Harry’s Problem With Authority And His “saving People Thing”

Harry’s problem with authority and his “saving people thing”

Harry has a problem with authority in general. He grew up being ordered around by the Dursleys, and does not appreciate it when people try to exert authority over him, even when they do so with good intentions. He’s touched by Mrs. Weasley saying he’s as good as a son, but impatient with her mollycoddling because he’s not used to the idea of being shielded from information for his own good. He cares for Hermione, but ignores her or lashes out when she nags him.

He’s much more willing to openly contradict authority figures. Snape, Umbridge, Scrimgeour, Dumbledore, and even Lupin in DH. He’s polite, but he does not take it for granted that authority figures deserve respect because they’re authority figures.

He does have adults in his life that care deeply for him, but the problem is that Harry already knows that adults don’t have all of the answers.

And his attitude toward authority is closely related to his “saving people thing.”

Harry learned from a young age that adults could not or would not solve his problems for him. He learned that if he needed help or someone else needed help, he was going to have to do it himself.

So he learned to solve his own problems. And if someone is in danger, he can’t just blindly trust that adults will handle the situation. He doesn’t have that implicit knee-jerk “adults will solve this problem for us” reaction. This is perfectly illustrated when he pulls Gabrielle from the lake in GoF. Ron and Hermione are exasperated with him for not realizing that of course Dumbledore wouldn’t actually let them drown. Harry attributes this to the general creepiness of the lake, but I think it’s deeper than that. It simply doesn’t occur to him that of course the headmaster of the school wouldn’t put an 8-year-old girl at risk for a school event like that.

When you’re little and you think there’s a monster under your bed, you usually run to your parents. Because you see them as infallible human beings and trust implicitly that they’re capable of handling whatever horrible creature is under your bed.

Harry never had that. He had to handle his own monsters. And Voldemort is no different.

More Posts from Mikailakay and Others

3 months ago

i actually never ever want AO3 to be censored bc nothing is more fun than reading the tags on a fic and going “huh. didn’t know there was a market for that.”

3 months ago

I love it when Marauders stans try to portray Lily as the ultimate feminist icon when any woman with half a brain and even the most basic understanding of gender studies knows that you’d be safer locked in a cage with a hungry lion than with a rich brat who publicly strips people and blackmails you into dating him in exchange for not committing sexual assault. Like, what world do you even live in? Seriously?


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4 months ago

What do James stans find special about him? That guy isn't inspirational at all. Hell, his death couldn't have been more pathetic and useless. What makes him appealing?

At school, he was nothing but a bullying criminal. Harrassing anyone he wanted, sexually assaulting a guy, becoming an illegal animagus, spying on everyone in the castle - stalking as well. What did this guy do to achieve such a level of popularity? Nothing he said was ever funny, either. All his good deeds were a product of his status and recklessness. Welcoming Sirius into his home - not a big deal, he's got all the space for many others. Becoming an animagus for Remus - well, it was illegal, but I suppose a nice gesture. Joining the Order - alright, Peter and Mundungus did that too, and? It only really accounts for his bravery and self-interest, doesn't it? I mean his wife was a muggleborn and he thrived on recklessness left and right. Not a big deal. But what else, really? What do you find so appealing as to suggest he is more sympathetic than Severus Snape - who actually had to struggle in life?


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5 months ago

She was born between 1st September 1972 and 31st August 1973 (probably 1973), which means she had just ended her education when Harry became a 1st year. So he never saw her at all. They missed each other by a year. 

Every time someone says that Tonks was at school with Harry in canon an angel loses their wings


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4 months ago

Everytime I see Snape posts that include Rickman's face I get the urge to cry and throw up.


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3 months ago

Something about the men who turned Harry's life upside down...


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2 months ago

Sometimes people don’t realize they experienced abuse but the effect from it is the same.

I don’t think Severus knows what James did to him was technically SA, and even if someone told him, his pride and shame would not let him accept it.

I didn’t know that the guy I dated when I was 21 was gaslighting me and psychologically abusing me either, or that because of him, I had spiraled into severe depression. But thanks to my therapist, I realized that he was—and that doesn’t change the fact that I went through psychological abuse.


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4 months ago

I was thinking about Luffy not wanting to be a hero when I realized something.

His very simple yet insightful line, "heroes share their meat, I want all the meat", very clearly shows that heroes make sacrifices. He doesn't want to make sacrifices. Perhaps it's because he's been the sacrifice himself.

Garp is a hero. He's cool too. But he was hardly present in Luffy's childhood. No matter how much he'd get beaten by his grandpa, I bet he'd still rather have him around than not ("being alone is worse than being hurt."). Yet Garp very clearly makes a sacrifice here. Being a marine being a priority over his grandson in the absence of the child's father.

Later, after Enies Lobby, he finds out that Dragon is a revolutionary. Literally a hero of the people. What's he done? The cost he paid for a greater good? He sacrificed Luffy.

So, while Luffy loves really deeply and fights for this love, he would rather have a death grip on his precious ones by being a pirate than let go and sacrifice and become a hero.

This may very well just be me looking too deeply into it, but the idea of Luffy being the sacrifice just did something to my insides that is hard to explain.


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1 month ago

Snirius AU! idea where both of them survive the series and Sirius cannot deal with the idea of Severus being a hero who basically saved the entire world from the shadows and even less so that Harry is now grateful to him. More of that: that Harry went from despising him to respecting him and has basically become his #1 defender to the point where you can’t even breathe a slightly negative word about Snape in front of him without Harry going off. The jealousy is eating Sirius alive, diva-level, feeling completely replaced and displaced and meanwhile Severus is somewhere remote in Muggle England where no one can find him, deeply depressed about having survived — because dying was literally the only thing he wanted — and he absolutely does not want to see anyone from the wizarding world ever again because he’s completely, utterly done with all of them and hate all of them and expend his days avoiding everyone.

I’m just leaving this prompt here. Now you authors go and make magic.


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2 months ago

You can't not be 'obsessed' with someone who frequently ruins your life yk

Isn’t that funny that Snape stans are obsessed w James as much as Snape himself was obsessed with him


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hp and feminism stuff

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