Harry's Compassion

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 114989


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ericoppen" <oppen at m...> wrote:
<snip>
(Incidentally, 
> much as I'd love to see the Dursleys sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth, I 
> can't, offhand, remember Vernon or Patooty ever physically laying a 
> glove on Harry.  Allowing Dudders to do so was reprehensible enough, 
> but AFAICR the senior Dursleys' abuse was all non-physical)

Well...mostly. But:

"As neither Dudley nor the hedge was in any way hurt, Aunt Petunia
knew he hadn't really done magic, but he still had to duck as she
aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan." -- CoS ch.1

All right, I take that as the action of a "fairy-tale" mean old Aunt,
 because in RL she could have killed him -- but there you go for what
it's worth.

Also, of course, in OoP, Vernon throttled Harry when he discovered him
in the flowerbed.

That's all I can think of.

Eric:

> At most of the other times cited in the "Harry's not compassionate!" 
> thread, Harry has some reasonable excuses---he's got a _lot_ on his 
> mind, he has serious troubles of his own, and he's already got enough 
> on his plate without being expected to turn into the Bhodisatva of 
> Compassion.

Annemehr:
To be fair, it was meant to be a "Harry's no more compassionate than
normal" thread, only some of us misinterpreted at first.  Thanks for
adding to the list of examples, though -- it's nice to see the kid
appreciated!

Annemehr
who's sure Petunia doesn't want to see Harry *dead*, but is pretty
certain Vernon wouldn't mind