It’s Harry Fortnight!

[inyron at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 17090



I know some of you have lives, which is why Harry Fortnight is a 
little late in getting started.  But apparently I don't, so I wanted 
to post.

Literary analysis, and analyzing  diffrent passages and people are 
great.  Unfortunately, I'm not good at that. When I originally got 
the books and read through them a few dozen times (OK, only six or 
seven each.  or eight.) I wasn't that impressed with Harry as a 
character.  I spent a lot of time thinking about the twins, or Ron or 
Hermione, or Lupin, but I just saw Harry as everyboy, not that 
distinctive.  He was just a vehicle to show us this wonderful world.  
I suppose I managed to ignore him for so many re-reads because I was 
just concentrating on the adventure aspect.

Then I got my computer back from storage.  Fanfiction was the first 
place I turned.  But I wasn't that interested in stories with Harry 
anyway, so I didn't read too many.  It wasn't until I got here, to 
this egroup a couple months ago (I lurk a lot) that I really started 
looking at Harry differently, mostly because of what you guys point 
out.  I began to see the decisions he makes as part of his 
personality, rather than just "I have to do this to get the plot to 
point B."  

Like his grown-up trust issues.  Growing up with the Dursleys, he 
learned that grown-ups were useless, and you should just keep your 
mouth shut, which is why he didn't tell Dumbledore about the voices 
in the walls, which is why (as someone said) his interactions with 
Lupin were such a big deal, which is why (as someone said) it was so 
hard for him to go to Dumbledore when his scar was hurting.  I did 
NOT get that the first time around.  "Why is he hesitating to go to 
Dumbledore?  Shouldn't he be anxious?  Why is Dumbledore thanking him 
so gravely?"

Someone else pointed out, during Ron Week, that while Hermione was 
fighting with the boys, Ron said some mean things, but Harry wasn't 
much help either, he was being very passive-aggressive about it.  I 
reread (again) SS two nights ago, and was a bit taken aback at the 
meanness of a lot of Harry's thoughts.  It was the same thing.  Ron 
was saying it out loud, and Harry's being very quiet, but agreeing 
completely.   Again, I never really noticed this.

Oh, and I now realize how super-brave he is.  Really.

In retrospect, I guess these things are obvious, which is why I said 
I sucked at analysis.

Now I've begun to enjoy Harry fanfiction, and boy oh boy, I thought I 
was looking forward to OotP *before*


So, thank you guys very much.  And I hope, for the rest of Harry 
Fortnight you will continue to enlighten me on what makes Harry tick, 
I don't think I'm completely there.  So, a couple of questions, if 
you please-

*Harry really doesn't socialize much, outside the troika (is this the 
term we're using now?)  Not even so much with his Quidditch-mates.  
The Weasley's were the first wizarding family he met, and they proved 
very enlightening and friendly.  But, If Harry had sat alone with, 
say, Seamus, during the ride to Hogwarts, do you think he and Ron 
would still be best friends?  

*Why does he keep referring to Ron as "Weasley" in FB?

*I love Sirius as much as the next girl, but how did he become the 
most important grown-up in Harry's life about an hour after breaking 
Ron's leg?  And acting, you know, all yellow-teethed and insane?  
After learning who MWPP were, you'd think he'd have a greater 
appreciation for Lupin too.

OK, I guess that's it for now.  Sorry I couldn't identify all of 
the "someones" whose ideas I absorbed.


inyron

who wants to give a shout out to members of granger-weasley, and HP- 
Paradise, and point out, hey, I'm not afraid of posting here! 
Really.