Harry's Swimming Skills?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 184133

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "happyjoeysmiley" <happyjoeysmiley at ...> 
wrote:
>
> In GoF, we are told that Harry does not know to swim. (Or were we told 
> that he cannot stay *under* water for long?)
> 
> Yet in HBP when he goes along with DD to get the locket Horcrux and in 
> DH when he tries to get the Sword of Gryffindor, he does swim and gets 
> under water.
> 
> Just curious if this was a miss by JKR or something which I missed to 
> gather while reading all those books. Has this has been discussed 
> earlier in this forum / answered already by JKR? Any pointers?
> 
> ~Joey

Geoff:
The relevant quote from GOF is:
'He wasn't a very good swimmer; he'd never had much 
practice. Dudley had had lessons in their youth but Aunt 
Petunia and Uncle Vernon, no doubt hoping that Harry 
would drown one day, hadn't bothered to give him any. 
A couple of lengths of this bath was all very well but that 
lake was very large and very deep.....'
(GOF "The Egg and the Eye" p.403 UK edition)

Now, the scene in HBP is about two years later so it is quite 
possible that Harry might have improved his swimming. In 
the HBP example, he has to swim a short distance in the sea 
and the main problems are his waterlogged clothes and the 
coldness of the water.

In the DH scenario, we are told that the frozen pool was a 
small one. nd his neck. The suggestion seems to be that it 
was not very deep and he did not have to go very deeply
under water to reach the sword. I think the problem was, 
again,  the coldness and the tightening of the chain around 
his neck which  made him disorientated and also lost his 
balance.