Greyfriars and Hogwarts - which is a better institution for these hopeless cases?

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

This is the very beginning of the Magnet continuum in 1908.  Harry Wharton really needed to go to Greyfriars for some discipline to be instilled in him!  I wonder what effect Hogwarts would have had.  More parallels with HP that are less explicit in the passage include Wharton coming from Surrey, like Harry did, and his having black hair and being an orphan, like both Voldemort and Harry.  In fact he comes across a lot as the young V would have done.  No plot is completely original, but still, it is all very striking.

>> "Send Master Harry to me!"
Colonel Wharton filled his glass from the decanter, held it up to the light, and then slowly sipped the contents, a dark shade of thought upon his bronzed face the while.
The colonel had dined, and he was alone now in the old, dark, oak-panelled dining-room at Wharton Lodge. A bronzed, grim-visaged old soldier was the colonel, but under the rugged exterior a kindly heart beat.
The door of the dining-room opened, and the colonel set down his glass, only half emptied , and compressed his lips slightly as he looked at the boy who came into the room.
A handsome, well-built lad, finely-formed, strong and active. Handsome indeed was the face, with its well-marked features and large, dark eyes. But there was a cloud upon it, a cloud that seemed habitual there, and in the dark eyes was a glint of suspicion and defiance. The whole manner of the boy was one of suppressed hostility, and the colonel realised it keenly enough without words being spoken.
"You sent for me, uncle."
In the tones of Harry Wharton, too, was a half-hidden hostility and defiance, as if he knew that he had not been sent for in a friendly spirit, and was ready to meet anger with anger.
"Yes, Harry." Colonel Wharton's voice was very mild.
Sit down, my boy. I want to speak to you."
Harry Wharton did not move. The colonel raised his eyebrows.
"Sit down, Harry."
I suppose you are not going to keep me long," said the boy doggedly. "I want to go out on my pony before dark-"
The colonel half rose from his seat, a flush of anger darkening his cheek.
"Sit down!" he thundered.
For a moment it looked as if the order would be disobeyed, but there was something in the colonel's face that impelled obedience. Harry Wharton slowly moved to a chair and sat down, but the sullen cloud was darkening on his brow.
"Now, Harry," said the colonel, in a more kindly voice, I want to speak to you seriously. I hope you will take all I am going to say in a friendly spirit. I am your uncle; you are the only son of my only brother, and you should understand that I have your truest interests at heart."
The boy's lips slightly curled, but he did not speak.
"I have come home from India," resumed the colonel, slightly raising his tone, "to find that you have run completely wild under the charge of my sister, and I should not be doing my duty to my dead brother if I did not take you in hand and make at least an attempt to put you on a better road. You have grown up wilful and headstrong, you have grown into the habit of dictating to Miss Wharton, and of overruling your tutor. Your education has been neglected-"
"Mr. Pynsent says I am quite as advanced as most boys of my age," said Harry, with a sulky look.
"Possibly, because you are naturally a quick and intelligent lad; otherwise, you would be a perfect ignoramus by this time. You have done exactly is you liked, and you have not the least idea of discipline. During the month that I have been at home I have tried to improve you-"
"Perhaps I don't want improving."
"You probably think so," said the colonel patiently; "But I think otherwise, and, as your guardian, I have my duty to do. You are obstinate and wilful, and inclined to be insolent to your elders. All that must cease. You have run wild too long. That must come to an end. But I cannot bring myself to exercise the severity necessary for the purpose, and my feeble attempts in that direction have made the house almost a pandemonium. You are determined to have your way, and I am determined that you are not to have it." <<

JKR could not hold a candle to Charles Hamilton!

Comments

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Had a look at the first one. Great literature it is not, but the boys seem well observed. Nugent is a very decent little fellow, isn't he? I can see him ending up a lawyer! And there's no doubt that, in spite of all the physical trauma he endures, young Harry is a lot better off at this school - with an observant master who cares for him - than any child would be in Dumbledore's Hogwarts.