[HPforGrownups] Ravenclaw (was: Responses to Marietta )

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 169348

> wynnleaf
> The reader knows that Marietta's pustules are due to a hex on the 
> list of names that she signed. As far as I know, no characters 
> other than the Trio have the slightest idea of what caused 
> Marietta's hex.

Finwitch:

Well, I believe Cho (and possibly other DA members) do have an idea.She DID
come up and said that to Harry, didn't she? And Harry, of course, took
Hermione's side. 

Magpie:
I've been thinking about this angle of it, actually, putting in context my
feelings about Ravenclaw in the series. 

Pre-OotP I remember saying that I always thought that Ravenclaw was
potentially a suspicous house-despite really not having canon evidence as
such. I just got the feeling that it's connection to the intellectual,
rather than a heart-shaped value like loyalty, made it potentially
dangerous in the author's worldview.

Anyway, the point was I wasn't surprised that the junior villain in OotP
turned out to be a Ravenclaw for the specific reasons she betrayed the
group. At PR last weekend I remember mentioning to someone that I saw many
people in Hufflepuff robes or with badgers, openly declaring their alliance
with that house. I also saw many Slytherins and some Gryffindors. The guy I
was talking to said he belonged to the house most apathetic about that kind
of thing and I immediately said--Ravenclaw?  I saw exactly one person
wearing anything Ravenclaw the whole weekend. We both laughed, since we
both mostly identified with that house over the others.

Now, I don't want to get silly and "speak for" the Ravenclaws in canon
since I'm not really in the house and they're fictional. But I thought it
was interesting that there was this breakdown along the lines of loyalty
and joining. And especially along the lines of reaction to this hex. To
some, obviously, the hex simply shows that Hermione was trying to protect
the group and that's appreciated. Where as for me, I would have considered
Hermione's hex an act of aggression against me, trying to trap me into her
power. Like she's relating to me more as Big Brother instead of an ally.
And she tricked me into this vulnerable position, giving herself authority
I wouldn't have granted her. (Similarly, I remember when Hermione said they
had to vote on the group leader I probably would have asked why she thought
we needed a leader instead of just Harry teaching his fellow classmates.
While we know of students in Ravenclaw, they aren't presented as a group so
often as some of the other houses. Often they come into play by dating
Gryffindors, so are already shown going outside their house.

For all Cho is often used in arguments to condemn Marietta, Cho herself
defends her. Not, imo, as I've sometimes heard, because she's an idiot, or
a wuss (why would a wuss defend her?) or trying to tempt Harry to an evil
side somehow. Cho says why she's defending her--she agrees what she did was
wrong but can see her pov. That's what she tries to explaing to Harry, the
circumstances that Marietta was operating under and why it made sense to
her at the time. Circumstances Cho knew well because she knew Marietta.

Harry may or may not have been convinced by these circumstances upon just
hearing about them second hand, but he doesn't want to hear tthem at all
and is offended that anyone would think he would. It's threatening to try
to tell them to him. It just seemed significant to me that that's what it
came down to, that what was wrong with Cho was that she could see both
sides, especially when Harry wanted his own side validated. (The moment it
was clear H/G was going to happen in HBP, for me, was where Ginny beat out
even Hermione for seeing Harry's side in the Sectumsempra incident; while
Hermione reminded Harry of how he might have hurt himself by what he did,
Ginny took the more extreme position of saying Harry was right, period, and
did good. Iow, there was nothing else to consider than Harry taking care of
the enemy. Ginny also adopts Harry's attitude towards Cho as a human
hosepipe--in HBP Ginny has an ever-growing list of characters she's judged
for us.)

Luna, too, keeps offering other points of view, and though they are usually
less threatening to Harry because they're just silly, there is at least
once where Luna casually announces that Hagrid's a bad teacher and doesn't
back down when Ron and Ginny angrily disagree with her. Where Harry worries
about the new perspective that allows him to see the Thestrals in OotP,
Luna calmly tells him the strange animals really are there, that she has
seen them for years, and isn't bothered by the evidence of her eyes that
not everyone can see them.

But then, what does Dumbledore want Harry to do in HBP but watch
Voldemort's life for himself to understand where he's coming from? And it
works--DD catches Harry expressing something like "compassion" for
Voldemort when he sees his story from Voldemort's pov. This isn't the only
time that's happened to Harry in canon either.

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