Harry, Draco and bathroom/ A couple of theories - Snape

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 162401

> > Amiable Dorsai:
>  >...In justice, if not in law, Harry was justified in doing
> > pretty much anything he could to avoid Draco's Cruciatus.
 
> Pippin:
> That's not the way the good side looks at things, or Sirius would 
> have seen nothing wrong with using the Unforgivable Curses 
> against Death Eaters.
> 
> Harry had any number of tried and true spells  at his disposal,
> including expelliarmus which he once boasted of using against
> Voldemort himself.

Amiable Dorsai:
So you're thinking that in the time available to him, roughly the
interval between "Cru..." and "...io", Harry should have given his
choice of spells a little more thought, debated the pros and cons of
all the spells in his repertoire and chosen accordingly?  I dunno,
Pippin, this sounds like the Hermione Granger school of dueling, and,
dearly as I love her, it doesn't seem to work out very well.

Pippin:
>  Instead he chose to experiment which was
> both wrong and stupid. Suppose the spell hadn't worked at all?

Amiable Dorsai: 
Then Harry would, like as not, be dead or insane and Draco would be
hoping Azkaban would keep him safe from Voldemort.  

Harry didn't "experiment", he fired off the first spell that came to
mind.  If it was hard on Draco, well, Draco was one who decided to
fight, Draco was the one who decided to use an Unforgivable, Draco was
the one who decided that someone in that bathroom was going to suffer.

Pippin 
> What Harry did could be compared to using an illegal handgun
> against an attacker. The shooting might be self-defense, but
> violating the gun laws would still be a crime.

Amiable Dorsai:
We don't know if Harry's action was a crime, we don't know the
relevant law.  What we do know about Wizard law is that it is a
fickle, capricious thing--that's been a running theme of the books
from the beginning.  Likely, the worst thing that would happen if the
Chosen One killed a Death Eater in self-defense is that Scrimgeour
might finally have a handle on Harry.

Amiable Dorsai