The Ton-Tongue Toffee Incident---my own thoughts

[ericoppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 140940

I've posted earlier on this list (I get it in digest form and find it 
easier to post from the website, so I don't always answer things that 
look interesting) that in my opinion, the famous "Prank" played by 
Sirius Black against Severus Snape had as much to do with over-
familiarity with werewolves as actual malice.  After all, Sirius had 
been hanging around with a werewolf for _years,_ and _he_ hadn't come 
to harm, now had he?

The same sort of thing could be said about the Ton-Tongue Toffee 
Incident.  The twins probably have almost _no_ exposure to Muggles, 
and no idea of how terrifying they might find even simple magic, or 
how difficult it can be to heal without magic.  In _their_ world, 
it's perfectly normal for sub-teenagers to bat around on fast brooms 
fifty or a hundred feet up in the air, and if they fall, a broken 
bone or two's all that's likely.  

In other words, they have a very different perspective on what is 
dangerous and what isn't---and, in their world, a Ton-Tongue Toffee 
is No Big Deal.  I think that if they had known just _how_ dangerous 
what they did was, they'd probably be at least somewhat horrified.  

The analogy I like to use here is that of horsemanship.  Let us say, 
forex, that I am a superb horseman---that there's literally nothing 
on four hooves I can't ride; circus riders beg me to teach them.  And 
I'm also 16 years old or so, and have someone in my life who's a 
total PITA, and has been since Day One.  I could see myself, in this 
situation, inducing my nemesis to ride a dangerous buckin' bronco, 
thinking that "it's not dangerous---anybody can do _that!_  He'll get 
a good scare, though, and won't it serve him right?" all the while 
not considering that my enemy does _not_ have anything like my taken-
for-granted level of skill, and may well find himself in dreadful 
danger doing something I could do blind drunk and blindfolded.

I kind of think that Muggle Studies should be mandatory for all non-
Muggle-raised Hogwarts students, with supervised, _wandless_ 
excursions into Muggleworld for the older kids.