H/S Shipping; Age gap; Fleur/fluer; child abuse

[Bruce Alan Wilson]

No: HPFGUIDX 144286

Alla:
"Are you saying that third year student cannot be scared that his pet will be poisoned?"

Bruce:
A third year student should know how to brew a potion correctly so that it would NOT poison the toad even if the potion were fed to it. (I say 'it' because we really don't know Trevor's gender, do we, despite the name? I, for one, do not know how to sex a toad. Nor do I care to. [Apologies to any herpetologists out there.])

Pippin:
"Really, Snape's human (IMO) and except that it would be OOC for him to let Harry know about it, I don't see anything wrong with him noticing that Hermione's gotten to be quite fanciable lately and might be worth looking up when she's left school."

Bruce:
And who is to say that in an older man/younger woman scenario the man is necessarily the instigator? While I am not a Snape/Hermione shipper, I can imagine a scene like this:

SETTING: The kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place
TIME: Late in Book 7, or shortly thereafter. Late one evening.

Snape is getting himself a late-night snack. Enter Hermione.

H: Mr. Snape.
S: Miss Granger.
H: I have something to say to you. I'm not a little girl any more. Nor am I your student.
S: Undoubtedly true on both counts.
H: Then what are you waiting for, and engraved invitation? I'm nineteen. I'm old enough to know what--and who--I want, and I'm smart enough to know that you don't find me repulsive. So, what's your problem. (During this speech she has been edging closer and closer to Snape; he has been shuffling backwards. Soon he will be trapped next to the stove.) 
. . . . .

Gerry:
"Why would they be scandalized about that? He's eighteen, she is fifteen. They are both teenagers, what's the big deal? So what that's he is legally an adult? Where in the world would that be a problem? That must be a strange country, where suddenly your relation with your girlfriend/boyfriend is a problem when one of you turns eighteen."


Bruce:
Actually, it has happened that young men of 17 or 18 have found themselves charged with stautory rape over perfectly consentual encounters with 15 or 16 year old girlfriends, particularly if the girl's parents disapproved of him on other grounds (as I said in another post, I work in the criminal justice system). That is why many US states have passed 'Romeo and Juliet' laws which state that there must be an age gap of X years for stautory rape to be invoked.
(Of course, forceable is another matter.)

Potioncat:
"What are the four humours? And what would an excess of phlegm cause?"

Bruce:
My French is rudementary, but doesn't 'fluer' (Fleur's name with the vowels reversed) mean 'phlegm' or 'snot'?

Miles:
"child abuse df.
Damage of Health (e.g. by means of physical or mental torments) or overexertion of a child or adolescent. In modern child protection: the violent physical or psychical damage, which leads to injuries, repression of development or to death, and which affects the well-being and rights of the child.

If we use this or a similar definition, then it is difficult to find canonical evidence for child abuse on Harry or Neville, because we do not see any prove for (lasting) damage."

Bruce:
I haven't my books here, but we use similar language in defining child abuse, and Snape doesn't even come close. The Dursleys are another matter, but compared to some cases I've seen they were rather half-hearted about it; I've frequently seen much, much worse. I won't go into details as I don't want to give anyone nightmares.

Bruce