Fred & George Step on Draco - Big Deal

[bboy_mn]

No: HPFGUIDX 43152

I'm sure some people are going to find the next statement offensive.
However, that is not my intention; I'm simple illustrating that
sometimes you can think too 'deeply'. The point I want to make is that
there is a difference between 'rational' thought and 'rationalizing'. 

Let take the alleged bullies Fred and George and the incident on the
train. 

1.) The curses - Several people cursed Draco & Co, but they all acted
independently. They all cursed spontaneously as a reaction to Draco
insulting and offensive reference to Cedric, and they did so not
knowing that other people were also about to curse Draco. This wasn't
some grand conspiracy to lure Draco into a trap and attack him. Draco
provoked the attack, and justly received the attack he provoked. Let's
also keep in mind that everyone who spontaneously and independently
attacked Draco, did so with a harassment curse. These were not severe
curses and they were not curses intended to do any real damage. The
damage though relatively mild, was compounded by the fact that Draco &
Co. were hit by at least five curses at the same time. Keep in mind
that Fred and George are a lot more advanced students of magic than
Harry & Co. If they had intended to do harm, they would not have used
'harassment curses'.

So Fred and George did not act with the combined premeditated intent
of knocking Draco unconscious or causing him any harm; certainly with
the intent of causing him annoyance and embarrassment, but not harm.

2.) Stepping on Draco- was not a physical assault, it was an act of
supreme disrespect. A disrespectful act against someone who under the
circumstances did not deserve much respect.

In Japan, there is a type of massage where the person giving the
massage walks on your back. It's considered quite relaxing and enjoyable.

In martial arts class, we used to walk on each other's stomach to
strengthen out abdominal muscles. So being stepped on is a long long
way from an assault. Now with out a doubt, you can step on a person in
ways that are intended to cause damage, but I don't see the twins,
acting with the intent to cause damage or pain or harm. Keep in mind
that in the examples of being step on that I gave, the people are
conscious, and suffer no pain or harm, and in one case, actually feel
pleasure.

Certainly, stepping on Draco wasn't very nice, but I would never
consider it an attack or an assault, and I can't/won't believe that it
was done with the intention of causing harm. 

3.) The kick - they rolled, pushed, and kicked Draco & Co out into the
hallway outside the train compartment. THEY DID NOT "KICK HIM WHEN HE
WAS DOWN". The 'kicked' part was not an assault. It was not an attack
on Draco with any intent to cause harm or pain. Kicked in this case
means they pushed and rolled him out using their foot. It was by no
means a kick in the most common sense of the word kick. They intent
was to simply get Draco out of their compartment.

4.) Restraint - Ron, Harry, and the twin have show remarkable restrain
when it comes to Draco, something Draco has certainly never shown
them. Ron has suffered endless insults from Draco and has rarely
reacted in any way other than verbally. He has however reacted much
stronger when other people have been insulted; Hermione and the
belching slugs incident for example.

If Ron or the twins or for that matter Harry, had engaged in a
scientific exercise called 'conditioned response', they could very
easily stop Draco. If Ron punched Draco in the face everytime Draco
insulted Ron or one of his friends, Draco would quickly develop a
'conditioned response'. He would begin to associate insulting people
with getting punch, and once he saw the connection, he would certainly
refrain from engaging in the action that cause that particular
response. But that hasn't happened, it hasn't happed because Ron,
Harry, and the twins have all show remarkable restrain in dealing with
Draco.

Speaking of restrain, in the train incident, Draco threatened everyone
with death, and they all showed restraint, but when Draco began to
insult Cedric and Cedric's memory; Cedric who was a decent, honest,
intelligent, sensitive, hardworking, fair, just, and noble person;
everyone reacted. While they reacted to defend Cedric, they restrained
themselves when they were personally threatened with death. 

Another issue that has been brought up which is related to restraint;
Draco made a public spectacle out of the fact that Harry fainted when
he saw the Dementors, Fred and George made a very private comment
intended to comfort Harry regarding Draco's response to the Dementors.

5.) Joke & Pranks - Fred and George always pick on the little kids.
Well, yes but then again no. The longer you know George and Fred the
more of their gags, trick, pranks, and jokes you've been exposed too.
How many times to you have to turn into a canary before you stop
taking Canary Cakes from them? The only people who haven't seen these
jokes are the newer students, so that who they play the jokes on. I
was under the impression that the Canary Cakes were very popular and
that the twins sold a lot of them. People were turning into canaries
all over the place until everyone wised up and stopped accepting any
food from anybody.

The Ton Tongue Toffee and Dudley was certainly a risky and potentially
dangerous prank, but common sense says that if the intended to sell
these that, just like the Canary Cake, after a short period of time,
your tongue goes back to normal on it's own. No one had to enchant
Neville back into a person, when the Canary Cake wore off, the just
changed back and he personally had a laugh over it, because he saw it
as embarrassing but harmless fun, which is what a prank or a joke is
suppose to be.

I'm sure the twins thought through the elements of danger regarding
the TTToffee. But I seriously doubt they allowed for the danger of Mr.
and Mrs. Dursley's reaction. I doubt that they considered that Petunia
would try to rip Dudley's tongue out. So it was a dangerous stunt in
that there were aspects of it that were very unpredictable.
Considering the impulsive nature of most 16 year olds, this doesn't
seem that out of the ordinary. Also, you'll notice that while the
Dursley's freak out, Arthur Weasley wasn't too concerned.

Sorry but that just doesn't sound like a bunch of bullies to me.

bboy_mn