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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 179759

> 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. 

a_svirn:
Thought wrong then, didn't he? Whatever good qualities Ron has, 
leadership is not one of them. He's forever overshadowed by others. 
And he's not exactly level-headed. And in his adventures with Harry 
it was always Harry who led. 

> Steph:
  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)."  

a_svirn:
And Ron didn't feel particularly reassured. Not that we see him 
withstanding jinxes from fellow-Gryffindors. 

> Steph:
I can't
> see DD endangering the Gryffindors just to give a patronage job to 
Ron
> unless Ron could handle it.  

a_svirn:
I don't see how the Gryffindors would have been *endangered* if, say, 
Neville was picked as a prefect. 

> Steph:
I doubt DD has enough awareness of
> Neville, Dean or Seamus to even have remotely considered them, 

a_svirn:
And that's not favouritism? You have just said that he picked Ron 
because he knew him through Harry, and didn't give others a thought 
because they weren't close to Harry. This is a classic case of 
favouritism – when you show someone favour and neglect others with 
equal claims. Or even superior ones. 

> Steph:
and in
> any case none of those boys had put themselves in the kind of danger
> that Ron had and were therefore untested.

a_svirn:
Neville was. And he behaved in PS exactly as prefect should.

> Steph:
> 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.

a_svirn:
I think that perhaps she would have, yes. But she wouldn't have had 
the same authority because her house-mates would have seen her only 
as an annoying know-it-all (as they did in the beginning of PS).