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Kinsfire posted a comment on Thursday 24th May 2007 1:54am for A Less-Than-Shining Party

"Nearly everyone from the old Order is swimming in loss, but you’re too self-absorbed to notice!"

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Sorry but the following is my thoughts regarding that little comment of Lupin's:

"And you're all too self-absorbed in your memories to remember that I know nothing about these people! What were my parents like? Mum had red hair and green eyes, and Dad looked just like me except for the colour of his eyes. Oh, and he was a right bastard as well in school."

"He was more than that!"

"THEN WHY WON"T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT HIM AND MUM?!? Self absorbed? Guilty! I'll work on that, though - they're dead, so I don't need to know anything about them, after all."

"Harry -"

"Save it. You're right. I don't need to know."

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Sorry, but it just struck me that they're expecting an abused 16 year old to think and act like a 30 or 40 year old. And despite Lupin's statement otherwise, it's guilt. Obligation is just a kinder word for it.

Full_Pensieve replied:

Yes, I agree.   As of the end of OotP, that was my impression of canon - that the people around Harry alternated between keeping him uninformed in the name of having a 'childhood' (Molly Weasley) and expecting him to act like an Auror (Mad-Eye Moody).   Why didn't anyone ever sit down to explain *anything* to Harry?   Not only does he know little about his family, but he seems to know relatively little about the wizarding world as a whole.   If it isn't malicious or planned, then it's the product of guilt.    This remark was a straight lift from YoR the First, BTW.

HBP left me much more confused on this point.   If anything, it strengthened the argument that Harry's upbringing and school life have been almost entirely manipulated.   He was led through that book like a rat through a maze, and came out the other end as 'Dumbledore's man'.   Abuse made Harry pliant, and Dumbledore filled in the gaps as was his wont.   Creepy, frankly.

Cheers,

Mike [FP]