Good writing...

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 110760

Linda asked :
"I just wanted to ask a question of everyone.... How many of you 
thought of the mirror to communicate with Sirius as you read the 
passage?"

Del replies :
Unless my mind is completely confused, we couldn't have thought of the
mirrors as we didn't even know about them yet. Harry never opened the
package Sirius gave him until after Sirius was dead.

Now of course, we could have remembered that Sirius had given Harry
*something* to communicate with him. I must admit I didn't.

Linda wrote :
"Everything that we had read before-hand showed Harry seeing things as
they were happening, not lies."

Del replies :
Actually no, quite the opposite in fact. We know that in *2* instances
only, Harry saw something that was truly happening (the murder of
Frank Bryce, and the attempted murder on Arthur Weasley). But all the
rest of the time, every single time Harry was seeing that stupid door
at the end of the corridor, we knew it was *not* a real event, unless
we assumed that LV was indeed going to the DoM every night and managed
to go a little further every night.

Alice wrote :
" I think that this is great writing on JKR's part. We are sucked into
Harry's panic and are just as frantic."

Del replies :
It didn't work for me AT ALL. The moment I realised that Harry
believed his dream was real, I was jerked *out* of the story, because
it was such nonsense for me. And I got steadily more annoyed and
irritated as people tried to put some sense in Harry's head and he
refused to see what was so obvious to me.

But I admit I never thought of the present Sirius had given Harry
precisely in case he needed to talk. For that matter I didn't think of
Snape either :-)

Del