Seriously, the Dursleys would have not only let her drown, they would have let her drown so they could blame Harry for it afterwards. (Although the loudest âPotter, too busy winning to care about anyone elseâ voice in his head would probably be Snapeâs.)
Incidentally this is even more clear in the first and second books, to me. Because Harry DID go to adults and say someoneâs trying to steal the stone, and what did the adults do? Did they say, yes, we know, weâre taking precautions, real, good protective measures? Noooo. Did they say, thank you, weâll look into it, even? Noooo. They said, donât be silly, itâs 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 âthatâs sillyâ when they know âthatâs true.â And they were too convincing: since he as well knew the truth, what they ended up convincing him was that they didnât know. And it fit right in with his expectations. Adults, whether actively malicious (the Dursleys, Snape) or well-meaning but oblivious (Mrs. Figg, Harryâs primary-school teachers, the other Hogwarts teachers), canât be depended on. If anythingâs got to be done, Harry and his friends have got to do it himself.
Second book, same thingâtheyâre headed for the teacherâs lounge to tell the teachers itâs a basilisk, and overhear the teachers saying that Ginny Weasleyâs been taken by the monster, and they need to close Hogwarts, and their only plan to rescue Ginny is to send Gilderoy Lockhartâknowing full well heâs 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, itâs gotta be Harry and Ron.Â
Notably, this is after another ball-drop on the part of the adults: when Harryâs 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, itâs 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 listenâSirius and Remusâand the other adults come in and the end result is, oneâs 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 itâs Harry, and Hermione this time, who have to do the work.
And then in Order of the Phoenix, in comes the smothering bullshit about how heâs too young to be in the Order and needs to leave everything to the grownups, after the grownups have dropped the ball four years running and are batting zero on the trust-and-listening factorâno wonder he threw a tantrum, I wouldâve thrown a tantrum, he was fucking entitled to one.
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