Choosing sides

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 118733


Anna wrote :
" Whyever not? What sets Harry apart from other Muggle-borns who
manage just fine? I see no indication anywhere that a rotten childhood
in the Muggle world is a prerequisite to love Hogwarts. "
 
Kneasy answered :
"Loving Hogwarts is not what it's about so far as Harry is concerned.
He's a one off, whether he likes it or not. He's special. He's
Weapon!Harry. Coping with Voldy and his friends is what Harry has to
learn to deal with."

Del replies :
Agreed.
Let's imagine for a moment that the situation was as Kneasy previously
described it, with Harry totally happy with the Dursleys.

Upon receiving his Hogwarts letter (at the latest), he would have
learned that LV killed his parents (and grandparents ?), and he would
have been urged not to go to Hogwarts.

Let's say he went. He then would have learned that he is a hero. It's
not so huge a supposition to imagine that he would not have known how
to deal with that. Most probably one of two outcomes would have
happened : either his head would have inflated to unhealthy
proportions, or he would have felt crushed by it. Real Harry survived
it because the Dursleys had ingrained in him that he was a nobody and
at the same time he had managed to retain a strong enough sense of
self-worth -the perfect combination to handle such a situation.
 
Even if he did manage to deal with his fame, there would still have
been the little matter of LV. Real Harry is bent on thwarting LV's
plans because LV ruined his childhood by killing his parents. But a
Harry who would have been happy with his foster parents might have
been less bothered about this. I'm not saying he wouldn't have been
bothered at all, but I don't see that he would necessarily have been
more bothered than many other kids who suffered because of VWI, like
Neville or Susan Bones for example.

Of course, there would also have been the matter of not risking doing
anything that might make his foster parents unhappy, like getting
killed. Hermione and Ron don't think to mind much about that, but this
is rather strange to me.

All of this would not exactly have prepared him for the revelation of
the Prophecy : die or kill (apparently). The danger of his dropping
out any time would have been quite great, but nowhere greater than in
OoP. After all, one reason Harry hasn't jumped off the boat yet is
that he has nowhere to go. If he did have a loving home to go to (a
home where he is *protected* against LV), and a satisfying alternate
life to fall back on, it isn't so sure that he would choose the
fighting life.

Anna wrote : 
" Not all of Hogwarts's Muggle-born students are as socially awkward,
as Hermione used to be. She switched worlds because she got the
letter, and realized that she is a witch. What more reasons do any of
the Muggle-borns have?"

Kneasy answered :
"Quite a lot, I'd imagine.
(snip)
To the average Muggle, what is so wonderful about being a witch or a
wizard? Why should they even believe that they actually exist? If you
received a letter from the Head Dolally of Piglump School of Sourcery
and Spells  would you happily pack your child's suitcase and send them
off rejoicing?
I doubt it. 
We accept it of course, but we've been let into the secret. We don't
see  a problem.
But how many parents would take chances like that where their children
are concerned?"

Del replies :
I commented on this a few weeks ago. 
Many people seem to assume that Muggle-borns are necessarily happy to
discover that they are wizards and witches, and that they all choose
to go to Hogwarts. But the fact is : we don't know how many
Muggleborns who receive the letter actually come to Hogwarts. Most of
all, we don't know *why* they decide to come to Hogwarts. And we don't
know why their parents let them come.

Del