I show not your face but your heart's desire

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

Assuming alternity continues to incorporate big canon events, we should expect Harry to find the Mirror of Erised in a little under a month.

"It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts." -Dumbledore

What do you predict Harry Marvolo will see there?

Comments

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

It makes sense, and would be very sad. I wonder if there's a little part of Draco, who has been overshadowed a little by Harry for most of his life, that would take pleasure in everybody turning against Harry, though.

Sometimes I think that things are already a bit strained between them. They get along, but not really like best friends, you know? Have you noticed that, unlike some other friendships (like Pansy and Ron), we never really see Harry and Draco being relaxed and joking and having fun with each other? I wonder if it's happening "off-screen" or if it's just not a part of their friendship.

I mean, and apologies for using an example from a game you haven't read, but I am messing with making an offline version of This Is Now, and yesterday I saw this thread (http://the-boy-who.livejournal.com/9374.html) of Harry and Ron and Hermione just sort of having fun and being friends, and I can't imagine alt_harry and alt_draco acting that relaxed and comfortable with each other. The closest they get is something like this (http://alt-harry.livejournal.com/1197.html?thread=7597#t7597). And it has a very different tone.

So maybe it's just because they're 11. Or that Draco's personality is very different from Ron's. Or that they've both been raised to be very restrained. Or that this is just a tenser world. But... do you see what I mean?

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about this Draco and his relationship with this Harry. It keeps coming back to me that Draco has grown up receiving punishments on Harry's behalf. That has surely shaped the way they feel about each other. It is part of Draco's programming to be loyal to Harry, but that doesn't add up to a relaxed, fun friendship.

And it seems to me that we've seen signals already that Draco is jealous of Ron. I fully expect that tension to grow over time. Ron and Harry have fun exchanges -- in part because Ron did not grow up being taught to defer to Harry as a princeling. (And Harry gets prickly with students who seem awestruck by him -- he nearly took Hannah's head off, I think -- so I can see why Ron's unfussed response to him would be so appealing to Harry.)

I'm intrigued, too, by Draco's report that Madam Pomfrey told him he needs to fret less: I think this Draco is pretty tightly wound. (That strikes me as canonical, too.) We've already seen that he worries about measuring up to his father's expectations, that he's programmed to be anxious about getting in trouble (and about being held accountable if Harry gets in trouble), and that he worries that something bad might happen to his father (Draco was angriest with Pansy when Lucius let slip that he was taking heat for Pansy's behavior). I expect to see Draco put under increasing pressure as this game moves forward, and I expect it will take a measurable toll on him.