Dark Book, was Re: Dark Magic (+ a little Marietta)/Karma and the Twins

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 176882

> Pippin:
> The DE's are there because the Carrows told Voldemort that Harry
> was at Hogwarts, the Carrows are at Hogwarts, symbolically,
> (though not literally) because the vanishing cabinet let them in,
> and it let them in because of what the twins did. That's plenty
> ironic and connected enough for me.
> 
> Magpie:
> Really? To me that's far too convuluted to come up with it being 
> karmic. I think Fred dies a hero fighting for the school, period, and 
> the Carrows being there has barely anything to do with the Vanishing 
> Cabinets much less what they did. 


Pippin:
Poetic allusions always sound convoluted if you try to explain them.

I guess what it comes down to is that I expected the twins to reap
some consequences, so when the Carrows reappear, the cabinet
reappears and (BANG!)  the long feared Weasley death happens
to Fred because a wall falls on him, I get that he died because 
his life was  worthless to someone else in the same
way that Montague's was to him. YMMV.

Magpie:
 If felt  more just like more proof that This Book Is Dark Because Beloved 
> Characters Die! to me.
> 

Pippin:
To me, the book is dark because beloved illusions die. At least, if you're
old enough not to believe in Santa Claus and TV-style heroes with
teflon moral standards, but you still want to.   Kids need to believe 
in those things. It's good for them.  And then, when they're old enough, 
JKR is telling us, they need, we need,  to put those beliefs aside. 

Belonging to Gryffindor  House can be an inspiration to extraordinary 
virtue, but as it turns out,  it doesn't  guarantee even basic 
humanitarianism. 

I re-read the exchange between  McGonagall and Slughorn yesterday 
and I about fell out of my chair. Here it is:

"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes,
also, " said Professor McGonagall. "If you wish to leave with your students, 
we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance
or take arms against us within this castle, Horace, we duel to kill."

"Minerva!" he said, aghast.

As well he should be. Look at what she said: if any Slytherins
side with Voldemort, Horace and the entire House  will be 
held responsible, and duelled to the death,  ickle firsties and all. 
And then, just to make sure we don't miss the point (ah, but we do, 
because we're in the grip of our delusionary faith that JKR won't let
the other houses do anything really bad) the students draw wands 
on the Slytherin table, most of whom are children.

Harry, who once sprang between Sirius and Snape to keep them
from harming one another,  is awestruck and overwhelmed. 

And people think Slytherin leaving en masse is supposed to be a sign 
that *they* have no moral compass? Excuse me? 

You want to know where the good Slytherins went? They walked
out when the other houses turned to madness and evil, as
briefly deluded as Dumbledore once was.  

No, it's not obvious. But that's what all the folderol about the 
Elder Wand is for, to slow us down, as Dumbledore said, and
make us *think*.

I'm not trying to take anything away from the courage and
sacrifice of those who fought in the battle, but we can as
adults admire what they did without having to believe JKR
wants us to see them as perfect in every way. Can't we?


Pippin