So we have been told over and over again. They provide direct access to the brain and therefore can influence thinking. They let us see things accurately, or, as Obi-Wan would tell us, deceive us entirely.

Throughout the entire Harry Potter series, we continually hear that Harry looks EXACTLY like his dad with a couple of small flaws. He has a lightning bolt scar and his mother's eyes. Then we hear how he is incredibly like his dad. Dad, dad, Daddy, daddio, papa...

WHY DON'T WE EVER HEAR ABOUT MOM?!

It is always JAMES Harry is compared to, never Lily. Why, I ask you?

And I answer. It is because everyone is reminded of family resemblances when Harry has just completed a difficult and daring task. They're never around him enough to notice how much he is like Lily. It's always, "You're just like James, oh, by the way, Cough*yougotyou'remom'seyes*Cough."

Had he been exactly like James, I'm sure that Neville would be his object of ridicule. But instead, he befriends Neville and treats him like an equal. And what makes me think that he is more like Lily than James is Snape's worst memory.

Harry hates Snape, and Snape hates Harry. The feeling is mutual. But when Harry sees Snape being made the object of ridicule, as he had often been at the hands of Dudley, Harry's reaction was the same as his mother's. He despised James Potter with a passion. Had Snape been humiliated in class, he would have thought it a gas, but only because old Snape deserves it. To quote Ron, Snape is a "greasy git." But that didn't make what James did right. And Harry had compassion for Snape during his foray into the pensieve.

That's why Harry's eyes are Lily green. Though James gave him Quidditch talent, and mussed up hair, Lily left Harry something more important. She left him her compassion for those who are being put down for no reason at all. She gave Harry His heart.

But no one who knew Lily well is ever around to notice that he is NOT completely like James; to say, "Harry you're EXACTLY like Lily, but you've got your father's looks." We never hear about Lily's friends. Lily had to be a popular girl, no one could champion the rights of those made the object of ridicule, and not come out with at least a few friends.

And those who should know Lily, like Dumbledore, Hagrid and Lupin, never remark that they see Harry's "Lily side." All they see is the brave little boy who risks his life for his friends, and does the courageous things. People are blinded by the fact that Harry looks like James. Sirius thought that he WAS James at times, and Snape is exactly like Sirius in that regard. No one seems to see the Lily in him. No one wants to.

If it doesn’t happen in HBP or the last, let me be the first to say it. Harry is his mother's son.

6/11/05

Posted by: Sara