The Prophecy and Harry's Readiness to face Voldemort

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 139319

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kris" <merpsiren at y...> wrote:
> Many have suggested the Harry is not ready to face Voldemort because
> he has yet to master the skills needed for the task ahead.  I would
> suggest that after careful reading of "The Prophecy" that the
> abilities to "vanquish" the Dark Lord has nothing to do with
> *learned* skills
 but rather Harry was born with the abilities and
> everything was set in motion once Voldemort made the choice of which
> child was his greatest threat.
> 
> For Harry to be "ready" to take on Voldemort for the final
> battle, he only needs to come to realization that he already has the
> abilites
much like the end of POA.
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> 
> Harry shows that at very critical moments, he has the abilities he
> needs even though he wasn't really aware of his own powers.
> 
> Book 2:  Opening the Chamber of Secrets with ... Parseltongue
> Book 3:  Conjuring a patronus

> Book 4:  Fighting off Imperious curse ...;  Dueling with Voldemort.
> Book 6:  ... HBP Co-apparating himself and Dumbledore ... to 
> Hogsmeade.
> 
> 
> Kris.

bboyminn:

Once again, I remind people of the distinction between having talent
and having skill. In the case of having Power, it means nothing if
that power is not refined into the skill to apply the power. We all
have the power to read, but it doesn't do us any good if no one
teaches us how. We all have the power of language, but if no one
teaches us how to speak Armenian then we are not going to be able to
do it.

Regardless of any innate talent or power Harry has, he still appears
to have to face a horde of DE's and he appears to have to kill
Voldemort. From the philosophical perspective of an outsider, it is
easy for us to speculate that Harry already has all he needs to defeat
Voldemort. But from Harry's perspective, from what he knows and what
he believes, he has a long long long way to go before he is able to
accomplish the task at hand.

I personally think it would be foolish for Harry to not embark on a
regiment of intense training in the art of dueling and the necessary
compliment of charms, spells, and curses that go with it, as well as
increasing his knowledge of the detection of magical presence and
detection of magical residue. It's clear from their adventure in the
cave that Harry could never have accomplished the level of magical
discernment displayed by Dumbledore. In fact, anytime you think Harry
may be ready to face Voldemort, simply compare his skill and knowledge
to that of Dumbledore, and you will see how woefully inadequate Harry is.

Harry has a lot to learn, and very little time to learn it. Certainly
he will not learn anything near the level of knowledge Dumbledore
accumulated in 150 years, but he still needs far more knowledge and
skill than he has.

True, in the end, when we can all look back on this, we may see that
Harry did indeed possess the very innate power needed to vanquish the
Dark Lord, but Harry doesn't know that. He needs to start where he's
at, evaluate what he needs, and begin working toward that goal. To do
any less would be foolish.

As it stands now, with only one book left, there are going to have to
be tremendous short-cut to achieve any of the obvious goals. Finding
the Horcruxes from current knowledge is a lifetime occupation that may
still be impossible. The only way around it is a short-cut. Voldemort
brings them all together in one place, for example, or Snape/Draco
helps Harry find them and get past the protective enchantments. 

There is far more to the plot from Harry's current perspective that
simply 'the power the Dark Lord knows not'. Again, Harry has a lot of
work to do and very little time to do it.

At least that's how I see it.

Steve/bboyminn