Saving Ginny (was Re: Lockhart's incompetence)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 143241

Betsy Hp wrote:
> I agree that the staff were really between a rock and a hard place.  
> Which might explain why they turned on Lockhart with such 
> enjoyment.  They knew there wasn't anything they could do and he was 
> a perfect target for their frustrated aggression.  Frankly, I don't 
> blame them.  Though I also think they were honestly relieved to have 
> him out of their hair as they tried to deal with the crisis.
> 
> I can't think of anything the staff could have done to try and find 
> Ginny.  The Chamber had been hidden for centuries; no one had a clue 
> where to look for it. <snip>

Carol responds:
One point that hasn't yet been considered: Besides getting rid of
Lockhart and exposing his incompetence, Snape's remarks "The man! The
very man!" (and the chorus of agreement from the other teachers that
follows) point out to Lockhart that it's *his job* as DADA teacher to
find the Chamber and deal with the problem. It's *their* job,
especially as Heads of Houses, to deal with the other students. Snape
at this point is the Potions Master. His concern for Ginny is
reflected by his tight grip on his chair (SS Am. ed. 293), but he
can't act directly to solve the problem, even if he knew where the
Chamber was and how to enter it, because he isn't the DADA teacher.
Lockhart, OTOH, has the duty (though not the ability) to find out, and
do, whatever he can. McGonagall, as assistant headmistress
(effectively headmistress with DD gone) provides a time for Lockhart
to do that job and when he leaves, assigns appropriate duties to the
other teachers and Heads of Houses (295). There really isn't much else
they can do, but trapping and scapegoating Lockhart gives them a safe
way of venting their feelings and perhaps a sense of accomplishing
*something.* At least Lockhart has been told that it's *his job* to
save the girl who's been taken by the monster. He has no choice but to
do it or leave Hogwarts in disgrace.

It's clear early on in CoS that the jobs of the teachers extend beyond
the classroom to the application of their respective specialties as
needed by the school. Professor Sprout is growing the Mandrakes for
the Mandrake Restorative Potion that Madam Pomfrey will administer,
Professor Snape makes the potion (as he later makes Wolfbane Potion
and Veritaserum on demand). When Lockhart offers to make the potion,
Snape reminds him coldly, "I believe I am the Potions Master at this
school" (144). Clearly, there's a division of labor, and while it's
not Lockhart's job to make restorative potions, it *is* his job to
deal with other manifestations of the Dark Arts, just as it's Snape's
job in HBP to save Katie Bell and (presumably) to remove the curse
from the opal necklace to prevent it from claiming additional victims.
So when Snape tells Lockhart, "Your moment has come at last" (294),
he's in essence saying, "Here's your chance to do your job (not that
we believe you can really do it)."

Fortunately, Ron and Harry, hiding in the wardrobe, have overheard
this conversation, but interestingly, it's Ron who puts the
information to use. Actually believing that Lockhart will try to enter
the Chamber as McGonagall has told him to do, Ron suggests that they
go to Lockhart to tell him where they think the Chamber is (SS Am. ed.
295-96). Harry wants to do *something* and can't think of any better
plan, so he agrees. Ron reminds Lockhart that it's *his job* to save
Ginny: "You're the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher!" (297). Only
when Lockhart admits to being a fraud and tries to put a Memory Charm
on them do they take things into their own hands. Using a DADA spell
that *Snape* taught them, Expelliarmus, Harry disarms Lockhart, and
they force him at wandpoint to enter the Chamber. Granted, he's of no
use to them, merely bringing the DADA curse on his own head via Ron's
broken wand. But had Harry and Ron not overheard the other teachers
giving Lockhart the opportunity to do his job and demonstrate his
(in)competence, they would not have gone after Lockhart to help him
save Ginny.

Lockhart is not only an incompetent fraud but a selfish, amoral man
who would have wiped out two children's memories and let another child
die to save his own skin. None of the credit for saving Ginny is in
any way due to him. His presence serves only to prevent Ron from
saving his own sister, leaving Harry to confront Diary!Tom and the
Basilisk alone. But the other teachers, especially Snape and
McGonagall, *indirectly* bring about the circumstances that lead Harry
and Ron to seek out Lockhart and offer their help. Without the
stimulus of that overheard conversation (and Ron's initiative in
suggesting that they go to Lockhart), Harry would not have entered the
Chamber and Ginny would have died. Granted, no one but Harry could
have saved Ginny, but it has nothing to do with his being a child.
Even Ron, though his instincts were right about Ginny being alive and
why she was taken to the Chamber (295), could not have entered the
Chamber without Harry because he was not a Parseltongue and might well
have been killed by Tom or the Basilisk had he not been blocked by the
cave-in. The adults, with the exception of Lockhart, did the best they
could, and, like Ron, they helped Harry do what only he could
do--inadvertently, true, but I doubt he could have done it without them.

Carol, who thinks we're seeing only one example of adult incompetence
here, the same one the other teachers clearly saw