Harry's weak spot (was:Re: Choices)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 86505

> Sophierom:
> 
> (First, a quick hello ... I'm new. Forgive me if I mess this up a 
> bit ... )
> 
> Maybe what tempts Harry to the "dark side" is the very humanity 
that we assume makes him stronger than TR. (And I agree with Kneasy 
here that the "dark side" or temptation is power itself, not LV's 
camp in particular.)  
> 
> What if his desire to see Sirius again (along with his guilt that 
he was somehow responsible for Sirius's death) makes him willing to 
work with anyone (including some pretty nasty people) to get Sirius 
back? As far as I can see, his feelings of love and grief are the 
only real motivations that could push Harry to do something really 
destructive to the Order. <snip>

Laura:

Hi Sophierom-nice post!  You know, I think you may have something 
really significant there.  Harry's Achilles heel has always been his 
craving for family and love.  That's where the "saving-people-thing" 
comes from, imo.  The one time he was really tempted to blow off 
Hogwarts was when he discovered the Mirror of Erised.  He could 
easily have stayed sitting in front of it forever had DD not 
intervened.  Harry is always willing to take chances to learn 
something about his parents-even risking Snape's considerable 
wrath.  

I don't see any canon evidence that Harry is interested in power.  
He likes mastering magical skills but rarely uses them without 
reason.  (No sitting around in his dorm killing flies.) He doesn't 
show any evidence of a desire to hone his powers to control or 
influence others.  He doesn't even experiment with them the way the 
twins do, for fun and profit.  Whereas I see Tom as an actor, I see 
Harry as a reactor.  (I hope that makes sense.)  Tom, raised in an 
orphanage until age 11, probably experienced more indifference in 
his environment than outright hostility.  That indifference would 
have allowed him freedom to think about how to escape his 
situation.  It would have allowed him room to act.  But Harry was 
always in a hostile situation from the time he arrived at the 
Dursleys.  His focus was to stay in one piece and protect himself as 
best he could.  Since he never knew when or how the next attack 
might take place, he learned to react.  That would have taken all of 
his emotional and intellectual energy.  

Harry's time at Hogwarts hasn't freed him of the instincts he 
learned living at Privet Drive.  He's still reacting rather than 
acting.  But I can really see him getting into some dangerous 
territory in an attempt to reconnect with his parents or bring 
Sirius back.  I'm not sure he'd trust any DE who offered to help him 
with this, but I can imagine him falling into a trap if it was laid 
with enough subtlety.