HBP: thoughts...

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I'm not disagreeing with you, although I think there are signs that
> Harry is a stronger wizard than he realizes.  Harry is best when he
> does something automatically without thinking about it - casting a
> patronus, flying a broomstick - or when he's in a tight corner - it
> was his idea after all to break the prophecy globes so that the
> hextet could make a break for it while they were trapped in the DoM. 
> 
> 
> If he stops to think about it, he's often stymied or doesn't
> accomplish what he wants.  He also gets frustrated, which probably
> doesn't help.  
> 
> Magda
> 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's useless, he's not, just that some of 
fandom have taken it for granted that since he's Harry then by definition
he's a top drawer wizard equal to more or less anyone - despite the fact 
that he's still at school.

I agree that mature consideration of the "what the hell do you think you're 
doing?" type is not Harry's forte. One shouldn't expect it to be, he's a stranger
in a strange land and in the 6 years he's been there nearly all of his time 
has been at Hogwarts. Now he's been thrown in the deep end with a vengence.

It's probably only from now on that not thinking before acting will become
quite literally a fatal error. He's on the high-wire and his safety net has gone.
Interesting to compare and contrast with Tom at the same age - Tom was 
always planning, looking for the edge. Calculation vs emotion. The emotion
tells Harry that instinctively he's right, but he should have learned from the
Sirius debacle that being 'right' emotionally doesn't guarantee success. In 
fact it can have disasterous consequences if you don't do your sums first.
Has he learned this lesson or will there be some more nasty set-backs before
it finally sinks in?

Kneasy