Harry's entitlement - Long!(was Re: "Some won't like it".)

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 129970

> Lynn:
> 
> I'm curious to know why people feel Harry shouldn't feel entitled 
to know the information.  After all, it directly affects him.  He's 
the one Voldemort is after, who Voldemort wants dead.  Yea, he's 
entitled to the information much more than Ron or Hermione.

Ginger:  I snipped the rest of the post, which was very good, but I 
just wanted to comment on this one point. 

People have been going back and forth on what Harry was entitled to 
and why or why not.

Personally, I think he was entitled to answers, as much as people 
knew them, but at the right time.

I am entitled to my paycheck.  I got one tonight, covering last week 
and the week before, but not this week.  I am entitled to my pay for 
this week, but I have to wait until the right time.  I'm not going 
into accounting in the morning and saying "I put in a full week, and 
Joe was on vacation, and I had to train the temps and they wouldn't 
listen and I hit my head on the forklift so hard my ears plugged up 
and the computer acted up and the nutcase who knows everything was in 
my face and I WANT MY MONEY."  

None of this would be incorrect information on my part, and no one in 
accounting would doubt that I worked those hours, but I still 
wouldn't get the check.  And it would probably be my last when it 
came.

Harry ended the school year with horrible trauma.  His lack of 
questioning everything under the circumstances is understandable.  He 
was hurting to the point of being numb.

It isn't I'm entitled!Harry that made me want to sit him down and 
give him a good talking to.  It was Impatient!Harry.

Ron and Hermione (and Sirius) sent him letters telling him straight 
out that they couldn't say anything in a letter, but that he would be 
with them soon.  Not soon enough for Impatient!Harry.

Then when he gets there, Arthur says that DD has changed his position 
and Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he's 
staying with the order.  He is allowed to ask freely and is answered 
until he gets to asking what the weapon is.  By this time, Harry has 
said outright that he will tell Ron and Hermione whatever the adults 
tell him, so they let the kids stay.

This isn't about Harry alone any more.  It is Order business.  Which 
they are, by their membership, not allowed to divulge.  Not just "we 
can't tell Harry" but "we can't tell all these kids".  

During Occlumency lessons, Snape tells Harry *exactly* why he needs 
the lessons.  LV may be in his head.  They suspected it, but only 
after Arthur was attacked did they know it.  All good reason not to 
say anything in front of Harry that they didn't want LV to know.  
Harry has had visions that he *is* LV.  The connection has been 
explained to him as well as they understand it.  And he is still 
Impatient!Harry.  

In some cases, what they weren't telling Harry was information that 
they didn't know, or had only a vague guess about.  In other cases, 
it was something they didn't want LV to know.  The time was all wrong 
on that last count.

So does this mean Harry was acting outside of what was rightfully due 
him?  Not in my opinion.  Harry not only wanted to know these things, 
he felt that for his own safety he needed to know them.

I don't fault Harry on this.  He was impatient (did I mention 
that? ;)) but he was not told why he couldn't be told until after 
Christmas.  That is a long time to go with burning questions.  

The ideal solution, IMO, would have been to have someone go to the 
Dursley neighbourhood incognito, catch Harry as he was wandering 
around, and just tell him, "I know you have a ton of questions, but 
they will have to wait for your own personal safety.  We can't tell 
you everything because we're still figuring it out.  We'll keep you 
posted.  Stay cool.  You know you have to stay with these creeps for 
your protection, so hang tight.  We'll send for you as soon as 
possible.  We're working on it."  If they had someone watching him, 
surely Tonks could have approached him.  I think that was why 
Arabella was trying to get him over to tea.  Finding out what was 
going on in his head wouldn't have been a bad plan either.  A little 
counselling, talking about it.  Works wonders.

The long and short of it (too late for the short, I know) is that 
Harry had good reason to feel the way he did, and the Order had good 
reason to act as it did.  There just needed to be a bridge (the 
Order's fault) and Harry needed to chill out (Harry's fault).  

Given Harry's recent trauma and the fact that he is still a teenager 
(and the major players in the Order have plenty of experience with 
teenagers), I'd say the Order could have handled the situation a lot 
better.  Harry's impatience didn't help things at all.  Hopefully, he 
will grow up and understand.  

So, am I sitting on the fence?  Yup, with a big cushioning charm.

Apply the usual "IMO" disclaimer to all of the above.
Ginger, assuring heather the buzzard that she was kidding about 
Romulus Lupin.