Voldemort *inside* Harry's head (mind)? (Was: Re: Wanting or presenting: Was: Sn

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93453

> Bonny writes:
> 
>    What I find very interesting (and this ties in closley with the 
> subject of your post) is that, the night of the sorting, Harry has a 
> nightmare in which Quirrels turban is on his head, telling him to 
> transfer to slytherin.
>   
>    'Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit to much, because he had a very 
> strange dream. He wa wearing Professor Quirrel's turban, which kept 
> talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, 
> because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to 
> be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off 
> but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as 
> he struggled with it - then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed 
> teacher, snape, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst 
> of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking. 
> 
>   He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he 
> didn't remember the dream at all.'
> 
>                            PS/SS, Canadian edition, pg 97
>   
>   This is obviously the very first evidence of a mental link between 
> Harry and Voldemort being used to Voldemorts advantage. <snip> 
> The fact that Harry forgets about the experience shows us that his 
> mind is much stronger than Vapourmorts, and can not be so easily 
> influenced; but the fact that JKR wrote it in at all should awaken us 
> to some questions.
> 
>   Obviously, it is foreshadowing that Quirrell is possessed by 
> Voldemort. However, I have always wondered why Voldemort wanted Harry 
> in Slytherin. Does he think that he can manipulate Harry into 
> following him instead of killing him? Why is being in Slytherin 
> HArrys "destiny"? And, if it is somehow Harry's destiny, maybe he is 
> the one to switch houses (I don't really believe it is but it can be 
> considered, there has certainly been a stress on that in the books). 
> 
>   I think that the part of the dream that follows where Harry is 
> struggling to take the turban off is probably more a collection of 
> sub-concious images that are prompted by Harry's unwitting encounter 
> with vapourmort than anything else, but those associations might have 
> some relevance. <snip>

Carol:
Since at this point, we have only one instance of the scar hurting and
Harry is just starting to hear the high, cold laugh and associate it
with Voldemort, I don't think this extremely confused dream was sent
to Harry by Voldemort at all. In fact, LV is still essentially
powerless and probably doesn't yet realize that Harry is connected to
him through the scar. His efforts are all on getting Quirrell to steal
the philosopher's stone (and thwart Snape's and Harry's efforts to
prevent him).

The later dreams (which start in GoF) are either actual events or a
manufactured event (the capture and torture of Sirius) that LV plants
there carefully and deliberately for a specific purpose. I think the
SS/PS dream, in contrast, is an ordinary dream that any
eleven-year-old might have under such circumstances. The turban (which
Harry senses is significant and ominous) gets mixed up in his mind
with the Sorting Hat (and his great fear that he really belongs in
Slytherin); the bullying Draco and sarcastic Snape (both of whom seem
evil to Harry and both of whom are associated with the dreaded
Slytherin) get mixed up with the genuinely evil LV, of whom Harry as
yet can form no mental picture--only the high, cold laugh and the
bright green light, which are all that he remembers from the night his
parents were murdered.

Harry forgets the dream (an odd instance of JKR slipping outside his
POV to tell us that), so its significance is clearly not for him but
for the reader, for whom it provides a mixed dose of clues and red
herrings. Clue: The turban is connected with LV. Red herring: The bad
guy, whose motive and intention Harry does not yet know, is either
Draco or Snape, or both. His subconscious mind has linked both of
them, and the whole of Slytherin House, to Voldemort.

IMO, unlike the later dreams, which are unquestionably linked to or
sent by Voldemort, this one is simply a plot device (the clue and red
herrings) and a manifestation of Harry's mental state. IOW, it's in
the book for good reasons, but it's nevertheless just a dream.

Carol