Requiescat in Pace: Unforgivables

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 174737

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "julie" <juli17 at ...> wrote:
>
> Dennis:
> > 
> >  > it's easy to second-guess decisions made in the heat of battle
> 
> Lee:
> > There WAS no "heat of battle". There was just Carrow, spitting on 
> > McGonagall, and Harry tucked safely away under his Cloak, until he 
> > stepped out and ambushed Carrow.
> > 
> 
> Julie: 
> I've now decided that I DO understand what JKR was trying
> to get across--that even someone as good as Harry can act
> badly (and he does act BADLY here, as even JKR said this 
> moment showed that he wasn't "perfect") if there is enough
> pressure on him. The problem for me is the *execution* of
> this message. Harry isn't angered to the point of being
> out of control, as he was after Bellatrix killed Sirius,
> and again after Snape killed Dumbledore. He is in fact 
> calm and controlled when he tells Carrow "You shouldn't
> have done that."
> 
> So what would have worked better for me? If Carrow had
> killed McGonagall (and I'm sorry to say, I wouldn't have
> missed her all that much!). Or had done something else that 
> drove Harry to mindless anger. Because that was what always
> drove Harry to attempt a Crucio before, that red haze of
> all-encompassing anger. For Harry to so calmly and coldly
> perform a Crucio in this scene felt very out of character. 
> (Unless JKR was implying that Harry had realized that cold 
> calculation while using the spell is what is required for
> him to "mean it," which is more than a bit scary. And in 
> this case, some follow up with Harry recognizing this new
> and unsavory part of himself, and vowing if only internally
> not to give into it again would have helped make the point.)

Geoff:
I do not think Harry was cold and calculating here because I believe 
that his anger had rapidly built up during the exchange between 
Carrow and McGonagall and this incident was not just the sole 
source.

Harry must have been reminded of his first sight of Carrow as one 
of the group of four Death Eaters who entered the Tower at the 
end of HBP and mocked Dumbledore.

Then, very much more recently, he had heard how Carrow and his 
sister had been mistreating the students at Hogwarts - in "The Lost 
Diadem" chapter - particularly those who stood up to them. And now, 
Amycus threatens Professor McGonagall. And spits on her.

I do not believe that, at this point, canon suggests that Harry was 
cold and calculating. First, we do not know in what tone Harry said 
"You shouldn't have done that." I suspect that he said it savagely or 
shouted it.

Then notice the sentence in which Harry refers to Bellatrix and the 
immediately following section:
'"I see what Bellatrix meant," said Harry, //the blood thundering through 
his brain//..."

..."Potter!" whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart. "Potter - 
you're here! What -? How -?" she struggled to pull herself together. 
"Potter, that was foolish!"
"He spat at you," said Harry.
"Potter, I - that was very - very gallant of you - but don't you realise -?"
"Yeah, I do," Harry assured her. //Somehow her panic steadied him//.'

(DH "The Sacking of Severus Snape" p.477 UK edition - my emphasis)

This to me suggests that Harry is anything but cold and calculating. He 
is steamed up. his friends have been ill-treated. His teacher - an older 
woman in his eyes - has been treated as dirt.

OK, his reaction is over the top but this is a war situation. Everyone is
wound up like a tight spring. Harry has been living on his nerves for 
months, dodging Death Eaters, looking for Horcruxes, seeing things 
through Voldemort's eyes... This was perhaps the last straw.

As I said in a recent post, even as a Christian, I have done things in 
the heat of the moment which I have regretted, when my rational self 
has told me I was over the top, out of order. Sometimes, situations will 
arise out of the blue and we react reflexively to them without stopping 
to think the consequences through. Harry regretted the Sectumsempra 
episode in HBP. Perhaps he regrets this  but we don't see him having
time to express this regret to anyone because of events.

I do not think that there is a single person who, being honest with themselves, 
will not admit, either openly or to themselves, that they have been in 
situations like this where they have gone against their own conscience 
and hated themselves for it afterwards. But the world isn't always allowed 
to know that. Some skeletons remain very firmly closeted in our cupboards.