Ron and Hermione supporting Harry WAS: Re: GoF fight between Harry and Ron

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168977

> Alla:
> > In PS/SS, I sure applaud Harry decision to go after stone, but did
he really need to?
> 
> Montavilla47:
> I think he did, but I think the need was more personal than 
anything else.  The whole thing was set up like an eleven-year-old's
obstacle course.  Harry even suggests that DD wanted him to have the
chance to tackle it.  
> 
Carol responds:
<snipping parts of Montavilla's post that I agree with--well said, BTW>
An eleven-year-old's obstacle course? They could have been killed. All
we have is Harry's theory vs. Hermione's, so I suppose we have to
choose between them. Harry didn't have to risk his life; Quirrell!mort
would have been thwarted by the mirror and DD could have caught him
there. (Harry, of course, didn't kill him. He died when LV left his
body.) As for Dumbledore, maybe he felt that it was impossible to keep
Harry from doing what he thought he needed to do, so he gave him what
he needed to survive the obstacle course--if he and his friends solved
the mystery first. But I don't think it was set up in the first place
as a test for Harry. It was set up as a series of obstacles for
Quirrell (who was asked to provide an obstacle so he wouldn't know
that DD suspected him), with the finally obstacle being impassable.
Meanwhile, Snape, who also suspected him and perhaps didn't know about
the final obstacle, was trying to thwart him, perhaps independently,
and trying to keep the Trio away from the corridor (as he always tries
to keep Harry in particular from going where he shouldn't go). 

> Alla:
> > In PoA once again, if we put life debt aside, which I agree would
play a role at the end, I believe that Sirius and Lupin would have
dealt with Peter quite nicely without Harry interference.
> 
> Montavilla47:
> I agree with you about that one.  But I wouldn't blame Harry for the
moon coming out.  <snip more thoughts that I agree with>

Carol responds:
I don't understand this line of thinking. True, Wormtail escaped,
thanks to Lupin's forgetting to take his potion, and true, Wormtail
restored Voldemort, but if not for Harry, Lupin and Black would have
murdered their former friend in front of three kids. Harry's "mercy"
(which, but for the moon, the forgotten potion, and the DADA curse)
would have sent Wormtail back to Azkaban and the company of the
Dementors) protected Lupin and Black more than it protected Wormtail.
It kept them from splitting their souls and Lupin from becoming a
wanted criminal (Black was already in danger of having his soul sucked
and perhaps felt that he had nothing to lose, but what sentence would
the MoM have passed on a werewolf who was also a murderer?) Harry's
action kept them from that folly and from setting a horrible example
for himself and his friends. ("It's okay for good guys to use
Unforgiveable Curses and take justice into their own hands." We see
from Barty Crouch Sr. that it *isn't* okay even for MoM officials to
use Unforgiveables or send people to Azkaban without a trial. And
Lupin and Black would have *executed* a man they knew to be a criminal
without a trial, making it impossible to prove that Black hadn't
already murdered him.)

At any rate, it seems to me that Harry did the right thing, regardless
of the unintended consequences, and Black and Lupin would have
committed a terrible wrong--in front of three kids, no less--had it
not been for him. He saved *their skins* as well as Wormtail's and
kept their souls from splitting.

Would it have been worth their lives and souls to keep Wormtail from
escaping and restoring Voldemort? I think that LV would have found
someone else, say Barty Jr., to restore him even if Wormtail didn't.

Carol, who thinks that Harry will be rewarded for his mercy when
Wormtail pays his life debt