You CAN'T hurt a baby!

[Neisha Saxena]

No: HPFGUIDX 109841


I agree with all those who stated that Hermione's
comments are significant, both as a reflection of her
own character and as a reflection of one of the
underlying themes of the book.  

We see a number of characters close to Dumbledore save
or attempt to save small children -- Lily Potter tries
to save Harry, Harry saves Fleur Delacour's small
sister, Arthur Weasley helps save the small muggle
children from the Death Eater torture in GOF, Firenz
saves Harry in Sorcerors/Philosophers Stone against
the wishes of his fellow centaurs.

And, of course, the centaurs specifically state that
they do not hurt foals.

We also see characters close to Voldemort go after
children, for example:  Voldemort himself goes after
both Harry and Ginny Weasley, Bellatrix LeStrange
wants to torture Ginny and does torture Neville, the
death eaters torture muggle children for fun at the
Quidditch World Cup.  

How children, unicorns, house elves and others not
able to defend themselves are treated is a reflection
of one's character, Sirius says so himself in the cave
in GOF when Hermione talks about how Barty Crouch
treated his house elf.

It's also important to keep in mind that JKR has been
the mother of small children the entire time she has
been working on these books, so the treatment of
children is in the forefront of her mind.

Has anyone else wondered about the centaur's reading
of the stars in Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone in
light of the prophecy revealed in OOTP?  IIRC, the
centaurs try to dissuade Firenze from saving Harry by
saying something like, you know what is coming, we
don't interfere with what is written in the stars. 
They also keep repeating to Hagrid that "Mars is
bright tonight," which is exactly what Firenze says in
Divination class in OOTP.  It seems that when Mars is
bright, Voldemort is about to make a move toward the
upcoming war.  

Later in S/P S, once he is safely out of the forest,
he tells Ron and Hermione what Firenz told him, that
Voldemort was killing the unicorns and that the other
centaurs said something about the stars.  He then
jokes the stars have to do with Voldemort killing him.
 There are some theories that whenever Ron or Harry
make a joke about divination, what they joke about
comes true.  

Thoughts?

 Neisha Saxena