Straightforward readings?.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 140737

Eggplant wrote:
> I don't think Harry should have been punished at all, he was just
defending himself from an unprovoked attack from somebody about to use
an Unforgivable curse. He would have been justified in killing him to
prevent that. 

Carol responds:
"One ill turn deserves another," as Saruman would say? And Harry is
justified in killing someone who's trying to use a curse that he
himself has tried to cast (on Bellatrix in the MoM)? Crucio may hurt,
but it isn't fatal, a Harry knows perfectly well. 

I think Harry was wrong to cast a curse that had been labelled "for
enemies" without knowing what it did, and right to be mortified by his
own action. However much he hates Draco, he doesn't want to kill him,
even knowing that Draco is planning to kill Dumbledore. If he did want
to kill him, and succeed in doing so, how would he be any better than
Draco?

Harry accepts his punishment in this instance because he knows that
for once it's wholly deserved.

Carol