told to step aside before and refused. No way was Lily the first.
2. If blood wards worked so well, and were an actual thing; wouldn't nearly all the homes of the old pureblood families have them? At some point someone would have died to save a family member, thus creating the wards. If the saved person stayed living in that house with other family members then they would be as protected as Dumbledore said Harry was. Assuming of course the blood wards worked like Dumbledore said.
Yet Dumbledore acted as though the blood wards around 4 Privet Dr. were uncommon, if not actually unique.
2.2 Which also brings up the question, if they are one of a kind, for whatever reason, what assurance was there that they worked in any way as Dumbledore said.
2.3 How could he even know they worked at all, since he never actually checked in person. Even if he had monitors on the wards he could not be certain they were accurate if the wards were one of a kind.
3. If we are to go with the story of Lilly’s sacrifice being the basis for the blood wards,.
Her sacrifice was that of love, therefore it stands to reason that it would take love to keep the wards going.
It’s debatable if the Dursleys even loved each other. But we know there was no love for Harry in that house, nor did he love them.
.
4. Any protection Lily laid on Harry was for Harry.
Not petunia.
Not Dudley.
Not Vernon.
Not the Dursleys house or property.
For ‘Harry’s’ protection. Even if the Dursleys were wonderful loving people, the protection was for Harry. How diluted might it have become if it had been stretched to cover all the Dursleys, plus their house and property? Since all that had not been Lily’s original intention, Dumbledore would have had to alter the actual protection on Harry to do what he wanted, thereby negating the protection on Harry himself.
Part 2 The limits of the wards
5. Unless he was to be a constant prisoner and never leave the property Then how did the wards protect him beyond the borders of the property?
Even if the wards somehow stretched to cover the neighborhood, which seems very improbable, they would not cover things like’
Harry’s primary school.
When Petunia took Harry with her to go shopping.
Had Harry been allowed friends he would not be protected when going to a friend’s house.
Or going on vacation.
Dumbledore insinuated that the wards needed to be recharged rather than Harry live his entire life under them, but as Dumbledore not only seemed to change his story about the way the wards worked, it also seemed to be very arbitrary about how long they needed charging.
All of which calls into question Harry’s safety any time he stepped outside the boundary of the wards.
6. If the parameters of the wards were set for any ill intent against Harry, then the Dursleys themselves would not be able to enter their own home.
6.2 If set to blood related to Harry, then Vernon still would be ejected.
6.3 If set to those who lived there, would still not explain Marge.
7. If the wards were made to keep Harry’s whereabouts unknown to the wizarding world , as a form of protection they failed in that as well.
Otherwise how would all those people like Diggle have been able to recognize Harry?
It is incredibly unlikely that all who came across him were harmless fans.
7.2 Also if they were keeping the address obscured from the wizarding world, that would only last until he began at Hogwarts.
From the letters sent the summer before 2nd and 5th year, the ministry was well aware of where harry lived. If security through obscurity was the goal, it was a complete failure.
Part 3 holes in the wards
8. Ron took Scabbers practically everywhere with him. It does not seem out of the realm of possibility that Ron had him when the Weasleys rescued Harry before 2nd year.
Which meant the traitor that provided a way for his parents murder as well as the fact that he was a marked, unrepentant, death-eater was within the boundaries of the wards.
9. Dobby was able to come within the wards with no trouble. And though he went about things badly he had no ill intent towards Harry.
He was however, still an elf owned by a marked, unrepentant death-eater, that could enter the wards .
10. Kreature, however most certainly did not have good intent when he came within the bounds of the wards.
As he was able to work towards getting Sirius killed, there was nothing stopping him from doing the same where Harry was concerned. House-elf bondage notwithstanding.
11. Sirius was able to find Harry before 3rd year. To the best of my knowledge Sirius did not know where Dumbledore planned to place Harry as Hagrid only said he was to take Harry to Dumbledore not the Dursleys. Even if Sirius had known Harry was being taken to the Dursleys, he still had no trouble finding him there, which says there were no wards against animagi, at the very least. While Sirius did not have ill will or bad intentions toward Harry, it was still quite a large security breach.
12. The dementors were able to find Harry, and were it not for his Petronus he would have had his soul sucked out just down the street from those highly vaulted wards.
13. Assuming death-eaters truly could not pass the blood wards, what was to stop them from casting the imperious curse on one of the Dursleys to kill Harry or have him brought to them?
13.2 Or the milkman, mailman, or just some random muggle in the area.
13.3 or an unmarked supporter who would not even need to be under the imperious.
