Predictions for the End (what I think, hope and know)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 174279

Betsy Hp:

> I'd say he was something less than that. He was 
> clever I grant you, but I think he had only a 
> monster's worth of empathy. Empathy is something 
> not very much valued in this series honestly. Maybe 
> because it's a virtue associated with water? (She 
> says, still trying to make sense of the whole thing, 
> which she should honestly stop trying to do. <g>)

houyhnhnm:

"a monster's worth of empathy"  LOL.  I really like 
that phrase and I agree that it is a virtue associated 
with water and that is why we saw so little of it, 
especially in DD the consumate Gryffindor.

I firmly believe and nothing anyone says, including 
Rowling, is going to change my mind <g>, that empathy 
was the quality the Hat sensed in Harry that caused it 
to argue for sorting him into Slytherin.  It was 
definitely *not* "a certain disregard for the rules", 
a Gryffindor trait if there ever was one.

I am troubled by these books and I believe I share a 
lot of your objections, but there were a few things I 
liked about DH.  Well, one actually.  I really liked 
Harry's response to the viewing of Snape's memories. 
It rang true for me that Harry would so instantantly 
and completely change his mind about Snape and I don't 
think it was the latter memories in DD's office that 
did the trick, but the ones of Snape with Lily.  Unlike a 
number of fans, Harry didn't seem to regard Snape's 
love for his mother as the least bit creepy, and I 
think it was because he empathized with Snape.

He wouldn't have, three years earlier, before Cho and Ginny.  

>>>...Harry, the only one left to observe him, 
recognized Snape's bitter disappointment, and 
understood that Snape had been planning this 
moment for a while, and that it had all gone wrong ...<<<

Of course he did.  He's been there--babbling, drooling 
on himself, covered with smelly green goo.  He's also 
known the green-eyed monster and he can empathize with 
Snape's jealosy as well.

>>>Harry doubted that Snape had even heard her 
strictures on Mulciber and Avery.  The moment she had 
insulted James Potter, his whole body had relaxed, 
and as they walked away there was a new spring in 
Snape's step ... <<<

But I think it was not his young adolescent crush on 
Cho or even his fight with the chest monster over 
Ginny that sealed it for Harry; it was his more mature 
feelings for Ginny at the end of HBP.  He gave her up  
because he thought it would protect her from Voldemort.  
Rightly or wrongly may be up for debate, but his motives 
are not, IMO.

And that is what Dumbledore demanded of Snape and what 
Snape acceded to.  Give up all thought of Lily for 
yourself and I will help you save her life.  Although 
it is not explicitly stated, I believe Harry identified 
with Snape here, too.  He recognized love that could 
renounce all claim on the loved one for that person's 
good, and he knew it for the sincerest kind of love 
because he had experienced it.

(BTW, although this post is about Harry, I want to add 
that I don't think Snape was redeemed by his love for 
Lily; he was redeemed by his own honor.  I like the way 
DG put it.  "Snape's path to redemption is a path of 
extreme loneliness, isolation, and pain, but he stays 
the course right up to the end and pays the ultimate price.")

So after seven books, in spite of a few ups and downs,  
I think I like Harry.  I'm just not willing to accept 
him as my Lord and Savior.  He was a nice boy and he 
grew up to be a good man.  But he's just a man.

Some things I hated about DH (besides Rowling's complete 
abandonment of the theme of integration):

1. The deathly hallows--all I can say is What The %*#$???

2. Hermione--I was trying, at least, to be open-minded 
about her up to book 7, but after DH, I absolutely 
cannot stand her.  High up in the Department of Magical 
Law Enforcement! What an appalling thought.  I wish Rowling 
had kept that to herself.

A part of myself regrets the time and psychic energy 
I invested in this series and thinks my psychological 
well-being would best be served by taking the books 
to the recycling center.  Another part just can't let go.