[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry's Use of an Unforgivable Curse

[Tim Regan (Intl Vendor)]

No: HPFGUIDX 96018

Hi All,
 
<Jim>
Do you feel Harry *should* be charged?  Maddened with grief, pursuing
his godfather's killer, the torturer of the Longbottoms, the most
sadistic and psycho of Voldemort's followers?
</Jim>
 
Yes, he should. Sure, if it had been an attempted Avada Kedavra I'd say
he was justified (though Dumbledore sets a very different role model).
But torture? It is very difficult to imagine portraying torture as a
valid form of self-defense. I'm not one for absolutes, but torture is
absolutely wrong.
 
<Jim>
He wasn't even good at it, even then without enough evil in him to
actually agonize this monster
</Jim>
 
I don't think one's lack of skill stands as a defence in courts. After
all, the fact that a criminal is brought to justice implies that they
are less skilled at evasion than others, but that skill deficiency
doesn't get them off.
 
That said it is an amazingly arresting part of OotP, and I think it's
the fact that Harry is attempting something so wrong that makes it so
powerful. Each time I read it I'm hit with shock:
 
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself
out from behind the fountain and bellowed, 'Crucio!'

Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did
not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had - she was already back on
her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden
fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard,
which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches
into the wooden floor.

'Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?' she yelled.
She had abandoned her baby voice now. 'You need to mean them, Potter!
You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger
won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll
give you a lesson - '

 
Cheers,
 
Dumbledad.


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