Angry Harry in HBP and OotP

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 119834


> > Laurasia:
> > > This change didn't happen over night. It happened because he 
was 
> > > isolated for several weeks when he needed support the most. 
> Spending 
> > > over a month alone is enough to send anyone from hopeful to 
> afraid. 
> > > 
> > > However, we aren't shown this transitional period.


> Finwitch:
> When at Dursleys, Harry suppresses most of this anger, so it all 
> piles up (as he always did!) so we wouldn't have seen him DO 
anything.
> He even begins Depression during the Summer - (Dementors affecting 
> him)... His anger just *gets out* troughout the OOP. 
<snip>
> 
> And um - since when did we get to see all July?


Laurasia:

Since when was July so important? The reason why we never *needed* 
to see July before because it was always some no-man's land where 
not much changed. The July between GoF and OotP was when Harry 
underwent his most dramatic change in the entire story. 

Harry didn't have to become angry. He wasn't, IMO, angry at the end 
of GoF- in shock, definitely, but this shock was yet to manifest 
itself. If he had support, it could have manifested itself in a much 
more constructive and healing form. If he had received proper 
support and counselling he would have better accepted the situation 
and, IMO, not become so volatile (maybe found complete resolution). 
Because of this, the turning point for his character *isn't* in the 
graveyard, it's the time that begins as soon as he walks away from 
platform 9 3/4. 

The thing that makes Harry angry *isn't* seeing his 
friend murdered, it's being left alone to dwell on it for several 
weeks.

What we see at the start of OotP is when Harry's angry culminates. 
What we don't see are the events that left him so desperate. Those 
events (the weeks spent alone) was what ended up driving Harry the 
entire book (he still blames Dumbledore for leaving him all alone at 
the end of the book). There is reference to the weeks between GoF 
and OotP, but no first hand experience for the reader. And, IMO, 
because Harry's state of mind was ambiguous at the end of GoF (still 
in shock, yet to really find and outlet) it *could* have gone either 
way, according to circumstances. He *could* have become angry (by 
being abandoned), he *could* have found healing (with support). This 
is why the transitional period is intrinsic to the story- it lets us 
know why way he's going to swing. 

If Harry's state of mind was less ambiguous at the end of GoF, this 
transitional period would not have been so essential. But it *is* 
ambiguous. At best, Harry only has hope- a possibility, not a 
certainty. At worst, he's in a numb shock. Harry's eventual state of 
mind wasn't dictated by Voldemort's actions in the graveyard, it was 
dictated by Dumbledore's actions in the school holidays. (Go on, 
flame me! It was *Dumbledore's* fault, not Voldemort's. The 
confrontation between DD and Harry, is, after all, the final battle 
in OotP. Taking place *after* the showdown between V'mort and Harry.)

I don't care if we never saw July in any of the other books. When 
July is the most important month in Harry's life, JKR should break 
trend.

~<(Laurasia)>~