[HPforGrownups] Wizard Chess WAS (McG / DD / Re: Why should Harry .....)

[Patrick Jarrett]

No: HPFGUIDX 123117

> Valky:
> Yeah he's acting quite a bit bratty, especially in disregarding the
> advice he is given by elders and friends that he *knows* care about
> him, but at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts he faced a mans
> battle, he struggled for his very life against the most sinister
> force in existence, he wants it over and QUICKLY! I understand his
> frustration, he drags himself from the graveyard just scraping his
> very young self out of the clutches of Death. He doesn't want to
> face that again next year, and who can blame him.

-- Patrick:
Sometimes I think the fact that Harry's still a kid gets lost. Whether
you follow Nature vs Nurture you have to know that a kid needs
attention. It's amazing he grew up as 'normal' as he did with the way
he was raised by the Dursleys. Sure he's got a chip on his shoulder,
and then he enters three years of blissful existence with people who
actually care about him, gone from the Dursleys for the school year
and in contact with friends while at home.

And suddenly when he comes home for a summer, he writes to his friends
and gets no response or a bare minimum of a response. He's ostracized
and alone now, he doesn't know why, he's not only facing the evil
being who could be his end and wants to be his end but he's dealing
with a confusing life where suddenly he feels as if he's alone again.

I just felt it needed to be said. Yes, he did cross into what we
perceive as bratty behavior, but if I were in his position I doubt I'd
listen to people who 'cared about me' as they did over that summer.
 
Valky again:
> The game seems to end in stalemate though, doesn't it? Or does it?
> What did Sirius sacrifice really represent?
> If the dealings with Umbridge ended up fulfilling a positive
> purpose, could the same possibly be said about Sirius and the Veil?

Patrick:
Harry as I said, is growing up. He had grown up on his own, then he
found Dumbledore as a surrogate father in a way. A male role model may
be a better statement. Then after a few years, he discovers friends of
his parents, one specifically who shares a lot with him,
misunderstood, forced into the limelight, an affection for trouble. I
know most of this has been said before, but I think Sirius' departure
is a forced maturing for Harry. Another realization that this isn't a
game, this isn't Wizard's chess. I know that isn't what you meant, I'm
just extending the metaphor.

When we're teenagers (hell, I was one 2 years ago), you drive fast,
you do stupid stuff because you're immortal. You know you are. Nothing
can touch you. You're larger than life. Why is that? Perhaps its
biology and its a bi-product of your body changes, or perhaps its
society, regardless - it is. And Harry, though he may know its a real
battle, especially as he has a close relationship with Death, still
doesn't seem to realize his bullheadedness really can get him killed.
And others can die as well.

These kids are growing up fast, physically and mentally. They're
mature for their age, but they haven't grown up.

Or, reading over it, perhaps I'm just prattling.

-- Patrick