jlh | OotP Chapter 2 (Reply)

What struck me most in this chapter is, WHY does Harry keep trying to explain himself to his aunt and uncle? He doesn't imagine they will understand, and when they do catch on to things, he is shocked. Does he think that if he stuns them with jargon they will leave him alone?

Oh, Dumbledore, WHY did you leave Harry in the care of two such incompetent people as Figg and Fletcher? Their exchange would be comical under some other circumstance but here it's disheartening. Does A.D. not pay attention? He seemed oddly all-knowing at one point and now it seems he knows nothing at all.

For a moment I actually feel sorry for Dudley and Petunia (though never Vernon). How frightening, and for Petunia, of course, the magical world means death. Her sister went into it, and now she is gone; of course she's scared of magic. (And, knowing what we know now, of course she didn't like James very much.)

When I read this the first time, the first owl came as a horrible shock. I wonder why I didn't think, "If they can sense he had done magic, why can't they sense the Dementors had been there" but of course the Ministry knew all along. Arthur's letter and the subsequent revision from the Ministry are a relief, but I agree with Harry that Sirius' note does not help. At least his earlier owls this summer were understanding of Harry's plight, but this one is a real disappointment. We also see the beginning of Harry's resentment at the lack of praise; glimmers of his father's arrogance, perhaps? However, that lack of praise makes his later shock when Hermione lists his achievements that much more believable.

(I suppose I keep looking at how Harry is like his father because of the thought that the Marauder flashback showed how much he is like his mother, temperamentally. I actually think he really is like both of them, alternately.)

What I do love is how able Harry is to focus, block out all the chaos of the Dursleys screaming and the owls flying around and think. That's really his strength, that he is so rarely distracted when the pressure is on. And then his complete shock and sudden realization of his connection to them when Petunia knows what a dementor is, when they both recognize the name Voldemort. Ironic that these Muggles, who believe almost nothing that comes out of his mouth, believe that Voldemort is back when the rest of the wizarding world thinks he's mad.

(Oh, and on the first chapter—Harry, so not a careful reader, so sure that Voldemort's return would make the front pages. Then again, if he had read through the rest of the Prophet he likely would have been that much angrier.)

And then the howler, and we get our first confirmation that there is a very important reason that Harry must always return to Privet Drive, though we don't get the reason itself for quite a while. Like many spacey wives, though, when Petunia is very firm that something must happen, Vernon listens.

I continue to shake in my fury at Dumbledore. No, Marysia, no one was paying attention. And yes, Harry's mental health was sacrificed for some sort of greater good. It's truly ugly, if you ask me.