Snape: Crime and Punishment -Nature of Punishment

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 143868

Lupinlore:
> I think what pleases a huge number of people isn't that 
> the Dursleys were confronted, but that they were confronted by a 
THIRD 
> PARTY who was roughly a peer of the Dursleys (i.e. not one of 
Harry's 
> schoolmates or age group)...
*(snip)*
> "I, your peer if not your superior, am here to speak for a 
> person I care about, a person you have wronged.  It is not just 
> between you and him.  I, a member of the rest of humanity beyond 
your 
> personal relationship, say that you have wronged this person, and 
on 
> behalf of the rest of humanity, I hold you in contempt."

Ceridwen:
I was going to mention that Dumbledore is not quite a peer of the 
Dursleys, since they're young enough to be his children or 
grandchildren.  They both have similar positions in Harry's life - 
caregivers, and (potentially but not realized in the case of the 
Dursleys) mentors.  But, as you then mentioned in the speech, 
Dumbledore is also the superior of the Dursleys, I'd say he is an 
authority figure for them.

Lupinlore:
> Dumbledore is no longer present to do this for Harry, so who else 
> could?  Who would be a rough peer of Umbridge or Snape who could 
speak 
> out?  Any number of people, actually.  We expect Lupin to be a 
bigger 
> player in Book VII.  If he manages to shake off some of his 
reticence 
> and passivity, perhaps he might upbraid Snape in a manner analogous 
to 
> Dumbledore and the Dursleys.  He would be in a great position to do 
> so, as both a friend of Harry and a person intimately familiar with 
> the Snape/James situation, as well as a peer of Snape as a 
professor 
> and in age.  

Ceridwen:
Lupin is indeed a peer to Snape.  And, if he gets comeuppance, then 
this is probably where it should come from.  Judged by someone who 
has the same life experiences and similar background (Hogwarts ten 
months of every year makes for a lot of similarities) would probably 
have more of an impact on him, IMO.

Lupinlore:
> McGonnagall would be a good candidate for this as well -- 
> and would also be a good candidate to confront Umbridge.  Another 
good 
> candidate for confronting Umbridge as part of a Ministry subplot 
might 
> be Arthur Weasley.

Ceridwen:
What about Percy?  I think Umbridge has such a high-falutin' idea of 
herself that she'd dismiss anyone who might be considered a 'peer' 
(since, in her own mind, she seems to be above peers), but an upstart 
like Percy, who has moved up rapidly in the ministry and who is close 
to the MM at a relatively tender age, a bureaucratic prodigy that 
perhaps people talk about as having a bright career in the MoM, a 
threat to her if she and he don't play nicely together, might get her 
attention.  And, it could figure in the Percy subplot while tying up 
the Umbridge loose ends at the same time, 'creating' space for other 
threads in the process.

Otherwise, McGonagall as *approved* headmistress of Hogwarts, as 
Umbridge was not, would suit me fine.

Ceridwen.