Harry's lack of fear (was: Snape/Neville/Trevor)

[Anne <urbana@charter.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53115

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Lynda Sappington 
<artsylynda at a...>" <artsylynda at a...> wrote:
>> Well said!  I have thought several times how *obvious* it is that 
Ron 
> is a middle child in a big family and Hermione and Harry are 
> both "only children" (as far as we know, anyway). 

Harry is an only child (AFAWK) in terms of being Lily & James' only 
child. But *functionally* he is more like the second child in a 
family in which only the first child matters and was wanted. Actually 
Harry's upbringing has been even worse than that - he's really 
treated almost like Cinder(f)ella. It's surprising that Petunia 
doesn't have him re-weaving the rugs when they develop holes and 
cleaning out the coal scuttle daily.



> Hermione has the 
> self-confidence and maturity of the only child of parents who 
> encouraged her every step of the way. 

 We don't actually *know* that Hermione is an only... we can only 
surmise it due to her behavior. When are we going to find out more 
about Hermione's family??! I'm dying to know more about how Hermione 
became herself. I hope JKR tells us more about them in OoP. It would 
be quite interesting if our assumptions about Hermione's family 
turned out to be off base...


> Harry -- yes, he has the courage the best abused children develop --
> those who don't acquire that resolute courage and stamina don't 
> manage to overcome their backgrounds.  

Harry is a good example of the saying, "That which doesn't kill us 
makes us stronger."

Anne U
(who recognizes a bit of Hermione (know-it-all-ness) and Ron (middle 
child struggling to be heard in a large, noisy family) in herself:-)