15

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we see Hermione start this passage talking about how Harry was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts

"You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said ---"

Ron looked around at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck; rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

"Ho ho," said Hermione in a bored voice. "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."

My question is what exactly did Harry know how to do that Victor Krum didn't? More importantly even if Harry did know how to do some stuff Krum didn't - how would Krum know this? I can't think of anything that occurred during the Triwizard Tournament that would give Krum any reason to say that Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't know how to do.

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  • 4
    No canonical answer, just logic, but Hermione knew Harry could produce a Patronus, which is advanced magic. Perhaps it came up in their correspondence. – David Stratton Aug 13 '12 at 3:30
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    That would make sense. I doubt they teach how to conjure a Patronus at Durmstrang. – Dason Aug 13 '12 at 3:42
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    It's very likely that it's off-screen magic - after all, the book takes place over the course of a year. Plus, I'm sure he and Hermione talked about Harry - she Harry's friend and he Harry's opponent. It's very likely that Viktor tried to size up the competition through Hermione. – rsegal Aug 13 '12 at 4:33
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    There are two likely examples in the first part of the quote. Harry could summon a corporeal Patronus, something that many adult wizards can't do (a fact that's mentioned multiple times in the book); it's possible that Viktor couldn't do this. Harry was also capable of throwing off the Imperius Curse completely during a DADA lesson in the fourth book whilst Viktor was Imperiused and made to attack Fleur during the final event. There's also Harry's ability as a Parseltongue, but I'm not sure if that would count. – Anthony Grist Aug 13 '12 at 8:43
  • Harry could love. – Alex May 7 at 16:36
14

Much of the school year takes place ‘off screen’. I do not think that there are any direct references to this in the other books.

There are a couple of possibles:

  1. Hermione is lying to try to make Harry feel better.

    Unlikely and quite out of character

  2. Krum noticed Harry doing some things which he could not

    Possible

  3. Krum had just heard of some things Harry had done and believed them even though they might not be true.

    Possible

  4. Krum was lying to make himself look better to Hermione.

    Also possible

I guess you can take your pick from 2,3 or 4 as the only person who actually knows whether he was telling the truth and what he was referring to is Krum and he never told us.

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    I think #3 is the most plausible, as having not read the Harry Potter books all Krum would have known is that Harry was instrumental in getting four DADA teachers in a row kicked out of the school under strange circumstances. The boy must be doing some sort of magic to make that happen. – Tacroy Aug 13 '12 at 15:52
  • and not to mention he 'beat' Voldermort when he was just a baby! – Stefan Aug 13 '12 at 16:20
1

Two possibilities:

  1. Durmstrang was known for more of an emphasis on the Dark Arts, so perhaps Krum was referring to the Dark Arts (or maybe DADA), things that aren't taught at Hogwarts. Even with this culture, how many Durmstrang'ers were Parselmouths, for example?

  2. Krum admitted that Harry knew things that he (Krum, still a student and not a "full-grown wizard") didn't know. So Hermione simply said the same thing twice: Harry knew things that most full-grown wizards -- and really no students (even The Krum) knew. The second time was just blind love.

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