Death and Justice

[dicentra63]

No: HPFGUIDX 36992

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
> Sirius and Lupin wanted to kill Wormtail, not because they 
> thought he couldn't be held safely in Azkaban, but because they 
> thought he had it coming for betraying Harry's parents. This is 
> what Harry understands, and what is more Lupin and Sirius 
> affirm this by their own words, and by saying only Harry has the 
> "right to decide." That would make no sense at all if the decision 
> to be made was "Is Wormtail such a present danger that we 
> have to kill him immediately in self-defense?" If Sirius and Lupin 
> had killed Wormtail, it would have been to satisfy their own need 
> for revenge and they would have been no better than Voldemort.

I will grant you that Siri and Remus are in it for revenge, not to
protect society or whatever. 

So if Harry doesn't step in and they kill Peter, what happens to them?
  Are they arrested and sent to Azkaban (with or without a trial)? or
does the "warrior ethic" of the WW call their actions just?  Was Harry
protecting them from some terrible consequences or did he just not
like the thought that they would have blood on their hands?

Harry's words suggest the latter, IMO.  BUT, if the WW justice system
would have punished them, why was Remus so eager to jump in with Siri
(who would figure he had nothing to lose)?  That really doesn't seem
rational, and Remus isn't in an irrational state at that point.

Would the WW say that they were no better than Voldemort if they had
avenged the Potters?  I know from our perspective they would be, but
what about the internal logic of the novel?  We've discovered many
times that it's not attuned to turn-of-the-21st century western
sensibilities (e.g. "real wizards don't apologize").  So does that
mean JKR is asking the reader to judge the WW or simply to accept it
on its own terms?

--Dicentra, who really doesn't know the answers to these questions