Special treatment - yes or no

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 145983

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Irene Mikhlin 
<irene_mikhlin at b...> wrote:
>
> Before I start the long list of the instances where I
> think 
> Hogwarts authorities provided special treatment either
> for Harry,
> or Gryffindor in general, a disclaimer:
 
Well, yes and no. In some points I agree with you (and those are the 
ones I did not mention anymore), but some do not convince me. 
 
> Now to the list.
> 
> PS:
> 
> 1. Even before the Hogwarts starts - if it was any
> other child, 
> would the school be so insistent that he gets his
> letter? 

That might be true. However, is it because they really looked forward 
to have Harry in Hogwarts, or because Dumbledore knew that Harry is 
the one who really needed it the most, for his own sake and the sake 
of the Wizarding World? In other words, isn't it understandable that 
after hearing the prophecy Dumbledore thinks that it is very 
important to get Harry to Hogwarts.
> 
> 2. Would a school official take any other child
> shopping?

The answer is "yes". Dumbledore offered this to Tom Riddle, but Tom 
refused.
 
> 3. Tea with Hagrid. It looks in fact that Hagrid is
> running his 
> own little club, just like Slughorn. Only the favours
> he asks in 
> return are much more serious than a box of pineapple
> sweets: 
> could you get rid of this illegal dragon for me, kids?
> Could you 
> help me to prepare for the trial? Could you look after
> my giant 
> brother?

But is Hagrid a respectsperson? Surely not in the beginning, and this 
doesn't even change after he became a teacher. Therefore I don't 
think the other students really care either way about this, because 
being personally close to Hagrid is not the same as being personally 
close to more powerful and respectable teachers, like McGonagall. 
Also, it is said in OotP, that Parvati and Lavender visited 
Trelawney. Therefore a close student/teacher relationship doesn't 
seem completely unusual in Hogwarts.
> 
> 4. Broomstick incident, of course. Instead of
> punishment, Harry 
> is rewarded with his own broom and place on the team.

But by McGonagall, who has her own personal interests. As already 
said, if it were Neville or Seamus she had seen flying, they would 
have gotten the place in the team. And if it were Snape and he had 
seen Goyle flying like this, Snape would have made sure Goyle got in 
the team and a good broomstick. Therefore I don't see this as any 
special example of special treatment for Harry or even Gryffindor 
house in general. And if Harry got some special treatment, than it 
wasn't because he's the "Boy who lived", but because he had shown 
some extraordinary talent.
> 
> 5. Dumbledore finds Harry in front of the mirror - out
> after 
> curfew, third night in the row, no punishment.

This is of course pure speculation, since we mostly see Dumbledore 
through Harry's PoV, and therefore not interacting with other 
students alone. But I think given the special circumstances and what 
Harry saw in the mirror, Dumbledore would have done this to any 
student. I certainly would have hated the old man, if he had punished 
Harry for sneaking out. It was Harry's first chance to get a glance 
at his parents, after all. And Dumbledore told Harry not to search 
for the mirror again, and Harry listened. I'm not sure he would have 
done this, if Dumbledore had shown some extreme strictness.
 
> 6. Dumbledore returns the cloak that was confiscated
> after some
> rule-breaking. I don't count the fact that he gave
> Harry the cloak in the first place, that was indeed
> just returning the 
> property, would've done it for any student. But "just
> in case" 
> business? Teacher's pet. :-)


Yeeees. I can definitely see your point here. But like in your 
previous point, the biggest difference between our opinions is that I 
think Dumbledore would have done something like this to every 
student. Though I'm not as sure as in the previous case.

I agree about the end feast, though. Neville's my favourite character 
and I loved seeing him getting the glory, but it was definitely mean 
to make the Slytherins think they had won and then change everything 
in the last minute. 
  
> CoS:
> 
> 7. McGonagall does not take points for flying car. If
> Ron and 
> Harry consider themselves lucky, I won't argue with
> them. Minerva
> obviously cares about the House cup.

But Harry did provide a good argument not to take points, eh? ;-) Not 
that I doubt any minute that Minerva was indeed very happy that she 
needn't to take points. However, as a contrast to this scene look at 
the one in PS, where Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco are caught in 
the night out of her bedrooms. McGonagall took more points from the 
three Gryffindors (even from Neville, whom she knew just wanted to 
warn the others) than she did from Draco. This is not the deed of 
someone, who first and primarly cares for the House Cup or 
Gryffindor's glory.
> 
> 8. Gryffindor's ghost conspires to get Harry out of
> detention.

Yes, but is a ghost a respectsperson? Anyway, I can see your point 
here, but it is IMO really a very insignificant incident. Does anyone 
besides Nick and Harry even know about this?  
 
> 10. Harry and Ron break emergency rules, walking the
> corridors 
> without a teacher. But since they come up with a noble
> story, 
> McGonagall does not punish them.

McGonagall's an old softie. That's one of those cases where I think 
the person in question would have done that to everyone and it does 
not show any bias towards Gryffindor or Harry. 
 
> 12. Another Hogwarts official (who just happens to be
> a Gryffindor) invites Harry for a cup of tea.

That's an interesting one. Of course we know that Lupin has some evry 
personal and understandable reasons to do so, but I wonder what the 
students thought about this? And Lupin, at least before being exposed 
as a werewolf, is probably more of a respectsperson than Hagrid was. 
And at least in Hagrid's case the special friendship with Harry 
already started when Hagrid was a mere groundskeeper. That probably 
bothered the other students less than this one.
 
> GoF:
> 
> Letting Harry into the tournament is not exactly a
> special treatment, as any student would have had to
> compete under the binding magical contract. However,
> taking his word that he didn't ask an older student to
> put his name in, might well be.

OT: But I always wondered if it really was that easy to fool the 
Goblet? And people talked about it as if it were very difficult. As 
if. You just have someone else throw your name into the goblet. On 
topc again: It is possible that Dumbledore used Legilimency here.
> 
> 16. The Headmaster accepts Hogsmeade permission from
> someone who is not Harry's parent or guardian,
> nevermind being a convicted criminal at the time.

While I can understand Dumbledore's reason here, I wonder how he 
explained this to McGonagall pre OotP.
 
> 17. Hagrid shows Harry the dragons.

Yes, but than, they thought Harry's life was in danger. Harry was not 
a simple Triwizard Champion. He was someone who participated due to 
circumstances beyond his control, and who theorized, that someone 
might use the Tournament to kill him. I think he was allowed to have 
any help available. 
 
> 18. Harry goes into Dumbledore's pensieve - no
> punishment.

At a time where Harry didn't knew what it was and what he did. Though 
a probably a simple "Don't do this again" wouldn't have been out of 
place. Maybe it would have made Harry not to climb into Snape's 
memory.
 
> 
> Again - I know that saving the world is more important
> than following the rules. But first of all other
> characters are not privy to "saving the world"
> context,  

Yes, but the question is, if they know about some of your examples. 
Do they for example know how many owls came to Privet Drive? And at 
the time, where Harry did his special lessons with Dumbledore, they 
already suspected that Harry was the "Chosen One". Therefore while 
they did not know anything in particular, they probably were able to 
put some clues together. I think it's no coincidence that this was 
the book, where Harry was most popular among the students.

Hickengruendler