OOP- Harry out of character?

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 62817

shaggy6603 wrote:
> Does anyone else feel that Harry's acceptance of Sirius' death is way 
> out of character for him? I mean Harry's nothing if not curious and 
> questioning, yet at no point does he ask what the arch thing is, or 
> what it does, or how it works, or how they definately know beyond 
> doubt that Sirius is dead.

On the contrary, Harry has always shown a dreadful *lack* of curiosity. 
Probably due to his upbringing, where questions where not well received 
by the Dursleys, and later on during Hogwarts where he has discovered 
again and again that curiosity kills the cat (pun intended, even if 
somewhat black), Harry is perfectly within character to NOT ask 
questions. The subject has been discused before several times (you 
might want to look through the archives), but in essence there is good 
canon proof that Harry lacks curiosity. He has been created like that 
(some point out it is for plot reasons, since it allows JKR to keep 
*us* in the dark too for as long as she wants, but I think it is 
perfectly normal considering what Harry has gone through).

> Sirius simply falls through a veil, theres 
> no sign of violence and yet just because he doesn't come back and 
> Lupin says so Harry immediately accepts he's dead and runs after the 
> death eater. Surely if Harry's learnt anything at Hogwarts it's that 
> nothing is as it first seems. And surely he would have at least 
> thought of these questions later, if he had time to think of 
> approaching Sir Nick?

What Harry has learnt at Hogwarts, and I quote, is: "nearly four years' 
experience of the magical world told him that sticking his hand into a 
bowl of some unknown substance was a very stupid thing to do" (GoF, ch. 
30, "The Pensive", Br. Ed.). Harry knows better than to blindly plunge 
into something magical he doesn't understand.

Beyond that, Harry trusts Lupin. Lupin continues to be Harry's 
favourite teacher, and as such, when Lupin tells him something as 
categorically as when he tells Harry "Sirius's dead", Harry is going to 
believe him.

> Shouldn't someone be even just a tiny bit concerned that Harry has 
> used an unforgivable curse? I mean at the start of the book Harry is 
> nearly expelled (from distance) within like 10 mins of producing a 
> Patronus, yet no one bats an eyelid at him using the Cruciatus curse! 
> (Yes, I know the "victim" deserved it) 

There is ample evidence that Harry was being watched closely in Privet 
Drive, since it was a muggle residence and thus any magic would be out 
of place. We know, for example, that such close watch doesn't happen at 
the Burrow, where the twins keep causing explosions and creating 
magical objects (like the enchanted wands) and *they* have never 
received expulsion threats for using magic out of school. When Harry 
attempts to use the Crucio, there are no witnesses beyond a convicted 
and escaped DE. Harry is in no legal trouble, as I have said earlier. 
You might want to be concerned about the state of his soul after using 
an unforgivable curse (although I am not), but I doubt he'll get into 
trouble about an unfinished curse he attempted on the assassin of his 
godfather performed without witnesses.

> If you get expelled for using Magic outside Hogwarts (Self Defence 
> Excepted)How do they always get away with jinxing Malfoy and his 
> cronies on the train home?

The train is the last day of Hogwarts, and in a way "part" of Hogwarts 
and thus still a legal place to perform magic - last oportunity, sort 
of.
 
> Lastly who won the House Cup? I know it's trivial and Harry's not 
> that bothered because of his loss. But his disinterest could have 
> been used to highlight his grief.

My bet is Slytherin. It is not impossible to imagine that the 
Inquisitorial squad managed to empty the house points of all the other 
houses - certainly of Gryffindor. Harry et co. manage to get 240 points 
for Gryffindor (and 50 for Ravenclaw), but that's not enough to win the 
house competition (book one: the top houses had in excess of 400 
points). The fact is that Harry doesn't care about the house 
competition anymore - he has outgrown such form of competition (which 
divides as much as Quidditch, by the way).

> I still thought it was a great book, just that the ending left too 
> many fundamental questions unanswered.

All HP books so far have left unanswered questions. JKR said that most 
questions will be answered in book 7. Many, I think, won't be answered 
at all. But expecting book 5 to give you answers was a false 
expectation, IMO.

FalconGK wrote:
> Hrmm... well, this is interesting then.  It makes one wonder if 
> Dumbeldore was aware that faux Moody in Goblet of Fire (Crouch Jr.) 
> was using the Cruciatus curse on the students.  If Dumbeldore knew, 
> then wouldn't this have been a hint that it wasn't really Moody?  I 
> mean, if you have to truly wish to inflict pain on someone, if you 
> have to truly enjoy it, then wouldn't that set off an alarm about 
> faux Moody?  Things that make you go hmmm....
> 
> FalconGK

BEEP! Yellow flag for canon violation. Crouch!Moody only performed 
Imperius curses on the students, not Cruciatus. And since Imperius can 
be resisted, particularly if you practice, I think Dumbledore did 
indeed give his permission to be used on students.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf