TBAY: Failure and Melodrama (and a little SHIP)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 54525

>>Abigail frowns.  "Well, that too, actually, but I was thinking 
about dueling.  I had no problem with dueling when it was 
introduced in CoSbecause I thought that it was a sport, like 
fencing.  I assumed that,like fencing, it originated from violent 
combat, but was now strictlyan athletic pursuit.  I was disturbed 
(although given the wizardworld's warrior culture I probably 
shouldn't have been surprised)when Voldemort introduced 
dueling as an actual battle to the death,and then *insisted that 
he and Harry bow to each other*.  How screwed
up is that?  Why should Harry offer any courtesy to a man who 
wantsto kill him?"

"But he doesn't."  Cindy points out.  "Voldemort has to force Harry
to bow."

"Not because Harry believes that the 'formalities' are a crock 
whenyou're actually fighting for you life."  Abigail answers.  "Harry
refuses to bow because his hatred for Voldemort outweighs his
so-called honor.  The fact that he stands up to meet Voldemort's
spell later proves that.  The entire attitude of 'just because we're
here to kill one another doesn't mean we can't be civil to each
other' is, in my opinion, disrespectful to life, and I think JKR is
making that point when she doesn't give Cedric an honorable 
death"<<<

A cold wind blows through the room, which is odd, because the 
doors and windows are closed. The firelight flickers, and a dark 
figure steps from the shadows. Everybody jumps. It's Pippin, 
making one of her rare visits to the Safe House.

Abigail courteously offers her a s'more.

"No thanks," says Pippin. "I never eat...s'mores." She smiles.   
"This conversation about Harry and failure intrigues me. But first, 
I'd like to say a little about the bow.  Like most courtesies, it
didn't orginate as  courtesy--it's a way of saying, "I am very 
obviously making a point of not stabbing this person in the back. 
And we are going to fight now, so everybody else should get out 
of the way. " It began as a way to protect non-combatants. It is 
respectful of life.  

"But to return to the topic of failure," says Pippin, making herself 
comfortable near the fire and wondering if she shouldn't suggest 
adjourning to George's where there'd be more room, " in every 
book, Harry begins by perceiving himself as inadequate in some 
way, and by the end of the book he's conquered this inadequacy. 
In the first book it's ignorance, in the second it's his right to 
consider himself a Gryffindor, in the third, weakness, in the 
fourth, immaturity. But through all this, his nerve has failed him 
only once: he panics when confronted by the singing valentine in 
CoS.

 I'm wondering, what if Harry's nerve fails when it counts. What if 
he thinks he's failed through cowardice? 

You know, JKR has us all set up for the big death and thinking 
it's going to be Hagrid. But what if somebody else is going to die 
too? Say Hagrid dies in the middle of OoP. And yes, it's horrible , 
but then we're sort of breathing a sigh of relief and thinking, well, 
that's over with...

And maybe, Ginny starts to step into Hagrid's place a little, as 
someone that Harry can confide in without being judged...

and then, at the end, someone else dies, and it looks like Harry 
ran out on that person? Somebody like, well, Neville."

"Pippin!" Abigail exclaims, "You wouldn't do that to Elkins!"

"Well, I hope not for her sake, but I'm just speculating. Neville's 
death would be truly horrible to write, it would bang, Harry would 
feel bad about it, it would complicate things between Harry and 
Ginny, and best of all,  if Harry's reputation as a hero takes a 
body blow, that would give Ginny the opportunity to show that she 
really cares about him, not about The Boy Who Lived."

Cindy snorts. "What's all this about Ginny?  Do you have a soft 
spot for freckly little girls, or what?"

"No," says Pippin quietly, looking into the mirror over the mantle 
where her reflection does not appear, " I have a soft spot for 
victims of prejudice. And that's what Ginny is."

" But she's a pureblood..." Abigail protests.

"Oh, not character prejudice. *Reader* prejudice. First of all, 
she'll be fourteen or so in OoP. She's  hardly a little girl any
more. And then people keep saying she's an empty-headed 
fangirl. And what's that based on? a superficial first impression,  
the things her enemies say about her, and the way other people 
who admire Harry act. The same kind of reasons that people 
have for  hating werewolves, or giants, or, or  vampires. It's pure 
bigotry!"

The others stare at her, lost for words. Pippin looks wistfully at a 
plate of s'mores.

"Can't you..?" Abigail asks.

Pippin shakes her head. "Not for five hundred years. But they do 
look good."

Pippin