Wandless Magic? (Was Re: Shocking Harry)

[C M]

No: HPFGUIDX 69327

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "fridwulfa" 

>>>"Several people have mentioned the "shock" that Harry gave Vernon 
when he had him by the throat in the beginning of chapter 1. [snip] 
Harry did this again during his first occlumency lesson.
[snip]
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this might be 
relevant in the grand scheme of things?  Did this happen at any other 
times that I can't recall?"<<<


I wonder if these were more cases of Harry doing wandless magic (like 
the hair-growing mentioned in PS/SS, or blowing up Aunt Marge in PoA).

Of course, the Uncle Vernon incident presents the problem of the MoM 
not sanctioning him as they did with the pudding in CoS and the 
patronus in OOP, but it may not have been detectable magic if it was 
a simple shock. It also could have been, as was suggested, an 
instinctive response to a life-threatening situation. I wouldn't 
necessarily chalk it up to the "blood protection," though (does that 
shield him from everyone, or just Voldemort?). All wizards seem to 
have an inherent ability (at least as children) to protect themselves 
from Muggle-type deaths (Bouncing Neville comes to mind).

The incident with Snape in Occlumency could be likened to the 
situation with Aunt Marge. Volatile, unfocused emotion expressing 
itself this time with a stinging hex, instead of a...blowing up hex? 

On the other hand, all of these incidents could be pointing to a far-
fetched possibility that's been buzzing around in my head from the 
moment in OOP when Harry lit his wand without holding it (pg. 17, 
American): Will Harry somehow develop the ability to do controlled, 
wandless magic? Could he become the first(?)/only(?) wizard with this 
particular talent? I know that JKR stated in an interview that 
[paraphrasing] "really good" magic requires a wand, but I'm wondering 
if Harry could prove to be the exception to that rule. It was 
pressing on me a lot during my second (decidedly more in-depth) read, 
after noticing how much attention is paid to wands and wand use (the 
O.W.L. Examiner mentioning that Dumbledore "Did things with a wand 
I'd never seen before.."; both Umbridge's and Neville's wands being 
broken, the former when Harry was reaching for it). It would 
certainly be a cool ability for him to have.

I don't know. I'm probably reading way too much into things, but I 
think it's worth pondering.

CM