Under the influence or not? (Edition discrepancy in "After the Burial" )

[hg_skmg]

No: HPFGUIDX 142107

> hg (previously): 
I think the hugeness, then, lies in Harry behaving as he does of 
> his own accord, Slughorn making his choice freely without being 
> subject to any magical influence, and the likelihood that Harry 
> erroneously assumes that Slughorn will remember nothing the next 
day.

Jen: 
Harry feels confident Slughorn won't remember giving the memory. I 
wondered in my first reading why that would matter because either 
way, Slughorn is now in great danger... if (when) Voldemort catches 
up with him, the evidence will still be there...That memory basically 
outlined Voldemort's entire plan for immortality and surely is the 
reason Slughorn spent the last year moving all over Muggleville to 
get away from him and the DE's.

hg:
Agreed, and I think you're right to connect that Slughorn is 
basically giving up his life (or at least taking a tremendous risk) 
when giving Harry the memory.  
I'd like to add that I think Slughorn also wanted to hide from 
Dumbledore, who seems to ask an awful lot of those close to him. It 
seems to me that he knows that it's a package deal: If he comes back 
to Hogwarts, he'll end up having to do more than just teach Potions.

Jen: 
I think Slughorn knew *exactly* what he was doing that night, and 
perhaps guilt and insecurity about his own abilities kept Harry from 
understanding the magnitude of the situation. (Course, JKR doesn't 
have to take that route, but if she does, the situation is already 
laid out there). 

hg:
I'm not really following this, and I'm eager for you to explain it.  
Do you mean the magnitude is asking Slughorn to hand over his life?  
And how does Harry's guilt or insecurity factor in to what transpired?


Jen:
Harry, like Ron, was able to uncover his own natural abilities 
> while believing he was under the influence of Felix appeals to me. 
> As I mentioned awhile back in a post called Obsession, the theme of 
> free-will vs. magical influence is a big one in HBP...He did use 
> the Felix to *set-up* the proper conditions as Hermione pointed 
> out: "Luck will only get you so far, Harry. The situation with 
> Slughorn was different; you always had the ability to persuade him, 
> you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit." (chap. 24, p. 
> 484, Bloomsbury) But then in a Riddle-like way, Harry obtained the 
> information he needed from Slughorn. JKR makes this parallel very 
> clear when Harry is viewing the real Slughorn memory shortly after, 
> that he knows exactly how Tom feels trying to wheedle information 
> from Slughorn, how carefully he played his cards, just the same as 
> Harry with Slughorn only minutes before. 

hg:
Exactly.  
Of course, anybody believing Harry is a Horcrux could take this and 
run with it!  I'm not sure that I think that way, but the Sorting Hat 
had its reasons for suggesting Slytherin House in the first place, 
and here we see this side of Harry, probably plainer than anywhere in 
the series.  If he's under the influence of the Felix at this point, 
this aspect of the scene is dramatically weakened.  

I also think it's important to note, here, that there is an impact on 
Slughorn's character as well.  When we learn that he's essentially 
handing over his life, we are prepared for any choices Slughorn might 
make from here on in, that would seem to depart from his character as 
established in the first part of the book.

Jen, really looking forward to your elaboration on the point above.
hg.