Understanding Goat's Law [BLOATED] + realities; locked room, etc

[annemehr]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Barry Arrowsmith"
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
 
> Anyway, we're left with the question - Just how powerful is Harry?
> Is he, for example, more powerful than Bella? Or Malfoy Snr?
> Being rated highly as a 5th year at Hogwarts is all very laudable, but
> one would not expect full powers until adulthood. 
> What we've seen so far is potential not yet come to fruition.


This is a very good question, and the evidence we can examine is
confusing.

I imagine being a really good flyer would count as being magically
powerful in one discrete area, at least. Or is it mere athleticism
(remember that at Muggle primary school Harry was always picked last
for teams, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted
Dudley's gang to think they liked him)?  I'm guessing it's at least
partly magical power because of the first flying lesson in PS where
Harry's broom went "up."

So much is made of Harry's corporeal patronus -- and then in the DA
meeting we see the swan, the otter, and the beginnings of "something
hairy."  We can not say "Hermione's and Cho's don't really count as
the girls weren't under any threat at the time," because Harry's DADA
examiner was impressed enough to give him a bonus point for his with
nary a dementor or boggart in sight.  We could, however, conclude that
Hermione and Cho are also powerfully magical (did anyone else produce
a corporeal patronus?).  By the way, does Hermione know she missed a
chance at a bonus point in her DADA OWL?

In the graveyard in GoF, Harry pushed the Priori Incantatem light
beads back into Voldemort's wand, winning that battle of magical
wills.  Or did he?  Was Voldemort even pushing back?  Also, Harry had
the advantage of the Phoenix song which gives courage to the Pure of
Heart but strikes fear into the Evil.  Er, is anyone going to argue
that Jo doesn't actually mean Harry to be Pure of Heart?  And that's
not a magical attribute.

Out of left field, maybe, but what's the meaning behind Harry's
teacup's stubby legs that don't reach the table, Ron's tall gangly
ones that collapse, and Hermione's perfect ones that run her teacup
right off the table?  Maybe nothing, but I always get a kick out of
that scene and wondered if it was symbolic of something.

Frankly, there's little real data on anyone, as far as magical power
is concerned, except when the narrator tells us directly. As far as
successfully casting spells goes, confidence, intelligence, and even
paying attention in class seem to have as much to do with it as
magical power (cf the twins' three OWLs apiece).  It might be safe to
assume that to get 12 OWLs you need to be powerful *and* intelligent.
 Even with Umbridge, we don't know that she *can't* do much magic; she
may just not be smart enough to figure out which spells to use ('don't
stun them, Filch!').

Anne

P.S. I've been following the
religion/fantasy/bloated-primary/secondary discussion but have nothing
to contribute except that I agree with Kneasy.  Jo's writing a story
first.  Once Evil entered, Good rose to oppose it, and Good will at
least be compatible with Jo's beliefs.