TBAY: What Harry "knows", (Was: Why we'll get no further revelations ...)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 169875

>Carol:
> And anyone who
> wants a red flag to alert them to the presence of the unreliable
> narrator, meaning Harry's perception of anyone or anything, not just
> of Snape, being wrong, can just watch for the phrase "Harry knew."

<"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><

"Isn't it wonderful, this observation of Carol?" Neri asked Faith.
"All we have to do is just watch for the phrase `Harry knew', and
we'll immediately know that he's wrong."

Faith was sitting at her favorite desk in the corner of the Canon
Museum, working on some research project. Around were alleyways and
roads bordered by large and small canons, teetering piles of broken
and damaged furniture, winged catapults and Fanged Frisbees, chipped
bottles of congealed potions, dragon eggshells, corked bottles whose
contents still shimmered evilly, several rusting swords, and a heavy
bloodstained axe. 

"What?" said Faith distractedly, marking something in her notebooks,
"oh, not again, Neri. How many times do I have to explain this to you?
The narrator must be reliable at least 95% of the time, especially in
a fantasy series, especially with a mystery plot going. There's
nothing worse that can happen to such a narrator than losing its
reliability in the reader's eyes." She went back to her notebooks.

"But there are still those remaining 5%?" said Neri hopefully.
"Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of a
 er
 a red flag, to let
us know when the narrator is *really* unreliable?"

"Such a red flag doesn't exist. It's a theorist myth. Now stop
bothering me, I need to get some work done."

Neri sat himself on the edge of Faith's desk, but she just ignored
him. At last he suggested: "You could at least check that thing with
the `Harry knew' phrase, couldn't you?" 

"I don't need to. I know it doesn't work".

Neri waited, but Faith just continued ignoring him.

"OK," said Neri finally. "I'll check it myself."

He took out his wand, waved it in a wide arc at the Canon Museum at
large, and said aloud: "Accio `Harry knew'!"  

"NO!!! DON'T!!!" Screamed Faith. She jumped from her chair, caught
Neri by the arm and pulled him down the floor and under a heavy
cabinet. And just in time, because hundreds of canonballs landed where
they had both sat a second ago and smashed the desk to smithereens. 

"Oops, sorry," said Neri in a small voice.

"You just had to do it, you just had to
" muttered Faith, dusting her
school uniforms. "My favorite desk
  now look what you've done
"   

But Neri was already examining one of the canonballs. It was engraved
with the words: 


********************************************************
"Quirrell rolled off him, his face blistering too, and then Harry
knew: Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, not without suffering
terrible pain"
********************************************************


"He was right about it," said Neri, disappointed. "But maybe this
one
" He picked up another canonball and read the words engraved on it:


********************************************************
The little creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging
green eyes the size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this
was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.
********************************************************


"Right again
" said Neri and picked another ball: 


********************************************************
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat.

Harry knew at once that Malfoy had said something really bad because
there was an instant uproar at his words.
********************************************************


"Well, he can't be correct all the time!" exclaimed Neri. He picked up
another canonball
 and another
 and another
:


********************************************************
Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours
.Harry knew
there was only one thing to do.

"Wait there," he called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on."
********************************************************


********************************************************
Harry knew perfectly well that Dudley only put up with Aunt Marge's
hugs because he was well paid for it,
********************************************************


********************************************************
Professor McGonagall considered him intently. Harry knew she was
deeply interested in the Gryffindor team's prospects;
********************************************************


********************************************************
"Which job did he want, sir? What subject did he want to teach?" 
Somehow, Harry knew the answer even before Dumbledore gave it. 
"Defense Against the Dark Arts."
********************************************************


"What? No way!" said Neri. "Harry's wrong half the time, everybody
knows that." He looked around. "I know! Snape! We have to find
something Harry thinks he knows about Snape!" Neri frantically dug
into the large pile of canonballs.

"Didn't Carol say it would work about anyone and anything, not just
Snape?" Asked Faith in a rather smug tone. Neri wasn't listening to
her. A special canonball had just caught his eye. "Ha! Found it!"


********************************************************
"Antidotes!" said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black
eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your
recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be
selecting someone on whom to test one
"

Snape's eyes met Harry's, and Harry knew what was coming. Snape was
going to poison him.
********************************************************


"He was wrong!" said Neri triumphantly. "Snape didn't poison him!" 

"Well, technically we don't know that he was wrong," pointed out
Faith. "Perhaps Snape was *going* to do it at that moment, and it's
all moot anyway because Creevey just came in and took Harry to the
weighting of the wands, so we don't know how this scenario would have
developed."

"I foresee a big argument with the Snape fans. They'll all tell you
that Snape would never even *consider* poisoning a student."

"What do you think? Not even Harry? Not even for a moment? Not even
something that just causes a mild stomach ache?"

"OK, OK, so if you're so smart, you find it."

"Sure, no problem," said Faith. She rolled up her sleeves, took out
her wand and pointed it at the large pile of canonballs. "Accio `Harry
knew' but proved wrong!"

"NO!!! DON'T!!!" Screamed Neri, caught Faith by the arm and was ready
to pull her under the cabinet. But there was no need. A single little
canonball lifted out of the pile and landed gently onto Faith's
outstretched hand.

"What? Just one?? In the whole darn series??? What can it be????" Neri
tried to read the tiny font on the canonball:


********************************************************
Cedric was going to get there first. Cedric was sprinting as fast as
he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up,
Cedric was much taller, had much longer legs --

Then Harry saw something immense over a hedge to his left, moving
quickly along a path that intersected with his own; it was moving so
fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup,
had not seen it --
	
"Cedric!" Harry bellowed. "On your left!"
********************************************************


"So Harry did catch up after all, so to speak, " said Neri. "But do
you mean that's all? This isn't even a case of unreliable narrator,
exactly. And there wasn't any mystery involved. Just a simple plot
turn, of the kind that happens five or ten times in a chapter. Is this
the only case in the series in which `Harry knew' but definitely
proved wrong? Wait a minute
" he squinted suspiciously at Faith. "How
do I know you're not cheating?"

"I never cheat about canon," said Faith indignantly. "So unless you
can show me another `Harry knew' phrase where he's proved wrong,
please stop wasting my time with red flags. I need to get some work done."


Neri  




Notes to TBAY beginners:

A general introduction to Theory Bay:
http://hpfgu.org.uk/faq/history.html#11

Introducing Faith:
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/faq/hypotheticalley.html#faith