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

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 163420

 
> > Mike:
> > 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>

Neri:
Harry doesn't need to learn more skills. He already has all of
Voldemort's powers in his head. His problem is how to use them without
turning into a Dark Lord himself. For this he had to study Tom's
childhood in HBP, not to learn Occlumency or nonverbal spells.


> > Mike:
> > Yes, I realize the storyline of the influence of the teenage Snape 
> > juxtiposed with the lack of influence of the adult Snape. Does that 
> > mean he can't learn anything? After Hermione reminds Harry how much 
> > Snape sounded like him from the previous year, I expected that 
> Harry 
> > would at least listen in Snape's classes, maybe actually 
> participate 
> > in the in-class exercises.

Neri:
He doesn't need it. The last thing Harry needs now is to learn more
hexes, or learn to cast old hexes in more effective ways. Especially
not if the key for doing so is to "close his mind" and "master his
feelings". Dumbledore knew that, although it took what happened in the
MoM to make him fully realize it ("in the end it mattered not that you
could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you"). Snape
does not understand this part at all. He thinks Harry is "mediocre"
and doesn't stand a chance against Voldemort because he "wears his
heart on his sleeve". But Dumbledore and JKR believe that this is
precisely the source of Harry's strength.


> Annemehr:
> Again, almost the only time I see even trying to master his feelings 
> in HBP is when he concsiously refrains from shouting at Dumbledore 
> (for example, in ch. 25, in DD's office just after hearing that Snape 
> had been the eavesdropper to the first prophecy -- and with mixed 
> success, at that).
> 

Neri:
This assumes that the key to Harry winning in DH is "mastering his
feelings". I predict it will turn out, as in the MoM, that the key to
Harry winning is the opposite.

Harry *doesn't* hate Snape, not really anyway, because he is incapable
of true hatred. In the end of HBP he tries to crucio Snape and
*fails*. A scene that repeats almost exactly the scene in the end of
OotP, when he tries to crucio Bellatrix and fails. If Harry finds
himself in DH in a situation where he has the opportunity to kill
Snape or Bella, he will of course do exactly what he did when he had
the opportunity to kill Sirius in the Shrieking Shack, or when he had
the opportunity to merely allow someone else to kill Peter. When JKR
shows me basically the same scene four times in a series, I think I
can get the hint.

The dilemma I see JKR setting for DH is: how can Harry kill Voldemort
if he's incapable of using the Unforgivables. How can he AK Voldemort
when he's incapable of even crucioing Snape. I can see Snape in DH,
after saving Harry's life because of his Debt and as a result finding
himself stuck in the anti-Voldemort camp, trying to convince Harry
that he must learn to close his mind and use the AK as the only way to
win ("no Unforgivables for you until you learn to keep your mind close
and mouth shut"). Or maybe this offer will come from the part of Tom's
soul that Harry carries inside himself. Or from both. In any case,
Harry's real test will be to refuse this offer.


Neri