Hermione/Ron/Crouch Sr./Hedgehogs/Twins

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 37692

Debbie:

What 
> disturbed me about that scene is that George allowed his conscience 
to be 
> overruled.  To tell the truth, the twins have been on my radar 
screen ever 
> since first reading CoS, where they act like a pair of cat burglars 
when they 
> rescue Harry from the Dursleys.


They *rescued* him, though. They *borrowed* the Family Car to do so, 
returned *Harry's* things to Harry after the Dursleys had stolen 
them...

Debbie:
 
> Early last week, DG made an observation that ties into the non-
canonical, 
> real-world reason I'm not comfortable with Fred & George:
> 
> It has been my experience though, that men cut from the Fred & 
George
> mold tend to make better leaders than those cut from the Percy mold.
> Those of my peers who played the game flawlessly and wound up in
> positions of power within the school went on to competant, but
> indistinguished, careers as middle-managers. Those that played a
> little more fast and loose with the rules, used their initiative 
more
> often, and occasionally ran afoul of the rules, seem more inclined
> (once they made contact with the Real World) to go forth to 
greatness.
> 
> I agree that Fred and George exhibit many qualities that echo the 
backgrounds 
> of highly successful entrepreneurs.  They are innovators and risk-
takers.  
> But there is a line between aggressive innovation and leadership 
and illegal 
> activity.  My experience (I am a tax lawyer whose resume includes 
experience 
> in "off balance sheet financing," - gasp - which, yes,  is what got 
Enron 
> into trouble) has been that many want to walk that line, and some 
view the 
> line as much more elastic than it is.  Some of those fall over the 
line, and 
> of those, some fall quite far.  Of those who fall, some get caught 
and some 
> don't.  For some it is a mistake they try not to repeat, but for 
others the 
> edge becomes a way of life.  In short, in the real world, playing 
fast and 
> loose with the rules can lead to legal trouble.

Children's book by Astrid Lindgren might do a good read for you. 
Particularly a story about a young boy called Emil, who's famous of 
his pranks particularly one where he draws his little sister up like 
a flag so she can see farer-- (he always gets caught, he always has 
good intent, he's been punished over 100 times for his "pranks") - he 
ends up being a *hero*, saving the life of a man by taking him to a 
doctor when he was told it was "impossible" - he did it anyway. He 
ended up with a great, fine job.

  With the twins, their 
> rulebreaking for the fun of it, their sometimes pushing things too 
far (as 
> with the Ton-Tongue Toffee incident, which still makes me cringe), 
the 
> implication of the Owlery scene that they're willing to push things 
VERY 
> close to the edge - even George thought it was blackmail, all add 
up to a 
> pair I can't trust not to succumb to the lure of easy financing.
> 
> I realize my reading of the twins is highly idiosyncratic, and 
maybe a bit 
> subversive, as my experiences that led me to the Soon to be Evil!

Blackmail? They were merely asking Ludo Bagman to pay off the money 
he owes them! It's not blackmail - it's watching out for their 
rights. As a pair they work out fine. Fred sees to complaint when 
they're wronged, George sees to credit when they're helped. Pair of 
criticism, one giving out the negative and other the positive.

About turning Ron's teddybear into spider... was it accidental or 
purposeful? It is pretty odd that a 5-year-old *could* do that on 
purpose. Fred's old teddy, Ron doesn't seem to like it, Fred gets 
terribly offended-- bang! Teddy's suddenly a spider...

--Finwitch