Harry the Auror

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 89212

Sue wrote:

> I have been following this thread and several posts have come up 
> that I have trouble with.  First of all, maybe I am naive, but I 
> feel on a  very important level that JKR would not revolve an 
> entire series around a character who turns out to be evil.

Del answers :

And why not ? I'm an amateur writer, and that's actually one thing 
I'd love to do someday. The only problem is that I don't think I have 
enough talent to make it work : make people like my character and 
still have him turn bad without cheating. But JKR has enough talent 
to manage that.
But actually I don't think Harry will turn evil. I believe he's on 
the verge of it, and will have to make a conscious decision not to 
let himself go. In my idea, that would make a true hero : do what is 
right, not what is easy. 

Sue said :

> In the U.S. and probably in other countries as well there are laws 
> where retaliation, even if it includes murder, are considered 
> justified.

Del answers :

*retaliation*, or just self-defence ? To retaliate in my idea is to 
consciously make plans to hurt someone else because they hurt you. It 
supposes a malicious intent and a cold decision. You hit me, I mull 
things over, decide to hit you with a bigger hammer, and go after you 
to hit you, and oops you die : unless I said I lost my mind, people 
will hardly justify me in this.
To act in self-defence is different : you hit me, I hit you with 
whatever means I have available right now, and oops I kill you. This 
was self-defence, and can be justified.
Harry was somewhere in-between those 2 positions regarding Bella. I 
guess that's why we can't get a decision on whether he was justified 
or not.

Sue said :

> Whether or not this is moral could be debated forever, however, in 
> the case of Harry's attack on Belletrix, his actions may not be the 
> highest moral road but I think most of us have faced a time when 
> our outrage at another persons actions cause us to step over the 
> line.  

Del answers :

Yes, but that doesn't mean it's right. Moreover, it doesn't change 
the fact that he used an Unforgivable Curse. If you pick up a gun and 
shoot at someone, you can't pretend you didn't intend to kill them. 
You had a murderous intent. Harry, similarly, had a criminal intent : 
to make someone magically suffer. He might have been justified, but 
he still had a criminal intent. And I wonder what to think of a World 
Saviour and Redeemer who has criminal intents ?

Sue said :

> I like the above quote about righteous anger because it puts his 
> feelings in perspective, he could NOT perform a successful 
> Cruciatus curse because the ability to be cruel is not a part of 
> his make-up.  

Del answers : 

Not exactly. He failed to perform the Curse because a) he didn't know 
how to cast it properly, and b) his anger was of the righteous kind 
and thus wouldn't last long enough. Bellatrix says that Harry would 
fail because he would need to enjoy making others suffer to perform 
the Curse, but the truth is : we don't know how Harry would have 
reacted had he managed to make her suffer. We can't be sure he 
wouldn't have taken a savage pleasure from it.

Sue said :

> There are so many places where he is able to see other's feelings 
> and be compassionate (Snape in the pensieve for one).  These are 
> the times when his character comes into focus for me.  

Del answers :

Er, well, actually, those are precisely the times when I go 
screaming "FINALLY !" Finally he shows a little compassion. Finally 
he understands the other's point of view. Finally he realises that he 
can be wrong and others can be right. Finally he stops being self-
centered.

Sue said :

> There are so many references to Harry's arrogance or lack of 
> extrordinary talent on this list that sometimes I feel like I am 
> reading a different series of books or just don't understand them 
> in the same way.

Del smiles :

Lol ! Actually, it's when I read references to Harry being 
compassionate or exceptionally talented that I begin to wonder 
whether we all read the same books :-)

Sue said :

> Dumbledore says at the end of OotP "...I have watched you more 
> closely than you can have imagined...I never dreamed that I would 
> have such a person on my hands....Young you might be, but you 
> had proved yourself exceptional." (American Ed. pg. 839) Regardless 
> of whether or not you trust DD, he seems to know a talented wizard 
> when he sees one (Tom Riddle) and he believes Harry is 
> exceptional.  

Del answers :

1. I'm among those who have stopped trusting DD.
2. He said that at a time when Harry desperately needed to be propped 
up. I had too many people tell me that kind of things when I was 
feeling bad to know that they sometimes greatly augmented the truth.
3. DD saying that Harry is exceptional doesn't mean he's the only 
one. DD might say the same thing about Hermione, Ron, Neville or 
Luna. Just because we don't hear him say it doesn't mean he doesn't 
do so in private interviews with them. For all we know, he might have 
had private interviews with all of them following the MoM disaster, 
and propped each and every one of them up in the very same way. 

Sue said :
 
> That is how I chose to see him as well.  We rarely see what other 
> students do.  Only a few glimpses or HRH and sometimes Neville and 
> usually when they are making a mistake.  I am looking forward to 
> seeing how the OWL's turn out so that we get a more objective view 
> of their abilities.  I believe Harry will prove himself 
> exceptional, and in the end be able to do whatever he pleases.
> 
> Sue (who really LIKES Harry and wishes him well)

Del answers : 

I believe that if he tries, Harry can turn out very good. Harry or 
anyone else for that matter.

Del, who doesn't like Harry too much (if he were my so-called friend, 
I'd drop him quickly : no friend of mine will treat me the way he 
treats Ron and Hermione in OoP, not after everything they did with 
and for him)