Neville's Boggart / The Marauder's Forays

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 168067


> **************************
> In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167961
> 
> Pippin:
> I can't speak for Wynnleaf, but Lupin speaks for himself:
> 
> "Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the
> school grounds and the village by night."
> 
> "And there were near misses, many of them."
> 
> "I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust,
> of course...he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other
> Headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea that
> I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and
> others' safety." -PoA ch 18
> 
> ....
> 
> Lupin would not have had to rat out his friends-- he
> only had to tell them that he didn't want them to let him
> out of the Shrieking Shack any more. But, as he says
> he always managed to forget his guilty feelings when it
> came time to plan the next adventure.
> 
> Mike:
> This may be hard to say without sounding arrogant, so feel free to 
> call me such after I'm done. ;)
> 
> Pre-adult boys of a certain caliber have a burning desire to not only 
> get into mischief but to up the ante of said mischief to the point of 
> dangerous or illegal stunts. It's a deep rooted desire to impress 
> their mates, outdo the previous generation, and acquire that 
> adrenaline rush one gets from defying danger. Add to that, they are 
> immortal at that age, just ask them. How does JKR portray this 
> amongst wizards, who are literally immune from the kind of dangers 
> that muggles would find deadly? Well, they run with werewolves.

wynnleaf
I've heard this argument many times.  Yes, it is common for adolescent
boys to want to "get into mischief but to up the ante of said mischief
to the point of dangerous or illegal stunts."  It is common for a
*lot* of boys to get into very *personally* risky behavior.  But that
is not the same a intentional, premeditated behavior where the primary
risk is in killing another person.  

And remember, Lupin is *very* well aware that his condition makes him
deadly.  

When I try and compare what Lupin was doing to the risks taken by lots
of teenage guys, it's hard to come up with a comparison amongst the
normal things guys do, because *most* of those risky activities are
primarily a risk for the people doing it, rather than primarily or
even solely a risk of killing innocent people.

I've compared it to a gang of boys that might decide to drive around
our small town randomly firing off guns -- but that is *not* normal
teenage risk-taking behavior.  And I've compared it to guys getting
drunk and driving around risking an accident.  But the problem there
is that most guys who drive while thoroughly intoxicated decide to
drive drunk *after* their decision making ability is impaired.  They
don't start off before drinking with the primary intent, made prior to
getting intoxicated, to drive while extremely drunk.

Lupin's behavior -- because of the extreme risk to others --  is not
typical teenage guy behavior.  Typical teenage boys commonly develop
plans that risk their own lives and typical teenage boys may make
decisions while their reasoning ability is impaired through alcohol to
engage in behaviors that risk the lives of others.  But it's *not*
typical to regularly plan activities that seriously risk the lives of
others.

wynnleaf