Somethings not right

[bookraptor11]

No: HPFGUIDX 80793

Lori wrote:
> 
> > It sent one heck of a message to me, and for little kids reading 
> > this book as well. She basically is saying it's ok if someone 
hurts 
> > you, you don't have to tell an adult, you don't have to tell 
anyone, 
> > you can keep it a secret! >

Shaun Hately replied: 
> I came away with exactly the opposite impression, which is 
interesting. 
> Harry could have told someone and chose not to, and because he 
didn't, 
> he continued to suffer.
> 
> Maybe nothing would have happened if he had told someone - the way 
the 
> Wizarding World seems to work, I wouldn't be at all surprised, this 
is a 
> place where horsewhipping of pupils seems to be a legal possibility 
and 
> where they were hung from chains in the (recent?) past - but I 
don't 
> think there's a message there that you shouldn't tell someone.

Donna:

I agree with Shaun here, but would like to add that though the 
Wizarding World is harsh and tough, Dumbledore is very protective of 
his charges. One of the few times he gets genuinely angry is when 
Umbridge starts to shake Marietta Edgecombe on p.616 of OOP(US Ed.):

"A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised... 
Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as 
though they had been burned.

"'I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores,' said 
Dumbledore, and for the first time, he looked angry."

Hopefully, any kids reading will remember Harry's detentions with 
Umbridge and realize that even if Harry couldn't get to see 
Dumbledore, a visit to McGonagall would have resulted in D being 
informed. If that's the way he reacts to a shaking, how much worse 
would he have considered Umbridge's quill?

I'm wondering if it was Dumbledore who abolished the chaining of 
students when he became Headmaster, or even successfully campaigned 
for their elimination while he was just a teacher. Filch said in COS 
that he missed the screaming; we don't know how long he's been 
caretaker. Perhaps he was never allowed to use this punishment and is 
just nostalgic for his own student days, sick little puppy.


Donna