Etiquette - Smart glasses with mead

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 142771

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
>
> > Betsy Hp:
> <SNIP of the whole post basically>
> > And here's the thing.  I enjoyed Dumbledore's rudeness for the
> > most part.  His wit was amusing, and I enjoyed seeing Vernon 
> > get cut down to size and Petunia embarrassed.  It was the head 
> > banging that bothered me.  I thought it a bit beneath 
> > Dumbledore, frankly.  
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Oh, I meant to bring up this question about the glasses. I am
> NOT saying it to defend Dumbledore,because as I said earlier 
> to me he does not need defending in this scene, ...
> 
> ...I was quite sure that glasses behaved that way out of 
> their own volition, well sort of, simply because Dursleys 
> did not drink them.
> 
> I mean, I don't think that glasses fully think for  themselves,
> but I was quite sure that magical objects have certain freedom
> of movement so to speak.
> 
> I cannot say with certainty, but I speculate that Dumbledore only 
> charmed glasses to offer Dursleys a drink, nothing more and glasses 
> simply took it one step further, so to speak.
> 
> ...
> 
> JMO,
> 
> Alla


bboyminn:

I think you are on the right track here. I suspect Dumbledore
enchanted the glasses of mead to give themselves to the Dursleys. The
Dursleys were not required to drink, only to accept the glasses. 

I personally think if they had grasped the glasses out of the air and
set them down on the coffee table, that would have been the end of it.
But they tried to ignore the glasses, and the glasses became more
insistant about fulfilling their task of getting the Dursleys to take
them. When the Dursleys further refused, the glasses became even more
insistant and the situation escalated.

If I go to someone's house and they hand me a drink, a drink that I
really don't want and don't feel comfortable taking, I will probably
take it out of courtesy, but not drink it. I'll do as the Dursleys
should have done and accept it graciously, and ditch it at the first
chance. 

I really don't think Dumbledore intended for the Drink Glasses to
harrass the Dursley. Though, I'm quite sure he enjoyed it. I think he
expected them to extend the most basic and common civility and accept
the glasses and be done with it. They weren't required to drink, only
to uphold the most basic social pretext of civility.

Just the way I see it.

Steve/bboyminn