Wondering about Malfoy and Judging a book by its cover

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 142233

Inge:

> Bloomsbury p 596 (The White Tomb):
> 
> Dumbledore is dead. The next day, Harry's in the Great Hall, 
thinking 
> things. Among them:
> "Where, Harry wondered, was Malfoy now, and what was Voldemort 
making 
> him do under the threat of killing him and his parents?"
> 
> Hmmm - is it Harry or is it me being slow here?
> Wasn't Draco's mission to kill Dumbledore? And wouldn't Harry have 
> figured that out by now?
> That thought of Harry's seemed a bit slow to me - but then again - 
I 
> could very well be the slow part here.... but in that case, what 
WAS 
> Voldemort making Draco do under the threat of killing him and his 
> parents?

Magpie:

I believe Harry is wondering what new things Voldemort has come up 
with to force him to do now that Dumbledore is dead.  Dumbledore's 
death hasn't really changed anything about Draco's situation.

Sherry now:

And just what part of Snape does the book show Harry? Not something
positive. in spite of the brilliance of the potion instructions, the 
book
teaches Harry several horrible dark curses. is this the glorious real
Snape? All through the book, HBP that is, we're led to feel 
distrustful of
the effect that book has on Harry. But then we find out it was 
Snape's book
and that makes it ok?

Magpie:

Actually, I'd say the interesting thing about the effect that the 
book isn't really affecting him in terms of the HBP really doing 
anything--it's not the CoS diary, iow.  I think it's saying more 
about Harry than it does about Snape, whom we already knew was an 
angry teenager, full of rage against James Potter and his friends, 
who was already on his way to being a Death Eater.  Harry's starting 
to hex people in the hallways doesn't mean he's coming under the 
HBP's influence (actually, James was said to hex people in the 
hallways).   

I think the "bad feeling" about the book has to do with Harry's 
reliance on it, his willingness to cheat off it (and yes, I realize 
that the way it's written one can say it's really not cheating-Harry 
is simply using a different set of instructions, but the idea is, 
imo, supposed to be that Harry begins to get used to taking credit 
for talent he doesn't have, and that's a problem unique to Harry 
with nothing to do with Snape).  The book is, in many ways, simply 
POWER, and that's what Harry starts to abuse with it, hexing people 
in the hallways, longing to see just what Sectumsempra will do to 
his enemies.  

When Snape was writing the book he was, imo, coming from a 
completely different place.  Not a good place, of course. But Harry 
is not, imo, becoming Snape at all when he uses the book.  The book, 
imo, is a great example of something that is not right or wrong, but 
simply power.  That's what Harry likes about it.  He might feel 
betrayed by the Prince, but this is silly--the Prince was never 
really his friend.  He didn't intentionally suck Harry in, and was 
not really speaking to Harry at all in the book, much less assuring 
him that nothing in the book could hurt anyone.  He didn't encourage 
Harry to do anything.  Even when Harry sees what the stuff in the 
book can do after Sectumsempra one of his first thoughts is to hold 
on to the book and defend the Prince and himself equally. In a way 
Harry creates the persona of the HBP all on his own.  He speaks of 
the Prince as if he's a nice guy, but mostly because he enjoys 
his "help."  I think Harry partially feels defensive of the Prince 
because he has always understood him very well.

-m