Dirty!Harry and Stoned!Harry

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 43401

-- In HPforGrownups at y..., "dicentra63" <dicentra at x> wrote:

> OK.  I went back and read Shrieking Shack again last night, and 
found
> something rather interesting.  I can buy the argument that Harry
> didn't turn his wand on Pettigrew because the heat of the moment had
> dissipated.  But I found something even more interesting.  Pettigrew
> has been revealed, and now he's trying to find an ally:
> 
> "Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head 
slowly
> toward Harry.
> 
> "'Harry ... Harry ... you look just like your father ... just like
> him. ...'
> 
> [Sirius rebukes him in all caps.]
> 
> "'Harry,' whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, hands
> outstretched. 'Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed.... James
> would have understood, Harry ... he would have shown me mercy....'"
> 
> The next time Harry speaks is when he jumps in front of Pettigrew to
> save him, on the next page.  When he says he doesn't think his 
father
> would have wanted Sirius and Remus to become killers.
> 
> It would appear that *Peter* is the one who suggests to Harry what 
the
> higher moral code is.  Why would that hold any water for Harry?  Why
> would Peter's words persuade him that his father wouldn't have 
wanted
> him killed?  The narrator doesn't look into Harry's head during this
> time, so there's no clue there.  And not only that, as bboy pointed
> out, the "he deserves it" sentiment isn't actually gone, it's just
> been redirected at Azkaban instead of death, which if you ask me is
> worse than death (and in many ways equals death, just more slowly).
> 
> Has Harry actually chosen a higher moral code or has he just decided
> to protect his parents' friends -- and to hell with the real 
traitor?
> 

Ah, you beat me to it with the observation about Peter. :-) Still, I 
think I have something to add to the discussion. 

"Why would Peter's words hold any water for Harry?"

I think it's very telling that Sirius and Lupin don't deny the truth 
of what Peter says. Instead, they "strode forwards, seized Pettigrew's 
shoulders and threw him backwards onto the floor. He sat there, 
twitching with terror, staring up at them."

If I was Harry, I would take that (in combination with several other 
things) as confirmation of what Peter says. If Sirius and Lupin didn't 
know that James wouldn't have spared Peter, wouldn't they have snapped 
back at Peter on that point, as they did with all the others? Instead, 
they physically and violently tear Peter from Harry. No, I think they 
know darn right what James would have wanted, and don't care by this 
point. When Harry steps forward, it must have been as if James, who 
they were disregarding, was stepping forward and telling them what 
they knew all along. Certainly, they accept Harry's decision 
suspiciously quickly, for men completely convinced in what they were 
about to do. Sirius especially, all things considered. And neither 
contests Harry's belief in Peter at that point either. 

Furthermore, we have to remember who James Potter is to Harry. Harry 
has never met his father and can be accused by the unkind (Snape :-) 
of unadulterated worship of his heroically martyred parents. Harry's 
idea of his parents, I would suggest, is almost inseparable from his 
idea of Dumbledore, the book's near-personification of goodness 
(whether he was dissing the Slyths or not). And, I think Harry could 
easily have said what Dumbledore would want him to do. No wonder that 
the mention of his father gets him thinking along Dumbledore's lines.

Thirdly, I would like to direct your attention towards Chapter Twelve: 
"The Patronus." I've always thought of this as the set-up for Harry's 
actions in the Shrieking Shack. The relevant passage is

* * * * *

Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their 
soul sucked out through their mouth. But then he thought of Black.

"He deserves it," he said suddenly.

"You think so?" said Lupin lightly. "Do you really think anyone 
deserves that?"

"Yes," said Harry defiantly. "For ... for some things ..."

* * * * *

Lupin is "lightly" referring to the Dementors' kiss, but the exchange 
has a bearing on Harry's entire desire for revenge against Black, a 
desire which turned on Pettigrew. Harry's own ideas are to kill Black 
himself, not for the dementors to suck out his soul. Lupin 
unconsciously is challenging Harry in his unexamined rage. About the 
dementors' kiss. About private revenge. I can't see but that Rowling 
wrote this exchange as the prelude to the Shrieking Shack incident. 

And lastly but not least, wanting to kill a person in a rage is a very 
different matter indeed that actually seeing it done... and very 
cooly done at that, thanks to the Ever so Edgey Remus Lupin. 

Eileen, muttering something about Canon Colleges, and students who get 
 "A"s on their oral exams by liberal use of the Imperius curse