Re Dishing the Slytherins

[Ali <Ali@zymurgy.org>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51346

Coming into the discussion, a bit late...

I have to admit that until I read people's objections to Dumbledore's 
treatment of the Slytherins in PS/SS, it simply hadn't occurred to me 
that the point redistribution was anything other than fair. Since the 
time this issue first surfaced,  I still believe that  the point 
redistribution was fair but struggle more over the methodology.

I agree with Catherine that the end of term speech was the first 
opportunity that Dumbledore had had to publicly praise Harry, and the 
only way to prevent unfair point awarding/confiscating taking place. 
Until 24 hours before the feast, Harry's life might still have been 
in the balance and to give points out prior to his return to 
consciousness would have seemed a bit advanced. Arguably, the points 
could have been awarded in that 24 hours, but waiting until Harry was 
well enough to be part of the school again, emphasised the 
significance of the award.

In terms of "dishing the Slytherins", I see Dumbledore as righting 
the balance. 3 of the kids who were awarded points in the feast were 
the same three who had practically been sent to Coventry by their 
fellow students for their midnight wanderings. These kids were really 
made to suffer, and whilst their sufferings can be blamed on their 
own stupidity, their loss of 150 points seemed patently unjust in 
comparison with Draco who lost only 20 points. The WW seems quite 
harsh; people are blamed, people rarely seem to be forgiven. I 
believe that Dumbledore was very publically returning the 3 who had 
previously been wrongly ostracised. These kids who were prepared to 
risk all for people who wouldn't give them the time of day . The 
Slytherins were very quick to gloat, but ended up with egg all over 
their faces.

I believe that the Slytherins are being rewarded for their gloating, 
a well earned put-down. Given their somewhat Machiavellian attitude, 
I don't think that they could be too critical of Dumbledore's 
methods.  I do agree that this was a very hard way to do it, and 
would hardly help the "them v. us" culture. Dumbledore was giving 
them a dose of their own medicine.

In terms of whether the House Cup was decided prior to the speech, we 
can only see what the students themselves saw,  Slytherin had won. 
Possibly, points would be awarded until the last minute, but 
Slytherin's lead made any ordinary last minute changes irrelevant. I 
don't believe that Dumbledore was deliberately "Dishing the 
Slytherins", but I also don't think that either he, or the Slytherins 
themselves would have objected to his methodology. I think he was 
using their rules.

Ali