Perchance to dream...

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 97522

I was wondering - why bother to recount a dream in canon and then tell 
us that the dreamer never remembers it? Such an odd dream, too.

PS/SS (yes, waaaay back near the beginning) at the very end of chap. 7, 
Harry has a dream. He wears a talking turban (Quirrells) which tells 
him that he must switch to Slytherin (his destiny, it seems) and which 
he can't get off; a laughing Malfoy morphs into Snape, who has a high 
cold laugh (anyone heard Snape laugh before?) and it all ends in a 
flash of green light.

Well, now. Anyone believe in the divination of dreams? 'Cos this one's 
ripe for Trelawney's inimitable interpretations. This is Harry's first 
night in Hogwarts; he sees Snape for the first time just 2 pages 
earlier, gets  told by the Sorting Hat that he's Slytherin material 6 
pages earlier and has no idea what a green flash signifies. Talking 
turbans must be a bit of a  worry too.

Just how many hints has JKR slipped past our guard with this one? We 
know nothing about talking turbans, Snape or green flashes at this 
stage either. But before the end of the book one of the constituents of 
the dream is explained. Voldy is in there disguised  as a short back 
and sides.

What to  make of the rest?
Lots of fun possibilities, that's what.
Tentatively I'd lean towards intimations of the future, maybe chances 
of 70/30.

Slytherin is his destiny. Lots of posters have been looking for a good 
Slytherin, but this seems a bit extreme. Rumours of someone swapping 
houses, too. I keep remembering - that Prophecy - it said he would be 
Voldy's equal; never mentioned him being his opposite. And the Hat "You 
could be great, you know [...] ..and Slytherin will help you on the way 
to greatness.."
No mention of greatness allied with Gryffindor, or did I miss something?

Malfoy morphs into Snape - JKR did say that one of the students becomes 
a teacher, but  really; you don't think? Surely not.

Snape laughs. What a concept! A smile like the nameplate on a coffin 
perhaps, but laughter? Something very, very bad has just happened. Or 
is it will happen?

And a green flash. Again -  was or will  be? Are Snape and  the green 
flash connected? Has our Sevvy been/will be a bad boy?

This little vignette is glossed over with the phrase "Perhaps Harry had 
eaten a bit too much..." Or perhaps it has something to do with Voldy's 
presence making itself felt for the first time since Godric's Hollow.

Kneasy