The Twins are bad, Harry is bad, but Draco is good and so is Snape...?

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 136812

Betsy wrote:
I think, for me, it seems like part of a somewhat disturbing trend.
Fred and George feed a firecracker to a salamander, they cause a team-
mate to nearly bleed to death. They nearly kill a fellow student for
trying to take house points from them. They help, though very
indirectly, Death Eaters invade Hogwarts. They also help Harry sneak
out of Hogwarts when a mass murderer is after him.

At the same time they're highly entertaining and Harry likes them
quite a bit. So while I'm personally a bit disturbed by them (and
consequently have a lot of sympathy for Percy) I'm not sure that JKR
means them to be anything other than merry pranksters. What strikes
me as a rather disturbing list of injured parties JKR may look at as
jolly good fun. Honestly, I have no idea how I'm supposed to take
them. Once again, I guess we'll have to wait for book 7 and JKR's
end game.

vmonte responds:
The twins are awful, but Percy is good? Why do you feel sorry for
Percy? Percy is a jerk! And doesn't he choose, out of his own free
will, to be a jerk? His father is dying in the hospital during OOTP
(at least there was a good possiblity that that might happen) and
Percy refuses to see him because of a stupid fight? Or is it because
of his job and who he is trying to impress? Percy is blinded by his
own ambition. He does not realize that it's family that's
important, not the corporate ladder. Instead of helping them out and
the Order (there is a war going on isn't there?), Percy is more
concerned about "upward mobility."

The twins do stupid things but they are not DE material. (Most of
their stupidity has to do with their age.) I admit, I like them. In
fact, I love the entire Weasley clan. They are a warm and loving
family. They all have their faults, but they are wonderful. I love
Molly too, and so does her whole family, including Harry. Molly has a
good heart, and she loves her husband and kids. Arthur is also a
wonderful man of great moral character.

Take a good look at all the other families depicted in Harry Potter.
You should be seeing, at least by now, that there is a big difference
between the Weasleys, the Dursleys, the Riddles, the Malfoys, and
the Princes. What the Weasley's lack in wealth is made up 100
times in their love for each other and family.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/135990
Betsy wrote:
Well, speaking as someone totally and completely *thrilled* with
what JKR did for Draco in HBP (does that make me a "Draco lover"?) I
got a bit of guilty pleasure out of Draco's "revenge" on Harry. For
two reasons: First, after the many, many, *many* times Harry has
stomped Draco, it was nice to finally see Draco get a bit of his own
back. (That was the "guilty" part of my pleasure, I will admit.)

vmonte responds:
You don't see a difference between Harry's behavior and Draco's? This
train scene said more to me about Draco than any other scene in any
other HP book. Draco stuns Harry (Harry is immobilized) and then
Draco smashes his foot into Harry's face breaking his nose. Draco
then takes Harry's cloak and covers him up, and walks away. Pretty
cowardly don't you think? He attacks a man when he is already down?
(Remind you of the Dumbledore scene with Snape?) This is not a fair
fight, and it shows Draco's real nature IMO.

The bathroom scene with Harry also upset me. Harry was a complete
idiot for using a spell he had no idea about. It frightened me, and
it frightened Harry. Good! He deserved to be scared. What kind of
idiot does something without thinking through the consequences of
their actions? (Oh wait, this is like Sirius's prank).

Still, there is a difference between Harry's horror at what he has
done (probably the same horror that motivated James into saving
Snape) and Draco's reaction to what he himself has done, no?

Draco is a lot like Snivellus me thinks!

Oh yeah, I also like that when Dumbledore stuns Harry, it is to
protect him from harm. Contrast that to Draco's stun.

Vivian