In defence of Harry

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 123334


>>Geoff:
<major snip>
>Harry stuck his neck out, not because he wanted a war with her but 
because he was trying to set the record straight and rescue his own 
position. <
 
>>SSSusan:
<snip>
>...while I agree that in the FIRST instance of Harry's standing up 
to DJU, it was understandable, justified, right, and all of that, I 
know that what I was arguing when we discussed this was what happened 
*after* the first instance & the first round of detentions.  
>Once McGonagall gave Harry the warning to lie low, once she told him 
that crossing DJU could cost him much more than house points & 
detention, once she told him more was at stake than who was telling 
the truth and who was telling lies, from THEN on I think Harry can be 
blamed for not setting aside the issue of justice or tyranny or 
personal reputation in the name of keeping himself and his allies 
safely entrenched at Hogwarts.<

Betsy:
I wonder though -- maybe Harry *needed* to take on Umbridge.  If you 
look at his situation, Harry knows that Voldemort is back.  He knows 
that a war is brewing of which he will probably have a major part 
(even without the prophecy, he knows Voldemort is after him 
personally).  And Harry has been shunted aside.  He knows the Order 
is up to something, but he is not allowed to be involved.  I'm 
starting to think that taking on Umbridge and her cruel detentions 
may have helped keep Harry sane.

Within the detentions themselves Harry almost seems to be playing a 
game of chicken with Umbridge, in his refusal to admit pain, to slow 
his writing, to speak of it to anyone.  And in the classroom as well, 
in his refusal to let Umbridge get away with lies, Harry is going 
head to head with an enemy.

After a summer of high tension and no action, I think Harry needed 
something real and tangible that he could grapple with.  (I think 
it's telling that in the heat of battle he completely forgets about 
quidditch practice.)  Dumbledore will not let him grapple with 
Voldemort so he'll take on the lesser evil.  And perhaps it wasn't 
the wisest move on Harry's part.  It certainly wasn't the safest.  
But it may have helped with the DA recruitment in the beginning, and 
it certainly got the ball rolling on the interview, etc.

Umbridge was defeated, in the end, by the students who supported 
Harry.  The teachers did their bit to help sow the seeds of 
rebellion, but it was Harry's battle, and it was his DA members who 
actually took Umbridge down.  So maybe, in this instance, Harry got 
himself a victory.

Betsy