OotP Harry not a prefect & his Inner Voice

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 115293


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "templar1112002"
<templar1112002 at y...> wrote:
> 
> ...edited... Ron's prefect opportunity was actually a fluke, it had 
> been Harry's in first place, and that Angelina chose Ron as Keeper 
> over two other better players mainly because he was a Weasley.
> 
> So, to summarize this, I believe her authorial intent in making Ron 
> a Prefect (and Keeper) was to expose him to a 'real-life try-out', 
> we will have to wait for HBP to see what Ron's balance sheet is of 
> his performance in OoTP... ...edited...
> 
> Marcela

bboyminn:

All good points, points I don't necessarily dispute, however, I do
think there is more to the story.

I think part of 'Ron as Prefect' is a general growing up of the
members of the Trio. This is the first time Ron must act on his own,
to develop himself independant of Harry. When they ride to school on
the train, Harry realizes that this will be the first time he has
ridden the train without Ron. So, while Ron is off being an
independent Prefect, Harry is forced to make his own way and in doing
so is forced to interact more closely with other students.

To some extent, I think Harry's friendship with Ron and Hermione is
his way of avoiding socializing with other students. He sort of clings
to them at the exclusion of others. For a socially awkward child who
has never had any friends, and even more so, has either been
presecuted or ingnore by everyone he has ever met, Ron and Hermione
are a safe and easy haven. 

Now, however, Harry is force to function socially with out them, and
in doing so, is forced to expand his contact with other students in a
favorable way through the train ride, his relationship with Cho, and
the DA Club. 

Ron, is also forced to act independently. He has to monitor study
halls when the weather is bad, he has to monitor the hallways in the
evenings, and he has to assist the school staff in other ways like
putting up Christmas decorations. In these situation, there is no one
Ron can defer to, the responsibility falls on him. And even though Ron
is not likely to hand out punishments, the students must still respect
him, because, even though he may not, he does have the power to do so.

Ron practices and tries out for the Quidditch team on his own. Most
logically, if Ron had told Harry in advance, Harry would have been
supportive, but I think this is something that, consciously or
subconsciously, Ron really wanted to do on his own. When Ron finally
wins the Quidditch Cup, he pretty much does it without any support
from Harry. 

So, in a sense, what this circumstance has force them to do is grow up
a little bit, to stop being the 'Trio' and become the independent
entities of Harry/Ron/Hermione. 

In summary, I think part of the reason Ron became Prefect was because
the story needed Ron to become his own man.

You do make a vaild point about Ron getting his positions by
/default/, but I don't think that diminishes his accomplishments. Like
it or not, Dumbledore had prefectly valid reasons for not choosing
Harry. When, like it or not, all the pluses and minuses were weighed
the vote went to Ron. Same with Quidditch, while two of the other
candidates did /demonstrate/ better Quidditch skills, there were
genuine valid negatives to each of them, and when all things were
weighed, again, the vote went to Ron. Ultimately, Ron wasn't just
given these post, he won them on merit, and the other's lost on
demerits (in manner of speaking). 

And once again, I will say that no one has convinced me that Ron was
any less a good Prefect than the typical normal average Prefect. True,
he wasn't up to Percy or Hermione's caliber, but neither were any of
the other Prefects.

Always eager to defend Ron.

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)