Albus and Gellert/Voldemort's Power

littleleahstill leahstill at hotmail.com
Sun Apr 20 14:28:18 UTC 2008


No: HPFGUIDX 182581

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
> Carol responds:
>> 
> As for Harry, despite a Pure-Blood father who was good at Quidditch
> (the sole talent that Harry seems to have inherited) and talented 
at
> Transfiguration (the Marauder's Map; becoming an illegal Animagus 
in
> his teens) and a mother who was gifted at Potions according to
> Slughorn (and perhaps at Charms, if her first wand is any 
indication),
> Harry is not a gifted student, and his skill at DADA is mostly a
> matter of necessity. 

(snipping DADA examples)

> Any extraordinary powers that Harry has (Parseltongue, the scar 
link)
> are the result of the AK that failed and his mother's sacrifice, 
not
> to mention the state of Voldemort's mangled soul, which enabled a
> piece to fly off and lodge itself, unknown to LV, in the open cut 
on
> baby!Harry's forehead. Without those special circumstances, both 
the
> soul bit and the special training, Harry would (IMO) have been just
> another Wizard kid, very good at flying and Quidditch but no better
> than Ron at his studies, including DADA. (He'd have had the 
advantage
> of a better wand, though, probably!) And the Muggle-born Hermione
> would, not doubt, have outperformed him in every subject instead of
> every subject except DADA.
> 
> Carol, waxing theoretical since nobody seems to be posting today!



Leah:  It is quiet isn't it. Snipping your post dramatically, to 
reply to the bit I disagree with somewhat.

In his OWLS, Harry obtains one O in DADA (which, I would agree is 
a 'special' subject for him), and Es in Potions, Transfiguration, 
Charms, Herbology and COMC.  Setting aside his failed subjects for a 
moment, his only low pass (A) is in Astronomy, where the practical 
exam was interrupted.  At least the first three of Harry's E passes 
are in subjects which we have seen are technically difficult and  
also require a good theoretical knowledge.  I think it's fair to say 
that Harry's performance in any of these subjects in class and 
during his homework periods, would have suggested that he would be 
at best an 'Acceptable' student when it came to predicting grades.  
To me, his exam results suggest not that he is untalented, but that 
he is one of those annoying (to teachers) children who coast along 
in class but are bright and intrinsically talented enought to pull 
the stops out when it really matters.   If he could get Es with the 
work that he put in over his years at Hogwarts, then it would only 
have taken a bit of academic application to end up with Os all round.

Harry works when he needs to (DADA, as you say) and is either 
interested in the subject (DADA, Potions when he need Felix) or 
likes the teacher (Hagrid, Lupin, McGonagall to some extent, the 
Prince). When he's not interested in the subject or dislikes the 
teacher (HoM, Diviniation, pre- NEWT Potions), he either can't be 
bothered or he's careless.  He also, perhaps because of his neglect 
by the Dursleys) does well when taught one to one (Hermione, Lupin, 
the Prince).  He does tend to be lazy and procrastinate (as in the 
Triwizard contest and getting Slughorn's memory) and needs to be 
inspired to concentrate and work hard.

As to Harry's inherited talents, when, during his first NEWT year, 
he is actually engaged by Potions, by a combination of (apparent) 
lack of Professor Snape, the Prince's book, and the fact that he can 
suddenly see the usefulness of being good at the subject, he does 
very, very well - '"I don't think even you, Severus...".  Of course 
a lot of that is caused by following the Prince's instructions, but 
it can't be the only reason, since Potions requires not only 
following instructions accurately, but intrinsic skills in chopping 
and blending.  I'm not sure Neville would have done as well as Harry 
if gifted with the Prince's book.  That would suggest that Harry has 
inherited Lily's talent, albeit suppressed through most of his 
school career by his lack of his interest and his mutual antagonism 
with Snape.

I suspect James was much like Harry. We see in SWM that James finds 
exams easy, and McGonagall describes him and Sirius as very bright.  
However, she does not say that he was a hardworking student or 
enjoyable to teach, rather that he and Sirius were 'troublemakers'.  
I don't see James as the Hermione of his day.  The accomplishments 
that you refer to, the Marauders' Map and the animagus 
transformations, are things James achieved in his own time, because, 
we can presume, he wanted to be able to move about the school 
undetected and because he wanted to accompany WereLupin.  In other 
words, like Harry he put a great deal of effort into his work and 
used his talents when he was engaged and interested, and had 
something to gain,  and, like Harry he could also perform well when 
it mattered at exam time.

I agree with you about the nature of Harry's special powers, but 
think that, as a student, Harry is actually someone who was quite 
talented enough if he could be bothered to be so.

Leah            





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