Sectumsempra/DancingOnHisGrave/PickingOn/Hagrid/Risk/TrelawneySlyth/Forgive

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 141359

Geoff wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141127 :

<< "Harry was about to put his book away again when he noticed the
corner of a page folded down; turning to it, he saw the Sectumsempra
spell, captioned 'For Enemies', that he had marked a few weeks
previously. He had still not found out what it did..."
(HBP "Sectumsempra" p.484 UK edition)
Surely, this should have screamed out "Danger" at Harry if he had
really thought about it because how can it have any use other than a
dark purpose? >>

I gather that Harry, like me, never studied Latin, but only picked up
bits of word roots from dictionaries and so on. I saw 'cut' 'always'
'for enemies' and expected it to be a spell for turning two friends
into enemies of each other -- something Severus probably would have
liked to do to James and Sirius, or, later, to James and Lily. A Dark
purpose, yes, but not one very useful for defending oneself in single
combat.

Why does << The very use of the "-sempra" suffix implies that this 
was meant as an attacking spell >> ? I can think of Good uses for
'always', as in charms for good health (or at least immunity from
specified diseases) and charms for holding up a house like the Burrow
and charms for protecting a place from malicious intruders. 

Ellyse wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141128 :

<<  I wonder what Harry would have felt if Snape had dropped dead the
next day. I'm pretty sure Harry wouldnt have whooped or cheered or
anything of the sort. While he may not have shed tears or anything, he
wouldnt have thrown any parties to celebrate. I think he would have
had a complex tangle of emotions and one of the ingredients would have
been pity. He would have been genuinely sorry Snape was dead. So I
dont see why the same logic cant be applied to Snape. >>

It's human nature to feel Shocked at an unexpected sudden death of
someone you know, but Harry wouldn't have felt sorry Snape was dead --
well, maybe he would have, because *he* is such a saint, but I can
assure you that *I* responded to news of the death of a particuarly
detestible neighbor by saying "Good riddance", and that was *exactly*
how I felt about it. (And I don't consider myself to be nastier than
Snape.)

a_svirn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141130 :

<< To pick on someone simply because they like something you don't is
just as bad as picking on them because of their looks and loneliness. >>

Even if the something they like is Naziism, al Quaeda, child
pornography, or torturing small furry animals?

Of course, picking on them won't change their bad beliefs, but 
neither will anything else.

Steve bboyminn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141168 :

<< I have always said that Hagrid has more than enough practical
experience to be a wizard with a wand, but that can only happen if 
the Ministry officially reverses the legal sanctions against him. >>

Or if he moves to France to marry Mme. Maxime and be Beauxbatons's
gamekeeper. The French Ministry of Magic hasn't convicted him of anything.

Betsey Hp wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141239 :

<< Oh, and when does Hagrid become a trusted friend of James? I was
under the impression that they didn't interact much. >>

I believe that Hagrid was a trusted friend of James & Lily, given the
Secret (in a note written by the Secret Keeper) so he could visit them
while they were in hiding, with a friendship going back to James's and
Lily's school days, but I admit that I have only limited canon
support. Of course there is the bit in GoF when Hagrid hides in shame
at being outed as half-giant and Dumbledore refers to the heaps of
mail from parents who, remembering their friendships with Hagrid in
their own schooldays, are demanding that DD keep him on the job
despite that Skeeter cow's article. That shows that he had a habit of
being friends with students -- our Trio is far from being his first
student friends. 

Then there are all the things Hagrid says about James and Lily,
starting with his first appearance in the first chapter of PS/SS:
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief
and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it -- Lily an'
James dead -- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -" Next
chapter: "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -- knew yer mum an' dad,
an' nicer people yeh couldn't find -- anyway..."

<< Actually, Harry is not a huge risk taker when he doesn't have to
be, IMO. He's just willing to take a risk if he thinks the risk is
necessary. James, on the other hand, would take the risk just because
it's there. >>

Sirius, in a bad mood, said that James would have taken a risk just
because risk is fun; we don't actually know that that is a true
description of James.

Harry quite famously broke rules by sneaking to Hogsmeade without a
permission slip; he didn't *realize* that he was risking his life to
an alleged lurking assassin, but he did realise that he was risking
detention. I don't think that was the only time he broke a rule to 
get a pleasure he wanted, rather than out of a sense of necessity.

Deborah wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141263 :

<< Come to think of it, what House could have suited the future
Professor Trelawney? >>

Slytherin. Her ambition was to be respected as a Seer, and she worked
very hard and not all that ethically at it, until being fired by
Umbridge and losing her acolytes (Parvati and Lavender) to Firenze
drove her to drink.

To me, Lockheart and Skeeter are two other Slytherin alumni. Both 
work hard and not all that ethically to achieve their ambitions.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141349 :

<< At any rate, I believe that Harry will have to forgive Snape in
order to defeat Voldemort through love, and I don't see how that can
happen if Snape is ESE! >>

Forgive him, but still work to prevent him from harming innocent third
parties. Feel nothing but pity for him, no hate, because of coming to
understand how he reached adulthood so full of hate that he joined the
Dark Side, and how he remained so blind that he stayed there.