From the other side : Part 1 : Zacharias Smith and other lambda students

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 88819


Hi all !

I'm feeling horribly mischievous those days. So I've decided to start 
a series of posts about how people other than Harry's friends might 
see him.

So my first choice was all those Hogwarts students that don't happen 
to be Harry's friends, all those Zacharias Smithes. Smith might have 
been very annoying and aggressive towards Harry, but believe me, he 
had good reasons to be so !!

When Harry defeats LV, the oldest of his future schoolmates are 
barely 8. They might still remember how awful the pre-Harry days 
were. But even if they don't, they and all of Harry's schoolmates 
(except for the Muggle-borns of course) get raised with the knowledge 
that Harry Potter saved the world. He got rid of LV and brought 
happiness back into the world. BUT ! The first problem is that nobody 
knows EXACTLY what happened. They just know that LV went to the 
Potters' home, killed James and Lily, and disappeared, living a 
destroyed house and a baby Harry alive and scarred. So they all 
suppose that LV tried to kill Harry, but failed somehow and was 
killed in return. From that, anyone can invent anything to explain 
what happened, and I guess many students heard their parents 
extrapolate weird theories, many of them not too nice for Harry. None 
of them came to school and met Harry with a neutral mind. They 
already had their own idea of who and what Harry was.

So anyway, someday Harry turns 11 and goes to school. Well I guess 
it's like having Madonna's daughter in school with you : you would 
gape at her like mad at first. And you would keep an eye on her all 
the time. I mean, she's Madonna's daughter ! And he's Harry Potter !! 
So let's see what he's like, right ?

And what IS he like ?

Physically, he's nothing special. Neither does he hold himself in any 
special way. He just goes around like he doesn't know he's Harry 
Potter. Ah, but wait ! You are going to remind me that he doesn't 
know that, right ? But that's something only we readers know. I don't 
think anyone else knows that Harry Potter was raised by his Muggle 
family who didn't tell him anything about himself. So all the kids 
just assume that he knows he's a legend, and they don't understand 
why he acts so normally. He doesn't go around showing off, he doesn't 
demonstrate his magical abilities all over the place, he doesn't talk 
about his past, he doesn't entertain a court of admirers. He doesn't 
act like most kids think they would act if they were as famous as he 
is. So much so that it might become doubtful that he's actually the 
legendary Harry Potter.

Then there's the problem of who he's friend with. Namely : Ron 
Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Ron Weasley is poor, not good-looking, not popular, with no 
particular attractive trait. So why does famous and rich Harry Potter 
associate with him ? Why doesn't he go for the rich and important 
kids, like Draco Malfoy, for example ?
As for Hermione, well, she's famous for being a highly annoying know-
it-all. Nobody can stand her, so why does Harry put up with her ? Why 
doesn't he send her packing ?
And there's Hagrid too : big, scary, weird Hagrid. What does Harry 
see in him ?
We readers know the answers to those questions, but there's simply no 
way Harry's schoolmates could know them too. So, in their eyes, 
Harry's behaviour is highly peculiar. And kids don't like weird 
people, oh no they don't !

But things would get okay in the end, if strange things didn't keep 
happening to Harry.

For example, how would any kid react if Madonna's daughter was 
granted very special privileges, that noone else ever gets ? They 
would get jealous and hurt, right ? They couldn't help thinking that 
she got them because she's famous, right ? And they'd be angry at her.
Well, Harry got on the Quidditch team while still in first year, 
which is strictly against school rules, and without a public tryout 
what's more... Of course, when he gets to play a match, everyone can 
see that he is really talented, but that doesn't take away the stench 
of privilege.

Then let's get at the end of the first year. Everything was going 
fine, everyone was quite okay by now with Harry. Hey, he'd even been 
put into detention once ! And then bam ! He gets into some kind of 
troubles, nobody knows what exactly (that's very important : the kids 
do NOT know anything about Quirrellmort and the Philosophical Stone), 
but a teacher gets killed in the process. And instead of being 
punished, Harry gets rewarded instead ! And not just Harry either, 
but his pals too ! Hah, it pays to be in Harry's good graces, 
apparently ! And obviously, Harry is Dumbledore's pet : first the 
Quidditch team, and now 50 points for killing a teacher !

By the beginning of the second year, the kids have cooled down a bit, 
but Colin Creevey's fan attitude towards Harry must get on the nerves 
of many, not just Draco.
And Harry doesn't help by revealing that he's a Parselmouth and 
setting a snake on a fellow student.
But anyway, everything goes pretty fine still, and then suddenly 
everything goes wrong again. On Halloween night, Mrs Norris gets 
petrified, and a strange message about a Chamber of Secrets and the 
Heir of Slytherin is left on the wall. And who is found right on the 
spot ? Harry Potter ! Well, any kid can add 2 and 2 and come up with 
4 : Harry Potter is the Heir of Slytherin, that's why LV couldn't 
kill him. So after having been awed, jealous, angry or disgusted, now 
the kids are scared of Harry.
And at the end of the year, it won't help that Harry plays his 
favorite trick again, getting into some kind of mysterious trouble 
and harming a teacher, only to be rewarded by Dumbledore...

