What should Harry REALLY feel sorry for?

[queen_astrofiammante]

No: HPFGUIDX 116883



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> So, my question is - for what in his life Harry should REALLY feel 
> sorry for?
> 
> Please think BIG.:)

The single biggest thing was Harry's refusal to persevere with 
Occlumency - although I'm sure Snape needs to share the blame for 
this, and possibly also Dumbledore, for not keeping a closer eye on 
such an important part of his overall strategy.

It's a tribute to <i>Order of the Phoenix</i>, and a measure of how 
the books seem to be aimed at an increasingly sophisticated 
readership, that there is no emotional black-and-white here. The 
weaknesses and mistakes of several people can be said to have 
contributed to Sirius's death, including those of Sirius himself. But 
in turn the weaknesses and mistakes are not clear-cut either.

It is arguable that they are often explicable or excusable - 
Dumbledore was under pressure, Snape had been subjected to an 
intolerable intrusion, Harry was being kept in the dark, Sirius was 
being mistreated by Dumbledore, Lupin wasn't sufficiently assertive 
and avoided another confrontation. The complexity of all this, I 
think, is a sign of the quality of JKR's writing and characterisation 
in this book. Harry's the hero of the story, but is given depth of 
character by being capable of making mistakes, just like anyone else.

(Please note that I am simply saying all of these are arguable 
positions, rather than attempting to justify them or say I think they 
are right - so I'm not going to spend hours, for instance, defending 
that remark about Dumbledore - it's just a passing example, not a 
statement of deeply-held belief)

A popular answer to this question has been that Harry should never 
have looked into the Pensieve. I will say that it has always puzzled 
me as to why Snape should have made such a point of using it in front 
of Harry. 

His pupil was always expected at a given time - why not just use the 
Pensieve before Harry turned up, then put it on a high shelf out of 
harm's way? Even if Snape's view of Harry's character is one-sided 
and based a bit too much on animosity towards his dad, surely it 
could have occurred to Snape that he was arousing curiosity? And what 
the consequence of that might be?

The conspiracy theorist's answer that he was trying to debunk Harry's 
view of his father is too much - Snape has too much of his own self-
image to lose by showing the scene to Harry deliberately. But I'm 
saying that Harry's journey into the Pensieve is not quite black and 
white either, and that Snape did do something to contribute to his 
own downfall.

Or it could have just been a handy plot contingency, but I prefer not 
to think that... ;- ))

Astrofiammante, who was moved to make a Halloween visit to JKR.com in 
the hope of finding goodies...