[HPforGrownups] Traitors and Deserters (was:Re: muggle baiting vs. muggle torture)

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 155588


> Betsy Hp:
> Oh, I don't really hold it against the twins that they chose to 
> leave the school (and the DA) instead of stay and get flogged by 
> Umbridge.  As far as they know they're just stirring up a bit of 
> trouble to make things a bit difficult for the new headmistress.  
> They're not fighting in an all out war.  As you point out, they 
> didn't know what all Umbridge was doing to Harry.  They didn't know
> how far she was willing to take things.
> 
>....But wouldn't that make the twins deserters?  Because if everyone

> in the DA was supposed to realize that this was an all out war it 
> means the twins chose to leave their post when things got a bit
hot.


I disagree here.  As much as I think the twins are a lot less
likeable than JKR does, they rose magnificently to the Umbridge
challenge in a way that no one else did.  They saw - perhaps
instinctively - that the best way to defeat a total control freak is
to unleash total chaos.  

And it worked - it gave the other students a model of what to do; it
gave the teachers the opportunity to engage in some wonderful
passive-aggressive work ("I could have removed the fireworks myself
but I wasn't sure I had the authority" - Flitwick) and it showed
Umbridge up as not being able to enforce all her stupid petty rules.

No, I think the twins knew exactly what they were doing - and their
terrific exit was inspiring to the other students, not seen as
cowardly at all.  

Magda

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