DH reread CH 4-5

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186262

Pippin:
> It's a family quarrel. Ron wouldn't appreciate Harry butting in.
> 
sartoris22:
> 
> I'm not convinced of that. I think that Ron would have welcomed Harry's support. Besides, isn't Harry as much a brother to Ron as the twins? It would now be two against two. Harry doesn't even show anger toward the twins about how they treat Ron. Harry could at least have thought of them as jerks, even if he didn't say it. But Harry likes the twins, totally ignoring the way they treat Ron. It is Hermione, to her credit, who doesn't approve of the twin's treatment of Ron; Harry seems oblivious to it. Harry also shows his insensitivity toward Ron by accepting the Maurader's Map, which the twins, rightfully, should have given to Ron and said, "hey, let Harry use it to go to Hogsmeade."

Carol responds to both:
I tend to agree with Pippin on this one. As insecure as Ron is, he might have resented Harry's interference thinking that it implied (rightly?) that he couldn't or wouldn't stick up for himself against the Twins (as we see when he's a Prefect). I know that seems inconsistent since Prefect!Ron stands up for Harry against Seamus, but that's different. Seamus isn't his brother and has never given Ron a hard time, and Ron knows that Harry won't resent him for standing up to Seamus since no one can accuse Harry of being afraid to defend himself. (I think he botched the job by insulting Seamus's mother, but that's beside the point.)

What I'm trying to say is that it's okay in Ron's book for him to in essence stand *beside* Harry and join him in defending himself, but he wouldn't want Harry to jump in and defend him (Ron) against the Twins unless he's *already* standing up to them. It would be a bit like Lily defending Severus when he's down--humiliating him by implying that he can't stand up for himself (as he probably could have done under normal circumstances). Of course, it's not as humiliating for a boy to be defended by another boy as it is to be defended by a girl, but, still, the implication would be that Ron can't handle his brothers himself. Best for Harry to stay out of it, I think.

As for giving the map to ickle Ronnie, the Prefect, it probably never occurred to them. Harry was the one who was excluded from Hogsmeade, so why not give it to him directly, especially since they no longer need it? Tact, in any case, has never been the Twins' strong suit.

Carol, trying to see from the perspective of that strange animal, the teenage boy