Harry's Angst Re: A Simpler Scenario

[pippin_999]

Anne:
> > My problem? I thought that in OoP it wasn't the idea of "destiny" 
> that bothered Harry so much, it was the idea that he would either
kill or be killed.  Then in HBP, DD takes away the idea of destiny. 
But where did the angst about killing go?  Was it ever there, or did I
read OoP wrong?  It's the process of Harry reconciling himself to 
killing that we never see.

David:
> I feel the same way.
> 
> I think the angst was there.  It's very clear, IMO, in POA when he 
> prevents Sirius and Lupin from killing Pettigrew.
> 

Pippin:
I guess I came at it another way. I always felt Harry was jumping to 
conclusions when he decided he would have to murder Voldemort, 
and I wasn't sure at all that he felt killing of any kind was murder.
Now that I think of it, I'd be surprised if it had turned out he felt 
that way.

He wouldn't kill Sirius and he wouldn't let Pettigrew be killed out 
of  hand, but they were both helpless and had given themselves up. 
He did, however, agree that Sirius and Lupin should kill Peter if 
he transformed  and tried to escape. He doesn't recoil from 
Moody after he learns that Moody has killed in the line of duty,
or from Hagrid, who has been known to think he might need
his crossbow to deal with something that knocks on doors. 

Of course Moody (the real one) is a good friend of Dumbledore,
and Sirius respects him for not killing "if he could help it." Then
there's Godric Gryffindor's jewel-bedecked sword, on display
in Dumbledore's office. I don't think old Gryffy put jewels on
his sword to impress any basilisks who came wandering by
with the splendor  of his weapons. And then there's Fluffy
and all the rest of the potentially lethal protections surrounding
the Stone. It doesn't look as if Rowling herself has problems
with killing bad guys who are resisting arrest or are mortally
careless.

I think it would be hard for Harry to kill  Voldemort  if he gave 
himself up and begged for mercy, spinning a tale of deepest
remorse, but at this point I'm finding it difficult to imagine
Voldemort doing that, and I suppose Harry doesn't think he'd
do it either.

Pippin