PS/SS - chapter 1, post DH look

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 180910

> Alla:
> > The first weird thing that jumped at me today is that at some 
> > point of talking all things Potter I sort of stopped counting 
> > this chapter as written not from Harry's POV. I mean, it is 
> > not like I forgot exactly, but pushed back so to speak. Does 
> > it matter that narrator is more trustworthy here?
> 
> Potioncat:
> I think the PoV of or type of Narrator makes a big difference in the 
> telling and setting up of the story. Of course, we couldn't have had 
> this chapter from Harry's PoV. All he could see about now was 
> Hagrid's beard.

Bex now:
Good point, Cat. :) I still remember the magic of this chapter - I was
desperate to figure out what on /earth/ they were talking about.
There's nothing like that first read, when Hagrid lowers the boom on
Harry and the readers - "You're a wizard." JKR really knows how to
hook someone, doesn't she?

Carol makes an excellent observation further downthread - JK NEVER
goes into the POV of someone who actually knows exactly what's going
on. She chooses the most relevant, most inaccurate POV available for
the scenes in nearly all of the books, just to keep us off-balance.

I think that using a "non-biased" (and I use the phrase loosely)
narrator adds to the magic of the story, more than anything. We're
hearing something that sounds quite a bit like "Once upon a time, in a
small neighborhood in Britain..." We can't help but follow his view of
things, and it sets us up to keep following the narrator's point of
view (when it changes to Harry later in the story). Without this story
(or if this chapter was told in a different way), I think that it
would be much less compelling, and we'd probably be slightly less
inclined to "follow the leader".


> > Alla:
> > "It was plain that whatever everyone was saying, she was not going 
> > to 
> > believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true" – p.11 -12
> > 
> > comments about blind faith...

Bex now:
Good observation! I never thought of it this way before, but it very
clearly demonstrates the amount of trust McGonagall has in DD. She's
been hearing murmurs all day since midnight or a little later, but she
won't let herself believe them until she hears it from DD. 

> >Alla: 
> > "
but how in the name of Heaven did Harry survive?
> > We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know" – p.12
> > 
> > Alla:
> > 
> > So does this line means that at this point in time Dumbledore does 
> > not know that Harry is a Horcrux?
> 
> Potioncat:
> I don't think he does. I'm sure he has a strong opinion of what went 
> on, but did not want to share it. In a later post, someone brings up 
> DD's attitude about the scar. DD knows Tom Riddle was interested in 
> Horcruxes, and he knows the Dark Lord will mark the chosen one 
> (cannot recall the words.) So DD must know/suspect the scar will 
> have some magic. I don't think he suspects Horcrux!Harry until he 
> finds out from this list--I mean, OoP, maybe? Isn't there some canon
> about it in one of the later books?
> 
Bex:
Wait....
There are two different things going on here. McG asks how Harry
survived - and I don't think DD knows the /exact/ details. Enough so
that he can tell McG he doesn't know how without it being a total,
direct lie. DD generally bends the truth around backwards, but he
doesn't lie very often.

As for what happened to Harry (and why he has the scar):
I'm with Potioncat on this one. DD has a hint about what happened, and
he doesn't want to tip his hand. DD knows about Tom's curiosity about
Horcruxes - Slughorn would have told him about the first part of
/that/ conversation (that's how DD knew about the memory). When DD
asked Sluggy what his reply was, he came up with the edits he gave to
DD originally.

Though his theory is not proved correct until he sees the full
Slughorn memory (HBP, US Paper, p. 499), DD had an idea of what Tom
was up to, probably when he heard the scuttlebutt about that question.
 I think the gleam in GoF is because he just thought that it was
possible for Harry to survive even when LV died, and the silver
instrument ("in essence divided") indicates that Harry has a bit of
Riddle soul in him, though DD can't be positive why it's there until
HBP. I essentially see this comment and the scar comment as DD just
being cagey.

> > 
> Potioncat:
> This is great. I'm looking forward to a post DH re-read myself, and 
> I'm really glad we're getting the opportunity to discuss the books. 
> Thanks, Alla!
>

Bex:
Me too! The thing that bugs me in this chapter (and it has fior a
couple of books now) is that we see NO reaction at all from DD when
Hagrid mentions Sirius. Just "No problems, were there?" Granted,
Hagrid /doesn't/ mention Sirius offering to take Harry - he just
mentions Sirius lending him the bike. I wish she would have mentioned
DD looking at Hagrid oddly or something. If DD really believed that
Sirius was the SK, then shouldn't there be SOMETHING after the SK had
obviously given the Potter's location away?

Too many posts to read... must stop writing...

~Bex