Defending Ron ? Ultimate Betrayal vs Jealousy

[aamonn2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 77748

I wrote :
> > Well... they don't get exactly the same treatment ! Of course, 
> > Harry never asked for spending his time in detention with 
> > Lockhard but in the end, that's what happened. However annoying 
> > (I personnally find him very funny) Lockhard may be, it is still 
> > a slightly less painful punishment than Ron's one.


Alastriona (who misses Sirius very much) wrote : 
> I looked this up in my version of COS, and from Harry's pov Ron was 
> not getting a worse punishment:
> quote: "Filch'll have me there all night," said Ron heavily.  "no 
> magic! There must be about a hundred cups in that room.  I'm no 
> good at muggle cleaning."

> "I'd swap anytime," said Harry hollowly.  "I've had loads of 
> practice with the Dursleys.  Answering Lockhart's fan mail...he'll 
> be a nightmare...."
 
> So this instance, at least, is not a valid argument that Harry gets 
> better treatment then Ron when it comes to punishments.  

I have already replied to identical comments but let's add something 
else. 

a) first of all, I never denied the fact that from Harry's POV his 
punishement is hell compared to Ron's. But we were not discussing 
Harry's feelings but... Ron's! And you aknowledged it when you quoted 
CoS, Ron quite prefers Harry's punishement.
 
b) Of course Harry hates Lockhard (and Lockhard sees Harry as a 
potential rival). But what is Harry doing with him during his 
detention ? He answers Lockhard fan mail, something that he could 
almost do without Lockhard (once again, see GoF end of chapter 17). 
In fact, the two of them are famous wizards having problems of famous 
wizards (Ohhh! That hurts! I won't be able to keep smiling any 
longer !).

c) Now, concerning Ron, what is he doing ? A job that seems a lot 
more degrading from his own POV. Plus, you have to keep in mind that 
he quite despises whatever deals with muggles, so "muggle cleaning", 
as he calls it, is even worse than *simple* cleaning. 

See you. 
AAm.