The Fundamental Message.../ Heroes...

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 176302

---  "horridporrid03" <horridporrid03 at ...> wrote:

> 
> Betsy Hp:
> ..
> 
> I mean, IMO the entirety of DH was us watching Harry
> sit around *not* thinking.  It was weird.  I still 
> don't get what JKR was going for there.
> 

bboyminn:

Odd that you would say that, since, and I'm sure many
will agree, we saw nothing BUT Harry sitting around
thinking thinking thinking. For someone who allegedly
doesn't think, he certainly seemed spend a lot of his
time pondering the mysteries before him, reached a lot
of important conclusions, and make critical decisions. 
Further, he reached those conclusions, made those
decisions, and chose his course of action on the 
scantest of information and help from Dumbledore.

Harry did not blindly and unthinkingly walk to his 
death. It was not like Jim Jones saying 'Drink the
Kool-Aid boys and girls and everything will be fine'. 
When Harry went to his death, we went understanding 
why, understanding the necessity for such action, and
more importantly, agreeing with the necessity. He did
what HE KNEW must be done. That is quite different
from blindly following Dumbledore's alleged 'drink
the Kool-Aid' orders. 

> 
> Betsy Hp:
> ...  Instead, despite all of Dumbledore's pretty 
> words on the Tower, Draco was kept frozen in place.  
> Again, it was a failure for the man who'd earlier 
> sworn an  Unbreakable Vow to keep this boy safe.
> 

bboyminn:

Draco is frozen in place, but why is that? Is it 
because Snape or Dumbledore failed. To a degree, yes,
but primarily Draco is trapped in a situation of his
own making. He is trapped by his own delusional 
romantic notions of what it means to be a Death Eater.
When he is finally confronted by the reality of the
situation, he is trapped.

As to whether Snape and Dumbledore failed, please note
that 20 years later, Draco is still alive and well. Also,
Snape didn't swear to protect Draco for all time and in
all circumstances. Anyone who promises that is both a
fool and delusional. 

It is not up to me to fix you (the metaphorical 'you').
It is up to you to realize that you to realize you need
to be fixed and to reach out for help. It is then up to
me to support you in fixing yourself. Anyone who has
worked with alcohol and drug abusers, as well as people
engaged in other self-destructive behavior, will confirm
what I've said. You can't fix these people, you can only
help them fix themselves. 

Until Draco realizes he need to be fixed, he is trapped,
and no amount of intervention will help. Snape's promise
to protect Draco is tied to a context, and within that
context, Draco lived. So, Snape did his job. 

You keep mentioning that there was no Slytherin banner
in the Room of Requirements. OK, by a show of hands,
how many people expected there to be a Slytherin 
banner in the Room of Requirements? Really? How many 
people /hoped/ there would be a banner there? Really? 
Amazing how few hands were raised.

Now let me ask, whose fault is that? I say it is
Slytherin's fault for not having the courage to 
step away from the crowd and take a stand. Slytherins
more than any other group are under a great deal of
pressure to tow the line; the party line. That doesn't
make it easy to step 'out of line'. Further, 
Slytherin has so alienated themselves from the other
Houses, that they couldn't reasonably expect anyone
out side of Slytherin to trust them. So, I don't 
think even Slytherins expected or hoped for a banner
in the Room of Requirements. If they didn't expect it,
why should you.

Trust me, I was one of the biggest proponents of 
'The Good Slytherin'. I expect at least one Slytherin
student to step out of the pack and take a stand, even
if it was a quiet behind the scene stand. But we never
saw it. But I must say that because we never saw it
doesn't mean it didn't happen. I find it hard to
believe that ALL Slytherin students and All Slytherin
citizens were uniformly behind Voldemort. I suspect
that like most people in the wizard world, they were
just keeping their heads down and leaving it to the
authorities to straighten out. 

Noting of course, that any Slytherin who dissented
would be in an extremely dangerous situation. Being
so close to the Voldemort supporters, any resistance
would have been painfully more obvious than the same
resistance occurring in another House. That doesn't 
make it easy for an good Slytherins that might have
existed. 

The books can only present just so much information.
JKR has to stay focused on the central path of the
story, and not clutter it up with distractions and
diversions from the objective she knows is coming.
There are dozens of side stories that fan would
have like to have seen, but the story has to 
tread the straight and narrow path to its purpose,
and that means minor threads get left out. That's 
just life.

Steve/bboyminn