Snape, again...(was Re: Come on folks)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 173724

Carol earlier:
> > Because it isn't power that can defeat Voldemort. It's love, and
forgiveness, and compassion, and, above all, the willingness to
sacrifice yourself for the WW. It helps, of course, to be a Horcrux
and share blood with Voldemort and be the master of the Elder Wand.
> 
Valky responded:
> I just wanted to comment on the last point you made here, Carol.
Over the term of Harry's schooling we saw, from him, average to
mediocre magical talent coupled with extraordinary bravery and
selflessness. The extraordinary courage of Harry was not the least of
his weapons against Voldemort by any means. But beyond his valour and
love there was another very notable exception in Harry's mediocre
arsenal. He mastered a complex magic spell that was beyond his years,
Expecto Patronum; I don't think this can be rightfully played down, <snip>

> As with the Patronus, JKR leaves it to our imaginations to nut out
the complexities of this exception to Harry's wizarding skills, but it
just doesn't do to understate it. In essence Harry has done the same
as Snape ever did in his potions text, the same as Dumbledore did in
his remarkable defeat of Grindelwald, he has delved into a complex
magical theory and mastered its power, he went beyond known magic and
become a founder of lore (his signature 'expelliarmus'), an Elder wand
legend.
>
Carol again:

Now, Valky, you're spoiling my eloquent sig line! :-)

Seriously, I don't think Harry's powerful Patronus has anything to do
with mastering the theory. Hermione, the theory expert, has trouble
with that spell, and hers pops like a balloon at the first sign of
confrontation.

I didn't mean to downplay Harry's Patronus, which certainly comes into
play in the MoM, but it's an exception that proves the rule. Powerful
as his Patronus is, it isn't a reflection of his overall power and
talent (which are probably rather less than most readers expected them
to be). It's a reflection (IMO) of his love for his friends (remember
how he conjures it in HBP?), and in the MoM scene in DH, a reflection
of his compassion for Mrs. Cattermole and the other Muggle-borns.

Nor did I mean to overlook Harry's courage, which I took as a given.
He's the ultimate Gryffindor, after all.

I was focusing on what I perceive as *Snape's* expectation or
assumption (shared by a lot of readers, I think), that Harry needed to
be a superwizard to defeat LV and that harry wasn't (in Snape's view)
up to the job. But after the first few chapters, Harry isn't spending
his time battling Death Eaters, nor does he ever defeat them through
skill or power. For most of the book, he's hunting Horcruxes or trying
to figure out what to do, and even destroying Horcruxes doesn't
require extraordinary skill or power (except the need for Parseltongue
in a few cases. So much for my expectation that Harry would need
either Bill Weasley or Snape to act as curse breaker!)

But my point is that Snape was trying to help prepare Harry by
teaching him skills (Occlumency, nonverbal spells) expecting that he
would fight a duel with him. Voldemort has the same expectation: "We
duel on skill alone" (DH Am. ed. 743), and knowing that he has far
more power and skill than Harry (classic David and Goliath), he's sure
he'll win, regardles of who is master of the Elder Wand. (I'm not
touching on that topic, except to say that I don't think that Harry's
mastery of the Elder Wand has anything to do with mastery of the
theory, if that's what you're saying. That would be wholly OoC.)

To return to the point. Power can't defeat LV or Dumbledore would have
taken him down long before (Horcruxes and all). In fact, power turns
out, paradoxically, to be Dumbledore's weakness and his desire for it
the reason he can't defeat LV. (Dumbledore would have succumbed to the
lure of the One Ring, IMO.) Only love can defeat Voldemort. And I
think Harry's powerful Patronus also boils down to love. That's why
his is so powerful, even in PoA (though he has the advantage then of
being at a distance from the Dementors). Hermione, the thinker, can't
cast one nearly as strong. Nor can evil Umbridge, whose "happiness" is
based on suffering.

BTW, JKR hates cats. Does anyone think that's why Umbridge's Patronus
is a cat? But then how do we explain McGonagall's Animagus form and
Patronus, unless she started out as a stereotypical Halloween witch
and grew in the telling?

Carol, noting that while it was Snape who taught Harry to cast
Expelliarmus, his signature move, it was Lupin who taught him Expecto
Patronum, so the Marauders made their contribution, too