CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Chapter One - Dudley Demented (yes, this is a repost)

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 82427

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bluesqueak" <pipdowns at e...> 
> 
> He is hiding because his relationship with his Aunt and Uncle is so 
> bad that they won't willingly watch television with him. They grind 
> their teeth and question him. We hear Uncle Vernon express 
suspicion 
> at Harry's interest in the news.
> 
> Is this a change in the relationship between Harry and his foster 
> parents? In PoA Harry is eating with the family and watching TV 
with 
> them.

We aren't given any indication of how Harry has been acting towards 
the Dursleys since returning from school after the confrontation in 
the graveyard with Voldemort and the death of Cedric.  I can't 
imagine his attitude and outlook haven't changed.  And surely the 
Dursleys have noticed it.  Harry is desperately trying to get any 
information about Voldemort.  He's not getting any information from 
anyone he trusts in the wizard world.  It wouldn't surprise me in the 
least if he has acted in ways that are different from what the 
Dursleys expect.  And, thus, they are more than happy to not have him 
in their presence any more than necessary.

> Harry sees Mrs Figg, and the reader is told that she has recently 
> taken to asking him round for tea. Harry wants to avoid her. Is 
this 
> a foreshadowing? Is Harry unknowingly avoiding support and help 
> that he could have been given?

I think he still thinks of her at that batty neighbor with the cats.  
Harry wants connections with his friends and wizard adults he trusts, 
not tea at a house that smells like cabbage. And, I'm not sure how 
much help Mrs. Figg could have given him - he's still not supposed to 
be given any information.
 

> The news comes on and is harmless. There is nothing of interest to 
> Harry; we find out that he has been waiting for some incident that 
> shows Lord Voldemort has come out into the open. 
> 
> Was Uncle Vernon right not to trust Harry? Harry did have an 
> ulterior motive for watching the news, which he hasn't shared with 
> them.

Uncle Vernon's an idiot. Watching the news for whatever reason 
shouldn't matter.  And Harry has years of experience in knowing how 
his wonderful family will receive any discussion of the magical 
world. Why would he even consider trying to talk to these particular 
adults about it?

> Harry hears a loud crack, his aunt screams and he leaps to his 
feet, 
> pulling his wand out. Did Petunia recognise the crack as the sound 
> of someone apparating? 

Oh, I'm sure she knows more than she's ever let on.  

 
> Vernon thinks that Harry made the loud noise. Petunia seems more 
> interested in why Harry was lurking under the window. Both Aunt and 
> Uncle accuse Harry of being up to something. They demand to know 
> what news the Owls are bringing him. Harry has to admit that the 
> Owls aren't bringing him any news. Harry loses his temper and 
stalks 
> off. He knows he'll be in trouble later.
> 
> Is this a signal that Harry's temper is going to cause him a lot of 
> trouble this year? 

I think it sets the stage that Harry is going to be a lot angrier 
than we've ever seen him.  And that he will often give free rein to 
his anger without stopping to think about the consequences of his 
angry words or actions.
 
 
> Harry is angry at Ron and Hermione – so angry that he threw their 
> presents away (which he now regrets). Again, is this another 
> foreshadowing – is Harry's anger mainly harming himself? He feels 
> that they are enjoying themselves at the Burrow while he is stuck 
at 
> Privet Drive. Does this prove to be fair?

No, but Harry is also operating in a vaccuum.  It may not be nice or 
sensible or logical or fair to start thinking these sorts of thoughts 
about his friends, but I can understand it.

> 
> Harry feels that he is much more capable than Ron and Hermione, 
> having survived the graveyard at the end of GoF. His godfather is 
> advising caution, which Harry feels is reasonable – though he finds 
> it galling to be warned about rashness by Sirius. 
> 
> Is Sirius assuming Harry is James? Is Harry normally rash?

Harry has been known to act without thinking things through in the 
past. He also tends to act without consulting the various adults who 
truly do have his interests at heart.  He was miffed with Sirius in 
GoF for exactly the same reason - when Sirius sent him a note chiding 
him about going off in the evening to meet with Krum.  

I think it an odd list of things that Harry runs through when he 
finds it galling for Sirius to tell him not to be rash.  Imprisonment 
in Azkaban, escape from Azkaban, attempting to kill Peter, escape 
with Buckbeak.  The one thing that may be considered rash in that 
list is attempting to kill Peter.  

