Dumbledore's Watch/abused Harry/Devil's Snare/Courage/Class/Mrs Figg/AK

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 41734

Denise wrote:

<< Is anyone else curious about Dumbledore's watch? It doesn't tell 
the time, it just has the 12 little planets around the outside. >>

I think any knowledgeable person can tell the time, the season, and 
the year, from a glance at where the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, 
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Ascendent and Starry 
Background are in their orbits around the Earth. 

Kathy Soror Avo wrote:

<<  I've often wondered how it is that Harry turned out so...good. 
He's basically an abused child. >>

Elkins wrote:

<< He knows how to relate to others as if by some sort of innate 
social *instinct.* >>

Kathy's theory that Mrs Figg's guests were kind to him but then he 
was Memory Charmed to forget any happy times at Mrs Figg's house may 
be correct but I don't think that a kindly adult who is so quickly 
forgotten is that useful to a child's resilience. I continue to 
prefer my theory that Harry survived the abuse so well because Lily, 
in her last spell, put a little image of herself inside his mind, so 
he always had an "imaginary mum" (like "imaginary friend") to tell 
him that the Dursleys were wrong, to tell him he was a good kid, to 
tell him how good people behave ... the description of Harry 
resisting Imperius is that a little voice in his head asked "Why 
should I?". I think that was the remains of the Lily voice. We've 
seen so much of Harry thinking about his father, wondering about and 
trying to learn about him, and not much of Harry thinking about his 
mother. Some explain this as JKR trying to keep secrets about Lily
and some explain it as boys of Harry's age think more about fathers, 
but I suspect it may be that he doesn't need to search for Lily 
because he already *has* her, inside his head.

Elkins, thank you for giving me an excuse to declare that Harry 
surely saw a tremendous amount of television, sitting in the back of 
the living room (whatever Brits call it) while Vernon and Petunia and 
Dudley sat far too close to the TV -- the Dursleys would want him 
handy when they shouted: "Harry! I'm out of crisps!" And the Dursleys 
don't watch only the violent and sexual shows that Dudley surely 
prefers: we know they watch the news because we saw them doing so (in 
the morning, I admit) in PoA, and surely Petunia watches shows about 
how to cook meals that impress the hell out of your guests... I feel 
sure that Harry saw enough TV to form his own ideas about anti-war 
protesters and gay rights and good manners...

Alison wrote:

<< (although perhaps Dumbledore was expecting Neville to be with
them, to tackle the dangerous plant under the trapdoor). (snip) (the 
troll is a tricky one however). >>

Interesting new idea, that the Devil's Scare was intended for
Neville. That suggests that Dumbledore was also expecting history to 
repeat itself by having a team of Four Gryffindor Friends ... did he 
expect history to repeat itself by having one of the Four eventually 
betray Harry? 

If he knew that Quirrel was the bad guy, then he knew that Quirrel 
would knock out the troll so that the kids wouldn't have to deal with 
it. 

Aldrea wrote: 

<< And is he brave enough for Gryffindor? It took him, what, half a 
school year just to work up enough courage to talk to Hermione. >>

And it Harry just as long to work up enough courage to ask a girl 
he'd known for years to the Yule Ball, and Ron hasn't worked up 
enough courage yet.

Elkins quoted:
<< to make climbing the ladder easier for those who deserve it. The 
Durselys most definitely do not. >> and replied:
<< I assume that by saying that the Dursleys do not "deserve" their 
social status, you mean that they don't deserve it because they are 
nasty and selfish, >>

It didn't occur to me to read Richard's phrase as meaning that the 
Dursleys do not deserve their social status. I read it as the 
Dursleys do not make climbing the ladder easier for any less 
fortunate than themselves. That's an understatement: they make it 
as difficult as they can for anyone to catch up to them on the 
social ladder.

Rosie wrote of Mrs Figg:

<< And at least he will know who she actually is and what she's like 
- all the others have hidden a big secret. >>

Harry thinks Mrs Figg is a Muggle; apparently she is a witch. He 
thinks she's an old lady who is mean to him; theories on this list 
suggest that she is a young woman, perhaps Sirius's girlfriend, using 
Polyjuice or an Age Potion as a disguise, and that she will be nice 
to him when the Dursleys aren't watching.

Cathubodva wrote:

<< "You could AK me and I doubt I'd get a nose-bleed", but wasn't 
that because none of them had been taught the curse? >>

It's too late at night (more than an hour past my bedtime) to look it 
up, but I THINK "Moody" said that AK needs "a fair bit of power" 
behind it, and that was why they could all point their wands and say 
the incantation without having an effect.