Saving Private Draco SPOILERS for Dresden files

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 183651

Montavilla47:
I'm hard pressed to find an enemy to prove that Harry would have
saved an enemy's life before he saves Draco from the fire. But
I don't think that proves that he wouldn't have.

The only example I can think of is Peter. Harry intervenes to
save his miserable hide, even when he knows that Peter
directly told Voldemort how to find his parents, knowing that
Voldemort would kill them.


Alla:

Pippin addressed it well. Harry saved Peter really not for Peter, 
didn't he? He did it to stop Sirius and Remus from being killers. I 
do not see what other additional motivations are present in Harry's 
saving Draco.


MOntavilla47:
But I do think that if Harry would have let Draco burn to death in
the fire, it would have put him pretty much on the same moral
level as Snape was when he came to Dumbledore begging for
Lily's life, but not for James and Harry's. Perhaps this is just
one more thing that Harry and Snape have in common. But, it
seems from the text that we're supposed to think Snape pretty
low and heartless to hold such indifference towards his enemy.


Alla:

Quite honestly I do not quite see how it is relevant to what level of 
morality it would put Harry had he let Draco burn in the fire. Harry 
did save him after all. Are you saying that it is not possible that 
author meant to imply that Harry was on that hypothetical level of 
morality before?

I mean, he did leave him in compartment, did he not? It was not the 
same thing of course and I of course do not think it tells much about 
his morality except that he deservingly thought of Draco as enemy, 
but to me it is similar.

Montavilla47:
There's really only one place in the whole series where I think
Harry watches someone die without trying to help. That's when
Snape dies. That's after the moment when he saves Draco, so
I don't think Harry had really made that growth moment from
saving friends to saving enemies yet. Assuming that he had
that jump to make in the first place.

Alla:
To me the fact that he saves enemy and IMO makes that jump does not 
mean that it is now absolutely guaranteed that he will be saving all 
enemies, after all he did not make his sacrifice just yet.

But I thought he was simply in shock to do much if anything for 
Snape. I mean, if you are arguing that he would have been helped 
Draco had he not been in shock over what he had done, can't the same 
be true here?

I mean it is not my argument, I think in HBP Harry was not just quite 
there yet and here he was in too much shock IMO.


Magpie:
<SNIP of the whole post>
He saves Dudley at the beginning of OotP after he's just been
fighting with him.

Alla:

Now that is hard to address, absolutely. Here Harry does not do it 
for anybody but just because he is saving Dudley and I certainly 
think he qualifies as enemy.

The only thing I can say is that Dudley is still family, bully as he 
is and that maybe easier for Harry to do that, but it is rather lame 
answer, so I will think about it some more.

JMO,

Alla