Harry's Patronus (was Re: To Where To When)

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 109135

Josh

"3) it ended up giving Harry confidence for his Patronus... he really 
is as powerful as everyone thinks he is when he believes in himself!"


DuffyPoo:
It is easy to cast a Patronus when there is no danger, remember the Quidditch incident, the first time HP produced a coporeal patronus?  It was Malfoy and Co. he was sending the stag after.  In lessons with Lupin, HP had only ever produced a "feeble Patronus" and wished it was stronger.  (He thinks this after a conversation with Wood before the Ravenclaw game where he produces the above mentioned Patronus.) The incident in question gave Harry confidence to produce the Patronus because he realized he'd already done it, not because he is really as powerful as everyone thinks. Again, he was, when he cast the Patronus, in no real danger of being attacked by Dementors. They were on the other side of the lake with Sirius and his other self.  The next time he uses a Patronus, in the Alley in Little Whinging, he very nearly doesn't get it to go.  It wasn't confidence, or knowing that he is powerful, that created the Patronus then, it was thinking "he was never going to see Ron and Hermione again --- "  Seeing their faces come to his mind created the happy thought/memory needed to make the spell work.  Again, the next time we see HPs patronus is in the DADA OWL, when there is no danger to Harry.  Even, some of the kids in the DA group could produce a Patronus, after a few classes, in a brightly lit room where there was no fear of danger.  It's not mere confidence in yourself that makes a Patronus.  Neville could be as confident as anybody, he had, in fact, been only second to Hermione to produce a Shield Charm (and Hermione had known about it, at that time, for about a year, as she had 'found it' and helped HP learn it for the third task of the tournament).  The problem with Neville is he can't conjur up a happy thought/memory.  That we only see Cho and Hermione's Patronuses (patroni?) in the room doesn't mean there weren't more.  We saw Lavender and Neville struggling, and Seamus, on his very first go, getting "definitely something hairy, Harry."


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