Ending WAS : Compassionate hero

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 176052

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Magpie:
> <SNIP>
> Well, yeah, an uncertain note is fine. I just don't think we get to 
> > have it both ways, with any significant steps towards healing a 
> > major rift being unrealistic yet also saying we've got signs of steps 
> > because Teddy Lupin doesn't have to hide his love for Victoire  (btw, 
> > I have no idea why this is a step--why would Teddy not have done 
> > that?) and Draco Malfoy nods to the Trio (but still couldn't have 
> > any more positive relationship with them). I might have preferred 
> > more progress, but I'm not protesting the lack of it here, just noting 
> > what I see and don't see.
 
> Alla:
 
> I do not think I am having it both ways. I am saying that I see 
> **small** signs of change, while saying that not showing **bigger** 
> signs of change sounds realistic enough to me, not even saying that 
> they are not possible.
> 
> I do disagree with the lack of progress, yes, but am saying that 
> progress is going in baby steps.
> 
> As to why Teddy might have wanted to hide it – it is not like IMO 
> general public necessarily would like to watch the son of werewolf 
> with somebody, anybody.
> 
> Yes, I think WW was that bigoted to werewolves and their families. 
> And I totally think that Draco's curt nod IS a progress. When 
> exactly did he acknowledge Harry and his friends before without 
> screaming obscenities ( metaphorically) or throwing curses at them?
> 
> So, yeah, I believe it is a sign of change, but gradual one. IMO of 
> course. 
> 
> I would find Draco becoming **friends** with Trio for example, as 
> Lissyben suggested before to be extremely unrealistic and 
> saccharine. IMO of course. Seven years of animosity do not just go 
> away in my opinion and curt nod is the most I thought possible, you 
> know?

<king size anip>

> It reads to me as happy ending for the characters, but with plenty 
> of room for change left in the society level.


Geoff:
I was thinking about this on the society level and was struck by a real 
world parallel.

The epilogue is set 19 years after the final showdown. It is just 18 years 
since the amazing events of 1989 when we saw the Communist bloc start 
to topple down like a house of cards.

There was rejoicing and euphoria. We expected that the world would enter 
a new era. Well, we did but if, 18 years on, you look around, expecially at 
many of the former Communist countries, there are still serious problems 
which are slowly, oh so slowly, being tackled.

Countries like Romania are still in dire straits with their economies and in 
many countries, supporters of the old regime lurk just under the surface, 
like unregenerate Death Eaters, hoping to try to snatch back some of the 
power and prestige of the "good old days". 

If that is the case in the real world, why should it be so different in the 
Wizarding World? As Alla, among others has pointed out, things have 
moved, judging by the scene at the railway station in the epilogue.

That curt nod from Draco, for instance, is  several miles away from the 
days of "Half-Blood Prince" and, although I had hoped for a stronger 
rapprochement, it is some little way in the right direction. I have to 
admit that that my thinking has swung a little way towards suspecting 
that Harry's view was manipulated - whether unconsciously or 
deliberately - in the events leading to the notorious handshake 
scene in PS. But maybe that is water under the bridge.