On the perfection of moral virtues

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 168926

> Betsy Hp:
> I still think of it as filler in that it's sloppy.  The idea that the 
> Gryffindor's are suspicious of the number of team members from 
> Harry's own year seems like "make worry" on JKR's part.  Yes, Harry 
> has two people and that's including himself, from his year on the 
> team.  *This* is enough to cause predictions of doom and gloom from 
> his fellow housemates?  

Pippin:
Harry decided not to hold another trial to fill the open spot. McClaggan
already thought he'd been cheated of a second chance, and I'm sure
there were others who thought (or could be persuaded) to think the
same thing. Put that together with the fact that every match with 
Slytherin is a grudge match and you have a pressure cooker. People
have an emotional investment in the outcome of the game, and that
leads to anxiety, hence the grumbling, which increases the anxiety
even more.

It's very realistic to me -- I see the same thing happening every
time a new HP book is due for release. People get really tense and
take the nitpicking to a new level ;)

Betsy HP 
> I do understand what you say JKR was trying to do or show with this 
> side story.  I just think she kind of faked it, forcing Ron into an 
> issue the readers had *just* seen him outgrow. The mechanics of her 
> story are showing through, IOWs.

Pippin:
I don't recall Ron ever having to deal with people being
jealous of *him* before. But if it took you out of the story on first
reading, then it didn't work for you. 

I thought the magic feather bit was a little trite, but that's just the 
outer layer of the onion. It's *supposed* to be accessible, IMO. 
The inner layer is whether the HBP book is serving a similar function 
for Harry, and whether Harry might ever figure out that Snape's
hatred of him could be like the Gryffindors hatred of Harry in
HBP. They don't really hate him, or rather they do really hate him,
but it's only because they're worried about the match. 

So, could Snape be using his genuine hatred of James to cover
the reason for his genuine hatred of Harry?


> Betsy Hp:
> But my worry is that it's *JKR* who's missing it.
>

Pippin:
Nah, it's way too purposeful for that.
There's some connection between Harry sending
his owl to peck at Ron and Hermione's fingers, Ginny's 
flying bogeys, the jar of cockroaches thrown at
Harry's head, the badge chucked at Ron and Hermione's attack birds. 

We may never see  an elephant fly in HP, but when
a temper flies, it does so literally. <veg>

I see a connection also  between Hagrid giving Dudley a 
pig's tale when he would actually have liked to turn Dudley into a pig,
Harry thinking about how good it would feel to turn Dudley into
something with feelers, and then not being able to perform the
cruciatus curse on Bella because he doesn't think about how good
it would feel to hurt her.

I don't think JKR misses much, except maths of course. :)

Pippin