Being Good and Evil (was:Re: Harry's arrogance (was Evil Snape)

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 154449


> Betsy Hp:
> Hi Phoenixgod! <g>  But sure, lets try comparing Crabbe and Goyle 
> with Ron and Hermione.  No one is walking around with a permantly 
> scarred face because of something Crabbe or Goyle did.  I'm still 
> bothered by the fact that no member of the trio is bothered by 
> that.  If Crabbe or Goyle *had* scarred someone like Hermione did, 
> that would have been another brick in the wall.  But since it was 
> Hermione, I guess it's okay?

Don't play the marrieta card with me :) I have no sympathy for her. 
I do agree that JKR's humor with the good guys has a surprising dark 
color to it, I think it fits well with wizarding world. they live in 
a world with very few consequences that magic can't make better. 
makes sense to me that they would push the envelope wover what could 
be done. I just don't marrieta is a good example. She's a traitor to 
the school and to the group. she deserves what she gets.

> To do a real side by side comparison is hard though, because 
Crabbe 
> and Goyle don't have any lines of dialogue.  And I'm not sure 
> they're even Draco's closest friends.  We don't know because we 
> don't see Draco on his home turf.

I doubt Draco has any close friends, which again, speaks well of 
Harry's wisdom in making allies who will stand by him through thick 
and thin.

> Betsy Hp:
> Really?  I'd love an example or two.  As far as I can remember 
Harry 
> generally only turns on someone when they try to kill him or his 
> friends.  Which is what it appears to be taking for Draco as well.

Sure, I'll give you two.

Hermione: He really doesn't like Hermione in the beginning of the 
series, yet after the troll incident, despite the fact that Hermione 
is still basically the same annoying person she was before the 
incident, Harry becomes best friends with her.  Speaks well of his 
ability to admit that he misjudged someone and take a second look at 
them.

Sirius: Harry wanted to murder Sirius in the beginning of Azkaban. 
yet in the climactic scene, Harry manages to control his bloodlust 
and divine that something else was going on. Once again, shifts 
gears quickly and shows good judgement.    
 
> Betsy Hp:
> Oh, I don't know.  He's only sixteen in HBP.  That's a fairly 
young 
> age to have such a crisis of his belief system.  (A crisis Harry 
has 
> yet to have, by the way.)

well, except for his father.  And Dumbledore's fallibility. Oh and 
the prophecy.  Harry has had plenty of crisis in his beliefs and 
assumptions.  He just handles them better than Draco does. He's also 
much more proactive than Draco. Our little Dragon is far to 
Slytherin--everything he does is manipuation and misdirection, it 
circles around the problem without dealing with it.  Do you really 
think that Harry would have sat around and done what Voldemort 
wanted him to do if his mother was in trouble, or would he have 
tried to do something to rescue her?

As much as people want to paint Harry's directness as a weakness, it 
is not. it is his strength. 

  And it's not like the "good guys" have 
> behaved in such a stellar fashion that the rightness of their view 
> point is obvious.  The Weasleys behave like thugs and their father 
> uses his power to persecute Draco's father.  

I'm losing sleep over the persecution of Lucius Malfoy. Are you 
watching ;)

Dumbledore uses his 
> position to promote his Gryffindors even if the rest of the school 
> suffers.

How many times did Slytherin win the house cup before Harry got 
there? Wasn't it about a billion times? straight?  Dumbledore needs 
to be much more effective if he wants to cheat for his alma mater.
 
> Voldemort loses Draco.  The good guys don't do anything to attract 
> him.  Not until Dumbledore *finally* shows that he's willing to 
> protect Draco's family.  

Once again. Harry would have tried to do something on his own 
instead of relying on other people to do it for him.  He doesn't 
need someone to *attract* him to the side of light. his good sense 
does that for him.

Something I doubt Draco ever thought the 
> old man capable of or interested in doing.

True. Because Draco doesn't have the sense to see past the end of 
his nose when it comes to people he already made assumptions about. 
An idiot could see that Dumbledore cares about all of his students, 
Draco just didn't want to believe that.  He'd rather play at 
currying favor with the dark lord.