Harry Potter and the Enormous Nerd (book 6.5)
So I’ve been on this Harry Potter kick…and by ‘kick’ I mean I reread the whole series and topped it off with a first time through the sixth book in the last week and a half. Also, I have many many hours of mindless clerical work every week that allows me time to think about random crap. That’s just my disclaimer for the ultra-nerdiness of the ensuing blog.
The more I read these books, the more I see my own faults in Harry, especially in the fifth book. So I started making a list of similarities between Harry and me.
~We both hate coming home for the summer (him from Hogwarts, me from Wartburg), because our families just don’t, perhaps can’t, understand us.
~The only person who really understands Harry is Dumbledore, and I can often say the same for my own academic advisor.
~Both of us have an obnoxious tendency to magnify our experiences and achievements, and to take some sort of subconscious enjoyment in feeling oppressed.
~Both of us tend to try and keep out pain to ourselves, but neither of us succeed at this very frequently.
~People are sometimes jealous of Harry and I because our professors appreciate our abilities-but people also don’t understand how hard it is to live up to such high standards, even when those standards have only been set by oneself.
~We both got a late start at most of the things we’re good at, discovering them only when our peers have had years of experience. Despite this, however, we both feel like we ought to be the very best at what we do.
And perhaps most significantly:
~We have each got a regretfully unique scar indicative of a tormented past.
Once I finished the sixth book, I had to amend my list to include the disclaimer that I, unlike Harry, do not have the shittiest life imaginable.
Now, if you haven’t read the sixth book yet, and you intend to, I would recommend that you don’t continue to read this because I’m going to spoil the mysterious bits. If you’ve already read it or don’t care, then by all means carry on.
I’d like to make a few predictions about what’s going to happen in the next book. I think Harry is going to steadily grow less and less likeable (he’s been doing this since the end of book 4) as he tries to distance himself from everyone who cares about him, although his intentions are good (he doesn’t want to endanger them). He will think that he has no choice but to finish Voldemort off by himself. I predict that he will succeed in finding and destroying two, maybe three of the remaining four Horcruxes without the help of Ron, Hermione, and the others, who will have mostly fallen out of the picture by now. Members of the Order of the Phoenix will aid Harry when the going gets tough, and although they will be uninvited they will not be unwelcome.
The fourth Horcrux, I predict, will be something that Harry is loathe to destroy; perhaps something that was owned by one of his parents or Sirius. At this point, Hermione and Ron will take the opportunity to launch themselves back into the realm of significance, and make Harry see reason. The will not destroy the Horcrux, rather, they will persuade Harry to do so.
I think the author will do something to make both the readers and Harry more sympathetic toward Draco. Harry and Draco will inevitably face each other once again, beginning with an intense desire to cause one another as much pain as possible-but neither will have the gall to seriously hurt the other.
I can’t figure out what I think will end up of Snape. I have a feeling he’s going to continue to play both sides, trying (unsuccessfully) to regain the Order’s trust while remaining an apparently loyal servant to Voldemort. But I still have no idea which side he truly belongs to-there’s a chance he might redeem himself somehow. Perhaps while Ron and Hermione are at Hogwarts without Harry, they will obsess over trying to find out why Dumbledore always trusted Snape.
At some point Harry will once more duel one on one with Snape, and they won’t finish one another off, although not for lack of trying. Neither will ever forgive the other.
At the very end, I have a feeling that Harry, having not finished his education and therefore disqualified himself from becoming a Ministry-approved Auror, will take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, at which point the curse will be lifted because, of course, Harry will have destroyed Voldemort by this point and will hold the position for many years.
The more I read these books, the more I see my own faults in Harry, especially in the fifth book. So I started making a list of similarities between Harry and me.
~We both hate coming home for the summer (him from Hogwarts, me from Wartburg), because our families just don’t, perhaps can’t, understand us.
~The only person who really understands Harry is Dumbledore, and I can often say the same for my own academic advisor.
~Both of us have an obnoxious tendency to magnify our experiences and achievements, and to take some sort of subconscious enjoyment in feeling oppressed.
~Both of us tend to try and keep out pain to ourselves, but neither of us succeed at this very frequently.
~People are sometimes jealous of Harry and I because our professors appreciate our abilities-but people also don’t understand how hard it is to live up to such high standards, even when those standards have only been set by oneself.
~We both got a late start at most of the things we’re good at, discovering them only when our peers have had years of experience. Despite this, however, we both feel like we ought to be the very best at what we do.
And perhaps most significantly:
~We have each got a regretfully unique scar indicative of a tormented past.
Once I finished the sixth book, I had to amend my list to include the disclaimer that I, unlike Harry, do not have the shittiest life imaginable.
Now, if you haven’t read the sixth book yet, and you intend to, I would recommend that you don’t continue to read this because I’m going to spoil the mysterious bits. If you’ve already read it or don’t care, then by all means carry on.
I’d like to make a few predictions about what’s going to happen in the next book. I think Harry is going to steadily grow less and less likeable (he’s been doing this since the end of book 4) as he tries to distance himself from everyone who cares about him, although his intentions are good (he doesn’t want to endanger them). He will think that he has no choice but to finish Voldemort off by himself. I predict that he will succeed in finding and destroying two, maybe three of the remaining four Horcruxes without the help of Ron, Hermione, and the others, who will have mostly fallen out of the picture by now. Members of the Order of the Phoenix will aid Harry when the going gets tough, and although they will be uninvited they will not be unwelcome.
The fourth Horcrux, I predict, will be something that Harry is loathe to destroy; perhaps something that was owned by one of his parents or Sirius. At this point, Hermione and Ron will take the opportunity to launch themselves back into the realm of significance, and make Harry see reason. The will not destroy the Horcrux, rather, they will persuade Harry to do so.
I think the author will do something to make both the readers and Harry more sympathetic toward Draco. Harry and Draco will inevitably face each other once again, beginning with an intense desire to cause one another as much pain as possible-but neither will have the gall to seriously hurt the other.
I can’t figure out what I think will end up of Snape. I have a feeling he’s going to continue to play both sides, trying (unsuccessfully) to regain the Order’s trust while remaining an apparently loyal servant to Voldemort. But I still have no idea which side he truly belongs to-there’s a chance he might redeem himself somehow. Perhaps while Ron and Hermione are at Hogwarts without Harry, they will obsess over trying to find out why Dumbledore always trusted Snape.
At some point Harry will once more duel one on one with Snape, and they won’t finish one another off, although not for lack of trying. Neither will ever forgive the other.
At the very end, I have a feeling that Harry, having not finished his education and therefore disqualified himself from becoming a Ministry-approved Auror, will take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, at which point the curse will be lifted because, of course, Harry will have destroyed Voldemort by this point and will hold the position for many years.