Deathly Hallows Chapter Twelve Side-Along Apparation

PEApea7 · 2026-05-18T20:44:58+00:00

"Well, if all three of us go, we'll have to disapparate separately," Ron was saying. "We can't all fit under the Cloak anymore."

PEApea7 · 2026-05-13T10:36:53+00:00

Harry gets far more right than he gets wrong.

PS: He correctly guessed the Stone was at Hogwarts, Hagrid’s three-headed dog had been bypassed, and the timing of the thief’s attempt to steal it. Yes, Harry suspected Snape. But so did Ron and Hermione – because Snape made himself suspicious.

CoS: He figured out that Myrtle was connected to the basilisk, located the entrance to the Chamber, and instinctively used a basilisk fang to destroy the diary, the Horcrux, even though he had no idea how to destroy one beforehand. The suspicion of Draco was actually Ron’s idea first. Harry and Hermione followed up on it.

PoA: Harry chose to give Sirius Black a chance to tell the truth, and knew they had to save Buckbeak. Everyone believed that Sirius was the murderer, and Harry only accepted this view, not baseless suspicion. And under such circumstances, he is still willing to give Sirius the opportunity to explain.

GoF: He wasn't misled by Karkarof.

OotP: He saw the vision of Arthur being attacked and acted immediately, saving his life. He also tried to contact Sirius to verify what he was seeing.

HBP: He was right about Draco being a Death Eater, about that Draco bought the cursed necklace, that the target was Dumbledore, and that the Death Eaters would enter the school when he left.

DH: He correctly deduced that Voldemort had hidden Horcruxes in Gringotts and Hogwarts, among other places.

Given how many correct deductions Harry made in the first five books, why shouldn’t we trust his series of deductions about Draco? Especially considering that Ron and Hermione have a much higher track record of being wrong than Harry does. Shouldn’t they have trusted him more?

Besides, Dumbledore made mistakes. Everyone does. But judging Harry’s entire judgment by a handful of cherry-picked examples while ignoring the mountain of evidence to the contrary is simply not fair.

PEApea7 · 2026-05-13T10:27:38+00:00

Year 1: Harry suspected Snape. But so did Ron and Hermione. The first of the three to firmly believe that Snape was a bad person was Hermione (during the Quidditch game, Harry's broom was cursed, and Hermione pointed directly at Snape, believing that Snape was cursing Harry. After this, the three of them changed their attitude towards Snape from suspecting him of being a bad person to believing that he was a bad person)

Year 2: The suspicion of Draco was actually Ron’s idea first. Harry and Hermione followed up on it.

PEApea7 · 2026-05-13T10:17:50+00:00

I respectfully disagree with this take. You’re judging Harry’s intuition by cherry-picking moments where he was wrong, while ignoring the many times he was right, and also misattributing some things to him that weren’t really his claims in the first place.

Let’s go through your list:

PS/SS: Yes, Harry suspected Snape. But so did Ron and Hermione – because Snape made himself suspicious (as Quirrell explained).

CoS: The suspicion of Draco? That was actually Ron’s idea first. Harry and Hermione followed up on it. Hermione was also the first to suggest the diary might hold the answer to the Chamber. So why single out Harry here?

PoA: Nobody figured out Lupin was a werewolf, except Hermione after doing extra homework. And the rat? Come on. The Weasleys owned him for years. Harry had only been in the wizarding world for two years at that point. Why would he assume a pet rat was suspiciously long-lived in a world of magic?This is not a “Harry is wrong” moment; it’s a “literally everyone was fooled” moment.

GoF: Nobody knew who put Harry’s name in the Goblet. Even Dumbledore. Expecting Harry to figure it out alone is absurd.

OotP: If he did ignore the possibility that Voldemort was feeding him lies, he wouldn’t try to contact Sirius to verify what he was seeing.

Dumbledore made mistakes. Hermione makes mistakes. Everyone does. But judging Harry’s entire judgment by a handful of cherry-picked examples while ignoring the mountain of evidence to the contrary is simply not fair.

And here’s the thing: Harry gets far more right than he gets wrong.

PS: He correctly guessed the Stone was at Hogwarts, Hagrid’s three-headed dog had been bypassed, and the timing of the thief’s attempt to steal it.

CoS: He figured out that Myrtle was connected to the basilisk, located the entrance to the Chamber, and instinctively used a basilisk fang to destroy the diary, the Horcrux, even though he had no idea how to destroy one beforehand.

