Inside Harry's mind

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 117541

A few quotes to start with:

"...and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about 
that..."  ( the Sorting Hat, PS/SS)

"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" (Harry, CoS)

"...there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."
(Moody, OoP)

" Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight 
holes....*snakelike*, in fact"  (authors emphasis. Malfoy OoP)


It's long been accepted that there's a Voldy fragment in Harry, though 
the details of just what magic caused it has been the subject of much 
debate. (Though if what happened was known to us, JKR said that there 
would be no point in writing books 6 & 7. Does that sound as if it was 
a simple bouncing AK? Not to me.) Less time has been spent discussing 
*how much* of Harry is Voldy.

The first quote is interesting in that it  can have variant meanings; 
is it Slytherin House the Sorting Hat is referring to, or old Salazar 
himself? (Possession theory would allow the latter.) Secondly, the 
wording: not *could* help -  but *will* help. Since the Hat looks at 
future potential as well as current characteristics, just  what 
fraction of Harry was it measuring? The Potter or Voldy bit? Did it 
foresee the former succumbing to  the latter perhaps?

There's a spectrum of possibilities, at one end there being just a 
small isolated fragment in there, through to a major chunk - even a 
possibility that Harry *of himself* is not magical at all, all his 
magical ability being derived from the transplant. Choose  for yourself 
where in the range of possibilities you think it falls.

For myself, I'd go lower middle; not insignificant, but not 
overwhelming - yet. But I  also think that something very important but 
so far largely unappreciated happened in the graveyard.

(Oh, a small digression to repeat a fun possibility I mentioned last 
year - we're led to believe that Snape hates and fears Voldy. What if 
his reaction to Harry is because as  an ex-DE and part-time Legilimens 
he sees Voldy inside Harry? Snape sees the potential for an ESE!Harry, 
a demi-clone of Snape's bitterest enemy. A thoroughly entertaining 
turning of the tables.)

Since GH Harry has had 'Lily's Protection', an anti-Voldy shield that 
protected not against spells cast with evil intentions, but against 
Voldy the individual. Quirrell!Mort could cast spells, but he couldn't 
touch. After GoF Voldy demonstrates that now he *can* touch - while 
posturing to his fawning DEs he admits that Harry had been given 
protection that meant "...I could not touch the boy. [...] but no 
matter, I can touch him now." And does so.

But there is not just a Voldy exterior to Harry, there's something 
interior too. That piece inside him. For whatever reason it wasn't 
destroyed or expelled at GH;  it sat  there. Occasionally it  would 
flare up, the scar would hurt and Harry would know Voldy was up to 
something specifically Potter orientated. There were also dreams  when 
Voldy was considering doing  something nasty to him. But no link, not 
like there was in  OoP where for nearly a year his scar played up more 
or less continuously, thoughts and ideas passed to and fro and Harry's 
behaviour showed drastic changes.

No longer the well-meaning, slightly dim, ready to jump to the wrong 
conclusion for the right reasons Harry, but a progression to a stroppy, 
irritable, bad-tempered, disobedient and thoroughly awkward customer 
ready to be misled by outside influences - even after he'd been warned 
of the possibility. Why the change? The events in the graveyard, of 
course. Any restraint the Lily Protection had on the Voldy!Fragment has 
now gone and it's effect is beginning to show. DD is worried about it 
too - "But in essence divided?" A question, note; not a statement. 
After Harry has his Arthur dream DD is worried that Harry is quite 
literally not himself.

Previously it was only the Sorting Hat, DD and to a lesser extent  
Harry who may have wondered. Now others are too. Moody, the implacable 
Auror trained to sniff out Dark Magic thinks there's something funny 
going on. And Lucius; now why would he consider Harry snakelike? Just 
what does he know or suspect, and where is he getting his information 
from? Hmm.

During KR's web-cast back in March there were the following Q&As:-

Q: 'Are Harry's powers going to get any greater?'
A: Yes, he's really progressing as a wizard now (which is lucky, 
because I know what's in store for him).

Q: 'Regarding Harry's subconscious feelings, how has it changed from 
book 1 to book 5?'
A: 'Well he's obviously been through a lot since book 1 and book 5 was 
the book where he cracked up  a little. In book 6, the WW is really at 
war again and he has to master his own feelings to make himself 
useful.'

Good oh! Could be plenty of action, Harry in for a hard time of it, 
maybe a Weasley corpse or two littering the scenery. Splendid!

But that second one - I  have suggested previously that Harry tries to 
avoid his 'fate' by refusing to co-operate with DD any more after the 
death of Sirius. Could that be what is meant by 'mastering his 
feelings'?
Or  are there a totally alien set of feelings that have to be mastered?

Could be fun.

Kneasy