Harry's Protection (was Re: Questions)

[Sharon]

No: HPFGUIDX 118946


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sharon" <azriona at j...> wrote:
> 
> --azriona:
> > My second instinct is to ask when Vernon touched Harry and 
received 
> a 
> > shock, because I don't remember that happening?  I would assume 
> that 
> > touch would have been in anger, as well - otherwise every time 
> anyone 
> > brushed up against Harry they'd have received some sort of shock, 
> and 
> > that includes Hermione or Ron, which certainly would have been 
> > mentioned in the books.  Perhaps the terms of the spell only work 
> if 
> > someone is touching Harry in anger?
> 
> Geoff:
> Back to canon...
> 
> '- but before he coud draw himself up to full height, the top of 
his 
> head collided with the Dursley's open window. The resultant crash 
> made Aunt Petunia scream even louder.
> 
> Harry felt as though his head had been split in two. Eyes 
streaming, 
> he swayed, trying to focus on the street to spot the source of the 
> noise but he had barely staggered upright when two large purple 
hands 
> reached through the window and closed tightly round his throat.
> 
> "Put - it - away!" Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry's ear. "Now! 
> Before - anyone - sees!"
> 
> "Get - off - me!" Harry gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, 
> Harry pulling at his uncle's sausage-like fingers with his left 
hand, 
> his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wand, then, as the 
> pain in the top of Harry's head gave a particularly nasty throb, 
> Uncle Vernon yelped and released Harry as though he had received al 
> electric shock. Some invisible force seemed to have surged through 
> his nephew, making him impossible to hold.'
> 
> (OOTP "Dudley Demented" p.10 UK edition)


Ah!  I forgot about that.  All the same, though - had the spell put 
on Harry for his protection prevented *anyone* from touching him in 
anger, shouldn't Vernon have been shocked immediately, and not after 
a few seconds of struggle?  I'm almost inclined to say that the force 
which prevented Vernon from holding on was a surge of power in Harry 
himself, and had little to do with the magic protecting him from harm.

(Although because that same surge was concurrent with "a particularly 
nasty throb" in his scar, I'm willing to accept that it's an 
indication of something more sinister.)

--azriona