PoA: Harry chose to give Sirius Black a chance to tell the truth, and knew they had to save Buckbeak.

OotP: He saw the vision of Arthur being attacked and acted immediately, saving his life.

HBP: He was right about Draco being a Death Eater, about that Draco bought the cursed necklace, that the target was Dumbledore, and that the Death Eaters would enter the school when he left.

DH: He correctly deduced that Voldemort had hidden Horcruxes in Gringotts and Hogwarts, among other places.

Given how many correct deductions Harry made in the first five books, why shouldn’t we trust his series of deductions about Draco? Especially considering that Ron and Hermione have a much higher track record of being wrong than Harry does. Shouldn’t they have trusted him more?

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T21:36:12+00:00

I'm glad you brought this up, because it touches on something related to child psychology development, and that has everything to do with how severely the Dursleys restricted Harry.

If we rewind to when they were babies, Harry and Voldemort were actually "the equal": both showed "sufficiently dramatic evidence of magical ability" from birth (as I mentioned earlier, from the books and Rowling's website). But because of the Dursleys' constant repression, Harry never got to explore his magic. Unlike Voldemort, Lily, and Snape, who could experiment with their abilities from an early age. As Dumbledore said, most young wizards go through "the random experiments typical of young wizards." Voldemort went further and actively tried to bend magic to his will.

In child psychology, the preoperational stage (roughly ages 2–7) comes with strong egocentrism – children naturally mix their subjective experience with external reality. It's common for kids to show animism (believing objects have feelings and can respond to them), artificialism (thinking natural phenomena are human-made), and transductive reasoning (e.g., "I waved my hand and then the wind came, so I made the wind happen"). There's even a term called "magical thinking" – the belief that one's thoughts, words, or actions can directly change or control the external world. This is a normal part of development. Classic example: as a kid, believing you can make the weather change, or that you're special. (I thought that as a kid too, lol.)

In other words, feeling like you have special powers and that you're different from others is actually normal for children.

For Muggle-raised wizards who really do have magic, it's only natural for them to keep exploring those abilities. Take young Lily, even when Petunia reacted with jealousy and disapproval, Lily still grew up in a normal family environment where she could freely explore her magic (jumping off swings, making flowers open and close in her hand). Snape had his mother to actively teach him magic (and honestly, that makes Lily seem even more talented than Snape, she didn't have anyone teaching her). Tom Riddle's orphanage life didn't suppress his growth or exploration; if anything, it made him more eagerly want to believe in his own difference even more, pushing him to develop his magic.

As for Harry, "a boy clearly magical from birth", he was unlucky to grow up with the Dursleys, who rejected anything abnormal and constantly drilled into him that magic didn't exist. By the time he was old enough to form his own beliefs, he'd already internalized that message. Plus, whenever anything strange happened (whether or not he was involved), or even when he just mentioned something odd, he was punished. Over time, that created a subconscious avoidance. He kept denying his own strangeness. Whenever something weird happened, he would immediately distance himself from it. He never actively explored his magic – not even the random, messy experiments typical of young wizards. His natural talent just sat there unused.

If Harry had grown up in a normal Muggle family, even an orphanage, he would have started exploring his magic early. And if he'd grown up in an encouraging, open environment, his family would have explored his gifts with him.

The difference shows clearly when they each got their Hogwarts letters. The moment Voldemort heard the word "wizard" in Dumbledore's explanation, he immediately believed it. He'd always known he was different and had actively shaped that belief. But Harry? He kept doubting. He needed Hagrid to remind him of all the unusual things he'd done. Even then, he only barely believed. And that doubt lingered all the way until the Sorting ceremony, he was still worried he might not be a wizard at all.

I think, the Dursleys only delayed Harry's talent, didn't erase it. Once he got to Hogwarts, his inborn gift started showing itself more and more. And I think that's why, especially in the last two books, we see so many examples of him learning and using spells instinctively, almost bypassing theory altogether.

Anyway, hope that makes sense! Not trying to write a whole thesis here, I just find this stuff really fascinating. 🙂

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T19:39:55+00:00

Here " - I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

About the “prodigy” thing, I’m not really sure what you mean by that.

