Harry's "arrogance" (Was: Evil Snape)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154270

Carol earlier: 
> No one is calling Harry a "prick" or even a "berk" like his father,
but he's guilty of the same sort of presumption, and here I *would*
call it arrogance, in refusing to listen to Hermione when she tells
him how unlikely it is that LV would be torturing Black in the MoM at
five o'clock in the afternoon. His scar hurts a little, he just had a
vision like the one he had of Mr. Weasley, which saved Mr. Weasley's
life; therefore, he must be right and Hermione's logic and common
sense must be wrong. And though he isn't "doing evil" through his
absolute certainty that he's right and his unwillingness to listen to
Hermione, he does . . . indirectly bring about Sirius Black's death
when Black decides to join the rescue mission. No, he didn't kill his
godfather or want him dead, but if he'd listened to Hermione instead
of arrogantly assuming that he was right, his godfather would still be
alive. Harry knows this, but he can't bring himself to believe it, so
he arrogantly (or presumptuously, if you prefer) blames Snape.

Sherry responded:
> 
> I totally disagree. <grin>  You probably knew I would, since I
always fiercely defend Harry on this point.  Harry is not a perfect
person <snip>  But in the case of the fake vision about Sirius, he has
absolutely no blame.  It is not arrogance for him to believe his
vision, when he has evidence that his visions are true.  He did save
Arthur's life  after all.  I would call his thoughts and actions
desperate not arrogant. How could he risk it being false?  His guilt
is completely misplaced in my opinion.  He has absolutely nothing to
blame himself for in the death of Sirius, not even indirectly.  Who
would not have done the same? <snip> The death of Sirius is the blame
of Bellatrix and Voldemort, not Harry.  <snip> something in me just
aches whenever I hear Harry being blamed or partly guilty of the death
of Sirius.

Carol again:
Just a quick clarification. First, the word "arrogance" may be getting
in the way. What I'm talking about is Harry's tendency to assume that
he's right--and if you look at the way he treats Hermione when she
tries to question him, it isn't exactly friendly or willing to
consider her point of view. 

"'Who? *What*?' said Harry. He could not understand why they were both
gaping at him as though he was asking them something unreasonable.

"'Harry,' said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, 'er . . . how .
. . how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody
realizing he was there?'

'"How do I know?' bellowed Harry. "'The question is how we're going to
get in there!'" (OoP Am. e. 733).

Snape has told Harry that the whole point of Occlumency is to keep
Voldemort from getting inside his head, but Harry is unwilling to
consider that possibility here, or the possibility that Voldemort may
be taking advantage of his "saving people thing" for his own reasons.
(And the vision itself is highly melodramatic and almost absurd, let
alone the question Hermione raised of how the two most wanted wizards
in the WW got into the MoM without being noticed while the Ministry
employees are still at work. Why would Sirius Black be able to get a
"weapon" of a shelf in the DoM if Voldemort couldn't? It makes no sense.)

Second, I'm in no way blaming Harry for Sirius Black's death. The
murderer is Bellatrix Lestrange; the instigator is Voldemort; the
conspirators are Kreacher and the Malfoys, with the DEs as agents of
the conspiracy. There are, of course, other contributing factors,
including Black's decision to join the Order in rescuing Harry,
Harry's decision to "save" Black without realizing that Black was
never in danger, and Harry's failure to learn Occlumency (for which
DD, Harry, and snape all share the blame). None of these things makes
Harry guilty of his godfather's death. Nevertheless, he knows that if
he had learned Occlumency and blocked the vision, if he had listened
to Hermione and realized that the situation was improbable at best, if
he had actually gone to Snape to tell him about it rather than taking
things into his own hands, Black would not be dead. Rather than admit
that painful truth, or blame his godfather for not listening to
Snape's advice to stay home and wait for DD (which would be OOC),
Harry chooses to blame Snape's "snide remarks" for Black's death. He
knows what he's doing but "clung to this notion, because it enabled
him to blame Snape, which felt satisfying" (161). It also serves as a
form of self-protection, a denial of his own role in his godfather's
death, which is too painful to face. It doesn't matter that the guilt
is "misplaced" (and I agree that it is). It doesn't matter, in terms
of Harry's feelings about what happened, that he was trying to save
his godfather, not get him killed. What matters (to him) is that if he
hadn't gone off on his mistaken rescue mission, accepting the false
vision that Voldemort planted in his head as real, Sirius would be
alive. Survivor's guilt may be illogical, but it's real, and Harry is
avoiding it by blaming Snape.

Let me say again that I'm not blaming Harry for Sirius Black's death,
or for his determination to save him. The only thing he did wrong was
to refuse to seriously consider the possibility that Voldemort might
be trying to trick him. That's the part that can be considered
"arrogant," if we choose to use that adjective, as is his shifting the
blame to Snape because he wants to believe that Snape is evil. But
Harry still is not thinking sensibly about the events at the MoM. He
blames himself, or would do so if he could face the thought
(essentially, "If only I hadn't been stupid enough to believe that
vision, Sirius wouldn't have died!") He has to accept his share of the
responsibility and acknowledge that his godfather's death isn't
Snape's fault before he can shift the blame to where it properly
belongs, on Bellatrix and Voldemort. But he hasn't yet reached that
point, and the events at the end of HBP, which seem to confirm his
view that Snape is evil, have made it still more difficult for him to
get there. 

Carol, who understands that this particular lesson is painful for
Harry but hopes that he will learn it for his own sake before it's too
late.