Harry's Eyesight

[carrilynne]

No: HPFGUIDX 91386

 
Berit:

> I don't know if the glasses give him/his eyes some sort of 
> protection, but it is interesting that Harry losing his glasses is 
> one of the details Rowling chose to add to this scene...
> 
> There is one important "dream-scene" though where it looks like 
Harry 
> did have his glasses on, and that's when he has the Voldemort-
induced 
> dream of Sirius being tortured in the MoM. The only mentioning of 
> Harry's eyes is that they were stinging and watering as he worked 
on 
> his exam paper. It would be natural to assume that he wore his 
> glasses when he was doing the exam. There is no mentioning of him 
> taking them off.
> 
> Sooo, I guess this means Voldemort could still get at Harry when 
he 
> had his glasses on...


That scene is rather obscure about his glasses. 
"Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the 
glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool...  He opened his 
eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing-white 
parchment..... THINK, he told himself, his face in his hands..." 
(pg.726-US)

I wear glasses and if I put my face in my hands, the first thing I 
have to do when trying to see is to clean the handprints off the 
lenses.  And if my eyes are stinging I'll take my glasses off and 
rub my eyes.
However, if Harry covered his eyes with his hands, that would block 
the light that caused his eyelids to be "glowing red" and his lenses 
would have a cooling effect. But if his hands were clammy, they 
would cool his eyes as well.  I am just not sure that Harry still 
had his glasses on.  Circumstances would allow for him to take them 
off, but JK doesn't tell us.
I do find it interesting that on the same page, Harry wishes that he 
could perform Legilimency and get the answers out of Parvati's head; 
right in the middle of signs that Voldemort is performing 
Legilimency on Harry!

In the scene at MofM after Voldemort flees, "Harry opened his eyes, 
saw his glasses lying at the heel of the headless statue... He put 
them on and raised his head an inch to find Dumbledore's crooked 
nose inches from his own." (pg.816US)
When did his glasses fall off?  Did Voldemort's possession cause 
them to fall or did Harry's fall make them fall off?  Even in this 
case, it appears that Voldemort possessed Harry while Harry still 
had his glasses on.

On a different note, why did Harry not see Dumbledore until he put 
his glasses on?  He was INCHES away from Harry's nose.  If Harry 
only lifed his head an INCH, then Dumbledore was already somewhere 
in his range of vision before putting his glasses on.  This appears 
to be another hint to the identity of Dumbledore.  Or can Harry only 
see the Magic world if he has his glasses on?

~Carri