Harry's questions about his parents (was Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and the Dream, 2-way mirror)

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 117381


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Juli <jlnbtr at y...> wrote:
Juli writes: 
 
> Hagrid gave him a photo album full of pictures of his
> parents, he saw it and then put it in the bottom of
> his trunk. He never takes it out to take a look, nor
> does he have any picture on his night-table. I found
> all this very unusual.
> 
> Juli, wondering if anyone else thinks this is weird 

I don't find the lack of photos weird at all (movie contamination 
nonwithstanding). Remember some of the only memories Harry has of 
his mum and dad are memories that resurfaced due to the Dementors, 
ie: the night they were murdured. I think that Harry has accepted 
that they are never coming back, and he knows that he can't change 
that. Looking at pictures of loved ones we've lost usually helps to 
remind us of all the good times we've had with them, but that's just 
the problem: Harry can't remember any good times with them. The only 
experiences he's had with them are in the Dementor scenes and 
Snape's pensive. And in the latter, neither came off very well. 
Harry literally has no good memories to look back on, so why keep 
something out and remind him of all that pain? 

He's got problems enough in the present, too. There's always been 
some situation or other that has kept his attention, be it the SS or 
the TT or whatever. He's probably had this subconscious belief that 
he's got plenty of time to find out about a past he can't change. 
Now, however, things may be different. With the Voldemort war 
looming and Harry knowing that he's got a big old target painted on 
his back, he might just want to find out all he can before he dies. 

Meri