Dark Magic and Snape / Dark Creatures

[Charles Walker Jr]

No: HPFGUIDX 161568

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Magpie" <belviso at ...> wrote:
> When Harry tried to throw one in OotP I originally thought that was 
> important in terms of his using this Dark Curse, but it turns out 
it really 
> wasn't. It was just a teenaged boy looking to throw the pain he 
felt at 
> someone else. It wasn't that he didn't access the demonic power he 
needed, 
> it was that he did what he wanted to do and it wasn't torture 
someone. Harry 
> never thought back on it, nor did anyone else. The next year Draco 
almost 
> throws one in a fight because he was humiliated by being caught 
crying by 
> the boy he'd never want to see him cry and nobody's all that amazed 
by the 
> idea. It's hard to reconcile something that's so bad using it once 
gets you 
> life imprisonment with spells that we see used all over the place, 
even a 
> couple of times by teenaged characters.

Charles:
Actually, the surprising thing to me is that there isn't *more* of 
that kind of thing going on in the background. Not necessarily the 
unforgivables, but the fighting like Draco and Harry in the restroom. 
It strikes me that in aa castle full of *armed* teenagers, there's 
bound to be a lot more strife that ends up in wand waving than we 
see. Then again, knowing the kid you are picking on just might turn 
around and start firing jinxes at you could bequite the deterrent. 

This may be opening up a much larger can of worms than I want to, but 
could the Draco/Death Eater thing be likened somewhat to Columbine? 
Not necessarily in the details of the attack, but in the emotional 
aftermath that would be felt by the students of the school. In both 
cases, we have a group of students who were not well liked who 
unleash terror on their schoolmates. The actual events are worlds 
apart, but the few glaring similarities bear a little thinking about.

In both cases we have plans to create terror in the school that were 
thought out beforehand. In both cases, the events turn deadly for 
more than one individual. (Noting of course that the Columbine 
shootings claimed a lot more innocents.) In both cases there is a 
serious public repercussion (although we have yet to see the complete 
fallout of the Draco plot until book 7).

Just curious as to what others think, and certainly not trying to 
belittle Columbine. I met a few of the Columbine survivors months 
afterwards, and they were still shell shocked, even after all that 
time. I have to wonder what the effects of what Draco (and Snape) did 
on, well your average Hufflepuff first year would be? 

Charles, preparing to take cover.