Harry using Crucio -- my two cents

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 174138

---  Christine Maupin <keywestdaze at ...> wrote:
>
> I have a general remark about Harry using Crucio, not
> one directed at any one comment.
> 
> Like many, I too was taken by surprise that he used 
> such an extreme curse, an unforgivable no less, when 
> a stupefy would have done just as well.  But, one of 
> the things I love about JKR's stories -- her 
> characters are flawed. The situation was indeed extreme
> and Harry reacted in an extreme way to what was "the
> straw that broke the camel's back" -- he had just 
> learned from Neville how cruelly the Carrows had 
> treated the students ....

bboyminn:

I couldn't agree more. Harry is not in a field full of
daisies and fluffy bunnies, he has stepped into the 
depths of hell. There probably isn't any place on 
earth that is more dangerous to Harry at that moment
than Hogwarts.

Further, Carrows themselves are not exactly fluffy 
bunnies. There were there when Dumbledore was killed
and they were among the most bloodthirsty. Since
having arrived at the school there actions have been
unspeakably cruel; actually making the students
torture each other as a form of punishment.

So, I agree, when Carrow spits in McGonagall's face,
Harry has reached an unbearable limit. These people
need to be taught a lesson. They need to be taught
some respect and humility, and Harry, in that moment
of anger, has no qualms about being the person to do
the teaching.

These are the EXTREMEST of circumstances. If Harry
is caught in the school before they are ready to 
fight the Death Eaters, then Harry is as good as
dead and so is anyone who helped him, and anyone
associated with anyone who helped him. This is the
darkest and most dangerous and most extreme of times,
and consequently, it calls for equally dark, dangerous,
and extreme counter-measures.

While Carrow is under the Imperius Curse, he can not
betray them. Under that circumstance, I think that was
justified. 

Comparing this to real life, you can't give soldiers
guns and send them off to war, then complain when they
shoot people. That's just irrational. When Harry meets
someone of unspeakable cruelty and disrespect, he feels
he needs to take equally extreme measure to counter them.
He may not have been right, but I'm sure that's how he
felt.

I'm sure in later years, Harry had second thoughts about
having used unforgivable, just as soldiers in wartime
have second thoughts. But in the moment, you have to
react spontaneously, without hesitation, if you want to
continue living. Let the morals of it work themselves
out later. 

Harry did what he did. He reacted in the heat of the 
moment. He reacted to defend the honor of someone
he deeply admired, against someone he deeply despised 
and rightly so. Further he did so under circumstances
equivalent to walking into hell and taunting the devil
himself. I would say that constitutes very extreme
circumstances.

Harry is not perfect, but on the whole, he is a noble
and selfless hero, and that's good enough for me.

Steve/bboyminn