The Fundamental Message.../ Heroes...

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 176374

BetsyHp wrote:
> <snip> I mean, the WW is exactly as it was when Voldemort came to
power, so it's not like Dumbledore, Harry or the Order have achieved
anything to slow down the next Evil Overlord when he or she pops up. 
Harry is a happy slave owner, the Houses are still ranked and at each
other's throats, magical creatures are still on the bottom of the
pile. Probably about the only thing that's changed is it's a bad thing
to be a pure-blood (as per Ron's little remark).  Which just means a
change in fashion, not a change in outlook or understanding.  So,
yeah... petty.  

Carol responds:

Exactly like the pre-Voldie WW? Are you sure? Even if that were true,
the WW under Fudge is better than the WW under Voldemort, with
legalized oppression of Muggle-borns, who aren't even allowed to
attend school, DEs in charge of the Ministry, and gangs of kidnappers
and terrorists running rampant. Voldie himself has committed some
dozen or so murders just since the beginning of GoF, not counting
those committed by DEs, and has authorized the torturing of students
and the teaching of Dark Arts to Hogwarts students. (If Snape weren't
secretly working against him, allowing the old teachers to undermine
the new ones, etc., matters would be much worse.) The Muggles have
been suffering everything from "accidents" and "hurricanes" to
Dementors running rampant since HBP. The victory over Voldemort and
the DEs brings about an immediate improvement, a Ministry under
Kingsley, who views Muggle lives as being as important as wizard
lives--peace and stability and imprisonment of any remaining DEs and a
return to order.

We have to make some assumptions, of course, but with Yaxley and
Umbridge and Thicknesse and their allies out of power, we can safely
assume that the worst new laws, for example, those that Umbridge
formulated against werewolves, have been removed from the books and
that someone closer to Amanda Bones than to Barty Crouch is in charge
of Magical Law. (Eventually, if an interview counts as canon, we get
Hermione in charge of Magical Law and Harry in charge of Magical Law
Enforcement. The Daily Prophet can now inform its readers of what is
really happening rather than being the mouthpiece of a corrupt
government. Naturally, there will still be an occasional Dark wizard
upstart or petty criminals along the lines of Mundungus Fletcher, but
the atmosphere in the epilogue makes it clear that it's now safe to
send your kids to school. Probably Diagon Alley is the exciting place
it once was. Life is back to normal. "All [is] well."

At Hogwarts itself, Slytherin is no longer a breeding ground for DEs
for the simple reason that DEs are an extinct species. We may see some
Severus Snapes inventing schoolboy hexes and potions improvements, but
such talented boys (with a nudge from Slughorn) are more likely to end
up in the Ministry or as researchers for St. Mungo's than as members
of a terrorist gang. With no more DADA curse, the students in all
houses will actually be taught DADA (perhaps nonverbal skills,
duelling, and even Occlumency) rather than theory (Umbridge) or Dark
Curses (Fake!Moody and the Carrows). If the Sorting Hat sorts for
personality rather than blood, little Sevs and little Lilys could end
up in the same house. And slytherin has heroes now, reasons to be
proud of its heritage and to strive for unity (or friendly rivalry)
with the other houses instead of enmity. Things are *not* as they
were. The James teasing his little brother about Slytherin is not the
James sneering at Slytherin the way Draco sneered at Hufflepuff as a
worse alternative than being sent home. Adn if Albus Severus does end
up in Slytherin, his parents will still love him and he will not end
up as a Death Eater.

As for Harry as a happy slave owner, his "slave" is also happy--and
clean and reasonably sane and quite willing to order "Master Harry" to
wash his hands before coming to the table. Consider what happened to
Winky when she was freed. She saw it as being fired, a deep disgrace
from which she could never recover. Kreacher is in essence restored to
his old position and showing exactly how valuable he can be. He
voluntarily cleans the kitchen at Grimmauld Place and proudly cooks
Harry's favorite meals. (Exactly where he got the food, I don't know.)
Presumably, he escapes Yaxley's clutches and rejoins the elves at
Hogwarts, no doubt a bit more usefully than in HBP. He willingly joins
the battle, not for Harry's sake but in honor of "Master Regulus,
champion of house-elves." With the DE threat ended, he'll probably be
happy to return to 12 GP. which is at least as much his home as it is
Harry's. Even Sirius, no friend of Kreacher's, understands that to
send Kreacher away from the Black family home would destroy him (OoP).

House-elves are not humans. They have a different psychology modeled
on that of the brownies of folklore. They take pride in giving "good
service," in making the lives of wizards better. Praise means more to
them than payment. Even Dobby says that he likes being paid, but he
likes work better. Hard to understand, I realize, since money is not
only a necessity but a luxury to most humans and work is, for some of
us, a necessary evil. But, clearly, that's not how a house-elf's mind
works. Harry would be doing Kreacher no favor by freeing him. Kreacher
would view himself as disgraced and homeless. He might take a job for
pay at Hogwarts, assuming that the new headmaster would allow him to
do so, or he might take to drinking like Winky. Most likely, he'd
revert to filthy incivility and perhaps insanity, a houseless
house-elf. Compassion for house-elves, treating them with kindness and
respect and understanding, is one thing, and all to the good.
Expecting them to think and act like humans is quite another, and
entirely mistaken, as Hermione demonstrates to Harry in "Kreacher's Tale."

Re your last line, my sense is that Ron is just joking, not taking an
extremist view comparable to the idea that all heterosexual white
males are "oppressors." (Not remotely my own view--please don't flame
me, anyone!) If we look at the number of Ron's joking predictions that
have come true, perhaps we can expect Rose Weasley to marry Scorpius
Malfoy--a marked contrast to their grandfathers publicly fistfighting
in Flourish and Blotts in CoS or their fathers duelling and insulting
each other.

At any rate, defeating Voldemort *is* a major accomplishment. The WW
*is* better off without him and his DEs. Certainly, it needs to heal a
lot of rifts and rethink its laws and improve the education of its
students (starting with a useful, logically structured DADA curriculum
that actually teaches how to heal bleeding wounds). Required Muggle
Studies classes that actually taught Muggle culture rather than
illustrating Muggle "substitutes for magic" would be helpful, too.

Even if the WW is back to Square One--the WW as it was when Harry
entered Hogwarts--it's far better off than it was under Voldemort. And
I think that the lesson that Harry learned through Snape--Slytherins
are human, too, and as capable of love and courage as Gryffindors--
will be extended to others through his influence. The WW isn't perfect
in the epilogue, but the world will never be perfect. But a Harry who
names his second son Albus Severus is a better Harry than the Harry
who wanted revenge against a man whose loyalty and courage he could
not see, and Harry's cleansed perception and freedom from vengeance
and bitterness is surely symbolic of a similar change throughout the WW.

Harry thought for two books (HBP and most of DH) that he would have to
murder Voldemort. Instead, he defeats him through a combination of
willing self-sacrifice, strategy, and luck. Yes, people died along the
way, but more would have died and more would have suffered had he not
done so. It's a better world, Betsy, even if it doesn't have Snape and
Lupin and Colin Creevey in it. (Note that I didn't say Fred; I don't
suppose you shed any tears for him though I did.)

Carol, who never expected the defeat of Voldemort to result in a
perfect world, just a chance to undo past mistakes a few at a time