#he describes things as a narrator; it's got this weird nonchalant ''so ya that happened'' vibe

[stuckwith-harry]

“And under here, Hedwig”—Harry pulled open a door under the stairs—“is where I used to sleep; You never knew me then—Blimey, it’s small, I’d forgotten.... ”

#hpedit #harry potter #hjp #hp #dh #cw abuse for the following tags #so i've been thinking a lot lately about harry and the way he looks at / remembers his childhood #because i read somewhere that abused kids who've never known anything else don't necessarily realise just how bad their situation is #at least not while they're in it; (and that it serves as a coping mechanism then and afterwards - if it's not that bad; it can't hurt me) #and we've had these talks inside the fandom too; how matter-of-factly harry talks about the abuse he's suffered #both in dialogue with other people (like joking at the end of cos about how the dursleys would probably be disappointed he didn't die) #but also with the actual descriptions of things as they're happening; there's something almost /comical/ about the way #he describes things as a narrator; it's got this weird nonchalant ''so ya that happened'' vibe #and harry never had an actual confrontation with the dursleys #he never got to call them out and actually tell them ''what you did to me was beyond fucked up and this shit isn't okay'' #like; there wasn't this one incident where harry realises - let alone verbalises - ''i'm literally being abused'' #it happens yeah #and especially for older readers (by which in this case i mean everyone who's not a literal kid) #it's so obviously abuse #but it's never discussed in the books #hermione and ron notice the dursleys' behaviour is fucked up #but again #we don't get the confrontation that i think harry deserved #(actually that was one of the few things i liked about cursed child; it sort of talked about it; briefly; even if not well) #and that just leaves me wondering how that affects him as an adult #and how he /thinks/ about it #i've been developing some things in my post-war nicheverse recently where he gets confronted by that #mostly via ron - and then ginny and hermione - talking to him about it #and sort of comes to realise ''everything they did actually really fucking hurt me and it /still/ hurts because it's really really not okay #''