[HPforGrownups] OOP: Harry's emotional life

[the firey chasm from whence it came]

No: HPFGUIDX 66729

At 08:11 AM 7/2/2003 +0000, you wrote:

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>Here, while we know there is a lot going on to describe in this
>novel, I am surprised at how little Harry's thoughts are mentioned of
>these other characters-- it's mainly Ron and Hermione that he speaks
>to.

Well, they are his best friends after all. Also, Cho still makes him very 
nervous at the beginning of the book. I thought his scenes with her were 
pretty realistic. He seems to be terrified of girls though, are all teenage 
boys like that?

>  He also
>must miss Sirius, and be glad to see Lupin again, but I didn't see
>much description of their emotional interaction while Harry was at 12
>Grimmauld or his thoughts about them while he was at school (though
>of course he thought of Sirius more often than Lupin).  Are we
>supposed to assume that Harry is bonding with S. and L. in those
>holiday and preschool weeks at Grimmauld and it's just offstage
>because we are busy learning about other stuff?

Well, one thing to keep in mind was how angry and resentful Harry was in 
this book, especially towards adults who he feels aren't telling him 
enough. It might have been preventing him from bonding with S. and L. the 
way we might have expected him to. Also, he's very much a teenager now. How 
many teenagers do you know spend a lot of time bonding with adults? Some 
do, surely but most are in their rebellious "never trust anyone under 20" 
phase. I don't think Harry was quite like that, but I think he still 
primarily sees Lupin as an authority figure (He addresses him as Professor 
Lupin still, even though he no longer teaches) and Sirius I think he does 
have a strong bond with, but Sirius has his own problems. There were a lot 
of times in the books when Sirius was being sullen and resentful because he 
was housebound, and that probably made him difficult to bond with as well.

>  Are we to assume
>that Harry is madly dreaming of Cho all the time he's not being
>mindmessedwith by Voldemort, speaking at length to Hermione and Ron,
>studying for O.W.L.s, in detention, or... Despite how busy he is,
>when one is very busy and fancies someone one still manages to think
>of the someone often.

I thought he was thinking about her a lot, considering all the other stuff 
he's had on his mind. You've got remember after all, he does have more on 
his plate than the average teenager...by a very long shot. Most teens don't 
have to worry about being on a Dark Lord's "Most Wanted List". That sort of 
thing can definitely cut into the time you have to spend thinking about 
your crushes. ;)

>  Did they not speak at all except on the
>dates?

I always assumed that the only times they spoke was when it was 
specifically referred to in canon. It doesn't seem like Gryffindor has any 
classes with Ravenclaw and plus Cho's in a year ahead of Harry anyway. So 
they wouldn't have had many other opportunities to talk.

~dream