[HPforGrownups] Secrets of Harry's past - At the Last Moment

[Shelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 190124


> Shelley:
> It was a nice gesture, but notice how fast Harry loses it- as soon as
> Harry gets home, Uncle Vernon locks all of Harry's school books up and
> padlocks Hedwig's cage.
>
> And does Rowling ever mention it again in the series?
>
> Shelley
>
> Lynda: My immediate thought was, Uncle Vernon was a jerk and acted in character. Why would I expect such a person to act any differently than he did? Harry does have access to his things again throughout the series. I know that from understanding continuity and the way Rowling writes. Once again--I do not have to be told that characters in the course of a novel engage in such mundane activities as bathing, going to the bathroom, sleeping, looking at pictures of family members to understand that if they are living "normal" lives they are doing such things, and frankly books that depict all those mundane activities are deadly bores.
>
> Lynda
Shelley now:
Ummm yeah, except in this case, the photo book is a clue to something 
that happens later in the series:

Geoff:
Exercising my once famous grasp of canon:

'Harry, who didn't want Fred and George asking him whether he'd reached
Hogsmeade or not, sneaked quietly up to the empty dormitory and headed
straight for his bedside cabinet. He pushed his books aside ands quickly found
what he was looking for - the leather-bound photo album Hagrid had given
him two years ago, which was full of wizard pictures of his mother and father.
He sat down on his bed, drew the hangings round him and started turning the
pages, searching, until...

He stopped on a picture of his parents' wedding day. There was his father "
waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing
up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm
with his Dad. And there... that must be him. Their best man... Harry had never
given him a thought before'
(POA "The Firebolt" p,157 UK edition)

Shelley:
So while you see looking at pictures of family members as "boring and mundane", the fact that Harry is an orphan makes the photo book a valuable tool to introduce us to people who will indeed play a key role in this story. It's not boring because really, this is the first opportunity you get to see the people that Harry was denied the opportunity to grow up with (not everyday life, IMHO!) You can be bored all you want, but the rest of us were looking for clues to how the story would progress.