The more I think about this the more that bit in ch. 48 seems like a mistake by the author. Harry did tell her. She presumably still has the “42” envelope containing the piece of paper where Harry wrote the secret obliquely. Ch. 48 reads like EY forgot that.
Edit: OK, technically Harry implied back then that she should avoid reading it unless she had to, so Hermione followed his wishes when she put the paper away unread. How do they expect this to work?
“That feels like a dementor. Better apparate away—oops, can’t do that, another wizard must have made an anti-apparation hex. Better pull out that wax-sealed paper I always carry and calmly open it with one hand, using the other to hold my wand in case I need it to defend against my postulated wizard opponent, and then calmly read Harry’s hint while hoping the dementor doesn’t make me forget who Harry is, and then figure out what he meant, and then apply the knowledge to the problem of duplicating a spell that Harry prepared carefully in a relatively safe situation.”
He refuses to teach the advanced kind, and expects she can’t perform the regular kind in any case (which she tried). Draco couldn’t learn regular Patronus because, being a Slytherin, he never made a honest effort.
Not all happy thoughts work. Harry suggested to Draco a particular happy thought that would work: his father protecting him from human frailty. This is appropriate to protect against a symbol of death, as Harry’s father buying him books is not.
So no, Hermione’s problem is not that she can’t find a happy thought, but that she doesn’t know what sort of happy thought she is supposed to find.
Didn’t Harry also swear to keep what he and Draco experiment with secret? This is why he never told her about the magic gene either, unless I am misremembering things.
Harry teaches Draco to cast Patronus 1.0, Hermione wants to learn Patronus 2.0. Harry doesn’t want anyone to know of 2.0, so he keeps it secret. Draco learning of 1.0 is a net gain in terms of Dementor containment—he represents all of Slytherin.
Hermione learning of 2.0 would be a ‘net gain’ at face, but too risky to allow. If others learn of the secret from her (or read her mind to find out) and the secret spreads, then it’s a net loss for Dementor containment. You gain a second ‘lifer’ (I wanted to say Dementor killer, but that’s a bit oxymoronic) and potentially lose thousands of normal guards.
In ch. 47 Harry teaches Draco how to cast a Patronus, but in ch. 48 he refuses to teach Hermione. Why?
So the parable supports his intended real world lesson to the greatest extent possible. The details of the whole subplot are actually extremely well done. Some of the transposition is subtle enough for me to be not quite sure whether it was intended or merely coincidental.
Mind you, any persuasiveness is dependent on actually thinking Harry is making good decisions. But at least it serves as a medium by which he can educate (a more positive word than ‘indoctrinate’ but something in between the two would be better) without violating the whole point of secrecy by explaining why he believes a real world secret should be kept—which would in most cases sabotage the whole exercise.
What Harry SHOULD have said was that the information was highly secret and that as she wasn’t adept in Occlumency he wasn’t even able to tell her. It wouldn’t have gone and explained his motivations clearly, which we all know he loves to do, but it would have answered the question clearly without implying that he doesn’t trust her. That’s sorta his strength and his weakness.
Fair call. That said, including it in the reasoning whilst still doing his usual explaining would have markedly improved things without having to be dishonest.
In ch. 47 Harry teaches Draco how to cast a Patronus, but in ch. 48 he refuses to teach Hermione. Why?
The more I think about this the more that bit in ch. 48 seems like a mistake by the author. Harry did tell her. She presumably still has the “42” envelope containing the piece of paper where Harry wrote the secret obliquely. Ch. 48 reads like EY forgot that.
Edit: OK, technically Harry implied back then that she should avoid reading it unless she had to, so Hermione followed his wishes when she put the paper away unread. How do they expect this to work?
“That feels like a dementor. Better apparate away—oops, can’t do that, another wizard must have made an anti-apparation hex. Better pull out that wax-sealed paper I always carry and calmly open it with one hand, using the other to hold my wand in case I need it to defend against my postulated wizard opponent, and then calmly read Harry’s hint while hoping the dementor doesn’t make me forget who Harry is, and then figure out what he meant, and then apply the knowledge to the problem of duplicating a spell that Harry prepared carefully in a relatively safe situation.”
He refuses to teach the advanced kind, and expects she can’t perform the regular kind in any case (which she tried). Draco couldn’t learn regular Patronus because, being a Slytherin, he never made a honest effort.
Harry should be able to help Hermione find a happy thought appropiate for Patronus 1.0, as he did for Draco.
Inability to find a happy thought is not the problem.
Not all happy thoughts work. Harry suggested to Draco a particular happy thought that would work: his father protecting him from human frailty. This is appropriate to protect against a symbol of death, as Harry’s father buying him books is not.
So no, Hermione’s problem is not that she can’t find a happy thought, but that she doesn’t know what sort of happy thought she is supposed to find.
Um, it’s pretty much established the reason Hermione can’t cast an animal Patronus is because she doesn’t have faith in an afterlife...
I don’t think it was established one way or another what the reason for Hermione was.
The standard Patronus “feels wrong” when Hermione tries to cast it, just as it does to Harry.
Thanks.
Really? Cite? I didn’t catch that.
Edit: Answered by EY in a nibling of this comment.
Didn’t Harry also swear to keep what he and Draco experiment with secret? This is why he never told her about the magic gene either, unless I am misremembering things.
Harry teaches Draco to cast Patronus 1.0, Hermione wants to learn Patronus 2.0. Harry doesn’t want anyone to know of 2.0, so he keeps it secret. Draco learning of 1.0 is a net gain in terms of Dementor containment—he represents all of Slytherin.
Hermione learning of 2.0 would be a ‘net gain’ at face, but too risky to allow. If others learn of the secret from her (or read her mind to find out) and the secret spreads, then it’s a net loss for Dementor containment. You gain a second ‘lifer’ (I wanted to say Dementor killer, but that’s a bit oxymoronic) and potentially lose thousands of normal guards.
So the parable supports his intended real world lesson to the greatest extent possible. The details of the whole subplot are actually extremely well done. Some of the transposition is subtle enough for me to be not quite sure whether it was intended or merely coincidental.
Mind you, any persuasiveness is dependent on actually thinking Harry is making good decisions. But at least it serves as a medium by which he can educate (a more positive word than ‘indoctrinate’ but something in between the two would be better) without violating the whole point of secrecy by explaining why he believes a real world secret should be kept—which would in most cases sabotage the whole exercise.
What Harry SHOULD have said was that the information was highly secret and that as she wasn’t adept in Occlumency he wasn’t even able to tell her. It wouldn’t have gone and explained his motivations clearly, which we all know he loves to do, but it would have answered the question clearly without implying that he doesn’t trust her. That’s sorta his strength and his weakness.
It wouldn’t be the real reason, and if he understands that, it would also be a lie.
Fair call. That said, including it in the reasoning whilst still doing his usual explaining would have markedly improved things without having to be dishonest.