The Evil Trio deserved hexes [was The Train Stomp vs. Dumbledore, etc.]

[dicentra63 <dicentra@xmission.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51484

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "marinafrants <rusalka at i...>"
<rusalka at i...> wrote:
> 
> I think that merely drawing their wands and presenting a united 
> front stood a good chance of doing the trick.  Draco is a coward, 
> he's not likely to launch a physical attack when the target is 
> obviously armed and ready to retaliate.  He'd probably retreat. And, 
> of course, if he did go for his wand, HRH would've been perfectly 
> justified in defending themselves.

Unless, of course, the Trio and twins weren't retaliating in the first
place.  Draco wasn't there to start a fight--he was there to gloat. 
The hexes were meant only to *shut him up*, right then and there.  

Merely pointing a wand at Draco and telling him to leave wouldn't have
shut him up.  He'd have kept yapping.  He might have backed out of the
compartment, but he'd have keep shouting insults all the way down the
corridor.  

Furthermore, as someone pointed out, none of the five knew that the
others were planning to pop off hexes, either.  The only reason the
DCG (Draco, Crabbe, Goyle) were rendered unconscious is that they got
hit by more than one hex at a time, same as Snape in the Shrieking Shack.

However, the reaction of the Trio and twins *after* the hexing can be
disconcerting--or at least telling--and I'm not talking about the
two-step.  They shove the unconscious bodies out into the corridor and
cooly sit down to play Exploding Snap as if nothing had happened.

Even Hermione is silent, which is strange given that she was upset
about knocking out Snape (worried that they'd crossed a very big line)
and noted that the Ferret Bounce could have hurt Draco worse than it
did.  She of all people should have second-guessed this action too. 
But she doesn't.

On the way out of the train, they "struggled out past Malfoy, Crabbe,
and Goyle" but don't pay them any mind at all.

What does this tell us?  Does it mean that the Trio have become
callous and insensitive?  Is OoP going to show us a Trio that doesn't
care about ethics at all?  (If it does, I'm tossing it over the fence.)

Or is there a more symbolic meaning to it all?  DCG have been a thorn
in the Trio's side for four years.  It could be that the Trio have
arrived at the point where DCG just don't bug them anymore.  Harry was
hearing a ringing in his ears as Draco began his rant, but afterwards
he's not still mad. (If he is, we aren't told.) 

Maybe now Draco and his sneering are too trivial to be bothered with.
 The hexes might have been the Trio's way of "washing their hands" of
the old dynamic; they've finally "exorcised" Draco and schoolboy
rivalries as they move on to more serious challenges.

And the twins?  I think they're going to end up being the wild cards
in the coming conflict.  They'll hang out in the background with their
joke shop, but they'll show up at exactly the right moment to help the
Heroes win.

Or not.  :D

--Dicentra