Have A Biscuit, Potter

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you [on dates]?

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first year;

- Dumbledore contacts Lupin before Harry attends Hogwarts and has him learn sign language and hires him as an interpreter for Harry during classes

- Snape: “are you listening to me potter?”

Harry, speaking to the best of his ability: “to be fair I can’t listen to anyone, however I was, in fact, paying attention”

-Hermione tirelessly helping Harry with speech and pronunciation so he can get spells right

-Ron aggressively trying to learn sign language to communicate with Harry and he’s so embarrassed he can’t get the hang of it at first but Harry thinks it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him because what are friends??

-Draco, mouthing: “I hate you”

Harry, misreading hate as date: “If you wanted a date you should have said something sooner.”

-Harry signing rude things at Umbridge.

Umbridge: “What did he say!?”

Lupin: “he said you’re charming.”

-The entire Weasley family learning basic sign language for whenever Harry is with them, making him feel more at home since the Dursley’s never made a decent effort with it.

- McGonagall aware of Harry’s condition from observation at the Dursley’s prepared and learned sign language and signs when she can during her class, allowing Lupin the occasional break.

McGonagall: “You’re not sneaky Mr. Weasley; I very well know what you just signed.”

- Voldemort monologuing in sign language

Harry: “I’m sorry I don’t understand, I’m blind.”

Harry: *closes his eyes*

Shiny new transfiguration professor Albus Dumbledore: “Now you won’t be able to turn your matchstick into a needle on the first try, of course, but—”

Tiny eleven-year-old BAMF Minerva McGonagall with a Scottish accent thicker than pea soup: “Ayy! Ye cannae know that!”

Albus Dumbledore, whose experience with the results of being patronizing to small badass children is insufficient to warn him not to: “Oh, absolutely, young lady, you might surprise us. Or any of your classmates might, it’s true.”

Tiny smoldering barrel of magical talent with “TNT” painted on the side Minerva McGonagall: “What’ll ye give us if we do surprise ye?”

Brightly-colored balloon of good-natured obliviousness Albus Dumbledore: “Why, my dear Miss McGonagall, if you can give me a needle on the first try, I shall allow you to call me by my first name.”

what did we all do to deserve this ship. now this is The Question

he does things by himself and the two people he actually trusts, bc he’s learned that authority figures are no help and will only make things worse. he takes situations at face value bc he’s never seen other options in his life, he’s never HAD other options in his life. speaking very personally, that was a serious marker of abuse that i saw in myself - i never thought abt escape, or what i could do to improve my situation, bc i didn’t even see that as an option. the options were survive or don’t, deal w it or don’t, acclimate or implode.

maybe he wasn’t thinking abt what DUMBLEDORE would do, what anyone at hogwarts would do. maybe he was acting off what he knew the dursleys (his main authority figures) would do. the dursleys would let the girl drown. and harry was there, and harry could do something, and so harry did. he took personal responsibility for fleur’s sister’s safety bc all his life he’s learned that authority figures cannot be trusted to do so.

Incidentally this is even more clear in the first and second books, to me. Because Harry DID go to adults and say someone’s trying to steal the stone, and what did the adults do? Did they say, yes, we know, we’re taking precautions, real, good protective measures? Noooo. Did they say, thank you, we’ll look into it, even? Noooo. They said, don’t be silly, it’s not your concern, nothing to see here, little boy, run along and do your schoolwork.

And they said this to a boy whose entire life experience has never involved an adult that can be depended on. And they lied, lied about their own knowledge, said “that’s silly” when they know “that’s true.” And they were too convincing: since he as well knew the truth, what they ended up convincing him was that they didn’t know. And it fit right in with his expectations. Adults, whether actively malicious (the Dursleys, Snape) or well-meaning but oblivious (Mrs. Figg, Harry’s primary-school teachers, the other Hogwarts teachers), can’t be depended on. If anything’s got to be done, Harry and his friends have got to do it himself.

Second book, same thing—they’re headed for the teacher’s lounge to tell the teachers it’s a basilisk, and overhear the teachers saying that Ginny Weasley’s been taken by the monster, and they need to close Hogwarts, and their only plan to rescue Ginny is to send Gilderoy Lockhart—knowing full well he’s a fraud, a coward, and no match for a Cornish pixie, let alone a basilisk. Once again, the adults are flat-out useless and if anyone is going to save Ginny, it’s gotta be Harry and Ron. 

Notably, this is after another ball-drop on the part of the adults: when Harry’s been framed for underage magic and locked up in his room and starved by people who have every intention of keeping him out of Hogwarts forever, it’s other kids, Ron, Fred, and George, who go rescue him, and when the adults find out, one of them punishes and scolds and the other is only interested in how his car worked.

In book three, we meet a couple of adults that are competent, helpful, and willing to listen—Sirius and Remus—and the other adults come in and the end result is, one’s fired and the other has to go on the run lest he have his soul sucked out by dementors. Dumbledore does listen and give them the necessary hints, but it’s Harry, and Hermione this time, who have to do the work.

 – OotP

“he does things by himself and the two people he actually trusts… it’s not completely unhealthy; it’s even very useful and responsible on occasion.” - @gaelissfelin

…this.  Harry sees people as: a. him and people he trusts, b. people to be evaded, and c. people in need of help.  When he gets backed into a corner (Voldemort inside his head, heading down the trapdoor alone, off to the DoM alone, into the Forest alone), the circle of people he trusts shrinks down from the DA/OotP, to the Trio, to just himself.  Harry never wants to be a hero or gets off on it, he’s just a person who’s suffered from the bystander effect and doesn’t want to be a bystander himself.

Harry —

Ron —

Hermione —

Ginny —

Luna —

Neville —

Pansy —

Draco —

Lucius —

Voldemort —

hermione: i guess harry