Harry's doorstep bed, basket or blankets

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 115803


Geoff wrote:
> There is a basket (IIRC) in "the medium that dare not speak its
name" but the book doesn't mention one.
> 
> Hagrid brings Harry on the motor bike...
<snip> 
> and when Dumbledore makes his exit....
> 
> "He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four."
> 
> Where would a basket come from, unless someone conjures one up?
> Hagrid hasn't got one, McGonagall arrives in animagus form,
> Dumbledore isn't carrying anything.
> 
> Mark you, I agree that a 15-month old child might kick off the
> blankets; I have memories of my mob when they were that age.

Carol responds:
I agree that a blanket seems inadequate for a toddler of fifteen
months, though I'm not sure a basket would be much better. (Slightly
more comfortable, maybe.) But you'd think they'd put some sort of
charm on Harry to keep him from wriggling free of the blankets. Maybe
they're snugly wrapped and it's cold enough that he wants to stay
warm. But what about animals or kidnappers or just waking up and
wandering off? Dawn, we know, is only a few hours off, but still, why
are Hagrid and Dumbledore, at least, so sure he'll be safe that they
say goodbye and leave him? Does McGonagall, who goes off around a
corner in cat form, stay to watch and make sure Petunia takes him
inside? It doesn't look that way. She disappears from Dumbledore's
view before he leaves (the one and only time we see from his POV). Or
does the blood protection charm DD has placed on him keep Harry safely
asleep on the porch? Might Mrs. Figg be secretly watching, just in
case he wakes up and starts to toddle off somewhere?

Carol, who knows that JKR is withholding info at this point but is
still bothered by a fifteen-month-old being treated like a three-month-old