Scrimgeour/WerewolfBites/Legilimency/DDsecrecy/DarkMagic/Umbridge/Prefect

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No: HPFGUIDX 179754

Catlady wrote:
A_svirn:
Ron's appointment is nothing if not blatant favoritism – he would
have never been made a prefect if he hadn't been Harry's friend. 

Catlady: 
There had to be one of the Gryffindor fifth-year boys chosen as
prefect. Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, Seamus. I kind of expected Neville
to be appointed (a DD scheme to force him to develop his self-
confidence and leadership -- that was before I knew that DD didn't
care about any student but Harry) and Molly to be quite angry at Ron
for being found less worthy than *Neville*. Which of those five boys
deserves to a prefect -- has good enough grades if that's the
selection criterion, or has shown leadership or whatever other
criteria might be?

Steph:
I agree with a_svirn that Ron became prefect because he was Harry's
friend, but *not* due to favoritism.  I think that DD saw that Ron was
brave enough, and perhaps level-headed enough, to handle a leadership
position due to his adventures with Harry.  These would have made Ron
stand out to DD, where he probably wouldn't have otherwise.  Mad-Eye
comments to Ron, "I suppose Dumbledore thinks you can withstand most
major jinxes or he wouldn't have appointed you (USPB 169)."  I can't
see DD endangering the Gryffindors just to give a patronage job to Ron
unless Ron could handle it.  I doubt DD has enough awareness of
Neville, Dean or Seamus to even have remotely considered them, and in
any case none of those boys had put themselves in the kind of danger
that Ron had and were therefore untested.

Hermione, on the other hand, was a no-brainer for prefect, as even at
that point she was not a rules-breaker.  I think she would have been
picked even if she hadn't been Harry's friend.
 
Steve bboyminn:
If Harry hadn't met Ron right away, I suspect they still would have
been friends because they did share a room for 7 years. Further, I
don't think it would have taken Harry very long to understand Draco,
what with Draco's harassment of Neville, general arrogance, and sense
of entitlement. All that was quickly evident in their first meeting. 

Catlady: 
Suppose, as a hypothetical, that no one had come to share that
compartment with first-year Harry, until Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle came
there because Draco had found out that he was the famous Harry Potter.
Draco wouldn't have insulted Ron because Ron wasn't there. So Harry
would have shaken Draco's hand and allowed them to sit in his
compartment. Then Draco, trying to win the celebrity's allegiance,
would have tried to make a good impression on Harry. Perhaps he would
have refrained from saying anything rude about Muggleborns because of
knowing that Harry's mother was one. Then Harry might have taken his
offer to introduce him to the wizarding world as kindly. Then Harry
might wanted to be Sorted into Slytherin to be with his new friend.
Then Harry and Ron wouldn't have been in the same dorm.

Steph:
True, that scenario is entirely possible.  But I think it wouldn't
have taken Harry very long to see Draco's true colors, as Draco
couldn't have hidden his contempt for Muggleborns for very long, at
which point Harry would cease being friends with Draco.  Harry would
likely have still made friends with Ron as there have been friendships
between students of different houses.  They wouldn't have shared a
dorm, true, but they could have still been friends.
 
Pippin Fowler:
I was quite annoyed with Harry's adolescent angst through most of
OotP 

Catlady:
I always thought that was supposed to be Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder from Cedric's death and the whole Graveyard scene. It appears
to me just like the descriptions I've read of PTSD. Some listies have
stated that it is leakage of Voldemort's chronic grouchiness into
Harry through the scar link. That may have been what Rowling intended,
as OoP was the book about the scar link.

Steph:
I think it was a combination of Voldie getting in Harry's head, no one
outside of Ron, Hermione, and the Order believing him that Voldie had
returned, and, as you mentioned, a bit of PTSD from the graveyard
encounter.  I'd be cranky, too, if I was Harry.  
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