[HPforGrownups] Re: First potions lesson/Harry getting special treatment and Draco's view of him

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 145921

Irene:
What do you mean "there was no way he could"? Right next to him sits a 
muggleborn student that demonstrated that there is a way.

PJ:
Yes, but Hermione's parents were very open about her going to Hogwarts, got 
her the books early  and left her alone to read them.  Harry, on the other
hand, because of the interference from the Dursleys,  only found out about 
his magical background and got his letter from Hogwarts the night before he 
got his books and left for Hogwarts.  Maybe if he'd had the time Hermione 
did he'd have looked through his books too.

Magpie:

I think the main point here that's getting lost here is that regardless of 
whether Harry could have done this, the point was that he wouldn't. I really 
don't think Snape was hoping Harry would have the answer or was at all 
disappointed that he didn't.  I think he probably would have hated Harry all 
the more if Harry had answered like Hermione.  I've always thought Snape's 
whole point in the scene was exactly what he did: he asked Harry a question 
he was pretty sure he wouldn't know to see Harry not knowing it.

He's annoyed by Hermione partially because of that, imo.  Snape knows he's 
asking Harry a question your average student would not know, and he's 
annoyed at her for interrupting his show by actually answering the dang 
question.  The point isn't to answer, the point is for Harry to not answer 
it to prove he has things to learn.  Young Snape might have known the answer 
too, but he probably would have picked on the fact that the teacher didn't 
want an answer because he was putting on a power play with a teacher.

Not that I'm defending some of Snape's behavior towards Hermione, 
particularly when he's being too hard on Neville, but I think he's often 
annoyed with her for interfering with things he's trying to do by jumping in 
and helping people.  It's not that Snape is a super sensitive teacher who's 
pained when a student doesn't learn himself, imo, but he does have certain 
things that he tries to do in class via his own methods, and Hermione has 
trouble letting any teacher do stuff with other students.  She jumps in and 
answers.

What Snape's doing is out of line, imo, because anyone can see he's 
specifically picking on this kid.  Harry's right to sense there's something 
personal and really unhealthy there. There would have been nothing wrong if 
Snape had asked three impossible questions to three random students as a 
sign that this would be pop quiz kind of class, even if one of them was 
Harry.  Even if he'd made a passing remark about fame not being the same as 
wisdom.  The problem is the signs of exactly what we find out later about 
Snape's grudge.


Alla:
>
> I said that I am conceding that this is a special treatment
:
>
> It IS? OK, let's clarify something first, maybe we indeed talk past
> each other. I consider "special treatment" as something which person
> gets a benefit from.

Magpie:

I am using the words' actual meaning.  Harry is treated as a special person: 
"surpassing what is common or usual, distinct among others, exceptional" and 
even "designed or selected for a particular purpose, occasion, or other 
end."   That doesn't always mean something that benefits him or that he 
enjoys.  I'm not forgetting how it is that Harry winds up not only competing 
in a contest that no other person under 17 is allowed to enter but taking up 
all the media attention. I know he didn't put his own name in the Goblet and 
wasn't in control of what the paper printed.  I wasn't suggesting a recall 
for the House Cup victory in first year (it's not the victory itself that's 
out of line, imo).

I'm saying Harry is special, the opposite of ordinary.  His problems are 
exceptional, his triumphs are exceptional. He's surrounded by people who 
spend far more time focused on him than he does on them.  When you're 
ordinary you tend to look at the special and see more of the good things and 
dismiss the bad things.  When you're special you are more aware of the bad 
things and can take the good things for granted.  Harry is very aware of the 
difficulties of his fame.  He draws attention to them a lot.  Otherwise he 
claims to be completely ordinary, but I think that like many movie stars who 
claim the same thing, he lacks perspective there.

horridporrid:
It's rather like a groom waiting to for the bride to make her way down the 
aisle to tell her he's in love with her maid of honor.  It's good for the 
bride to now before she says "I do", but to quote "The Wedding Singer": 
"Again, something you could have told me *YESTERDAY*!!"

Magpie:
Well, yeah!  What's with the decking the hall in Slytherin colors that 
announce they won for the dramatic effect of yanking a cup away from them in 
the name of Harry and his best friends?  All those "not so bad" Slytherins 
got slapped in the face there as well.  I get the point in the book, but I 
can't imagine anyone would be okay with this sort of thing in real life.  As 
the books go on that becomes more of an odd choice, not less of one. It does 
seem like that's the point, not that the points just haven't been counted 
yet and the Slytherins *think* they're going to win.  That would be 
fine--it's not over till it's over.  But it seemed like Dumbledore held back 
giving the points until after the contest was over just to trick everyone. 
Happy surprise for one Harry Potter and his companions.  Who cares about 
anyone else?

Shaun Hately:
Honestly, given what Draco sees, and coloured by his experiences, I think 
that to him, Harry does across as exceedingly arrogant in that encounter on 
the train. As feeling superior to all wizards.

Magpie:

Sure.  And from his pov he spends most of the conversation chattering about 
ordinary things like houses and Quidditch and Harry is monosyllabic (because 
he doesn't know what to say and is uncomfortable about that) and probably 
not hiding the dislike he's felt since the "bully my parents into buying me 
a racing broom" remark, which wouldn't have bothered another kid so much. 
Then Draco shares a juicy piece of gossip about the weird groundskeeper and 
Harry speaks "coldly" to him.

I can totally see Draco's version of the Robe Shop scene, especially once he 
realized who this kid was, as a case of Harry thought himself above Draco 
straight off and Draco made a fool of himself trying to talk to him. One 
thing I always love about that scene is that it is, in fact, the only scene 
in canon where Harry deals with a wizard who isn't seeing him as Harry 
Potter.  People often claim Ron is doing that on the train, but of course he 
knows who Harry is.

-m



-m