James set up for a Fall? (Was Wormtail's fault - Life-debt )

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 37066

.--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:

> How about a different take altogether?  Harry will be glad he saved 
Wormtail 
> not because Wormtail ever does anything to bring about Voldemort's 
downfall 
> and/or Harry's rescue (though, as stated above, I think he will), 
but for 
> the same reason Harry gave for saving him from Remus's & sirius's 
wrath:  he 
> thinks his father wouldn't have wanted them (him) to be killers.  
He stood 
> up for mercy of a kind, modeling himself after what he imagines his 
father 
> to have been like, and that decision is crucial to the development 
of his 
> own soul.

The theme of father-son relationships underlies much of the Potter 
books.  The picture Harry has of James in his own mind certainly 
colors his thoughts and actions.  He gets angry with Snape when Snape 
makes disparaging remarks about James.  He acts in ways he think 
would earn James' approval.  Yet, Harry does not have a very complete 
picture of James.  He has had snippets of how wonderful James was 
from Hagrid.  He knows that Sirius and Remus were great friends of 
James, but has not yet had the opportunity to sit down with either of 
them to talk about his parents in any depth. Dumbledore has probably 
given Harry the most revealing slivers of insight into James' life 
and Harry knows from this that Dumbldedore thought well of James.

It's safe to say that Dumbledore knows a great deal about James and 
Lily and hasn't yet told Harry all he knows.  As a smart cookie, I'm 
sure D realizes that James was not a saint, and had his faults, like 
every human. However, I don't recall anyone, including Dumbledore, 
saying anything negative about James, with the exception of the 
Dursleys and Snape.  And, of course, these are the people Harry 
despises most, with the possible exception of Draco, so any 
disparaging remarks they may make about James will be immediately 
discounted by Harry.

Harry's view of James at this point in his life may be providing him 
with a sure, steady moral compass.  But, if only for dramatic 
tension, I think that Harry's view of James needs to be shaken up a 
little.  I would not be at all surprised to find that JKR reveals a 
nasty character trait or two of James' that will conflict with 
Harry's idealized vision of him.  

Marianne