muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[Jordan Abel]

No: HPFGUIDX 155254

Lupinlore:
> In terms of the Potterverse, I doubt there will be a consistent theme
> or underlying principle that can be shown to run through every case.
> Often it probably will come down to some arbitrary definition, which
> may not be particularly consistent from case to case.  Is muggle
> baiting bad?  We may get the answer (probably tacitly) that yes, it is,
> except for Dudley and the twins, which is a situation of naughtiness
> but not really badness.  Why?  Well, Dudley had it coming.  Why does
> that differ from DEs?  Because I say so. Will JKR be in the right if
> she does that?  Don't know, muggle baiting isn't my issue, but people
> will certainly take firm stands on it.

I think that it's not clear that the definition given for "muggle
baiting" even applies to this situation - I see "muggle baiting" as
doing such things for personal amusement, rather than retaliation for
some real or imagined wrong. I think it's also implied that "muggle
baiting" is really meant to refer to doing such things to a muggle
with no knowledge of magic (who therefore wouldn't have any idea what
was going on).

Is what the twins did wrong? Maybe. Is it muggle baiting? Not by any
definition we're given.

random832.