[HPforGrownups] Re: OOP: Something that disturbed me

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 65239



Spedlegs4169 wrote:

"i think harry's use of the Cruciatus curse is completely justified.  
Lestrange was "famous" for her use of the Cruciatus Curse on the 
Longbottoms.  Harry did the curse for Neville, and for himself, 
because Lestrange was the one that sent the spell at Sirius and 
knocked him through the archway."


Now me (Wendy):

I think this discussion of the Cruciatus curse is also going on under
another thread, but as I hadn't jumped in there, I thought I would here . .
. 

I am going to respectfully disagree with your statement that Harry casting
the curse is "completely justified." The fact that Harry used it disturbs
me. I'm not sure if I'm a lot disturbed, or just a little, yet (still
pondering that).

Cruciatus is one of only *three* curses which are classified as
"unforgiveable" (at least that's my understanding of the canon from GoF).
Although we don't really know the reason these three (and only these three)
are unforgiveable, Harry knows that they are, and he is also aware that the
legal penalty for using any of these curses is a sentence in Azkaban. And
he knows that these curses qualify as "Dark Magic" (again, by my
understanding of the canon. Not sure it's even been specifically stated).
For me, it seems the casting of this curse is no small matter within the
Wizarding World (as opposed to casting memory charms - which also strikes
me an unethical, but which the WW seems to take in stride). I do understand
that Harry might wish to inflict great amounts of pain on Bella Lestrange.
She is a monster, and I very much hope that she is going to pay for this in
some tangible way in the future. But what I don't want to see is Harry
compromise his *own* integrity in favour of his desire for revenge. Yes, he
was in a "heat of the moment" situation, but I found it disturbing for
Harry to "default" to casting an unforgiveable curse. Not only has he
called upon Dark Magic, he has also broken Wizarding law and risked a
prison sentence. Perhaps these are not the things going through his head at
the moment he cast the curse, but I think they *should* be. In some ways,
having a wand is like carrying a loaded gun. If someone chooses to carry a
loaded weapon around, that person had better have a very clear head about
when and how to use it. Yes, in general that analogy is very flawed - as a
wand is a tool for so very much more than a handgun is. But I think it
still works in this situation. Harry faced off against Bella, wand drawn,
and his gut reaction was a desire to cause pain, to which end he used an
illegal, Dark curse. I will accept there are mitigating factors here - his
age being the primary one, but also his emotional state at the time. But I
am still not happy with the choice that he made. It's too soon to tell
whether or not this experience will be the beginning of him actually
turning to the Dark Arts because he feels there is no other way to defend
himself and his loved ones, or if the experience will force him to
recognise that the Dark Arts are completely not the way to go. I do hope he
learns to respond to his feelings (such as the desire to cause pain) by
facing and overcoming them, instead of acting upon them the way he did in
this battle - for his *own* sake. I'm not saying Bella didn't "deserve" it.
I just don't want Harry to have to live with the aftermath. Let Lestrange
be "famous" for her use of Cruciatus. That's definitely NOT what I want for
Harry. 

We don't know yet how he'll react to all of this, which is why I'm not too
*terribly* disturbed . . . yet. But regardless where thisgoes in future, I
would never call his action "completely justified."  

Cheers!

Wendy