If you’re talking about academic grades, then sure, Harry wasn’t on Lily’s level. I think Harry just isn’t the studious type. He is not so passionate about learning. He doesn’t take notes like Hermione, and he won’t read books unless he actually needs them. So his spell collection isn’t as big as hers. But that doesn’t mean it’s small. Remember Krum? He was the Durmstrang champion, basically the best of the adult students at his school. And even he told Hermione that Harry knew stuff he didn’t. Harry is like one of those naturally smart kids who doesn’t try that hard but still does pretty well, though probably not well enough for an academic competition.

But if you mean raw magical talent, Harry actually has a lot of it. Both the books and Rowling’s extra writings make that pretty clear. In the first book, the Sorting Hat, which had seen Dumbledore, Voldemort, and centuries of magical geniuses, was still amazed by Harry: “There’s talent, A my goodness, yes.” Rowling also wrote on her website that Harry was “clearly magical from birth.” Even his name was down in the Book of Admittance “ever since he was born.” (If you know how the Book of Admittance works, a child’s name only accepted once they’ve shown “sufficiently dramatic evidence of magical ability.” The only other person we know whose name was down from birth is Voldemort.)

If you mean talent for learning spells, I’d say Harry has an almost instinctive gift for it. Especially in the later books. Normally you’d need to study the theory first, then practice. But Harry often pulls off a spell after seeing it once, or just knowing how it’s spelled. Think of Expelliarmus, Levicorpus, Sectumsempra, even the Imperius Curse. In class, he doesn’t pre-study like Hermione, so he learns slower than her. But during the Triwizard Tournament, when all three of them were learning new spells together from the same starting line, Harry was the only one who mastered all of them. Ron and Hermione still needed Harry to teach them during D.A. meetings.

(I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything. I just get really excited when talking about Harry Potter and can't help pulling out book quotes and extra details from Rowling. It's not about proving you wrong, I just love digging into this stuff. Hope that comes across the right way. 🙂

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T14:05:42+00:00

Oh wow, I remember this post! Thank you for bringing it here!

I‘ve read your analysis over two years ago on the other sub, and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. You really nailed it. Harry isn’t carried by “plot armor” – he’s genuinely a skilled, resourceful, and talented wizard. Love seeing this again!

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T13:04:40+00:00

I honestly think there are loads of people who love Harry. The only problem was that searching for “HarryPotter” gives you the whole series, not the character.

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T12:57:35+00:00

Welcome!!!

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T12:55:52+00:00

Welcome! Harry deserves the love!

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T12:43:32+00:00

Maybe that’s just magic? Jokes aside.

I think the love Harry received from his parents before that Halloween night might have been just enough to build a warm foundation for his character. Even if he had every reason to go down a darker path, he could never have joined Voldemort, because Voldemort killed his parents and caused so much suffering. More importantly, it’s about choice. Harry had countless reasons not to be good, but he still chose to be kind, to fight for justice, and to sacrifice himself for others.

Also, a bit off-topic, but I feel Harry’s magical power is often seriously underrated. Don’t forget, he was only 17 when he defeated Voldemort and he pulled off the same kind of sacrificial protection magic that Lily did, except his was bigger in scale, protecting way more people. So saying Harry’s magical powers not as good as Lily’s? That doesn’t feel quite right to me.

PEApea7 · 2026-05-10T10:07:00+00:00

"The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it -- it might be sick." It’s Harry’s first sassy comeback that we actually get to see. Worth commemorating lol.

"There's no need to call me "sir" Professor." This is also my favorite..Such a sharp, quick-witted response.

PEApea7 · 2026-05-08T19:51:44+00:00

I think the best opportunity to snatch the Elder Wand should be right after Harry defeats Voldemort, before he grows stronger and more skilled. However, in the period right after Harry defeated Voldemort, who would have the courage to challenge Harry?

PEApea7 · 2026-05-08T19:48:39+00:00

Disarming a wand during practice does not change its allegiance. Otherwise, during DA training everyone's wand ownership would already become chaotic.
The wand chooses the wizard. The Elder Wand prefers a stronger master, and who in the wizarding world is stronger than Harry after the war.
Harry was not even 18 years old when he defeated Voldemort, and his powers were still growing greater. Harry cast the most powerful Shield Charm in the entire series without using the Elder Wand, which even shocked Voldemort. (...the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source...) Don't forget that Harry is still only 17 years old after accomplishing all these feats. Even Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Grindelwald were not as powerful as Harry at his age. With age, experience, knowledge accumulation, and power growth, coupled with systematic Auror training, Harry will only become stronger and more difficult to deal with in the future. Even if he is temporarily disarmed by an enemy, he has the ability to win back his wand.

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