Producing a Patronus

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89632

sachmet96 wrote:
> Harry was not able to produce a Patronus while 
> practicing, some of the others on the other hand were able to do 
> just  that (Cho if I remember correctly). 
> 
> I was refering to Harry's own lessons with Lupin in POA where he 
> didn't produce a patronus correctly. The others were able to produce 
> one in their lessons in DA. At that time (OOtP) Harry was able to 
> produce a patronus but not for his own lessons in POA.
> Hope that clears that up.


The others were learning to produce a patronus without a
dementor/boggart to drain them of all strength and hope. And 
dementors affect Harry worse than anyone else because none of the
students (except possibly Neville) have the horrors in their past that
he does. They don't hear their mother's screams as she's about to die.
That (and the strange, perverse desire to hear his parents' voices) is
what hinders Harry when he's learning to produce a patronus. When
Hermione, probably the most talented student in the school, is faced
with a real dementor, she can't produce a patronus. Harry can at least
produce a silvery fog and he stays conscious longer than either
Hermione or Sirius (who is not, to be sure, at the top of his
form).When Lupin says that producing a patronus is very advanced
magic, he's not talking about doing it in the Room of Requirement in
the presence of your fellow students. He's talking about doing it by
yourself facing a dementor (or a dementor/boggart, which has the same
effect). Harry learns to produce his boggart under very harrowing
conditions--and that (plus the knowledge that he really can produce
one) is what makes his patronus, when he produces one, real and
effective. To be sure, he was across the lake from the dementors in
PoA, but in OoP they're near enough to touch both him and Dudley. I
don't think anyone else in the DA would have survived an encounter
like the one Harry faces in Little Whinging.

Harry is good at the types of magic he wants to learn and those that
come naturally to him, most notably flying. He is less good when he
allows mental or emotional obstacles to block him, notably hatred or
distrust of Snape and desire to see what's in the locked room, both of
which prevent him from learning occlumency. It isn't that he lacks
aptitude; it's attitude that prevents him. Where there's no such
hindrance, as in Flitwick's charms class, he's as good as or better
than most of the students. But where he excels, and what Dumbledore
means when he calls Harry exceptional, is in courage and
determination--and occasionally, like Sirius and possibly James, in
stubborn recklessness. Part of growing up, for him, will be learning
the difference. Another part will be learning to control his emotions
and to avoid yielding to the temptations to use the methods of the
enemy (unforgiveable curses) to defeat the enemy. I have no doubt that
he'll learn both lessons. (Maybe he'll even learn to judge Snape less
harshly, but maybe not. He's human, after all.)

Carol

P.S. As for the idea suggested elsewhere of Harry being "ruthless" at
the end of SS/PS because he doesn't inquire about Quirrell, Harry is
at that point still eleven years old; he has just returned to
consciousness after being in deadly peril and has a lot of other (to
him) more pressing questions; and Quirrell has just tried to kill him,
hardly a reason to be concerned for his welfare. I think that
Dumbledore's statement that Voldemort left Quirrell to die is all
Harry needs or wants to hear at that point. (It doesn't help the
reader much, I admit!)