Stubborn The Characteristics of Harry Potter
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headmaster, Dumbledore. However, the lesson was unsuccessful because Harry failed to master it after several meetings.
―If I‘m having lessons with you,I won‘t have to do Occlumency lessons with Snape, will I?‖ ―Professor Snape, Harry — and no, you will not.‖
―Good,‖ said Harry in relief, ―because they were a —‖ He stopped, careful not to say what he really thought. ―I think the word ‗fiasco‘ would be a
good one here,‖ said Dumbledore, nodding. Half-Blood Prince, p. 79
Harry stops the conversation because he speaks to a person who arranged the
lesson. It can be concluded that Harry has difficulty in comprehending a material.
The result of his O.W.L Ordinary Wizarding Level examination also shows his low comprehension of school subject. In his sixth year, Harry gets his
O.W.L result when Harry visits Ron‘s house at the Burrow and his Potions grade
is not satisfying for him.
Harry looked back down at his results. They were as good as he could have hoped for. He felt just one tiny twinge of regret. . . . This was the end of his
ambition to become an Auror. He had not secured the required Potions grade. He had known all along that he wouldn‘t, but he still felt a sinking
in his stomach as he looked again at that small black E. Half-Blood Prince, pp. 103-104
In Potions, Harry got an E Exceeds Expectations, which means E is included in Pass Grades. However, he is not satisfied enough with the grade
because his dream to be an Auror, ministry officer, must come to an end. After the
private lesson, Harry still shows no improvement in his study.
However, Harry gets some improvement in Potion class in his sixth year. It is all started since Harry comes to the Potion class taught by Professor Horace
Slughorn for the first time. When Harry comes to the class, he has no Potion book so Slughorn lends him one belongs to school. When Harry opens Advanced
Potion-Making, the Potion book, it is written there that the book belongs to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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someone called Half-blood Prince. Actually it is just a regular Advanced Potion- Making, but there are some notes written by the Half-blood Prince that have quite
different instruction with the book. Harry keeps following instruction of the Prince version and he always succeeds in every meeting
―With the result that by their fourth lesson Slughorn was raving about Harry‘s abilities, saying that he had
rarely taught anyone so talented‖ Half-Blood Prince, p. 194. This book helps
Harry so much in improving his grade in Potion class.
Although most of his good achievement in the Potion class comes from the Prince‘s book, it does not mean that Harry plays no part in improving his own
intelligence. In the next meeting, Slughorn assigns the students to create an antidote for poison from the available materials in the class. As expected, Harry
opens the book hoping for any help. He finds the notes that a bezoar can be used as an antidote.
More to avoid watching this irritating sight than anything else, Harry bent over the Half-
Blood Prince‘s book and turned a few pages with unnecessary force. And there it was, scrawled right across a long list of
antidotes: Just shove a bezoar down their throats. Harry stared at these words for a moment. Hadn‘t he once, long ago, heard of bezoars? Hadn‘t
Snape mentioned them in their first-eve r Potions lesson? ―A stone taken
from the stomach of a goat, which will protect from most poisons.‖Half- Blood Prince, p. 377
Besides finding bezoar in the Prince‘s writing, Harry also remembers that
he has ever heard about bezoar before and the function of it. According to Hurlock 1974, memory plays an important role in the kind of adjustment a
person makes to life p. 176. Harry is not only reading the notes written and follow the instruction, but also comprehends it by remembering the function of
bezoar. Only then, he can succeed in completing the task to create an antidote PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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from the available materials. Slughorn praises Harry for taking such decision. Harry‘s memory about bezoar is confirmed by Slughorn; a bezoar will protect
from most poisons.
―You‘ve got nerve, boy‖ he boomed, taking the bezoar and holding it up so that the class could see it. ―Oh, you‘re like your mother. . . . Well, I
can‘t fault you. . . . A bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions‖Half-Blood Prince, p. 378