Uhh...what do you mean he got too magical for her after the patronus. It's not like it unlocked his "magical core" or something.

Probably the worst thing JKR did in making Harry seem weak, is having a ton of kids learn the Patronus Charm and do it faster than Harry did. It was like the one "magic" thing he was really really really good at.

 

Harry had an intuitive understanding of some magic that Hermione never seemed able to perceive. Like when he said he knew he could do the Patronus because, temporally, he'd already seen himself do it, and Hermione looks at him like, "wtf?"

That was always one of my favorite parts. Though I always wondered why she didn't get what he was saying.

 

I almost think JKR wanted to switch horses midstream and write Hermione as the main character. Her encyclopedic knowledge comes off as insufferable in HBP and DH because she has not taken the time to develop Harry in the same way and indeed seems to.try and downplay him. Which is why so many fanfics use those two books.as a jumping off point or ignore DH entirely.

 

Hermione would be about as exciting as a progatonist as a wank from a blender. Her character is prissy, self righteous and she's still a know it all even at the end of the series. Of course she's loyal, friendly and intelligent but, if we are talking about her established character in say GoF, she's not protagonist material.

It was pointed out in another thread (the one talking about The Hero's Journey and how it may have influenced JK's writing) but HBP and DH shit on Harry's abilities. We are shown him teaching older students then suddenly Occlumency is incredibly important for a wizard in duels (he's mince at it) and he has very littel skill with non verbal spells.

The big issue with Harry's abilities is the inconsistency that is shown throughout the series trying to keep Harry as relateable as possible whilst still making him an exciting protagonist.

 

The fanon is strong with this one.

There's no inconsistency, Harry's power levels remain the same. And were there actually any older studnets (Other than Fred and George) in the DA? He didn't actually teach them anything new, he was just brushing up the DAon exising spells.

 

It'd have been really interesting, though. I actually think she's totally protagonist material.

Or maybe that's just fanon speaking.

 

Russano no, I don't believe he unlocked some hidden power he had after learning to cast the Patronus Charm. But I think JKR said that after third year, Harry became more powerful than Hermione, and 'too magical' were the words she used.

 

Source?
Also, even if it was true, power does not equal skill. You could have all the power in the world but if you don't know the spell then you're screwed.

And what's this about power? I thought magic wasn't quantifiable?

 

I didn't mean power as in supercharged magical core or giant magic reserves. I meant magically powerful. You know, better spells, blowing away a whale with a banishing charm? That kind of thing.

I couldn't find a link, although I'm pretty sure I saw this come up un a lot of Harry vs Hermione in a duel discussions. So yeah, my theory just became BS...

 

he was average in school in most subjects, being excellent in school don't mean much. he was great at DADA, plus a teen against a prodigy like Dumbledore or tom riddle, he is IMO more then average when it comes to practical spells is his bread and butter.

 

Harry sucks lets be honest he only killed Voldemort due to pure luck. He is not even as good as James and Lily.

 

These kind of questions always seem to me as out of touch with reality. Lets consider the facts.

By the age of eighteen Harry had:
1. Repelled dementors multiple times using the Patronus charm
2. Repelled a large number of dementors singlehandedly
3. Successfully cast the cruciatus
4. Successfully cast the imperius curse
5. At least above average knowledge, if not more, of obscure magics and secrets of the wizarding world such as the philosopher's stone, horcruxes, time turners, prophecies, deathly hallows, priori incantatem of brother wands and more.
6. Successfully robbed from Gringotts, one of the most secure establishments in the wizarding world.
7. Successfully faced a basilisk and multiple dragons.
8. A lot of other things that I have no patience to write.
9. Last, and if you think it's plot amor or some other BS, the least, defeated the most dangerous Dark Wizard of the century, multiple times.



Now, go find me another "average" wizard who has done anything that amounts to half of this. Then we'll talk.

 

This. Harry was beginning to be able to understand wandlore in a way that truly did reflect his time with Dumbledore and Ollivander, and he was also very familiar with, if not very versed in, both Occlumency and Legilimency, which Dumbledore tells him are obscure in the extreme. And we know he knows that he can defend against a Legilimens with his Shield Charm, if not his Occlumency. Though I personally think his experience with Riddle and his legilimency after DH would have left him at least moderately capable with Occlumency.

It's true that he took advantage of the link and of Riddle's weakness to powerful emotions of grief, but that scene also hints at a deeper understanding of Occlumency itself, when he refers to Snape.

 

Maybe Rowling was unsure about creating a real development process for Harry (magically), and thought that she might just make things incoherent. The books seem to concentrate on the power of love and stuff, with little on the mechanics of magic.

Well, there is the Elder Wand stuff in the seventh book, but that didn't really contain any deep structures. In fanfiction, by contrast, I have read pretty great things concerning how magic works etc.

 

:facepalm

That's exactly what Hermione is. Self-righteous describes her to a T. Prissy, maybe not quite as much (although they are synonyms). You can also throw in arrogance almost at the Malfoy level, which again, speaks to her self-righteousness.

Throughout all seven books, she sees nothing wrong with correcting anyone who she thinks is wrong on something, whether it's her place or not to do it. She believes herself smarter than the entire wizarding community concerning the house-elf issue. She's also jealous wench while Ron dating Lavender, but thinks nothing of telling Ron off for his attitude while she went to the ball with Krum (and blames him for not asking her, but yet, doesn't think the same thing should apply in reverse, obviously).

I could go on, but making Hermione anything less than an annoying, self-righteous know-it-all is simply not how she's written in the books. And, yes, she's also written as someone who deeply cares for her friends, loyal (even if it's misplaced), and brave, but that doesn't negate her negative qualities.

 

If she wasn't the above qualities she'd be a boring character. I'm not against JK's portrayal of Hermione in this fashion at all. It makes her a more realistic character. She grew up a lot but the impression I was left with was that Hermione would always be that friend who thought that them being older made them wiser. That statement is probably a good summary of her weaker qualities.

I think Ginny would have been a fantastic character if she was developed more. She's self-reliant, calls Harry out when he's being a prick (OotP or DH I think when she talks about posession). Unfortunately she was shoe-horned in at the last minute and that is the reason, I think, that some of DLP's members hated her at the beginning of this forum.

EDIT: Additionally, bringing the thread back to it's original discussion, Harry dipped his toes in a number of subjects that would be fascinating to continue his journey as a wizard. I doubt that the sequel-play will play it out that way. It's fairly obvious he stayed in Britain with his friends and family.

 

Let's not forget that we were with Harry from the age of 10 to a little over 17. To compare him to people like Bellatrix, Snape, Voldemort, and Dumbledore is ridiculous.

We don't know what those characters were like at that age, and we don't know what Harry has done at their ages.

If we compare Harry to his peers, it's pretty obvious he is above average, if not the top of his class in skill and power.

Like thattin said, the only subjects that Harry did not succeed in in his OWLS are: Astronomy (Which he still had an A and saw his first friend get attacked), History of Magic (Sirius being falsely tortured), and Divination (Not a skill based class/complete shite).

 

All of Harry's Quidditch team was there. Lee Jordan was there. Cho was there. Which means pretty much all of the named older characters were there.

 

I feel like Harry always had a more intuitive understanding of magic and was able to get by because of it, until he reached a point where his approach no longer worked. In the first five books Harry is able to learn spells best when there is an immediate need to overcome a stressful situation. However, at higher levels of combat, where occlumency was a huge advantage, his method of procrastination was no longer compatible to what he was learning. He never wanted or needed to learn different methods of study.