What if Harry asked for help?
My 7-year-old asked me something today while we read Chamber of Secrets that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. When we got to the part where the Dursleys locked Harry in his room with bars on the window and only let him out twice a day for the bathroom, she asked: “Why don’t any of the trusted adults at school help Harry when they know his grown-ups hurt him?”
I was struck by how simply she articulated something I’d never questioned as a kid. I just accepted Harry had to stay with the Dursleys. It was the price of his survival and the greater good. But now, reading as a parent, I see a system of adults who knew about his abuse and chose to rationalize inaction.
If Harry had asked for help, would anyone have intervened? Would Dumbledore have allowed anyone to help Harry? Was Dumbledore an enabler or were they all enabling through inaction?
If Dumbledore could force the Dursleys to take Harry in, he could have forced them to treat him decently. There’s no reason the blood magic required abuse.
I think Rowling might have intended to show us how Sirius and Dumbledore failed Harry, but I think she unintentionally showed systemic child abuse failures.
We teach children that they need to ask for help when adults are hurting them. But what about when the adults have already decided your suffering is acceptable?