Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and the Dream (was : What should Harry REALLY feel

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 116830


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" <delwynmarch at y...>
wrote:
> 
> Steve wrote :
> "Harry's simply not the type to shrug his shoulder .. when he knows 
> others are in danger. He does have a 'saving people thing', but 
> that's not a bad thing. Although, ..., he does need to learn 
> to temper it with ... forethought."


> Del replies :
> I admire Harry for always rushing to people's help. This is not what
> I have a problem with in this case.
> 
> My problem is that he *believed* the dream was true when to me it 
> was so obviously a fake.
> 

bboyminn:

Yes, I get it. You've done this before. Your point is not about the
author or character's intent, but about your reaction /in the moment/
as you read that part.

In that same light, as I first read it, while Harry was having the
dream and just after, that lack of reasonable probability didn't occur
to me. But when Hermione pointed it out, of course, I knew she was
right; the two most wanted criminals in the wizard world strolling
around the Ministry of Magic on a Friday(?) afternoon? Not likely. But
when these things occur, for me as a reader, I'm so intent on 'what
happens next' that I can't bring myself to pause and wonder.

Hermione, in the moment, is not the least bit emotional, beyond some
concern for Harry. She is reacting to Data; unverified information.
Harry on the other hand is reacting on pure emotional panic. 

As a reader, I'm somewhat tracking Harry's emotions. JKR as an author
has, or has attempted, to set the clues to make us feel as Harry
feels. His only other incident of people appearing in his dreams was
an incident in which Mr. Weasley nearly died. Yes, there actually were
other dreams with people but the 'Arthur Incident' was recent and
absolutely verified. Other dreams only had speculative verification.
That incident only existed to serve two authoral purposes; one, to
introduce the readers Neville's parents, and two, to set us and Harry
up to believe that he is indeed having genuine clairvoyant or
precognitive dreams. In his little Harry mind, if Arthur was really in
trouble, then Sirius is at the same risk.

In that moment, after Hermione expresses her doubt, I'm in the same
boat as Harry going, 'but it can't be, but it must be, but it can't
be, but it must be .... I've got to do something!'

Harry's 'I've got to do something', is my, as a reader, equal need and
determination for 'What happens next! What happens next!'. That
immediate desire for /action/ prevents me, personally, from pausing to
wonder. Harry's need for /action/, some action - any action, is what
prevents him from pausing for logical analysis. 

While I can't say I thought the dream was fake, I'm sure we all knew
in that moment, that there was something definitely dodgy about it.
But what? Well, we won't know for sure until we /find out what happens
next/.


> Del:
>
> I'm not saying he shouldn't have done anything while knowing Sirius
> was in danger. I'm just saying that if Harry had forced himself to
> think straight (almost impossible, I know, which is *precisely* what
> LV was counting on), he would have realised that Sirius and LV 
> *could not* be at the DoM, which in turn would have made him realise
> that rushing to the DoM was the *last* thing he should do.
> 
> Del

bboyminn:

Too right you are. In the second to the last paragraph above, I think
we have the key. Harry seems to have to modes of operation; action and
inaction. Indeed when Hermione is explaining things Harry is
frustrated and resistant, but when Hermione suggests they try to
contact Sirius, Harry accepts because Hermione has finally proposed a
plan of /action/. 

Above all, in a crisis, Harry is going to act and re-act. In his
normal daily non-crisis life, Harry is actually a pretty passive
person. He hangs with is two closest friend to the exclusion of
others, and tries to keep a low profile. 

Harry is a man of action indeed, but he has learned a very grave
lesson, and that is action without forethought is dangerous and deadly
business.

Being a man of action, without positive confirmation that Sirius was
OK, I don't think Harry could have NOT taken some action. But with
some forethought, he might have been able to come up with a better action.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)