What is with the wimpy spells?

[jhenderson9]

No: HPFGUIDX 162716

TheIllusiveOne:
> I don't think that's good enough of an excuse. Snape was inventing
> spells and modifying potions in his sixth year. James Potter was
> casting silent spells in his fifth. Voldemort was IMMORTAL by his
> sixth year. Harry's had Voldemort after him for years, yes, but
> you'd think that would make him even more motivated to learn useful
> and powerful spells, and to work hard in school. Hermione has been
> with Harry most of the time, and yet she manages to learn advanced
> stuff early (The charm on the fake Galleons in OotP). That's been my
> biggest problem with the last two books, Harry went from a powerful,
> motivated (the Patronus charm, the spells for the Triwizard
> Tournament, etc) young wizard, into a completely average,
> unmotivated kid (Not learning Occulemency, being tricked easily by
> Voldemort, cheating in potions, etc) and really not doing much of
> anything.

I think Rowling's point is that Harry, the Everyman, must defeat the
lord of darkness and save the world. In the cave, Dumbledore tells
Harry,"I am much older, much cleverer, and much less valuable."
Dumbledore knows full well of certain magical mediocrity found within
Harry, such as his inability to master Occulemency, but he still
knows, even if he downplays prophecy, that Harry is indeed the Chosen One.

I too wish that Rowling had shown an expanded curriculum in the upper
levels at Hogwarts and more evidence of growth in magical skills by
Harry and Ron. That could have added another 100 pages to the later
books, however. Harry at least does come off better than Ron. A
motivated Harry doesn't leave out important ingredients when following
HBP recipes as he routinely did when Snape had written things on the
blackboard [in different handwriting?], so he actually is not just
learning potions but growing as a wizard through Snape's indirect
tutalage. While Neville has progressed enormously in a couple
subjects, Ron through much of the HBP seems to have regressed to
almost squib-like proportions.

jhenderson9