Harry's character development

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 139419

Magda 
>>I think JKR gave us a bit of a foretaste of Harry's development as a
wizard in the cave scene when he's watching Dumbledore examine the
wall and thinks something like "Harry had long ago learned that
smokes and bangs didn't mean magical strength".  And I thought, "He
did?  When?"

CathyD:
You must have broken into my mind, I had the same thought.  I thought I must surely have missed something when I was reading the other books, and after I finished HBP went for a re-read of the whole series to see if I could find his 'aha' moment but I guess I missed it again.

>>I thought it was JKR foreshadowing Harry's growth but frankly I found
it clumsy.  We never read about Harry ruminating on magic or
inventing spells or even thinking of how to go about inventing spells
if he wanted to.  He's actually a pretty passive wizard.  

>>His big thing is to yell "Protego!" which just throws up a shield to
bounce an enemy's own spells back at them.  People write about how he
broke into Snape's mind during occlumency but in fact he didn't; he
just threw up the shield and Snape in effect broke into his own mind
with Harry being a witness.

>>Harry spends more time reflecting on quidditch and his feelings about
people a lot more than he goes in for abstract considerations of
magic.  

CathyD:
Oh, I so agree with you Magda.  

There's one point in HBP that Dumbledore tells Harry that Riddle found out more of the magic within the castle than any other student (something like that, sorry my book isn't handy).  I thought, well, certainly more than Harry who's found out nothing.  Yes, he got into the CoS but that wasn't done on his own.  Dobby told him about the Room of Requirement.  Fred and George handed him the Marauders' Map and told him how to use it or he'd never have found any of the secret passages out of the school.  

I have days when I'm surprised the kid can find his way to the Quidditch pitch without signposts.  Well, no, maybe not the Quidditch pitch .... 

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