Dreams and Turbans

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 143249

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:
<snipped relevant dreams, plese go upthread>
> Does anyone else see a connection? As much as we've discussed the 
> SS/PS dream we never came to a conclusion. Now we have another
> turban dream
well, sort of. So in one Malfoy turns into Snape who
> seems to turn into LV. In the next, Malfoy turns into Slughorn who
> turns into Snape. Any ideas?

Jen: Ooh, clues! Thank you for bringing this up, potioncat. 

I think both dreams are meant to tell Harry something about himself 
rather than something about the Slytherins.

The dream of Snape in the turban is the night of the sorting, and 
Harry has just discovered he would do well in Slytherin House. The 
dream in HBP comes at a time when Harry is connected to several 
Slytherins in an almost obsessive way: Slughorn to get the memory, 
Draco to figure out what he's planning, and Snape via the HBP (in 
fact, if Harry thought more about that dream he might have figured out 
Snape *was* the HBP).

Harry has this huge shadow side he's never made peace with. He's 
walking around with a 'bit of Voldemort' in him, the last heir of 
Slytherin, and doesn't question whether this has helped shape him into 
the person he is, just as much as Lily's love sacrifice. 

I think it's possible JKR will take this idea to its psychologically 
fulfilling conclusion: Harry will discover that unity within himself 
and within the WW can only be complete when the severed, rejected 
parts are accepted as part of the self and the community. 

OTOH, maybe Dumbledore's answer that Harry chose Slytherin and has 
never been tempted to join Voldemort means that Harry will outright 
reject this Sltherin part of himself in the end. But I have a hard 
time believing that ending when Dumbledore talks openly about unity 
and acts as a mouthpiece for JKR's thoughts, who believes the four 
houses represent the four elements. A more harmonious conclusion could 
be this: When the last heir of Slytherin is defeated, the bit of 
Voldemort inside Harry will die, and the split in the WW will finally 
be healed. 

Jen