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

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 162439

> Magpie:
> A lot of decent guys would have felt even worse.

Amiable Dorsai:
About successfully, if hamhandedly, defending himself against someone
he is sure has colluded in at least two murder attempts?  Someone who
has threatened to kill him?  Someone whose allies are out there right
now murdering people?

You don't think any of that should mitigate Harry's feelings of guilt?

I mean, yeah, if an altercation with, say, Justin Finch-Fletchley had
gotten out of hand that way, Harry should certainly feel ashamed of
himself, but this isn't a casual acquaintance, this is a wannabe
murderer who has promised Harry death more than once.

> Magpie:
> Just as it's not Draco's fault if Harry chose poorly...

Amiable Dorsai:
Why is it not Draco's fault?  Draco is the aggressor here, Draco is
the one who has given Harry the choice of reacting or of being
subjected to Cruciatus by someone who has taken summer lessons from
Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco is the one who decided to escalate things
to the Unforgivable level.

How do you so easily absolve him?

> Magpie
>... I think the fact that it was actually written as horrific
> means it's not something Harry should respond by strutting out
> confident that that's just what happens when you mess with him. 

Amiable Dorsai:
I missed the strutting scene, could you point it out for me?

> > Amiable Dorsai:
> > Why would it stop?  If Draco manages to get off a Cruciatus on 
> > Harry, Draco's life essentially ends at that point. 
> 
> Magpie:
> I don't think it does. Especially given that Harry opened up
> Draco on the bathroom floor and got detention.  

Amiable Dorsai:
For acting in self-defense without using an Unforgivable.

Suppose you're right though, suppose Draco would have somehow gotten
away with using an Unforgivable, how is Draco to know that?  

> Magpie:
> Draco's entire storyline in HBP is about not being a killer
> even when he wants to be and has to be.

Amiable Dorsai:
Not being able, in cold blood, to kill a helpless old man who is only
a theoretical enemy is quite different from not being able to kill a
hated real enemy in the heat of battle.  

> Magpie:
> Not unable to stop himself offing a 
> peer in the bathroom after reaching champion sadist ability with 
> torture spells that seem to require even more nerve to manage (Harry 
> himself couldn't sustain one). 

Amiable Dorsai:
Harry hasn't taken summer lessons from Bellatrix Lestrange.  Harry
does not, as Draco most certainly does, take pleasure from other
people's pain.

> Magpie:
>  I don't think there's anything in the 
> scene that indicates for a second that Harry would be facing that 
> kind of longterm fate or that it ever enters Harry mind before or 
> after. 

Amiable Dorsai:
Because Harry has, of course, forgotten that he's facing a two-time
attempted murderer who has threatened to kill him.

Amiable Dorsai