Way back in 2007 I knew I had to do something with those two and this song, but I didn’t know what, or how. Now I know - this, and something else that’ll come soon.
The boy has never had anything nice and the second he gets his hands on some money he tries to buy a fucking solid gold cauldron like started from the bottom now we here I love him so much
Honestly Hagrid saved Harry from so much embarrassment. Can you imagine him turning up to his first potions lesson with a fucking solid gold cauldron??? Like Snape already hated Harry think about what he would have said if Harry just plonked that on his desk
I think he would have said fuck it to his promise to dumbledore and murdered Harry on the spot
AGAIN WITH THE SOLID GOLD POSSESSIONS HARRY. I’m surprised he never replaced his glasses with solid gold ones the boy clearly has a taste for the finer things in life. Or when he had his bones removed by Lockhart in second year, he probably had to stop himself from asking Pomfrey to just fill his arm up with gold instead of bones.
NO WONDER HE CAN SEE THE FUCKIN SNITCH SO WELL HE’S ON THE HUNT FOR GOLD
do you ever think about how the series of events that lead to Dumbledore’s death in HBP was literally set into motion by Oliver Wood’s passion for Quidditch
okay but literally I can’t stop thinking about this -
it is of course possible that Draco would have gotten the Death Eaters into the school some other way if the Vanishing Cabinet hadn’t created the perfect opportunity, but it wasn’t looking likely.
so like, it’s reasonable enough to assume that Dumbledore’s death (at the hands of Snape specifically, obviously I know he was going to die soon enough from the curse, but the timing does make a difference so I’m still focused on this) occurred because of the Death Eaters getting into the school. the reason the Death Eaters were able to get into the school was because of the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, which Draco repaired.
the Vanishing Cabinet ended up in the Room of Requirement over the summer of 1996, presumably (reasoning for this is in the next paragraph), and Draco discovered it there sometime in his 6th year. but the only reason he had even known what it was, and what it could do, was because he had spoken with….
Graham Montague, a Slytherin who was in 7th year in 1995-1996 (when Harry & co were in 5th year). Montague was shoved into the Vanishing Cabinet in that year by Fred and George Weasley, because he was a part of the Inquisitorial Squad and was presumably about to take points from the Weasley twins for doing something disruptive. and we know that Montague got stuck in a limbo between the two connected cabinets, due to one of them being broken - he could hear things being discussed in Borgin & Burkes, which is how he was able to let Malfoy know that the other “end of the tunnel”, or basically the other cabinet, was in Borgin & Burkes (which, Draco would already have seen as a 12-year-old, in the summer before his 2nd year, when he visited the shop with his father - fun fact, Harry hid in that exact cabinet while Lucius Malfoy was transacting with Borgin).
Montague would never have had this experience at all if the cabinet hadn’t been broken in the first place. but in fact, we know exactly how, when, why, and by whom the cabinet was broken.
it was in the fall of 1992, when Nearly Headless Nick observed that Harry had gotten in trouble with Filch, and prompted Peeves to drop that very same cabinet from a large height in order to cause a distraction for Filch, allowing Harry to get out of trouble.
why was Harry in trouble in the first place? because he was “tracking mud” in the corridors.
why was he tracking mud in the corridors? because Oliver Wood had had him out on the Quidditch pitch all day even though it had been literally storming outside. so Harry came into the castle drenched and splattered with mud.
Dumbledore literally died because of how obsessed Oliver Wood was with winning the Quidditch Cup.
thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
sorry, one more thing - people keep reblogging this with tags that imply they think that this is like a “headcanon” or just “plausible” and while I get why you would think that, I need you to really understand how canonical this is because it’s Very canonical which is Ridiculous
to clarify:
the bits about the Vanishing Cabinet being the only real way he had to get the Death Eaters in, having heard about it from Montague and how that made him realize he could use them as a passage, etc - that was all clearly laid out in HBP, chapter 27 (The Lightning-Struck Tower).
Montague being shoved into the cabinet takes place in OOTP, chapter 28 (Snape’s Worst Memory).
Draco seeing the cabinet and Harry being in the cabinet is all in CoS, chapter 4 (At Flourish and Blotts).
and the entire situation with the Quidditch practice and the mud and Harry getting in trouble and Nick getting Peeves to drop the cabinet is in CoS, chapter 8 (The Deathday Party).
it’s the lined-up-dominoes meme, and it’s ridiculous. and it’s all on the page.
It’s better than that.
Voldemort died because Harry was the master of the Elder Wand that Voldemort was trying to use.
Why was Harry the master? Because he overpowered its previous master, Draco, and won its allegiance.
Why was Draco master of the Elder Wand? Because he disarmed Dumbledore in the precise sequence being discussed, which relied on the vanishing cabinet.
Harry defeated Voldemort because of Oliver Wood’s passion for quidditch.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I’m kicking myself, I can’t believe I missed this!!!! thank you for the final connection!!!!!!!
The thing about Harry Potter as a character is that he is insanely observant when he actually cares enough to pay attention. Meaning 90% of the stuff he deems unimportant flies over his head, but he makes these huge leaps of logic and intuition when he bothers to focus. Like in the books when it comes to anything relating to Voldemort or Death Eaters or People Not To Be Trusted (Draco, Umbridge). Growing up, he had to be able to see when a situation was going south long before the frying pan or Dudley’s fists came his way. But he also had to be able to ignore and tune out the constant flow of shit and neglect he was treated to.
