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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