Harry the Seeker

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 48493

Regarding the motivation for Harry's anti-Dementor lessons, Melody wrote:
 
Frankly,
> it seems Harry wanted to protect his game and that was the *main*
> motivation.
> 
[snip] And when Harry was with Lupin at their first Patronus practice, Harry
> said-
> ---
> (PoA, Ch 12)
> "I've got to!  What if the dementors turn up at our match against
> Ravenclaw?  I can't afford to fall off again.  If we lose this game
> we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"

Of course Harry wants to win.  But if I were to pinpoint what Harry is most obsessed about in asking for special training from Lupin, I would not mention Quidditch at all.  The Dementors are the thing that Harry fears most.  Harry is tremendously affected by the terrible memories the Dementors summon in his mind.  So what he is really asking for from Lupin is help in overcoming his greatest fear.  There is nothing at all obsessive about that.

Outwardly, however, Harry expresses his need to overcome his fear of the Dementors in terms of his obligation to his teammates.  Similarly, when Harry wakes up in the hospital wing with the entire team at his bedside, and

> Harry lay there, not saying a word.  They had lost...for the first
> time ever, he had lost a Quidditch game.    
> 

Harry is reacting to his feeling that he failed his team, and he did so because he -- and only he -- becomes overwhelmed by the Dementors whenever one approaches.      
> 
> > 
> Before, I pointed out that Harry knew he had this problem ever since
> the train.  He even knew the dementors were at the school and would be
> a continual possible threat to him, but Harry did not seek help
> against them until they threatened his Quidditch game. 
He then sought
> after Lupin to try and find a way to clear up this problem because of
> that motivation.  That motivation is very key to me. 

The Dementors didn't just threaten Harry's Quidditch game.  They threatened his life when they showed up on the pitch. Because the Dementors were not permitted onto Hogwarts property -- their job was limited to guarding the entrances -- before the Quidditch match Harry could have reasonably believed the Dementors posed no immediate threat to him as long as he remained at Hogwarts.  It is the Quidditch match that drives home to Harry the personal danger the Dementors present.

I was not trying to say
> "Quidditch" itself would become an obsession, but rather, that the
> clarity of mind of a single-minded pursuit of an object could.  His
> taught style of "seeking" could become an obsession.  

To use the sports analogy, a key to success in virtually any sport is the ability to concentrate completely on the task at hand.  That's Harry's natural talent, and it's what the Dementors' presence threatens to take from him.  

At the risk of merely repeating what others have said, tne thing that distinguishes Harry from other competitors an any arena -- Quidditch matches, the TWT and Voldemort -- is that he never defines his task in terms of himself.  So, even in a Quidditch match, his task is not necessarily finding the Snitch.  When his team needs to win by a 150 point margin to take the Quidditch cup in PoA, Harry doesn't focus on getting the Snitch himself until his team as built up the necessary margin.  And it's illustrated very well, as others have already pointed out, in the Second Task in which Harry abandons personal goals when it appears to him that others are in danger (and is appropriately rewarded for it, no matter how silly he feels about taking the danger too seriously).  

Accordingly, I see nothing in the books to suggest Harry is "obsessed"; to the contrary, he has an uncanny ability to know what is most important at any particular moment.  It's a simple gift, but it's the one that sets him apart from the competition.  Witness Voldemort in the graveyard, who lets a golden opportunity to kill Harry slip away because he won't be satisfied with getting rid of Harry and needs a dose of glory to go with it.  

A successful Seeker needs more than the ability to single-mindedly pursue one's goals.  He also needs the ability to discern what those goals should beat any given time.  It's these qualities that make Harry the youngest and most successful Seeker in a century.  

Debbie
who is still sorting through the comments but would like to thank everyone who responded, on and off list, to her Quidditch essay


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