13.4 The property was not unplottable or under the fidelius which meant it could be seen.
We have already established it could be found by many people in the magical community so what was to stop Harry’s enemies from standing across the street and blowing up the house?
13.5 or setting fiend fire to the entire neighborhood.
14. Going with the belief that Harry was a horcrux, what good were blood wards going to do for him, when he was in danger from something in his own head?
15. Arthur was able to connect the Dursley’s fireplace to the flue network temporarily to come get Harry before 4th year.
Even though there were supposed to be wards in place, and even though it was the Weasleys who used the connection it took someone else from the ministry to hook it up.
A death-eater could have paid someone off to make a flue connection, and would be able to use that to get in the wards basically unnoticed.
15.2 Or simply someone in the flue department that was a supporter of Voldemort, claiming they had to check the stability of the flue connection.
16. 5th year when the order came to pick up Harry, there were at least five order members who came.
Which meant either they came where half the neighborhood could see them and therefore could have been followed by a death-eater, over-zealous fan, or anyone else from the wizard world that had bad intentions that did not already know where Harry was.
or they apparated directly into the house or yard.
Which would mean the wards did not prevent apparition.
Actually, in DH 13 people did apparate onto the property, proving there were not wards against it.
What if one of them was polyjuiced.
16.2 Or imperioused.
16.3 or a traitor.
Part 4 broken or fallen wards
Dumbledore said as long as Harry considered 4 Privet Dr. home
17. Harry never actually considered it home.
He always referred to it as:
Privet Dr.
The Dursleys’
My relatives house.
Never his own. Not in thought or word.
Even before he thought of Hogwarts as home, there is nothing to make me believe he ever considered 4 Privet Dr. as home.
18. After Harry blew up Marge he left with the full intention of not coming back. Had he at any point considered it his home he no longer did at that time. Thus negating any wards if there were any.
19. If the charm on the wards broke when both Harry and the Dursleys left with the clear knowledge that 4 Privet Drive could no longer be considered Harry's home what would have happened if Petunia or Vernon had said out loud that it was not Harry’s home or that he could not call it such??
19.2 They repeatedly, in word, thought and action made certain that Harry knew he was not welcome or wanted. By their own behavior the Dursleys showed they did not consider Privet Dr. Harry’s home. Even without specifically saying the words.
20. If the wards were attached to the house/property as it seems they were;
What was to stop the Dursleys from moving To get away from the wards?
20.2 or Vernon getting a promotion or transfer, and needing to move because of his job.
20.3 Or the house catching fire.
20.4 Or storm damage severe enough to necessitate moving.
There was never any indication that protections were in place to prevent property damage of any kind.
21. Even if the Dursleys had welcomed Harry into their family with open arms and he thought of it as his home; if the wards worked as Dumbledore said contingent on Harry considering it home. What would have happened if he had felt at some point; as many children do, that everyone hated him and he was going to run away because no one loved him, and it was no longer his home? Even well adjusted, loved children go through such fazes.
22. Summer of 5th year after the dementor attack Vernon was on the verge of literally throwing Harry out of the house. While he did not get a chance to do it, and before any action was taken Petunia received the howler which caused her to say Harry would stay. But before that howler came in, Vernon Petunia and Harry were all three in agreement in their minds that 4 Privet Dr. was not Harry’s home and would not be in the future. If we go with the wards being based on intent, this is another point where they would have failed.
23. Supposing there were blood wards needing someone of Lilly’s blood to power them how could they be of any protection after the 3rd task of the tri-wizard tournament. Voldemort used Harry’s blood to resurrect himself. Therefore he also had Lilly’s blood. Which would mean he could enter the wards.
Part 5 other faults with the wards
24. If the blood wards were so impervious then why would it be necessary for the order to keep watch at private drive the summer after Voldemort’s resurrection?
Either the wards worked and Harry was safe, and the guards unnecessary,
Or the wards did not exist or were compromised and therefore Harry was not safe there, and should have been moved to a safer location. Like Oh I don’t know.. Maybe Grimald place that was under a fidelius, and inhabited by several members of the order.
25. If the blood wards were in existence because of Lilly’s sacrifice thereby protecting him even outside the borders of 4 private dr. then How was Quirrell able to put his hands on Harry at all?
While supposedly Lily’s protection made it possible for Harry to burn Quirrell and Voldemort, he himself also was nearly killed in the process.
25.2 How was he poisoned by a basilisk. It was Fawkes who saved him from death, not blood protection.
25.3 What about pettigrew forcibly taking Harry’s blood in a ritual to bring back someone who very much wanted Harry dead.
25.4 how was Voldemort able to possess Harry in the ministry end of 5th year?