What really happened on the tower.

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 155680

justcarol67 wrote:
>
> Let's just say that the unreliable narrator has set us up once again:
> We don't know who cast that spell, and it looks to me as if Harry is
> totally helpless and facing death as Fenrir's ugly face comes close to
> his. We agree that Harry could not have cast a nonverbal spell. I
> suppose it's possible that he cast a verbal one, but since the
> narrator says that he felt Greyback's body roll off him, I don't think
> he's the one who cast it. (If he cast it himself, why wouldn't the
> narrator say so?)

Ken:

You may be right about the unreliable narrator technique. It makes
it pretty hard to analyse anything if we (or JKR) get too carried 
away with it. If you look at the way the words for that spell are
inserted into the text they are done in exactly the same fashion
as they were on the previous page when Harry manfully shot the 
DE on the tower in the back with *the exact same spell*. A few 
pages later when Harry attempts to duel with Snape most (but
not all) of his blocked spells are inserted in the same way. In 
fact his next two spells after the PT are both "Impedimenta". I don't 
know why he switched but it is a pattern in his spell casting which 
he then breaks completely in the attempted Snape duel.

Immediately after Fenrir is PT'ed the text says "Harry felt Fenrir 
collapse against him; with a stupendous effort he pushed the
werewolf off and onto the floor...." I don't think that language
tells us anything about who cast the PT. The narrator does not
say that Harry cast it but she doesn't say that Harry felt 
relieved that someone else had rescued him either. It reads 
to me like the standard melodramatic fight scene where the 
hero manages to defeat the villian of the moment at the last
possible instant. It'll make a great scene in the movie.

> Carol continued:
> Also, although Snape has rounded the corner, he's also making sure
> that the DEs are following him, and he could, unknown to Harry, have
> looked around the corner, shot off that spell, and continued on his
> way. 

I suppose it could have worked that way but when Harry does 
round that corner Snape isn't visible as far as I can tell although
when I just now checked I see that Harry did cast an unspecified
spell between his two Impedimenta's. If Snape had returned 
and saved Harry from Fenrir I don't think he could have been 
as far ahead of Harry as reported or as close to Draco. You could 
be right though, it just seems to me that "on further review" of 
the instant replay that Harry probably handled Fenrir on his own.
He's no match for LV or Snape but I think he has the skill and
presence of mind to recover from a lesser wizard's initial assult
without aid, most of the time.

Ken