However, I do think that this is the start of JKR's laying the 
groundwork for the constant "Sirius is rash and reckless" refrain 
that a lot of characters take to repeating in OoP. 

> We find that Harry is having nightmares about Cedric's death in the 
> graveyard. He's also dreaming about a strange dark corridor. His 
> scar prickles constantly. He doesn't think that Ron, Hermione or 
> Sirius would be interested in that. Is this a reasonable 
assessment, 
> or is he again pushing away support and help that was available?

He may be pushing away support, but he doesn't think it's there for 
him.  No one will tell him anything.  Why would he think that news 
about his scar, which they've all heard before, will cause any sort 
of response?

> After a mere four weeks, Harry is full of impatience. He feels 
> abandoned by Dumbledore, his friends and his guardian. Has he been 
> abandoned?

It is a mere four weeks, but the events that happened right before 
the start of those four weeks were quite traumatic. And what happens? 
Harry gets sent home and is, for all intents and purposes, cut off 
from any worthwhile information.  He doesn't know what's going on, he 
doesn't know about the protection of Privet Drive, he doesn't know 
anything because no one will tell him.  And, he knows that they all 
know more than he does.  And they won't or can't tell him.  Again, 
his response may not be rational or mature, but I can't blame him for 
feeling angry and cut off.

>> Harry longs to hex Dudley, or show Dudley's gang how scared Dudley 
> is of Harry. But he knows that if he uses magic outside of school, 
> he risks being expelled. So he lets Dudley's gang walk by, and 
> doesn't call attention to himself. He thinks to himself that this 
is 
> exactly the opposite of what Sirius would have done.
> 
> Harry feels unhappy because he's taken the sensible option. He 
knows 
> Sirius wouldn't have taken the sensible option. Does this show 
> Sirius as a good or a bad role model for Harry?

He *thinks* that Sirius wouldn't have taken the sensible option.  
Even though, for the past year, the advice that he's received from 
Sirius has been geared towards Harry taking care of himself, staying 
away from dangerous situations, not doing anything to leave himself 
vulnerable...oops, I forgot.  Here's that refrain again. "Sirius is 
rash and reckless."


> Dudley counter-attacks Harry, by telling Harry that he's been 
crying 
> out in his sleep `Don't kill Cedric'. Harry's also been calling out 
> for his dead mother and father to save him from Voldemort. This 
> makes Harry so angry that he pulls out his wand.
> 
> Why doesn't Harry explain the nightmares to Dudley?

Like Dudley would listen?  Or care?

> Harry tries to produce the Patronus, but he can't think of happy 
> enough thoughts. The Dementors hands are closing on his throat when 
> he realises that if he doesn't do something, he'll never see Ron 
and 
> Hermione again.
> 
> Is this a *happy* thought? Harry produces his best and most 
powerful 
> Patronus's not when he is concentrating on a happy memory, but when 
> he's thinking that he's about to lose something that makes him 
> happy. His friends. Is this in keeping with Lupin's instructions in 
> PoA, that a Patronus is produced by concentrating on a happy 
thought?

Perhaps making a young student concentrate on a happy thought is the 
easiest way to get them to produce a Patronus. The reaction that 
Harry has here is similar to what happens in the Dept of Mysteries.  
His feelings that are bound up with other people (here it's Ron and 
Hermione, in the Dept of Mysteries it's Sirius)

> The Patronus saves Harry, and Harry then turns his Patronus on the 
> Dementor attacking Dudley. Dudley is clamping his hands over his 
> mouth. Muggles are not supposed to see Dementors – is this a sign 
> that Dudley has magic in him? Or is it a sign that Dudley trusts 
> Harry more than Harry thinks?

I'm not wild about the idea of Dudley coming late to magic, but 
that's just me.  I read this as a sign of Dudley's terrified 
desperation where he'll do anything he's told to do to fight against 
this thing he doesn't understand.

> Is Harry rescuing Dudley a sign of Harry's inner goodness? Or does 
> Harry care for his cousin more than he thinks he does?

I think Harry would have tried to help anyone he saw being attacked 
by Dementors, even awful Dudley.

Marianne