Harry's first time in Dumbledore's office

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 140464

Derek:
> I've been thinking a lot lately of Harry's first time in
> Dumbledore's office, which was just after he discovered the double
> attack of Justin and Nearly Headless Nick.  <snipping> I know Ron
> had told him that it was a bad sign among wizards to speak of the
> fact that Harry was hearing voices nobody else could hear, but 
Harry
> had just found out that his strange language to the snake at the
> duelling club was called parceltongue. It seems to me that
> Dumbledore was saying, "Harry, I want to ask you today if you want
> to tell me anything.  Even if it is unimportant to you, it may be
> important to me".

Jen: Funny you should mention this scene because I just finished 
reading that chapter last night. The visit to Dumbledore's office 
meant so much more after HBP! 

HBP was full of juicy little tidbits *sighs happily*. Like Snape 
telling Bellatrix he wondered whether Harry was the new Dark Lord, 
and how he looked for signs when Harry first appeared at Hogwarts. 
Reading COS the first time, I didn't pay much attention to students 
thinking Harry was Heir of Slytherin because it was so obvious he 
wasn't from the reader's perspective. But having Snape say that made 
me realize why magical people believed Harry could be evil. That 
scar cuts both ways, doesn't it?

And even Dumbledore was looking for signs of Harry's allegiance from 
the moment Harry arrived, wondering if his encounter with LV had 
changed him in some fundamental way. We find out in HBP how very 
amazed Dumbledore felt that Harry never succumbed to the temptation 
of the dark arts after all his *very* personal encounters with 
Voldemort--would Dumbledore have expressed so much amazement if he 
never wondered and worried about the effects of Harry's encounters 
with evil?

Back to the scene in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore surely knew 
Harry spoke Paceltongue by the time of the visit, it happened the 
day after the dueling club. This information must have been most 
curious to him. He must have thought back to his first encounter 
with Riddle, and the excitement 11-year old Riddle felt at being 
able to talk to snakes. I used to think DD was only searching for 
clues about the COS when asked Harry that question, but it seems 
likely he also wondered how in the world Harry could speak 
Parceltongue if not a descendant of Slytherin. I'd also imagine 
Dumbledore was starting to wonder if Parceltongue played a role in 
opening the COS, since the last opening of the chamber coincided 
with Riddle's years at Hogwarts. 

Just to clarify here, I do think Harry's bravey & innocence in PS 
went a long way for convincing Dumbledore of Harry's pure heart, but 
I don't think *all* his fears were extinguished until Harry called 
Fawkes & Gryffindor's sword to him in COS. So in the middle of COS, 
some of Dumbledore's questions may have returned when he heard about 
the Parceltongue. Putting everything together at the end was when 
Dumbledore understood Voldemort simply transferred his powers to 
Harry, and Harry was definitely *not* a Dark Lord in the making.

Jen