Harry's Power (was:Harry's story , NOT Snape's (was Re: "An old man's mistakes")

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 139047

> >>Pippin:
> > I mean, Harry thinks Snape hates him and needles him because    
> > Snape believes that Harry is a weak and unworthy wizard. That's 
> > what makes it hurt so much -- because Harry is afraid in his    
> > heart that this is true. But OFH!Snape can't believe this; after 
> > all he's only keeping Harry alive because Harry is the Chosen   
> > One, right? So Harry has to be wrong. And we're back to         
> > OscarWinner!Snape, too.

> >>JenR.: 
> Every once in awhile something rings completely true, and 
> this is a big one Pippin. We never hear Harry actually think this 
> to himself, but HBP made it clear Harry doesn't feel he's up for   
> the task of the Chosen One. He started dabbling in Dark arts, and 
> acted out that charade in Slughorn's classroom. He's trying to    
> feel powerful by co-opting strategies from other people because he 
> saw Dumbledore and Voldemort fighting and KNOWS he's not a wizard 
> equal to Voldemort in the traditional sense. 

Betsy Hp:
I love this!  It's absolutely true and I think it's something Snape 
has been pointing out to Harry (in his own nasty way) from the 
moment Harry showed up at Hogwarts.  That whole potions quiz and 
the "celeberty" dig went straight to what has bothered Harry from 
the moment he's first told he's a wizard.  (Doesn't he fear that the 
Hogwarts invite will be taken from him at some point in SS/PS?)

In some way I think this goes towards Snape as one segment of 
Harry's father figures.  Snape is excruciatingly honest when it 
comes to assessing Harry's abilities.  And Harry hates him for it 
because he agrees with him.  (I think that's part of the reason he 
was so angry with Ron and Hermione when they first suggested him 
teaching everyone DADA.  He knows his own limitations.)

I think Harry is good enough at DADA to recognize how much he has to 
learn.  And I think he's good enough to realize he will never reach 
Voldemort's level (or Dumbledore's or even Snape's for that matter) 
anytime soon.  Which puts that much more pressure on the poor kid, 
since he's the one who's supposed to be taking the big bad down.

> >>Jen Reese:
> Dumbledore keeps trying to reinforce to him it's not power that   
> will defeat Voldemort, it's something only Harry can do. Like     
> retrieving the memory from Slughorn but on a giant scale! I loved 
> how good Harry felt about retrieving that memory, how he rushed to 
> Dumbledore's office to share it with him the minute he learned DD 
> was around. Maybe Harry will finally believe Dumbeldore in Book 7 
> and stop trying to be someone he's not.

Betsy Hp:
It was very interesting to me that both Ron and Hermione predicted 
that Dumbledore's private lessons with Harry would be all about 
turning Harry into this badass wizard with super DADA skills.  Even 
his best friends, who know him better than anyone, think he'll have 
to duel Voldemort to the death.  

And yet, Dumbledore went an entirely different direction.  He shared 
information that actually got Harry *empathizing* with Tom Riddle.  
He set Harry a task that asked Harry to relate enough to another 
person that he was able to get highly personal and shameful 
information out of them.  It's a completely different direction and 
I agree that it does play to Harry's strengths.  Strengths I'm not 
sure Harry even realizes he has (though by the end of HBP I think he 
started to).

When he puts in an effort, Harry can be surprisingly insightful.  
Dumbledore seemed to be encouraging that talent.  It will be 
interesting to see where Harry takes it in book 7.

Betsy Hp