HRH and their Prefect Badges/ Harry mature?

[oh have faith]

No: HPFGUIDX 72125

Greatelderone says:

> Dumbledore admitted 
>that his decision on not giving him [Harry]the prefectship and the 
prophecy 
>was because he didn't want to over burden him and at the end he 
>admitted that it was a mistake on his part to think Harry couldn't 
>handle the responsiblities.

Actually DD didn't say anything about the Prefectship beyond his 
reason for not giving it to him – he says "I must confess
 that I 
rather thought
 you had enough responsibility to be going on with," 
(The lost prophecy chapter, right at the end) He doesn't say he was 
wrong about it – because he wasn't.  Harry *did* have a huge amount 
of other responsibilities, and he barely coped with them.  I'm not 
convinced DD made a mistake in this case at all, or that either 
Harry or DD thinks that he did.  

 > Dumbledore has realized (in OOP) that Harry can indeed handle 
>the extra responsibility.

I don't deny Harry's done some merit-worthy things before, but he 
hasn't done anything new in OOP that particularly commends him – in 
fact, he screws up just a little bit.  This makes him a wonderfully 
human character, and don't get me wrong, I love him, but he wasn't 
exactly coping with the pressure.  What he did do was ignore the 
advice of his trusted friends and lead a bunch of other students 
into mortal danger for no reason, meaning that a dangerous and 
costly rescue mission was necessary.  Admittedly, the fault was not 
all Harry's by any means, but if he'd practised Occlumency as he was 
told to repeatedly by people he should know well enough to listen to 
by now - then things might have been different.  Instead, he got too 
wrapped up in his own little world.     

>Favouritisim? Giving Ron, the underqualified candidate, the 
position >for no reason and not giving Harry the position because he 
didn't 
>want to overburden him was the favouritisim there.

No, your logic seems to be skewed.  If Ron wasn't the favoured one, 
then giving him the position was not favouritism.  And *not* giving 
it to Harry was not favouritism, either – DD had a legitimate reason 
not to do so, which would have ruled out any other student in his 
place as well.  

I'm not Ron's greatest fan, so I won't bust a gut defending him, but 
I will say he has the *opportunity* as prefect to stand on his own 
two feet and do something for himself, and that's good for him, if 
he uses it wisely.  I don't think Harry is any more qualified for 
the position than Ron is – and he certainly doesn't need the 
opportunity to shine as much.  I don't see Ron, then, as being the 
second choice.  Besides, it wasn't a straight up choice between 
Harry and Ron – if DD had thought Ron was unsuitable as well, he 
could have rejected them both and picked Dean or Seamus or Neville.  
So Ron did get picked on merit to some extent.  

>How is he [Harry] not mature? The kid managed to live 
>through ten years of hell with the Dursleys and has seen his 
>schoolmates and friends die which all of been major character 
>building experiences for him. 

How is he not mature?  Would you like a list? ^_^ Seriously, he 
might be still alive, but he hasn't shown any particular evidence 
that he's learned, grown and become wise and mature from his 
experiences.  He's getting there, don't get me wrong, but he's not 
dealt with this stuff yet.  What makes you mature is not just what 
happens to you, but how you deal with it.  15 isn't mature, and all 
the adults in the books know it – see how they try to make excuse 
for James's behaviour by saying he was only 15.  He's not the nasty 
piece of work that James could be at 15, but he's still not a grown-
up, and he still has flaws which are forgivable only because he's so 
young.  He sulks, he shouts, he runs off half-cocked, he's bad at 
dealing with girls, he thinks he knows best all the time, he ignores 
sound advice, he can't see the bigger picture, he takes everything 
personally, he's just a bit self-obsessed, he takes out anger on the 
wrong people, he won't just ask for help when he needs it, he's 
proud, he's all-in-all a wonderfully realistic 15 year old.  I'm not 
slating the character at all – considering his circumstances and 
age, is behaviour is perfectly understandable.  A realistic 15 year 
old boy wouldn't be mature.  15 is *young*.  15 is easy to 
influence.  15 is a long way from a fully-formed character and a 
long way from being an adult.  As such, he's by no means safe from 
being spoiled yet – he's lucky he's had such strict handling from 
his teachers and such down-to-earth friends so far.

Faith's Girl