A midget in glasses,

[serenadust <jmmears@comcast.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50987

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Erica <cymru1ca at y...>" 
<cymru1ca at y...> wrote:

> Yes compared with Ron, Harry has a 'lack of height' but then Ron 
is a 
> lanky kid (I see him towering over the twins) so that most all of 
his 
> classmates when compared with him would have a 'lack of height'.  
> Harry is of average stature; not very tall, not very short, not 
very 
> thin, no very fat.  There is, for all appearances, 
> nothing 'extraordinary' about him.

 
Sorry to keep flogging this comatose horse, but I still think that 
in the context Trelawney is using "mean" she "means" that Harry is 
short (not the mathematical "mean" ie average).

GoF Chapter 13

"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the 
heavens at the moment of your birth...Your dark hair..your mean 
stature...tragic losses so young in life... I think I am right in 
sayin, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," said Harry, "I was born in July."

(This exchange cracks both me and Ron up)

She is describing Harry's distinct characteristics as evidence for 
his having a midwinter birthday.  I don't see why she would mention 
his "average" height as a distinguishing characteristic for those 
born in midwinter.  In addition to Ron's "midget in glasses" joke, 
Harry keeps mentioning his own lack of height in relation to others, 
all through the book.  Of course, I agree that compared to Ron, 
nearly everyone is probably short, but Harry has been described as 
being small in each of the first 3 books, and is described 
as "skinny" in the second chapter of GoF (although admittedly it 
doesn't mention his height in this passage). 

I don't doubt that at 14/15 he could still have a huge growth spurt 
that would close the gap between himself and his peers, height-wise, 
but I still think that Trelawney is describing Harry's stature as 
small, rather than average.

Jo Serenadust