A Defense of James Potter(Whose flaws are bigger)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 175465

Mim:
> Said Dark Lord blasts his door open and James sprints to the hall 
> to see what happened without bothering to pick up his wand. Just 
> how stupid was this guy? And I just love how he tells Lily that
> he'll hold back Voldemort... How exactly? What did he do for a 
> living anyway? What did he do in the Order? Sure, there was the
> whole Secret Keeper business but what if Peter was tortured and 
> forced to give away the secret? He didn't have any other measures,
> any way to get his family out of there.

Jen:  I'm not sure about my final impression of James yet, just 
wanted to speak to this one part.  James running to the door without 
his wand reminded me *so* much of Harry.  From Lupin's comments in 
DH, James "would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to 
mistrust his friends" (DH, chap. 5, p. 81, Am. ed.), so I imagined 
that James didn't think it could possibly be Voldemort because that 
would mean he was betrayed.  As to why he didn't get his wand when 
the door was blasted, can't say much except thinking Harry would 
probably do the same; both are prone to acting before thinking.

When James shouted to Lily, it seemed like a desparate attempt to 
protect Lily and Harry one last time before dying:  If he couldn't 
stop LV or fight him, the only option James had left was to warn Lily 
and buy a few seconds of precious time.

Jen