[HPforGrownups] Voldemort *inside* Harry's head (mind)? (Was: Re: Wanting or presenting: Was: Snape's reaction to Harry in Slytherin)

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 93478

SnapesRaven:
> This little voice bothered me throughout the whole book.
> <snip> it doesn't reassure him but rather makes him insecure,
> <snip> I thought the voice might be Voldemort's, since he now
> shares Harry's blood and they had a connection through the scar
> all the time. I just didn't think of Voldemort using such subtle means,
> carefulle 'planting' bad feelings in Harry in order to make him turn
> from everyone he trusted thus far.

Jenjar:
> The voice has perplexed me too.  I was actually noticing it as a
> voice of reason and discretion.  For example in OoP page 730
> "He wheeled around and strode blindly from the hospital wing into the
> teeming corridor where he stood, buffeted by the crowd, the panic
> expanding inside him like poison gas so that his head swam and he
> could not think what to do...  Ron and Hermione, said a voice in his
> head."  It really seems the voice was trying to help him. <snip>
>
> I found an instance of an unhelpful voice on page 778 "Harry was
> listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, but Sirius might
> be gagged now, or else unconscious...or, said an unbidden voice
> inside his head, he might already by dead....I'd have felt it, he
> told himself, his heart now hammering against his Adam's apple.  I'd
> already know..."
>
> This confuses me even more.  The *unbidden* voice clearly isn't
> helping Harry.<snip> I just can't figure it out.  I have so many 
> questions- Where are
> these voices coming from?  Are they all the same voice?  What is the
> voice or voices purpose?
>
> When I was thinking the voice was good I thought maybe it was Lily,
> that somehow as a result of her sacrifice she was able to continue to
> try and protect him by planting advice in his head.  It sure would be
> nice if Harry had some kind of connection to family still.  But there
> is definitely a *bad* voice that taunts or misleads him.
>
> Can anyone else find other instances of the voice?  Any ideas on what
> it is?

First off, sorry for the rather shabby snipping job, I just couldn't 
decide how much I could get away with cutting out.

Speaking of voices, however, there's one instance from PS/SS that has 
always perplexed me:

"Harry jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as 
tight as he could.  Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off -- 
the pain in Harry's head was building -- he coundn't see -- he could 
only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL 
HIM! KILL HIM!" and other voices, maybe in Harry's own head crying, 
"Harry! Harry!"" -- PS/SS, US Ed., "The Man With Two Faces," pg. 295.

All the other instances in the books of a "voice"  in Harry's head I 
think of can be chalked up to that little voice *everyone* has in their 
head . . . Everybody *does* have that voice, right? *looks around* 
(Although, there is an interesting passage in OotP in which he has an 
entire *conversation* with it, quoted at the end of this email, if 
anyone's interested.)

Anyway, this particular voice seemed kinda weird . . . why would 
Harry's inner voices be screaming his name?  V. odd, if you ask me.  
Maybe it *is* Lily and James.

Laura

OotP, US Ed., "The Woes of Mrs. Weasley," pg. 166-7.

He had forgotten completely about prefects being chosen in the fifth 
year. He
had been too anxious about the possibility of being expelled to spare a 
thought for
the fact that badges must be winging their way towards certain people. 
But if he
had remembered ... if he had thought about it ... what would he have 
expected?

*Not this,* said a small and truthful voice inside his head.

Harry screwed up his face and buried it in his hands. He could not lie 
to
himself; if he had known the prefect badge was on its way, he would have
expected it to come to him, not Ron. Did this make him as arrogant as 
Draco
Malfoy? Did he think himself superior to everyone else? Did he really 
believe he
was better than Ron?

*No,* said the small voice defiantly.

Was that true? Harry wondered, anxiously probing his own feelings.

*I'm better at Quidditch,* said the voice. But I'm not better at 
anything else.

That was definitely true, Harry thought; he was no better than Ron in 
lessons.
But what about outside lessons? What about those adventures he, Ron and
Hermione had had together since starting at Hogwarts, often risking 
much worse
than expulsion?

*Well, Ron and Hermione were with me most of the time,* said the voice 
in
Harry's head.

Not all the time, though, Harry argued with himself. They didn't fight 
Quirrell
with me. They didn't take on Riddle and the Basilisk. They didn't get 
rid of all
those Dementors the night Sirius escaped. They weren't in that 
graveyard with
me, the night Voldemort returned ...

And the same feeling of ill-usage that had overwhelmed him on the night 
he
had arrived rose again. I've definitely done more, Harry thought 
indignantly. I've
done more than either of them!

*But maybe,* said the small voice fairly, *maybe Dumbledore doesn't 
choose
prefects because they've got themselves into a load of dangerous 
situations ...
maybe he chooses them for other reasons ... Ron must have something you 
don't
...*

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]