Ginny/possession

[Joe Goodwin]

No: HPFGUIDX 152242

  

Pippin:
I'm not talking about who should be punished. Punishment can be
counterproductive -- it was Ginny's fear of punishment that kept
her from trying to get help. You're saying Ginny's only mistake was 
to trust the book. I'm saying she made a further mistake in trying to 
cover up what was happening to her when she stopped trusting it. 

That *was* signing up for murder--she knew
that the attacks were no joke. Like Draco, she was only fortunate 
that no one was killed. I think Dumbledore's mercy helped her to 
understand that she made a bad choice, just as it helped Draco to 
understand that his choices were wrong.

Joe:
 Ginny at the time was an eleven year old girl with almost no magical training who was under a magical compulsion from the most powerful Dark Wizard of the age. Of course her not telling some one about the book was a mistake it is also perfectly understandable given the circumstances.
   
  Draco was at the time either an adult or so very close to the age of majority in the WW that it makes no difference. The only compulsion he faced was a societal one and quite frankly a poor one at that. His entire time at school he has been confronted that evidence that what he has been taught was wrong and yet he gleefully followed down the same path as his criminal family.
   
  Draco understood his choices were wrong? In my copy of the HBP he couldn't kill Dumbledore but didn't do anything to stop it nor did he try and stay to make amends. In my copy of HBP he ran off with the other DE's before they could get caught. Sorry but thinking Draco some how saw the light is wishful thinking. Yeah he was surrpised by Fenrir being there but only because he didn't want his friends being hurt. Fenrir could have eaten every Gryffindor and we all know Malfoy would have just stood there.
   
  Draco couldn't kill DUmbledore because he is gutless not because he saw the light. He tried numerous attempts to do in the old man in ways that wouldn't force him to do it up close and personal and had no trouble at all with his conscience. Only when he had to do it looking Dumbledore in the eye did his conviction fail him.
   
  Draco should not get a pass for his actions because he did not have the fortitude to do something he had been trying to do for months. He was compassionate, he wasn't seeing the light, he was just a coward.
   
  Comparing the actions of a scared eleven year old girl and an of age soldier(yes when you join a terrorist group you join the war)  and saying they are equivalent is ridiculous.
   
  Next we are going to hear that Voldemort isn't responsible for his actions.
   
  Joe