Harry's Visions

[bohcoo]

No: HPFGUIDX 82883

I'm not even sure how to ask this question, so I hope you'll bear 
with me while I stumble along.

I don't quite "get" the premise behind OOP. (I know, I know. . . 
GASP?!?!)

Okay. Harry is having dreams about long corridors and locked doors -- 
which we find out are located in the Department of Mysteries. He 
started having these dreams even before Mr. Weasley had taken him to 
the Ministry for his hearing in August, so they are true visions: 


OOP, ch. 6, page 118, American Edition:
"Despite the fact that he was still sleeping badly, still having 
dreams about corridors and locked doors that made his scar prickle..."


(Of course, I have a problem with the description of him STILL having 
those dreams as this was the very first mention of him dreaming about 
long corridors and locked doors. Prior to this mention, the only 
references to his dreams were about the graveyard and Cedric and one 
mention about Hagrid teaching them about weapons that were creatures 
with cannons for heads. No mention of corridors. Yet, JKR says he was 
STILL having dreams about them. I'll chalk that up to an editing 
oversight or error.)

But anyway. So. Later in the story we find out that what is actually 
happening is that Harry is seeing inside Voldemort's mind and 
thoughts and that it is Voldemort who is thinking about the long 
corridors and locked doors.

Ah ha. Okay then. Now we're getting somewhere.
 
Meanwhile, Harry has a vision about Mr. Weasley being attacked, 
witnessed as though he himself were the big snake and we find that 
Voldemort had been possessing the snake. So, when Harry entered 
Voldemort's mind that night, he also entered the snake. Fine. Makes 
complete sense so far. Voldemort was actually there and the things 
Harry "saw" were actually happening to Voldemort.

Then, page by page, chapter by chapter, Harry has visions of getting 
further and further along -- he sees a door open. . . next vision he 
gets a little further still and goes through a room with mechanical 
clicking sounds. . . next he enters the Prophecy Room and so on, all 
the while sharing Voldemort's overwhelmingly desperate desire to 
reach "something" he wants. 

But, Voldemort wasn't actually physically doing those things, as he 
had been with the snake attack. How was Voldemort seeing those things 
in the Department of Mysteries so accurately, then? Some sort of 
physical/mental projection abilities we have yet to see in the WW? 
Yes, Rookwood could have described the Department of Mysteries and 
the Prophecy Room to Voldemort in enough detail that Voldemort could 
envision them. However, why would Voldemort then envision himself 
painstakingly walking the corridors and opening every door? Why not 
skip all that picky little detail stuff and get right to seeing 
himself lifting the Prophecy off the shelf? 

It wasn't until I had read OOP for the second or third time that I 
realized that, unlike the snake vision of the attack on Mr. Weasley, 
which was something that actually took place, all the other visions 
Harry had of Voldemort's activities weren't of Voldemort's actual 
physical activities at all but merely of Voldemort's mental 
activities. He wasn't doing any of the stuff Harry saw -- he was just 
thinking about it.

Oh. Cough. Okay.  

Then, it gets more confusing.

When Harry wakes up, Voldemort is ripped away from his fantasy 
thoughts.  Huh? Harry, in essence has CONTROL over Voldemort's mind? 
If it truly is Voldemort's mind Harry is seeing, then the fact that 
Harry woke up shouldn't have any effect at all other than to sever 
the vision. There should be no other emotion attached to it. Yet, 
Harry feels Voldemort's towering frustration and obsession to get to 
the orb.

So. All this time I had been thinking that Voldemort, in some form, 
physical or otherwise, had been roaming the halls of the Department 
of Mysteries, trying to get to the orb, thwarted only by Harry's 
sleeping patterns, (which made no sense to me in any way whatsoever). 
The posting of the guard by the Order of the Phoenix had been meant 
to prevent this actual physical intrusion by Voldemort; however, it 
failed. 

After Mr. Weasley is attacked, no further mention is made of "guard" 
duty. Again, I assumed that the discontinuation of posting guards was 
do to the fact that, thanks to Harry's visions, they all realized 
that Voldemort had apparently shown this form of protection to be 
completely ineffective against him. He had still gotten into the 
Department of Mysteries and was looking around to his heart's content.

But had he? Nope. He was only there mentally. And, he was only there 
mentally if Harry stayed asleep long enough for him to have a look 
around.

Total confusion.

Is this just sloppy writing (though it pains me to say so) or is 
there some genius at work here that I am not seeing?

Thanks for the help,

Bohcoo