Dirty!Harry and Stoned!Harry

[mdawdy99]

No: HPFGUIDX 43369

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "dicentra63" <dicentra at x> wrote:
> father would have done, but why didn't his rage turn to Pettigrew? 
> Why don't we see Harry himself killing him, or at least pointing a
> wand at him and trying to get up the nerve to do it?  I'll have to
> read Shrieking Shack again for clues, but I really don't remember
> Harry having any epiphany apart from realizing that Sirius is 
innocent.

I think that you are missing a big part of a young boy's personality, 
namely, bravado.  Boys talk very big (actually, most people do) about 
what THEY would do in a certain situation.  Then when actually IN the 
situation, things don't seem quite like their fantasy.  In our 
fantasies, WE are the only ones who matter.  Other people are seldom 
involved in any key part besides reacting to our actions.  In our 
fantasies, we don't envision other details about a scene, nor do we 
always evaluate the consequences.

I believe that Harry, when confronted with a person who (whom? my 
grammar real bad) he DID hate, and actually had reason to kill, he 
finally realized what killing actually meant (at least partially -- 
he'd learn more in GoF, and I'm afraid he'll have to keep learning 
more and more about killing and the effects on the living in the 
following books.)

Matt