Tarnishing James's Image

[terri_testing]

We saw that Severus tried to make the detentions more unpleasant for Harry to make them sink in more, and that he hinted (mendaciously) that they should be continued the following year. But I think he saw that his fundamental strategy wasn’t working, and that he did come up with something else.

Now, it wasn’t actually a stupid strategy, given

Comments

[mary_j_59]

I love this, Terri! And yes, obviously Severus was trying to teach Harry, and the boy was failing to pay attention. It's really interesting that teenage Harry was acting both like preteen Draco (sneaking around after the worst, trying to prove that he should be expelled) and like teenage Severus. Yet Harry remains blind to the similarity.

[terri_testing]

Huh! I actually hadn't noticed that Harry was imitating DRACO's first-year shenanigans; I only thought of how he was imitating the Prince, without registering who he had taken as his model.

Thanks for pointing this out to me.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I agree with Mary, the observation of the similarity between Harry's behavior to young Severus' and then that being the reason for Severus' revelation of the Prince's identity is brilliant: 'Look Potter, see who your role model was, and where it lead him! Stop before you go too far down that path!' And Severus reinforces this with the memories he gives Harry at his death. I wish Harry ever reflected on that.

As for the Gryffs' total lack of moral compass, that is exactly why I want to see a story with a Gryff Dark Lord. Albus may be our closest example, but his House isn't explicitly confirmed and he isn't self-aware enough to recognize that he really is a Dark Lord of some kind (he compares himself to Tom in front of Harry to invite Harry to tell him that no, the two of them are so totally different).

[sunnyskywalker]

Dark Lady Hermione seems all too plausible by the end of DH. There was a lost opportunity in The Cursed Child. Why bother with a ridiculous Voldemort's-secret-daughter plot when you could have Minister for Magic Hermione outdoing all her predecessors with an effective transition to immortal, all-powerful despot? For all the best reasons, which she will explain in exhaustive detail before attempting to kill her prisoners, because some traditions must be preserved. (And the reasons would have nothing to do with who was jealous of whom at the Yule Ball.) Now there would be a terrifying villain. They could always have made this an alternate timeline if they couldn't bear to taint the "real" Hermione.

[jana_ch]

Oh yes, Hermione will do anything if she thinks she has a good enough reason. And she can always find a reason.

How's your complexion, Marietta? Been doing any horseback riding lately, Dolores? Care for a cup of blackmail, Rita dear? How sad you and your husband never had any children, Monica.

I notice Hermione is particularly ruthless toward other women. The Queen Bee brooks no rivals.

[oryx_leucoryx]

She is not very nice to Ron, and the Confundus on Cormac could have ended badly. And of course her dad suffered just as much as her mom at her hand.

I wish she had been able to reflect on all the harm she had inflicted and all the downstream effects thereof. Yes, she was able to force Rita into publishing Harry's experience of Voldemort's return. And this gave Rita the credibility for her somewhat exaggerated takedown of Albus, as well as the basis for making Harry a suspect in Albus' death and thus the basis of him being the most wanted person in Wizarding Britain. Yes, she kept Dolores from torturing Harry and preventing their (doomed) 'rescue mission'. And how much did that have to do with turning Dolores on Muggleborns? IOW how many wizards and witches were tortured or died as a result of Hermione's actions?

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, yes, that makes sense. The Prince-identity reveal as a cautionary tale. How Not To Be, with Exhibit A: me! The guy you hate more than Voldemort himself! I would so have loved to read that author's note.

The memory of Dumbledore explaining about the Harrycrux is also a good lesson not to emulate Dumbledore, either.

Pity none of these lessons worked. See: Cruciatus for spitting, which is about as proportionate a response as trying to get someone werewolf-eaten for following you around and existing, or joining the DEs for...well, whatever Rowling wants us to think his reasons were probably involve getting back at people/the world. Harry did manage to stand in front of a Killing Curse for the Greater Good. But his motivation seems more like fatalistic despair after finding out how he's been groomed to die and a desire for vengeance than anything else. It definitely wasn't about wanting to be better than his father or Snape. And the Suicide Stone had a lot to do with it. So the effort came to nothing, tragically.