[*blinks in bewilderment*]

really? huh. i can't see why in the world he'd leave (supposing he's actually alive after killing the Big Bad, which i am in serious doubt of). the muggle world gave him nothing but abuse and pain. at least in the wizarding world he'd have some weasleys (cause, serious, you can't kill all of them) and a smattering of school chums. and tons of money.

i'd only see him going back if he somehow lost his magic.

interesting how different people think, huh?

I wrote this right before bed and I've just now noticed that my verb tenses are all out of whack, but I'm far too sleep to correct them. I hope it's not too incoherent.

First of all, I feel I should state that my blitzed-out Harry scenario involves Harry EVENTUALLY returning to the WW, and settling down with someone nice who isn't Ginny, and being an eccentric-but-well-loved reclusive crazy hero-man. So he doesn't leave it permanently, but he leaves to go off and has his little early-life crisis about his identity now that Voldemort is gone, and then goes back once he finds the real Harry inside of himself. Or whatever. It's all really Zen, I swear. I don't think he goes away and dies alone in a run-down house and rots away on his sagging bed, or anything like that, because that's just really depressing. I like things that are happy.

I don't imagine Harry will leave in canon because I don't think that's the way JKR thinks ... but this is one of those times that I'm going to profoundly disagree with the way she does things and then be very glad that I can always alter events in my head.

And, I mean, okay, sure the Dursleys were shitty to Harry (umm, understatement, much?), but no one got killed (and Harry was never, as far as we know, in actual physical danger), whereas the WW is friendly to Harry but people are getting murdered kind of a lot, and Harry is like, supposed to save them (which involves a large risk to his life). Lots of people in the WW are already all hero-worshippy/exploity (see: Romilda Vane, Rufus Scrimgeour, love potions) and that would logically increase after Harry's defeat of Voldemort. While I think Harry was dealing with this sort of thing much better in book 6 than he was in previous books, I also think that he'll probably lose this ability after he defeats Voldemort. When you think about it, Voldemort has been an integral part of Harry's life for quite a while (and if you disagree about him being "integral," then, at the very least, he's one of the defining people in Harry's life) and his defeat will leave a gaping emotional hole in Harry (assuming he has a remotely normal psyche, of course). We wouldn't see this in the book because it probably wouldn't be noticable until a while after the fact, but it is something you could expect to be there. It's like parents -- when their kids go off to college, lots of parents simply don't know what to do with themselves because their previous purpose in life had been taking care of their kids, and now that's gone, they find that they no longer really have an identity outside of their children (and then they get depressed, and call their kids fifty BILLION times a day, and, sure, this doesn't happen to everyone, but the analogy holds). Sure, Harry has a bit of an identity outside of Voldemort, but could that withstand the necessary post-Voldemort reformation of his worldview (which will be the first time he's completely free to choose what to do, not bound by dependence or the weight of destiny, which will most likely result in somewhat unpredictable and immature stuff*. )? I dunno. I would say he'd beat it to a monastery and chill with the monks for a while until he recovers, but that wouldn't really be that doesn't lend itself to good fiction or slashy things, so, you know.

Of course, all of this could be avoided if Harry dies. But, you know, I like Harry, and don't want him to die. I would cry. A lot. I'd cry more than I cry in Star Wars when Alderaan is destroyed. And let me tell you, that's some serious crying. (Yes, I'm lame! No, I don't care!)

I'm not sure how coherent this is, but I've been awake for 26 hours in a row now and only had a few hours of sleep before that and was also trying to work out exactly why I think the way I do about this postwar Harry. I know I missed a lot of stuff, but my comment is like, exceeding the length of my original post, hah.

*I don't know what I was trying to say there. My brain has completely stopped working.

i do see what you are saying, but i still entirely disagree. harry not only had shitty (and actually i think this word is too light. he was beaten up by dudley, locked in closet, locked in his room and general abused the entire time he was in the muggle world. and he even encountered magical dangers while in the muggle world (sirius, who turned out not to be a danger, but he didn't know that, and dementors). the wizarding world, on the otherhand, has given him the only friends, the only family, the only joy he's ever experienced. yes, he got a lot of crap that went with that, but all he got in the muggle world was the crap bit. now i don't deny that harry, logically, would be one messed up ickle!hero. wouldn't even put it past him to be broken!harry or drugusingbroken!harry, or drunkenbroken!harry, but i believe he'd stay in the wizarding world to do it. i don't think the ww crap outweighs the good unless a slew more deaths occur of those close. if you kill off hagrid, hermione, ron and another weasley, maybe i could see him running, but only on of the above dead, i think he'd stay in the ww and be messed up.

all that being said, i have no problem with a fic premise that says he breaks and hides in the muggle world. if the story is interesting and well written i'll accept a lot of premises i don't agree with. [*smiles*]

good golly grrrl, get some sleep.