Bathroom scene again WAS: Re:Weasley Family Dynamics/To the Extreme

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165008

Alla wrote:
<snip>
> To me the self defense implies that nothing else can be done, 
> period. Which does not make Draco bleeding Okay, but neither would 
> it be Harry's responsibility IMO. Except thinking about the wrong 
> curse, IMO. <snip>

Carol responds:

Forgive me, but your reasoning is not quite consistent here. If
"notthing else can be done," how can he have chosen "the wrong curse"?
Surely, something else *could* have been done, including the old
standbys, Expelliarmus and Stupefy. But instead of the DADA spells
that have helped him so many times, Harry chose this moment to try out
an unknown spell labeled "For enemies." (Better Draco than McLaggen,
but still, not a wise move.)

But if Harry had chosen Expelliarmus, Myrtle would not have screamed
bloody murder, Snape would not have come running, Draco would not have
been lying near death in a pool of his own blood, Snape would not have
chanted that mysterious healing spell, Harry would not have lied and
gotten detention, and Harry would not have hidden his book in the RoR
(giving JKR a chance to mention the broken Vanishing Cabinet in
passing). And, for that matter, Harry would not have missed the final
Quidditch match, giving Ginny a chance to catch the Snitch and win the
championship (and Harry a chance to kiss her). Harry's action, like
all actions in the HP books, has unintended consequences that further
the story and/or reveal character. (For one, it gives Draco a taste of
death, making it real to him in a way that it wasn't before. And it
links Snape to Sectumsempra through the countercurse and to the HBP's
book in various ironic ways that Harry, who likes the HBP and hates
Snape, is too blind to see.)

Unfortunately, the one consequence that I would have liked to see, a
hesitation on Harry's part to use Dark magic under any circumstances,
even against Inferi and the supposed DE Snape, didn't happen. Harry's
remorse got sidetracked into concern for the HBP's Potions book being
confiscated and the secret of his Potions success being exposed to
Slughorn, and he later attempts (unsuccessfully) to use both
Sectumsempra and Crucio. (Okay for him but not for Draco? I think not.)

If Snape had given Harry detention for using that spell instead of
giving it for being a liar and a cheat (both true), that might have
happened, but given the dynamics between Harry and Snape, probably
not. He's going to have to learn his lesson some other way.

BTW, Harry himself doesn't seem to think that self-defense justified
using that curse since he listens to McGonagall lecturing him for
"fifteen highly unpleasant minutes" and doesn't contradict her when
she says he's lucky that he wasn't expelled. He's probably thanking
his lucky stars that he *only* got detention. Until, that is, he finds
out what the detention involves and that he'll miss the Quidditch
match, at which point all contrition goes out the window and he's back
to resenting Snape.

Carol, glad that we got to see Healer!Snape in that scene but worried
that Harry still hasn't learned his lesson