If you think about it, for all the better aspects of Hogwarts, it still followed this same basic pattern. He had to pay close attention to the things trying to kill him (even classes took a back seat to this), but find a way to ignore and not acknowledge all the rumors and staring and people thinking he’s a prat or the heir of slytherin or a liar. I think this is why the arguments that Harry is a mushroom and notices nothing, and the arguments that he is deductively brilliant can exist side by side. He’s both. It’s also why, in my opinion, he tends to be ridiculously observant of Ginny once he starts to notice her as something important. She barely exists in the early narrative other than Someone to Be Saved. It’s also why Ginny can sometimes feel like she ‘comes from nowhere’ in the narrative. As far as Harry is concerned, she did come from nowhere. The switch in Harry’s brain went from Doesn’t Matter–Ignore to Very Important–Pay Close Attention, and BAM, there she was. Everywhere.
This is why I don’t get people who think Harry has no characterization. He’s very smart and is a product of neglect and abuse.
He has low self esteem in book one, cause the Dursleys treated him like nobody. He’s utterly devoted to his friends cause he’s never experienced love. How loving he is is actually super touching. Hogwarts seems amazing to him not so much because of the magic but because there’s so much food and love and friendly people and he’s assumed to belong there and to be worthy of inclusion!
He investigates things on his own or with the few friends he trusts, rather than going to teachers or asking for help, because no adults have helped him in life so far. He’s survived the Dursleys because he relied on himself. Authority figures are not to be trusted. Remember when Umbridge is torturing him with that quill? He just treats it as a private contest between himself and Umbridge. Ron and Hermione are appalled, and Hermione tells him to go to McGonnagal. But Harry has been set up to internalize abuse and assume no help will come. And because of his experiences with abuse he pays attention to where the real power lies. Cause that’s where the real threat is. He’s right that Umbridge has more power than McGonnagal, and more even than Dumbledore. When Dumbledore is called upon to protect Harry from Umbridge, Dumbledore does, but at the cost of his own job. And then he’s not there to protect anyone else after that.
Harry’s a very good example of someone whose ptsd is an asset in some ways, cause he often has the right insticts at dealing with actual danger. He’s very skilled.
For instance, he’s very tuned in to signs of danger and he always takes them seriously. This is partly why Hogwarts seems so dangerous to us (I mean, also cause it is, but this is partly why). The idea that Snape could be working for Voldemort? The worst is always possible! The idea that McGonnagal is gonna hit him with a wooden stick? The idea that he’s gonna be expelled any time in the first book? The idea that he’s gonna die on this detention in the forbidden forest? They all seem like real threats, but if Voldemort hadn’t been back, that detention would have been fine, and McGonnagal put him on the quidditch team instead of hitting him, and he was never gonna get expelled. Some of the sense of urgency and danger is just Harry being hypervigilent.
More examples:
The idea that the mermaids are gonna drown Hermione and Fleur if the time runs out in the second task?
The idea that he needs to go into the Chamber of Secrets instead of telling a teacher?
The idea that Voldemort had Sirius in the department of Mysteries?
Harry sometimes gets it wrong and sometimes gets it right, but he always assumes that any danger is real and reacts as though it’s the worst case scenario. And when it is the worst case scenario, that serves him well.
That’s a mentality that comes from growing up with the Dursleys, because the worst frequently did happen and Harry had to watch out for danger all the time. Which leads to hypervigilence.
People sometimes think he’s stupid for not realizing the second task wasn’t going to kill anyone, for instance. But it’s just his ptsd - he’s primed to go into fight or flight at any time.
It’s also why he has that “saving people thing.” He’s suffered, so he is empathic to suffering. He doesn’t want people to suffer.
And he’s had bad things happen around him, so he’s ready for the worst to happen to other people too. And he’s never had anyone save him, so he doesn’t think anyone else will jump in and save the day. And he’s had people be bystanders of abuse to him all his life, so he won’t be that.
So he’ll jump in and save people. It’s a strong urge.
He’s also used to suffering himself and thus will internalize a lot before going to anyone for help. Remember when he was fourteen and felt embarrassed that he wanted someone like a parent to write to about a murderer possibly being back (his scar hurting)? He wrote to Sirius.
He was embarrassed. In his own head. For wanting to have an adult he could confide in. At 13.
And when he was fifteen and had just seen someone murdered? He yelled at Ron and Hermione a lot. Lots of people have trouble with that too and find him over the top.
But they’re his family. He doesn’t have any adults to yell at. (He does eventually yell at Dumbledore). He only confides in Sirius that one time, and then realizes that could put Sirius in danger and stops.
Harry’s also very snarky and sarcastic and he loves his friends a lot and he’s very determined and stubborn. And he has a huge amount of love and appreciation for good things - time at the Weasleys, jokes, good food, love and friendship. He appreciates it so damn much. It breaks my heart and makes me love him.
So yeah. He’s damn good at resisting and fighting. Cause he’s been doing that all his life, and cause he’d do anything for the world that showed him love for the first time.
Having read the books multiple times and watched the movies too, i never felt a connection to harry. Because i never understood him
