Harry's Popularity

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 84892

Yolanda wrote: 
<huge snip>
> 
> Harry's huge fame would have caused most 
> of the students at Hogwarts to hang back 
> for a moment to see what he was going to 
> be like.  What they saw was a kid just 
> like them who eats, goes to class, and 
> walks around Hogwarts just like they do.
> 
> If everyone, that met Harry saw the same 
> thing Ron did, then I'm not surprised he's 
> not being fawned over.  It wouldn't/shouldn't 
> take long to change people's perceptions 
> from "Boy that lived" to "Harry Potter", 
> once you've met him. 


Add to that his experience in his first potions class, where Snape
reveals that "our new--*celebrity*" doesn't know a bezoar from an
infusion of wormwood (SS 136-37, American edition). The Gryffindor and
Slytherin first-years would have quickly seen that the great Harry
Potter knew as little as they did, or even less, in this crucial
subject. I imagine that the Slytherins, especially Draco, rather
gleefully spread this news and that it helped to dampen the "Boy Who
Lived" mystique rather quickly. (Quite possibly this was a deliberate
move on Snape's part, and for the best as far as Harry was concerned,
but I guess that's beside the point.)

Carol