[HPforGrownups] Re: Is Harry an idiot because he thinks Snape is guilty? Was: Why wizards are so i

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 140634

> Deb again:
>  I don't disagree with you Sherry about what Harry had just gone 
> through... but that is the whole point. 

<snip>
>  And as to what a cop would make of that scene on the tower... 
well 
> a rookie would probably react as Harry did ... but if a seasoned 
> veteran were in Harry's place, I think he or she would be 
observing 
> and comparing his observations with everything he knows about 
magic, 
> about the people involved, about everything he or she has learned 
in 
> a career ...  and I think such a veteran cop might just 
say "hummmm 
> something does not add up here. Something about this does not ring 
> true... all is not as it appears to be". And though Harry is just 
> shy of 17, he certainly is more of a "seasoned veteran" in the 
fight 
> against LV and the DEs than any of his peers and many of his 
friends 
> who are older than he is. He has defied LV 4 or 5 times already 
and 
> no one prior to him has done so more than three times (other than 
> perhaps DD).         


Alla:

I think you are asking too much of Harry, Deb. Remember, he did NOT 
come to Tower to investigate anything. He was stuck there for all 
the reasons Sherry mentioned and just witnessed a murder of  the 
person he came to love.

So, I would like to ask again. What REASON would he have to think 
about Snape innocence right after witnessing him killing Dumbledore?

Now, some of us do think that it was AK based on the fact that we do 
not know for sure ALL effects from that spell and that there is very 
limited evidence in canon that it is possible to say the 
Unforgivable and mean another spell. So, it is not as clear, no?

But even if  it was not AK. The most important piece of evidence 
Harry sees is that Dumbledore is dead and Snape killed him.

I think it would be wierd to start wondering about the innocence of 
the killer  if the loved one is killed in front of one's eyes.




Sherry adds:

Thanks, Alla, you said a lot of what I wanted to say in response.  I'd like
to add some comments on Harry's emotions.  Many people bring this up saying
that Harry must control his emotions if he is able to defeat Voldemort.
However, speaking as someone who is ruled by emotions with a bit of logic
thrown in, logic that has only grown in me as I've been an adult, not when I
was a teenager,

JKR seems to indicate that Harry's emotions are his strengths.  If not, then
I'd think Hermione should be the hero, though she can get ridiculously
emotional at times, too.  But we've learned that occlumency isn't going to
be important for Harry because he's too emotional to do it.  It was his
heart, his love for Sirius that drove out Voldemort at the end of OOTP.  Not
some great power or logic or rational thought.  Dumbledore has seemed to
indicate that Harry's power that the dark lord knows not the power that will
eventually defeat Voldemort is Harry's ability to love.  Again, a very
strong and absolutely not rational emotion, no matter what kind of love it
is.    He, Dumbledore,  didn't take any time in HBP to teach Harry spells or
logic or how to control those emotions.  Instead, he took time to teach
Harry to feel a little compassion for baby Tom.  Interesting.  If Dumbledore
thought Harry's needs for defeating Voldemort would be in the sense of calm
and logic and wizard power, I think his private lessons with Harry would
have been much different.  I say, go for it with the emotions, let his heart
and gut instinct guide him.  In the RW, most people in fields such as law
enforcement, the ones who are good at it, often start with a hunch and then
have to find the evidence that will prove or disprove it.  Harry will have
to go with his gut and his heart, and if there has to be evidence to prove
or disprove, he'll have to learn to recognize it.  But he won't be able to
do that till the grief settles down.  Since I do not believe that Snape
didn't AK Dumbledore, I think Harry is perfectly right to believe what he
does.   I've read the same evidence everyone else has, and I've come to a
different conclusion than the good Snape people.  I'm no more an idiot than
Harry.  Call it, going on my emotions and my gut instinct.  

sherry