Harry...a murderer

[Jenny from Ravenclaw]

T wrote:
>I was so upset when Harry killed Quirrel in the movie, rather than 
having Dumbledore save him at the last minute, and Voldie leave 
Quirrel to die.  It makes Harry an 11-yr. old murderer, and thats just 
OOC..think Pettigrew.  So what does everyone else think?>

and Cindy responded:
I think of it as self-defense.  Quirrel was trying to kill Harry, and 
> Harry was justified in "touching" Quirrel and defending himself.  
> There was no self-defense justification re Pettigrew, though, so 
> Harry would have been implicated in murder had he not spared 
> Pettigrew.>

Cindy, I knew you'd use the same argument I had before I even read 
your post.  :-)  I agree that Harry was simply defending himself here, 
but I do think a good point was made about Harry being the one 
responsible for Quirrel's death.  The fact that Harry lets Pettigrew 
go in PoA is monumentally significant.  I guess we'll just have to 
chalk it up to Harry using his instincts for survival here.  I would 
have done the same to save my life.

I was more bothered by the fact that when Quirrel snarled at Harry to 
come and stand in front of the mirror, Harry did, without any 
resistance.  He looked a little wimpy there - but only for a second.

--jenny from ravenclaw, who feels that movie has brought some fresh 
and fun discussions to HPFGU - it's great to see people like Amanda 
posting again.  I've missed your comments! 
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