[HPforGrownups] Re: Twins and Duddley/Snape as an abuser

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 145564

festuco:
> We as readers don't know and it is a safe guess the groop of death
> eaters does not either. Besides two of the Robinsons are small
> children being tortured by a group of adults in public. Completely
> different from what the twins did. The twins don't discriminate and
> don't think themselves superior for having magic

Magpie:

Yes I know that.  Honestly, I think if I have to say this again I'm going to 
scream.  How many times do I have to say that I get this obvious 
distinction?  I understand what the twins did.  I understand how it's 
different from the DEs.  I also think the twins absolutely do think they are 
superior for having magic just like every flipping wizard in canon feels 
they are superior for having magic. I think the twins consider themselves 
superior to a whole lot of people, for different reasons.  If you see them 
as more paragons of respect towards Muggles please let's just agree to 
disagree.  They're practical jokers.  I agree, and have since the beginning 
of the thread.

potioncat:

If someone had actually told Madam Pomfrey what had happened, DD could have 
gotten rid of the thing. Although I wonder why Montague never told her?

Magpie:

He was confused for a long time...I wonder if he only remembered afterwards 
when he was out of the infirmary?  Either he didn't tell anyone or maybe he 
didn't know exactly how he got into the thing.  Draco didn't say the twins 
pushed him in when he was talking to DD, he said Montague got lost in it.

And yes, re: the other post, that's what I was referring to when I said the 
twins' prank was connected to DEs getting into Hogwarts while obviously 
Draco was the one responsible.  It's not a question of it being the twins' 
fault but that if I were the twins I'd think about the consequences of my 
actions.  Going through life thinking that you get to administer punishment 
or play jokes on whoever you deem a good target, and only thinking of your 
friends and family can lead to trouble.

Jim Ferer:

What the twins did to Dudley comes under the heading of "rough
justice." JKR has shown us several times she has no problem with
people who deserve it getting their comeuppance. What James did to
Snape was bullying. The intent of the twins, their state of mind, is
quite different from James's when he went after Snape.  With the
twins, you can count on it that if you don't mess with the twins or
their friends, or bully someone in front of them, you'll be okay.

Magpie:

James' picking on Snape could certainly be considered the same kind of rough 
justice if he was a Dark Wizard who had gone after James and his friends in 
the past--which I see every reason to think he did.  If you want to live 
under the justice of the twins, that's great.  You're also free to dismiss 
any connection between what the twins' did to Montague and Hogwarts' 
security being breached.  You're certainly right that the twins had no 
intention of letting DEs in the castle when they shoved Montague into the 
Cabinet. They just wanted to administer some of their trademark rough 
justice--he tried to take points from Gryffindor so of course deserved to be 
shoved into limbo and need months of recuperation. This sort of thing just 
happens to be one of those consequences of doing that.  Personally I think 
it's a good thing to acknowledge those connections, though of course it 
sometimes makes it more difficult to dole out punishment to whoever you 
think deserves it at that moment.  I'm not misunderstanding how the twins 
are being viewed here.  I get it, I see all the distinctions being made.  I 
just don't have the same reaction to it.

-m