Abanes Answers Witch

[Trina]

No: HPFGUIDX 17870

I have not read your book, but here are my responses to the questions 
you raised.

"Interestingly, if Harry would have had some integrity, and not 
cheated like everyone else, he probably would have lost and Cedric 
would still be alive."

You don't know that Cedric would still be alive if Harry lost.  He 
still could have won, touched the Triwizard Cup/portkey and gone to 
the graveyard and still have been murdered by Wormtail, which is a 
more frightening scenario than what actually happened. No one would 
know that Voldemort was back in power.   Harry as an underage 
contestant didn't have much of a chance in the TWT, I agree, but he 
was a pawn of Crouch, a follower of the decidedly evil Lord 
Voldemort.  And Harry *does* have integrity.  He didn't have to tell 
Cedric about the dragons in the first task, but he does, thinking it 
wouldn't be fair that Cedric was the only champion not knowing.  The 
rampant cheating is not right, I agree, but is it right to put 17/18 
(and one 14) year olds in the path of nesting female dragons?  

> 2. Harry not only helps Hagrid break the restrictions he is under 
> per Dumbledore, but also helps Hagrid break Wizard Laws 
> against illegal pets.

What restrictions?  Not using magic as an expelled Hogwarts student?  
Harry is not responsible for Hagrid's use of his pink brolly, in 
which it is commonly believed that he keeps hidden the broken pieces 
of his wand, to use Engorging charms on pumpkins or to put a pig's 
tail on Dudley.  Hagrid, too, was a pawn of evil and unjustly 
expelled from school.  By rights he should be a proper wizard.  And 
in the case of illegally obtained dragons, again, Hagrid was duped by 
Voldemort to divulge information in return for his dragon egg.  In my 
eyes, Hagrid is a very naive soul of whom it is easy to tak 
advantage. 

> 3. Harry consistently breaks school rules and lies to, well, just 
> about everyone whnever it is convenient. 

Are you familiar with Harry's pre-Hogwarts background?  He was for 10 
years *locked in a cupboard under the stairs* and mistreated by his 
uncle, aunt, and cousin.  He had no toys, no clothes that fit, never 
given enough to eat,  was beaten up regularly by his cousin Dudley, 
never encouraged to trust or ask questions about anything. He is not 
a very trusting person, especially when it comes to authority 
figures.  He does things on his own as a result of this upbringing.  
In GoF he has demonstrated more trust of adults, thanks to the 
kindness of the Weasleys and the trust of Dumbledore. 

> 5. Another excellent role model is Mr. Weasley (sarcasm). This 
> guy is nothing but a weak-willed hypocrite who lies to his wife. 
> His two boys run ruffshod oer him. he is SUPPOSED to keep 
> wizards from bewitching muggle artifacts (even having them 
> arrested), while he himself does exactly what he is supposed to 
> be standing against (like cops who take cocaine from busts and 
> sell it). 

Arthur Weasley is an excellent role model. <no sarcasm at all>  He 
loves his children and his wife and does his best at his job with the 
MoM.  Weak-willed hypocrite?  From where do you get this?  He loves 
to muck about with Muggle artifacts out of sheer fascination of the 
Muggle world.  And as he told Molly in Chapter 3 of CoS "There's a 
loophole in the law, you'll find...As long as he wasn't *intending* 
to fly the car, the fact that the car *could* fly wouldn't--" Whether 
or not he was intending ever to fly the Ford Anglia is moot, since 
three of his sons borrowed it to go resuce Harry.  And he does not 
have "two boys"--he has 6 boys, none of whom run roughshod over him.  
They love him, think he's a bit off in his Muggle fascination, but 
they do very much respect him.  And he is very dedicated to the 
safety of the Muggles, as can be seen in Chapter 9 of GoF.


Trina