Characters and Consequences? was: Harry's emotions his strength or his weakness?

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 141682

> > CH3ed: I like Alla's line of thinking. I think DD was neither a 
> puppet-master nor a mother hen. He foresaw potential outcomes of 
> things well, but he was willing to give those he dealt with the 
> chance to rise to the occasion .... or not, 
(major snippage here by Ginger)

Lupinlore responded:
(Ginger snipping wildly again)
> So, although it is possible to weave the two speeches together (and 
I 
> think you have done it about as well as it can be done) it's forced 
> and unfortunately doesn't leave Albus looking very much better than 
> he did after OOTP.  I agree with Alla that the speeches really 
don't 
> go together, and that JKR was basically doing a rescue job on 
Albus.  
> As Alla points out, JKR has admitted that she finished OOTP in a 
rush 
> and in the midst of a difficult pregnancy.  I think what we have in 
> many parts of OOTP is basically an early draft that she pushed out 
> the door without thinking as carefully as she should have about 
what 
> she was implying.  The speech in HBP was basically a way of her 
> saying "Errr...let's call that one a do-over, why don't we?"  It 
will 
> be interesting to see, if and when JKR does the "Revised Editions" 
if 
> the speech in OOTP survives intact.

Now Ginger's take on things:

I don't think that DD's 2 speeches necessarily contradict each other 
if one takes into consideration when and where and to whom they were 
given.

The OoP speech takes place as DD is talking to Harry.  The Dursleys 
are not the main point of that interview.  Sirius' death, the 
revelation of the prophecy, the MoM accepting LV's return, etc. all 
have a higher priority than all that.  *Why* DD left Harry with his 
charming relations is the main point, not how they treated Harry.  
Harry needs to understand that leaving him there was necessary, not 
that it was bad.  He already had that part figured out.  At this 
point, Harry only needs to know that the Dursleys were the lesser of 
2 evils.

Moving on to HBP (which is actually only a short time later to DD and 
Harry), we now have a different situation and a different audience.  
DD is now talking to the Dursleys.  The point of that conversation is 
to tell them that Harry will be needing room and board only one more 
time.  The Durselys haven't figured out that they have treated Harry 
badly.  They need to be told, and I must admit I thouroughly enjoyed 
the way in which DD did so.  

For those who know my views on the subject and think I'm jumping to 
the other side of the fence, let me explain.

I have always been in the camp that the Dursleys weren't the worst 
people on the planet.  I didn't *like* the way they treated Harry, 
but I didn't think they were bad enough to have to face the firing 
squads, fire and brimstone, or social workers with explanatory 
pamphlets with which others were willing to bombard them.  As Steve 
(bboy_mn) so well put it:  There's abuse and Abuse.

I did think that they deserved a nice humiliation (and possibly a 
bi+ch slap), and as I said, I loved it.

So I don't think that DD's opinion changed so much as his audience 
did, although I do wonder if, after his interview with Harry in OoP, 
DD realized that Harry needed to hear it as much as the Dursleys.

Ginger, who also liked MM's mentioning that Neville's Gran failed her 
charms OWL.