In the third year, the kids have to deal with the presence of 
Dementors and the constant menace of being attacked by a murderous 
madman, all of it just because of Harry's presence in the castle.

In the fourth year, Harry once again is granted an enormous 
privilege, when he is allowed to participate in the Triwizard 
Tournament despite being too young. Most kids probably changed their 
mind after the First Task, as Ron did, but still...
As an aside, I have to say that Hermione probably didn't improve her 
reputation when she showed up at Krum's arm for the Yule Ball. How 
was anyone supposed to believe that she got that honour without 
cheating ? But she's Harry Potter's friend, she can get away with 
anything.
And let's not forget Rita Skeeter and her nice articles. At first 
Harry tries to get everyone's sympathy by playing the role of the 
poor sad little boy, which probably went on the nerves of many of his 
schoolmates, who know better than to pity him. And then they probably 
relished that article about Scarlet Woman Hermione, which 
strengthened the contempt many had towards her. But the worst came 
with the Delusional Harry article, which was unfortunately based on a 
reality many students had witnessed (Harry acting weirdly every now 
and then  and pretending his scar hurt), and thus only reinforced 
their distrust of him.
Did I mention that Harry also finds another powerful ally, in Fake!
Moody, who publicly takes his defense against Malfoy ? Another reason 
for jealousy.
And then there's the great mess of the last task. Harry mysteriously 
disappears with Cedric for some time, and then when they come back, 
Harry is badly mangled and Cedric is dead. Well I would be thoroughly 
surprised if no student supposed that Harry somehow teleported Cedric 
and himself somewhere quiet when he saw he was going to tie-in with 
Cedric, in order to "convince" him to let Harry win. But things went 
wrong, and Cedric died. After all, Harry already disposed of LV, 
killed Quirrell and sent Lockhart to St Mungo's, so he wouldn't care 
much about harming a fellow student, would he ?
That is, until Dumbledore's speech, where he pretends, out of the 
blue, that Cedric was killed by... LV !? How are the kids supposed to 
believe that, when it is so much more logical, and so much easier, to 
simply believe that Dumbledore is trying to cover up Harry's misdeed, 
once again. After all, that wouldn't be the first time. And everyone 
knows that Harry is DD's pet. Not to mention that none of them has 
any proof to present.

After a very calm summer (where ever is LV, huh ?), everyone goes 
back to school and discovers that both Harry's friends have been made 
Prefects. Coincidence ? Yeah, sure...
As for Harry himself, he is moodier and less sympathetic than ever, 
he keeps ranting about LV and having more "my scar hurts and LV is 
alive" episodes, which doesn't help improve his public image. And, 
well, going out with his "victim"'s girlfriend is not the most 
tasteful thing he could have done...
Let's get to the DA. It's not Harry who sets it up, it's Hermione. 
But people come for Harry. They want to get some explanation, they 
want to understand him a bit better, and this seems like the perfect 
opportunity. Except that Harry refuses point-blank to explain 
anything and gets even deeper in his role of the dark weird kid. Most 
DA candidates would probably have opted out if they hadn't been 
forced one way or another (friend, girlfriend, pride...). And then 
Hermione gets them to sign that paper. Nice trap, huh ?
But all in all, things go pretty well during the training sessions, 
even if Harry can't help throwing LV's name in the conversation every 
now and then, as if noone knew by that time that this is just a 
trick. Which then brings the question : does Harry have any hidden 
agenda for creating the DA ?
I won't go into the end-of-year events, because I would need to know 
how things are handled by DD and the MoM.

Well, that were only a few examples, but honestly, dear readers (if 
anyone actually read that far :-), can't you see by now why Harry is 
less-than-loved in his own school ? He never made any effort to be 
liked, and had many circumstances going against him : DD's love for 
him, accidents, LV's hidden existence, etc... but he never cared 
about explaining anything. Had I been Marrietta what's-her-name, I'm 
not sure I wouldn't have reported such a strange and unreliable 
schoolmate, and probably dangerous too, to the first apparently sane 
and impartial person in power to come to the school...

Next, I'd like to deal with the Slytherins ( why they definitely have 
very good reasons for hating Harry), and Fudge and the WW ( why they 
have very good reasons not to believe Harry, and why they were quite 
right in trying to sqaush him). Interested, anyone ?

Del