Fred and George: The Bullies You Do Know

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 43031

Elkins wrote all kinds of stuff and I can't resist myself:



> 
> Hmmm.  Well, there's Draco Malfoy and his cronies, of course.  In 
PoA, they sneer at Draco for running into their cabin while fleeing 
the dementor on the Hogwarts Express.


Hold up! Were you just planning to ignore the five pages before where 
Malfoy is giving Harry the razzing over being afraid of the 
dementors? Here's the canon.

UK version:
Pg 69: "You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You 
actually fainted?"

Then Malfoy BLOCKS THE WAY to the castle entrance to razz Harry and 
Ron more and insult Lupin besides.

Then, right before poor little Draco gets the treatment from the big 
bad twins on page 75

"As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit 
and there was a roar of laughter."

Then Pansy Parkinson joined in,

AND THEN, George asks Harry what's bothering him and Ron answers 
Malfoy and then George and Fred tell Harry and Ron AND NO ONE ELSE, 
that Malfoy was afraid as well. 

There was no mention of them running Malfoy out of the compartment. 
No mention of them broadcasting it around the school, LIKE MALFOY 
DID. No mention of them even talking to Draco. Absolutely nothing in 
canon to support that they did anything nasty to Draco beyond talking 
quietly and calmly about him behind his back.

Just two guys, making Harry feel better by telling him Malfoy wasn't 
exactly Dementor Defender either. 

They didn't bully Draco. They helped Harry deal with THE BULLY Draco, 
and did it with no muss, fuss, nor humiliation to Draco.


  In GoF, they hex him and his (unarmed!) buddies in the back, leave 
them lying unconscious on the  floor of a train in the middle of 
London, and then *step* on them while they're out cold.  This, I 
would add, at a point in the tale when they have become legal 
adults.  Not a whole lot of noblesse oblige going on there.  Not much 
in the way of chivalry.  Not the sort of behavior that represents an 
assumption of the mantle of adulthood.


Of course, the fact that Draco has just insulted and threatened Fred 
and George's friends and by extension, said that the "Muggle-lovers" 
will be killed first. Who is a Muggle-lover?

Fred and George's dad, that's who. Perhaps they were a little over-
exuberant, but jeez, you'd think Draco and his gang were just little 
fluffy bunnies, innocent as the mountain rain.

And exactly how can a wizard be unarmed? Unless Draco is so stupid as 
to walk into HRH's train compartment without his wand.


> And...let's see.  Who else?  Well, there's Dudley.  Ton-tongue 
toffee, anyone?  The kid is three years younger than they are, and 
he's a muggle besides; it is plain to see that he is absolutely 
*petrified* of magic, and the twins are passing him cursed sweets.  
> 

No, they are throwing cursed sweets in his general direction and the 
little pig with no self-control snaps them up. Is there a reasonable 
assumption, even a fervent hope, that he eats them? Sure. But the 
best pranks are the ones the prankee walks into of his own accord and 
Dudley fell for it.

And forgive me, but I have a hard time shedding a tear when a bully 
like Dudley -- you want me to dig up the canon references for Harry 
getting physically assaulted by Dudley? -- gets it from a bigger 
bully.

That is what is happening. A kid who has lived his entire short life 
by bullying weaker kids gets a comeuppance. I don't cry. I cheer.
 
> Oh, and then there's little Malcolm Baddock.  Eleven years old, 
it's his very first day at school, the poor kid's probably scared out 
of his gourd to begin with, he's just been sorted into Slytherin, and 
on his way to the table, big strong sixteen-year-old Fred and George 
actually *hiss* him.
> 
> You know, we've never heard of even the Slytherins doing anything 
like that?  Never once has there been a mention of *anyone* jeering, 
hissing, or booing at the Sorting Ceremony.  Except for Fred and 
George, that is, because Fred and George are a couple of thuggish 
*cads.*


No, the Slytherins just refuse to acknowledge Harry Potter when cited 
for bravery. Hissing is amateur night for them. 

And considering that every other non-Slytherin cheers at the downfall 
of Slytherin in SS/PS, I'd say you have your evidence that plenty of 
students besides Fred and George can't stand the Slyths and openly 
cheer at their misfortune.

 
> They can't even manage to be nice to the Ever So Decent Cedric at 
the beginning of GoF.  He's trying to be friendly, and they're 
scowling menacingly at him, just because he had the unmitigated gall 
to whip them once at Quidditch.  What would they have been doing if 
their parents hadn't been around, one wonders.  Beating him *up?*
> 

Actually, they were civil. And it's pretty clear that the only reason 
Hufflepuff won the match is because of the Dementors. Was there sour 
grapes? Sure there were. (Interestingly enough, Amos Diggory was just 
as bad in his own way)

Being 16 is not the end of the maturity scale, far from it. Fred and 
George are allowed sour grapes without being lumped in as Draco in 
red-and-gold.


> See, this particular logic really hits all of my hot buttons, 
because in my experience, it's the logic that bullies *always* use to 
justify their actions.  "If he weren't so snotty, we wouldn't have 
been forced to shove him in the locker."  "She was really asking for 
it, the way she always dressed so badly and never stood up for 
herself."  
> 
 It reminds me most uncomfortably, in fact, of those gruesome excuses 
> that people sometimes offer for committing sexual assault.  "She 
was asking for it, wearing a short skirt like that!"  "She just 
thought 
> that she was *IT,* so she needed to be taken down a peg."
> 
> I don't find it compelling.  To say the least.  In what way is 
being somewhat stuffy and pompous a request for constant 
harrassment?  In what way is arrogance a petition for physical 
assault?
 

First, Percy is a different animal altogether. Inter-sibling 
rivalries are normal and this is Fred and George's way of dealing 
with "perfect Percy", who is obnoxious. And there is no evidence they 
have physically harmed Percy, or even seriously attempted to. (I 
don't consider the "locking him in a pyramid") anything more than a 
joke.

So, we're left with Draco. This young little angel flaunts his wealth 
like a club, abuses those weaker (the knee-locker on Neville, for 
starters) constantly tries to get the Trio expelled, openly threatens 
Hermione and calls her the Wizard equivalent of the n-word. He 
threatens the Weasleys and continually bereates Ron for the crime of 
being poor.

And that whole train compartment scene? It was three boys, including 
two thugs, against two smaller boys and a girl. Real fair odds for 
Draco and his gang.

Yeah, real classy. Someone I want my son to grow up to be. 

On the other hand, if my son grows up to someday defend the Neville's 
and Hermione's of the world, and stands up for his little brother, 
I'll consider I've done a damn good job.

Darrin
-- Dementor Defenders. Good band name.