Hmmm. What's your favorite *now*?

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183079

Lynda:
> > Never, in any of my readings of the books or viewings of the
movies have i ever seen Harry as just a mediocre kid.
> 
> Magpie:
> Me neither. <snip> We know from the beginning of the book that Harry
*isn't* ordinary, so there's no point in ever pretending he is. He's
not even mediocre at the Dursleys, he's living in this exaggerated
world where he's the worst thing ever. That's why I find all the
business with the letters frustrating, because maybe Harry is confused
and excited by them, but I'm two steps ahead of him.
> 
> Though I would read about a mediocre kid. I like reading about 
mediocre people who rise to be something special. Harry, however, is 
the Chosen One who discovers more super powers as he goes.

Carol responds:

Ah, well. This idea of Harry's being in some respects ordinary or
average and in others extraordinary is one that people will never
agree on.

Here's my perspective, which I don't expect anyone necessarily to
agree with. the second chapter of SS/PS is written for kids (not
analytical adults) who don't yet know Harry, from the perspective of
not quite-eleven-year-old Harry, who doesn't yet know that he's a
Wizard. It's intended to be comic and at the same time to emphsize
through exaggeration the extent of Uncle Vernon's unfairness to Harry.
Harry's one wrong move is to allow Uncle Vernon to know about the
letter before he himself has read it. Everything goes wrong from
there. We're supposed to see Harry as small, skinny, outnumbered,
bullied, and essentially helpless, but not desperate enough to call up
the accidental magic he doesn't know he possesses. Comic mayhem
ensues, no more realistic than Hagrid's hands being the size of trash
bin lids. (Boarding up the door to prevent the mail from coming in?
And I suppose Uncle Vernon is supposed to climb the back fence or
leave through a window to get to work?)

As for Harry's "mediocrity," that, of course, is Snape's word and no
doubt reflects his perspective. In terms of school marks, it's
perfectly true. (He seems to be averaging an Acceptable, which would
be a C or "Average" in an American school, in most of his subjects in
OoP when he has his career counseling session with McGonagall, with an
E in a few subjects (Charms, IIRC)--and, of course, he's failing that
year's DADA class through no fault of his own.

>From a Muggle perspective (other than that of the Dursleys), he might
be viewed as extraordinary simply by virtue of being a Wizard, but so
would Ron or Colin Creevey or any Wizard who could perform, say, a
Vanishing Spell or even a simple Hover Charm. From the Dursleys'
perspective, magic is evil and must be stamped out. Harry is no better
and no worse than any others of Lily's "sort" or "crowd"--anyone from
Tonks to Dumbledore to the Weasleys is an undesirable with whom they
want no contact.

>From Hermione's point of view, Harry is extraordinary and powerful.
>From his own, he's good at Quidditch and flying but otherwise no
different from any other Wizard kid except that Voldemort wants to
kill him and he has some unwanted powers (Parseltongue and the scar
connection) somehow acquired when Voldemort tried to kill him. While
those powers are sometimes useful, they can sometimes lead him astray
(the false vision of Sirius Black being tortured, the failure to
realize that "Bathilda" is speaking Parseltongue), and the scar
connection can be a real headache. Harry doesn't want to lead the
as-yet unnamed DA because, as he points out, most of his escapes and
exploits involved help from other people and a lot of luck. However,
as Hermione points out, he alone has actually faced Voldemort and
survived, which, in itself, is extraordinary. In DH, she thinks it's
his power that caused his wand to attack Voldemort. Harry knows
better; it was the wand itself.

So, is Harry ordinary or extraordinary? Setting aside the fact that
he's a Wizard, which in itself differentiates him from us Muggles,
he's extraordinary in terms of what has happened to him and in what he
eventually has to face. He can cast a corporeal Patronus (and I'm not
going *there* again!) and play Quidditch exceptionally well (though
luck plays a part even there). OTOH, he does have a more talented
friend (Hermione) who has given him a lot of help and he has more than
the usual quota of luck even without the help of Felix Felicis. He's
not an exceptional student, being rather lazy with a tendency toward
procrastination and no qualms about copying Hermione's notes and
essays (or taking credit for the HBP's Potions improvements). His
popularity has nothing to do with his personality and waxes and wanes
with his Quidditch performance and the Daily Propher's stories about
him (or the mistaken perception that he's the Heir of Slytherin). He's
a small, skinny kid with glasses and unruly hair (and, at least in the
first book, "knobbly" knees)--the type of kid that young readers who
aren't particularly good looking or popular can identify with. (His
friend Ron has red hair and big feet; his other friend Hermione has
bushy hair and, for three and a half books, large and possibly crooked
front teeth, more "ordinary" qualities that kids can identify with.
One is poor and overshadowed by his older brothers; the other is a
"swot." These are not "cool," popular kids.)

So, sure. Harry, through no fault of his own, is the Chosen One
targeted by Voldemort, who just happens to have the particular set of
powers (including a form of Love, Parseltongue, and the soul bit/scar
connection) required to defeat him without having anything near
voldemort's magical power and skill in other respects--all of which
*adds* to his appeal--the little guy against the powerful villain
(David and Goliath; Frodo and Sauron).

What differentiates Harry from Cedric, who is so coldly and ruthlessly
murdered for being "the spare"? Cedric is slightly older, handsomer,
generous, fair, brave, and magically talented, but those things are
not enough: he lacks the magical protection provided by Lily's
sacrifice and Harry's holly wand, which Voldemort's yew wand can't
defeat. In the end, ordinary though he is in many respects (less
intelligent than Hermione, less powerful and skilled than Severus
Snape or Albus Dumbledore, much smaller than Hagrid, much less
experienced than Mad-Eye Moody, etc., etc.), only Harry can defeat
Voldemort--with a lot of luck and the help of his friends, including
even the dead Dumbledore.

Carol, who thinks that if Harry weren't ordinary in many respects and
by no means the equal of Voldemort in power or talent, it would be
difficult to empathize and impossible to sympathize with him