Dull Harry?

[dfrankiswork at netscape.net]

In HPFGU, Pip listed questions that Harry doesn't ask.

Oddly enough, I bumped into a disgruntled Ms Skeeter the other day, who claimed to be in possession of a Potter scoop which the Daily Prophet had refused to publish "... because those whining sycophants won't do anything to upset JK Rowling".  I naturally offered to help out in any way I could, and so I put forward the extract below as a contribution to the discussion.  It apparently concerns an early draft of Goblet of Fire.  From the context it must come from Dumbledore's debriefing of Harry at the end of the book.

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Harry glanced from Sirius' face, which looked even more waxy than usual in the glow, to the shadows of Dumbledore's eyebrows etched on the ceiling.

"Professor," he said, "you just glinted.  Why did you do that?"

"No, Harry, that wasn't a glint, it was a gleam.  Entirely different.  Please go on with your story."

"But, Professor, it looked distinctly like a glint, or possibly even a glow, of triumph.  In the context, it seemed inappropriate.  Why not a glare of rage, or even a glitter of frustration, of the type pioneered by Professor Snape?  It's offputting and bound to result in confusion."

"Well, between you and me, Harry, it's one of my more irritating habits, and that's saying something.  I call it the oculus illuminatus effect.  It's absurdly simple to do: just a magically enhanced twinkle.  But I find it very effective when the occasion requires.  But explanations can wait.  It's essential for your eventual healing that you tell me everything while I continue to keep you in the dark, except when I gleam, of course, ha-ha."

Harry could tell from the way Sirius' knuckles whitened that he appreciated Dumbledore's little joke, and decided not to argue.
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When I asked why this passage was omitted from the published version of the book, Ms Skeeter became uncharacteristically evasive and muttered something about needing to fly.

Statistica Stein
Vice-President
Frankis & Stein
Infurn Alley
London

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