Satisfaction of the story to date (was: I Hate Horcruxes Society)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163368

Mike wrote:
> > And where was the advancement of Harry's magical skills [in HBP]?
He learns a few of the "Princes" spells, but what about a full years
worth of DADA under the best DADA professor Harry has ever had? Did he
learn *Nothing* from Snape's class during the entire year? <snip>

Annemehr responded:
> Mike, I agree with these points of yours regarding Harry's failure
to learn from Professor Snape, and a seeming failure to apply himself
to his studies altogether.
>
> I really felt that Harry showed a similar lack of growth, and even
> regression, in other ways in HBP. <snip>
>
> HBP was a disappointment then, because as far as I can see, the only
> thing Harry "learned" was not to shout at Dumbledore. And that
> resolve he told DD about, how Sirius would want him to go on and not
> crack up, well fine, but that's how he always was anyway. <snip>

> Harry really doesn't seem ready to be the hero, yet, does he? <snip>
>
Carol responds:

I agree with both of you although I hope that Harry learned some of
what Snape taught him and that those lessons will come back to him
when he needs them, without Snape's presence in his daily life to
distract him. While Harry may not learn to "close his mouth," surely
he'll learn to "shut his mouth"--that is, to cast nonverbal spells,
particularly defensive ones. Maybe he and Ron (who also needs to learn
that skill, apparently) will practice them with Hermione). And I also
think that Snape's alternative method for dealing with Dementors will
come into play somewhere, if not via Harry then via Ron, Neville, or
Hermione, none of whom has ever successfully cast an Expecto Patronum
in the face of a real Dementor. (Hermione is the only one of the three
who's even faced a Dementor up close, in PoA, and she immediately
fainted.)

To be fair, Harry did learn to Apparate in HBP, which will certainly
help him, and the old defensive spells (Expelliarmus, Stupefy, and
Petrificus Totalus) seem as good as any others *defensively*, and I
don't think that JKR wants her young heroes using *offensive* spells,
most of which seem Dark and cruel or deadly. (Snape's surprise at
Harry's knowing Dark spells and his disapproval of Harry's attempting
to use an Unforgiveable reflect Dumbledore's and JKR's view on the
subject, IMO. At any rate, they definitely reflect mine!) I don't
think new spells are the answer to Harry's problems, nor do I think
he'll need to disarm the Horcruxes himself. (Surely Bill's curse
breaker skills are in the book for a reason, and he'll have other
help, too, I'm sure, right up to the last moment, as he always does.
And Snape has a key role to play somewhere!) Also, Harry's luck and
instincts will kick in to help him as they always do in a crisis, and
perhaps he'll learn from past mistakes and avoid stepping into
Voldie's traps.

As for Harry's ability to curb his emotions, I did notice much less
shouting and bossing of his friends in this book and more
consideration for their feelings. He also attempted to curb his
jealousy of Dean and his attraction to Ginny--and did a better job on
both fronts that Ron or Hermione. He was less successful in curbing
his obsession with Draco and, particularly, his hatred of Snape, on
whom he piled every possible resentment and whom he now feels
justified in hating. That, I think, is the key lesson he'll learn in
DH, much more important in the long run than new spells or finding
Horcruxes--avoiding the temptation to blame others for his own
failings (blaming Snape for Sirius Black's death, for example) and the
temptation to seek revenge for its own sake. Maybe he'll learn to stop
leaping to conclusions and to consider the possibility (a lesson that
Hermione also needs to learn) that he might be wrong, that grownups
might actually be wiser than he is, that experience in living does
lead to wisdom in at least some people, wizards or Muggles.

To the extent that this series is a Bildungsroman, JKR can't have him
learn the most important lessons in the penultimate book. They have to
be saved for the last book. He also needs to realize, as JKR herself
has said, how much he already know, and put it all together--much as
we, the readers, have been trying to do, but with more success (I hope!).

Annemehr:
> I actually believe we *don't* know what JKR will be up to in the
> final book. I'm hoping some of what I wished to see in HBP, JKR is
> withholding for DH -- and that she *will* make it work. After all,
> she has toiled through seven volumes toward the denoument of a work
> she said she believed in from the beginning. <snip>

Carol responds:
Exactly. HBP dealt with Snape in several roles (Double-agent!Snape,
DADA teacher!Snape, Healer!Snape, and the HBP), with Horcruxes and the
history of Tom Riddle, and (shudder) with teenage hormones. School
lessons, one of the most interesting aspects of the earlier books (for
me) got shortchanged. Fortunately, IMO, so did Quidditch. We're now
set up, with Harry's hatred for Snape at fever pitch, for a reversal
in Book 7. We're also set up for the Horcruxes and the final battle.
But there will be more to come, some of it unanticipated by us
readers, and part of that "more" will surely be the final stages of
Harry's growing up, not acquiring the wisdom of a Dumbledore, which
only long experience with living can give, but finally reaching
maturity and manhood--not by reaching his seventeenth birthday but by
fulfilling the role chosen for him by fate, Voldemort, and his own
expectations.

> Annemehr
> who most likely will be skulking into the local supermarket or
> Walmart in the wee hours of Release Day, trying to avoid spoilers
>
Carol, who will resist all temptation to read the last chapter first
or even to look at the last page of the table of contents for fear
that the titles may give too much away but may sneak a peak at the
first two pages of the ToC to see if Snape's name is mentioned