Failed Friendships / JKR's Opinion (was:Re:Draco, Narcissa and Harry)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 179895


> > >>Pippin:
> > 
> > Wh-at?? So, in your opinon the S/G hatred is about Quidditch and   
> > House Points and has nothing to do with the fear of dark magic or   
> > pureblood mania?
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> That's correct.  I'm somewhat surprised to see you think 
> differently.  I thought the books ended with the idea that there's 
> not really such a thing as "dark magic" and I didn't see much made 
> about "pureblood mania" either.  The final battle took place between 
> two guys of a similar blood background and with similar views on 
> magic use. 

Pippin:

Similar views on magic use?
I must have missed the part where Harry desecrated corpses, burst
out of the back of someone's head, convinced people there was no 
good and evil, slaughtered unicorns, drank their blood and instituted 
wholesale use of the Unforgivables. 

Do you  "see no difference" between the flawed and the 
monstrous? 

As for the pureblood mania, I didn't noticed Harry using anyone's
blood status to determine how powerful a wizard they might be or
whether they were worthy to study magic. Ron says Grandad
Weasley will never forgive anyone who marries a pureblood -- 
of course that's a joke, since Arthur made a pureblood marriage
himself. 

> 
> > >>Pippin:
> > But if so then all the Houses should be at each other's throats,
> > and they're not. 
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Aren't they?  I mean, when the other Houses have a chance, they root 
> for their House as shown in GoF with Hufflepuff Cedric. 

Pippin:
Of course there's House rivalry, but it's friendly for the most part.
People are disappointed if their house loses, but not frightened. It
isn't the end of the world. 

> 
> > >>Pippin:
> > Besides which nobody cares much about House Points past third year  
> > (we don't even find out who won the cup) and being too keen on      
> > Quidditch as a grown up is viewed as slightly pathetic -- look at   
> > Bagman. 
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Doesn't the WW quite like Bagman?  Arthur doing him favors and juries 
> cooing over him as he's put on trial for being a death eater, etc.?  
> And if no one cares about House Points, why was Harry ostracized in 
> PS/SS?  And who was doing all the cheering when Gryffindor pulled it 
> out in the end?

Pippin:
They like Bagman, but they don't respect him. Harry's case in
PS/SS is special because he raised expectations and then not
only didn't deliver, he made things incomparably worse. Then
of course he pulls off  a spectacular save. People are going
to respond to drama like that. 

But the twins lose points all the time, according to Ron,  and 
nobody cares. 

> 
> > >>Pippin:
> > OTOH, at the end of DH dark magic has been defeated.
> > <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Huh?  *Voldomort* was defeated at the end of DH.  I suspect 
> Unforgivables would still work.

Pippin:
They work, but it's been shown that using them to take over 
the WW won't.

> 
> > >>Pippin:
> > Scorpius has surely been raised to think he has enemies, but I      
> > doubt he's been raised to think dark magic is cool.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> I'm quite positive James thinks it's cool since his mom and dad 
> thought it cool. (Though only if used for the greater good, of 
> course. <eg>) 

Pippin:

Surely James knows that he was named for a man who taught
people they should choose what is right over what is easy? 

The one who said,  "I should have asked myself why I did not feel 
more disturbed<snip> I should have recognized that I was too happy" 
(OOP 37).

That's the answer we've been looking for, I think. If what
can only be justifed as for the greater good does not disturb the
characters, if it made them too happy, if they thought it was
cool, if it was  *easy*-- then it wasn't the greater good at all.

We do not see Harry question his use of the cruciatus curse or the
expulsion of the Slytherins. But his elation shows us that he should
have. 

We don't see him question his feeling okay with the condition
of the maimed babything -- but we did see him go back and try to
save Voldemort from making that choice anyway. 

Pippin