...Grey Snape/Dumbledore/Harry - Harry Skill.

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 143092

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> wrote:
> ...edited...
> 
> Steve: 
> > Harry has been given a pathetic set of Dueling skills and 
> > resources. If he had a full complement of Charms, Spells, 
> > Curses, and Counter-Curses, and finely honed skills, he 
> > wouldn't have to resort to Unforgivables. ... When 
> > schoolyard jinxes and curses aren't enough, Harry has no 
> >were to go but to the dark and unforgivable. 

> 
> Jen:
> 
> .... You know, this thought reminds me of that scene in 
> Dumbledore's office between Voldemort and DD:
> 
> "But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous 
> pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, 
> Dumbledore." 
> 
> "Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places." (chap. 20, p. 
> 444, Scholastic)
> 
> Harry resorting to Unforgiveables is looking in the 'wrong place'
> to solve his problem. Dumbledore told him several times where his 
> power is, within himself, and his power is much stronger than 
> Voldemort's type of magic. Harry just has to believe it, is all. 
> Sort of like Dorothy clicking her heels and believing she will 
> get back to Kansas 
> <g>.
> 
> Jen
>

bboyminn: 

Excellent post, I very much liked, but don't have much to say about,
the parts I snipped. However, this last point really get my blood boiling.

Let me propose a hypothetical showdown between Harry and Voldemort.
Voldemort pulls his new wand and says 'Avada Kadavra' while
simultaneously Harry pulls his wand and say 'I love you'. Who is
likely to win? (Assuming we ignore the Brother Wand affect for the
moment.) Love is great but it's doesn't always keep you from dying. 

Yes, Harry's greatest strength is love, but it is abstract and
internal; you can't wander through a wizard's duel or fierce battle
handing out daisies and telling everyone you love them. That's not
going to win you any duels. 

Regardless of whether Harry wins by the force of Love, he still needs
practical applied magic skills. The more confident he is in his
functional practical usefull Defense Against the Dark Arts skills, the
more he is going to be able to hold off a horde of Death Eaters while
he tries to figure out how to apply 'Love' to the situation. 

Yes indeed Love is powerful, but it's not much use if you are
otherwise helpless. Really, I just don't see how the author can ignore
this point any longer. If Harry doesn't start some serious Defense
Against Dark Art learning in the next book, then I just don't see any
realistic or practical direction the storyline can take.

Let's take a different example. When Harry and Dumbledore are in the
cave, it seems clear from what Dumbledore said the magic leaves a
residue. Dumbledore is able to spot enchanted objects like the fake
cave wall and the submerged row boat. Although, we don't see it, we
have to assume that Dumbledore was able to spot the protective
enchantments that were guarding the Horcruxes. Once he spotted them,
he could then try various means to disarm them.

But what is Harry going to do? Neither Dumbledore nor anyone else has
taken the time to teach Harry this very valuable and very appliable
skill. So how does he find the Horcruxes, and if by chance he stubbles
across one, how does he know what it is, and if by some extreme stroke
of luck he determines that it really is a Horcrux, how does he spot
and disarm the many charms protecting it? The answer is, he doesn't,
because no one bothered to teach him how.

Harry is completely and thoroughly lacking in the most basic skills to
do this job. If he was train up in dueling, Defense Arts, and curse
breaking he would at least have some resources to draw on.

Love is very fine as an underlying force, but it's not easy to apply
in practical situations. To destroy the Horcruxes is he simply going
to tell them that he loves them? If he stands on the roof tops an
shouts 'I can love' are the missing Horcruxes going to magically
reveal themselves to him? I don't think so. Harry needs practical
appliable magical knowledge to arm him for the task ahead.

Really, I'm liking the continuation of the D.A. Club more and more all
the time.

Steve/bboyminn