What will come in book 5ish

[Scott Northrup]

No: HPFGUIDX 50393

Kathryn
> And, I must have deleted it but at some point there
> was something about Harry being REALLY powerful.  I
> disagree.  If Harry was such a powerful wizard, why
> did it take him so long to learn the patronus charm?
> And how come he can't see anything in the crystal
> ball? He has shown that he is not AMAZING at his
> practical exams, so I don't see evidence that he has
> some sort of stonger magical power or ability than
> others.

I don't see how Harry could NOT be a powerful wizard.  Certainly not at his
full potential yet, but still very good for his age.

Why did it take him so long to learn the patronus charm?  First, ask
yourself, how many other 13 year old wizards have learned the patronus
charm?  We never see anyone else in the series learn the patronus charm, so
there's really no reference to go by.  All we know is that it's a *very*
difficult spell, that quite a few fully trained wizards can't cast.  Look at
this from perspective: very few adults posess enough writing skill  to write
a book that's worthy of being published.  So if a 13 year old manages to
write a book (I'm referring to an adult reading level book- fits with the
analogy- Harry certainly wasn't casting a children's patronus), and get it
published, we can forgive said 13 year old for having some trouble writing
it.  Hopefully that analogy makes sense.

As far as I can tell, there's no evidence to state that Harry doesn't do
well in his classes and exams, at least not conclusively.  Let's break it
down:

Potions: The exception to what I just said- he doesn't do well, but who can
blame him?

Divination:  Harry doesn't take this class seriously, so his performance is
irrelevent. DD (or at least McGonagall) would probably fare as well as Harry
(unless he has some skills we've yet to see, which is entirely possible).

Care of Magical Creatures: We have no reason to believe Harry isn't one of
the best students in this class.  In fact, I would bet on it.

Transfiguration: As far as I can tell, we've seen no real evidence that he's
bad in this class, or particularly great.  Certainly, he's not at the same
level as Hermione, but really he could be anywhere under her.

Charms, Herbology, Astronomy: Same as above.  (Though, there is some
evidence that would suggest he's not bad at charms, once he gets down to
concentrating... he summoned his broom from what, a quarter mile away- I'm
under the impression that summoning from that range is MUCH harder than what
the students were being taught).

DADA: My personal bet is that he's at the top of his class in DADA.
Disregard his first two years, they have no relevance to this argument.  We
know in his third year, he got 'top marks' from Lupin on his final exam.
Fourth year, Harry didn't take the final, but we have no reason to believe
he wouldn't have done well on it.  We know he has super-wizard resistance to
the Imperius charm.

History of Magic: No evidence- I doubt he does well, but then, I doubt that
anyone but Hermione does well in this class.

Sorry if I missed a class.

Honestly, as far as we can tell, Harry is one of the rare people who can get
through school without really putting forth a lot of effort.  He studies
when he has to, but lacks the motivation otherwise.  My guess is that his
father was the same way, but James had wizard parents who would probably
take offense if his grades weren't superb.  Harry only has the Dursleys;
they could care less if his grades weren't fantastic.  (Trust me, I speak
from personal experience.  A parent to whip you into shape will make a
difference; I was the same way in High School, but my mom kicked my butt if
I didn't bring home perfect grades. I still didn't study much, but was
probably more motivated than Harry.)

Anyway, I think if Harry were not a "great wizard" he would have died three
books ago, and in every successive book if he had somehow managed to escape
death through sheer luck.  (yes, I know he had his mother's protection.
Remember, there's more to being a wizard than books and cleverness, blah
blah blah . . . )

-Scott
(who would have had a decent score on his NEWTs-  could have been better,
but he was out playing Quidditch instead of studying)