HRH and their Prefect badges (was: The next Peter Pettigrew)

[greatelderone]

No: HPFGUIDX 71956

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "oh have faith" 
<rshuson80 at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I didn't mean to say that Harry himself is a spoilt brat, because I 
> don't think he is.  I said that being given the badge in this way 
> smacks of spoilt bratness. Dumbledore still shouldn't make 
> exceptions for him, just because of who he is.  

What exceptions? Harry is certainly more qualified to receive the 
position of prefect than Ron given his experiences. However on the 
other hand giving Ron the prefect's badge was making the exception 
since there are quite a few other people like Dean Thomas who 
certainly seem to have the qualifications for a prefect and who seem 
to have more emotional control than Ron. . 


>Besides, there already *are* capable Gryffindor 
> prefects in his year. 

Capable? We don't exactly know how capable he was, but judging by how 
his tenure starts I don't think he was the best choice for prefect 
for Gryffindor(trying to buy alcohol, allowing George and Fred to 
recruit guinea pigs for the dangerous snack boxes). Still he wasn't 
Dumbledore's worst choice given the fact that he made Draco Malfoy a 
prefect..

>As such, giving him the badge would just be an 
> honorific kind of make-Harry-feel-better gesture. 

It would be more like rectifying a mistake. Making Ron prefect was 
the make-Ron-feel-more-secure tactic.

> He'd be a 
> special, extra 6th year prefect and that is special treatment. If 
> you want to make the boy feel better, buy him a butterbeer!

Seems to me Ron was more like the special 5th year prefect in the 
book. Instead of putting the most qualified boy into the position he 
puts the one who has always been overshadowed by his brothers to 
allow him a chance of greatness which just smacks of bias.
 
>  Harry may not be spoiled now, but he's still young and easy to 
> influence, and he's the most famous boy in the Wizarding World 

He isn't so young anymore. The centaurs even said that he was fast 
approaching manhood. Besides I think the horrible treatment he 
received from the Dursleys for ten years has stopped him from 
becoming a spoiled brat like Malfoy or Dudley.

> for 
> his well-adjustment, they should treat him as much as possible like 
> everyone else.

Except the teachers do treat him like everybody else and in the case 
of Snape he is treated worse than the rest of the Gryffindors.

>That means no special treats or honours, and so he 
> doesn't get made a prefect a year later because he felt a bit put 
> out at missing out at the proper time. Dumbledore's original 
> decision may have been misguided (or it may not have; maybe Harry 
> really did have too much else to cope with) but none the less he 
> made it, and if he goes back on it just because he feels bad for 
>Harry, his marbles really must be rattling around. 

Why can't he go back on it? After all if a better candidate is 
available why not put him into the position. 

> Learning to 
> accept things as they are and deal is a far more important lesson 
> for Harry IMHO, and will make him better adjusted in the long 
> run.       

How is he maladjusted? The kid has had the ultimate reality check 
with the loss of his parents and the awful treatment he has received 
from the Dursleys. 

> 
> Now, that's a bit unfair on Ron.  Okay, so DD had a choice of two 
> and circumstances tipped the balance in favour of Ron, but that 
> doesn't mean he was always second choice.  Maybe he was the better 
> choice, and maybe it's good for him to finally have something that 
> Harry doesn't have - having a bit of responsibility may also help 
> him knuckle under, do the work and mature.

Except he matured very little in the book and was still a slacker 
like Harry despite receiving the badge. Furthermore the implication 
that Dumbledore gave him the Badge to help him mature smacks of bias.

 > Harry doesn't really 
> need a chance to prove himself, he's done it loads of times.  Ron's 
> the one who needs that chance to get out of his brother's (and 
> Harry's) shadows, and maybe this is it.  I'm not sure it would be 
> fair on Ron either to make Harry a prefect at this stage.  

But isn't this treatment as unfair as Harry getting the badge since 
Dumbledore is giving it to him out of pity that he has been dwelling 
in his brothers' shadows so a nice prefect badge is given to him to 
help his self-esteem which it didn't.

>  If Harry were made prefect, 
> then -in his mind- he'd just be the third-best prefect.   

Actually we don't know how the prefect system works at Hogwarts. 
Perhaps the people chosen for prefect have to be chosen again by the 
headmaster next year so in order to weed out those who are unsuitable 
and to add those who have proven themselves to be suitable.  
 
> It is quite telling that Ron had his Quidditch victory off-camera 
so 
> to speak - he really did do it all on his own, and good for him. 

How so? I don't see how Hermione's and Harry's presence would have 
effected his performance. But then by your own reasoning, Harry's 
excellent performance is due to his friends not due to his own seeker 
skills. 


>I see it as something necessary for 
> the emotional growth of his character.  He would have come with 
them 
> in the forest had he had the chance, it's just he wasn't 
available.  

However the fact that Rowling has Harry and Hermione leave with 
Hagrid during Ron's game and show us Grawp instead of showcasing 
Ron's performance and development just suggests to me how Harry and 
Hermione have grown apart from him and how their paths are going to 
diverge soon. 

> Hermione is being the sensible one after Harry has the fake vision, 
> and that makes her a wiser friend than Ron, but I don't mean best 
> friend in the sense of the quality of their character 

However isn't the quality of character what one always looks for in a 
friend and one who is willing to risk your anger and friendship all 
for your best interests a better friend than one who is encouraging 
procrastination and doesn't try to get on your bad side for your best 
interests?

> I mean it in 
> the sense of being great mates.  

Explain this. I see that Hermione has become the great mate here 
while Ron is just the kind of guy he hangs around with for the fun 
and for the sake of it.

>It's not like Ron is trying to make 
> Harry screw up and do something stupid.  

True, but it hasn't exactly helped him that much. Most notably in 
what happened to Sirius. 

> 
> I'm sure Harry and Ron both like Hermione tremdously and hold her 
in 
> the highest regard (and so they should); but I stand by her being 
> the "third".  The pattern is, Ron and Harry run off and do boy's 
> stuff and have tremendous fun, then come back breathless and 
begging 
> to copy her homework. 
 
The pattern evident in the earlier books is growing less evident. In 
GoF, he spends quite a lot of time together with Hermione when he has 
his argument with Ron and now in Ootp all the important moments he 
spends with anyone are spent with Neville or Hermione (getting Rita 
Skeeter to write the article, seeing Grawp, losing Umbridge and in 
the showdown in the department of mysteries).

Also it is Ron who is still depending on her as a cheat sheet while 
Harry is starting to use her less especially in the case of the 
astronomy essay where Hermione had to practically rewrite Ron's while 
Harry's just had one minor mistake. 

> Harry misses Ron far more when they're not talking in GoF 
> than he misses Hermione when they quarrel in PoA - because he 
misses 
> someone to talk about Quidditch and have brainless fun with.  
That's 
> what best friends do.

Except he is growing up and growing out of it. Ron might have been 
his best mate in PoA, CoS and PS, but it is now Hermione who is 
slowly replacing him as the war starts and as he matures. 

I mean as people grow up I don't think the best friends you had in 
middle school or high school, like Ron, are going to necessarily be 
the same good friends you are going to have later in life. A good 
example of this is that he spends a lot of the time on the train with 
Ginny, Neville and Luna while Hermione and Ron are with the other 
prefects which foreshadows the trio's divergence of paths.