Harry and starvation

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 123591




> Carol responds:
> Here's a question for Alla and Lupinlore and those who feel as they
> do. Leaving Dumbledore and his intentions out of the question, 
would
> Harry really be better off without the treatment he received from 
the
> Dursleys?

Harry might have been even better off if he had been raised by Mad 
Eye Moody if trying to toughen him up is something thats a factor. 
Hell, Mad Eye would have taught him all the skills he would have 
needed to survive and he would have protected the kid with his life 
and formidable skills.  

Despite that, somehow I doubt anyone is going to advocate the Mad 
Eye Daycare center for orphans under prophecy. 

> Please understand that I'm not defending the Dursleys or suggesting
> that Dumbledore had any such intentions (other than preventing 
Harry
> from growing up as a pampered prince and, of course, keeping him
> alive). But think about it. Suppose he had been brought up in a
> luxurious home with every need catered to. Even if he wasn't 
spoiled,
> wouldn't he be "soft"? Or overprotected and timid because he'd 
never
> been confronted and tested? 

You make the assumption that only a person raised in harsh 
conditions can be 'tough'.  I don't think so.  Bill and Charlie 
Weasley are tough guys capable of handling themselves, yet they were 
raised in a supportive and loving home (have to admit that even 
though I hate Molly).  They didn't get beat up or locked up or put 
on a starvation diet in their childhood and somehow both manage to 
handle themselves in dangerous jobs and even thrive (veela 
girlfriend is definitely thriving :).

Harry would be able to handle whatever came along because he is the 
son of two people who defied the dark lord three times. He endures 
because he is the son of a man who held off a wizard whom is the 
boogyman of his world for as long as he could.  He can perservere 
because his mother was the kind of woman who would shield her child 
from a killing curse with her own body and weave a spell of ancient 
power in her dying moments.

Blood tells. 

> Carol, who is pretty sure that an upbringing like Hermione's would 
not
> have served Harry as well as sleeping in that closet.

Being raised in a loving and secure home is always better than the 
alternative. Is Harry strong because of his upbringing? Yeah, he is. 
Would he have been just as strong being raised by a better family?

You betcha

phoenixgod2000, for whom this arguement has made appreciate his 
parents all the more.