That "Love" thing

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 180409

 
> Betsy Hp:
> To my mind, this is the most messed up definition of love, and the 
> most messed up way to study love I've ever heard of.  Create a false 
> illusion of obsession and lust and *that's* supposed to teach you 
> about love?  THAT'S what's in the "love room"?!?

Pippin:
Hee! And that's just what I love about the WW. They have this beautiful
philosophy, and then it gets all messed up in the execution. And that's
why it doesn't make a difference to Harry whether Al goes into Slytherin.

Salazar's house has a reputation as the home of bad wizards, and
Gryffindor has a reputation as the home of good ones. But reputations
don't make choices, people do. If it makes a difference to you to be
in the house with the better reputation, well, go for it. But...

Yes there are Slytherins who would try to get Al to make bad choices, 
or betray him. But if he thinks he's going to keep people like that out of 
his  life by slamming the door to Gryffindor Tower -- well, we know how
well that worked.  And it hasn't changed.

 James Sirius, that bullying little squirt, lives to cause
trouble. Young Scorpius, meanwhile, is perfectly behaved.::sigh::

But the thing that I hear JKR saying about love, and maybe you just 
disagree with this, is that from the inside there's no difference. 
The person who's in love can't tell whether a) the thing he loves really 
has the qualities he's in love with   b)those qualities are worth loving
or c)something is messing with his brain chemistry and it's going to
wear off. 

The love that Harry feels for his family as he looks into the Mirror of
Erised is real, who could doubt it? Yet the mirror contains neither 
knowledge nor truth. 


Besty Hp:
 To my mind it 
> speaks to a basic misunderstanding of what love really is.  It 
> explains why Snape was made pathetic and weak by his "love" for 
> Lily. 

Pippin:
Huh? To me this speaks of a basic misunderstanding of the plot. :)
Snape was made strong by his love for Lily, strong enough to defy
Voldemort. He was weak and pathetic only in his inability to let go
of his grief and shame. But that's not love, that's self-hatred. 

I wish Dumbledore, that cold-hearted bastard, had told him that
Lily wouldn't have wanted him to mourn her forever. But I like
to think that Snape felt the way I did when I was trapped in depression
( something that JKR also knows about first-hand.) I felt my
sorrow was all I had left of my love, and if I put it behind me
I wouldn't have anything. 

Betsy Hp:
 It explains why we never see the Weasleys interact as a loving 
> family would, supporting and building each other up rather than 
> constantly sniping and pulling each other down. 

Pippin:
When does a Weasley need help from his family and not get it? 

They tear each other down when there's something that needs tearing,
and that's why they're not smug, self-righteous gits like the Dursleys
(although Percy came close.) 

Betsy Hp"
> I'm not going to suggest that this is JKR's personal view of things, 
> but I think this is what she's comfortable with writing.  And I think 
> it goes a long way towards explaining why her "epitome of goodness" 
> is such a cold-hearted bastard.  Love is a weakness and a danger, 
> apparently. Of course her good guy avoids it if he can.

Pippin:
By the end of the book, the good guy is Harry, who doesn't avoid
love, who is a better man than Dumbledore because he can love,
because he's not afraid to love although he knows that love can
be misleading.  


> Betsy Hp
> 
> PS:  I have to mention this gem...
> 
> "JKR: No! God, it wasn't Pansy Parkinson! I loath that girl. (JN and 
> SU laugh) I don't love Draco but I really dislike her. She's every 
> girl who ever teased me at school, she's the anti-Hermione. I loathe 
> her. Yes, sorry, sidetracked there by my latent bitterness
"
> 
> Hee!  No wonder I liked Pansy. :D

Pippin:
Betsy, are you saying you teased people like JKR when you were in school?
:D

Pippin