Chapter Nineteen

[merrymelody]

The Lion and the Serpent

Useless Fact: This is the chapter I read first when I got my copy, purely on the basis of the title.

Comments

looooong

[merrymelody]

I'm not a big crier myself, but I do it more when I'm angry than sad. Probably not in public if I could control it, though.
There seems to be quite a macho contempt for tears in this series, though, with the association that only girls cry (not that literally only girls cry. Although interestingly, I only recall inept male characters weeping - Hagrid, Neville, Dumbledore when he admits to His One Mistake Ever. Think there's a list here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/annecatherine/51009.html)
Cho is feminine = Cho cries lots.
Hermione and Ginny, who scorn females other than with each other in some kind of bizaare sister in law arrangement = cry rarely. (Ginny never past PoA, Hermione more frequently, but in OotP usually when Harry is angry at her.) And even then, there's some comment made about how bewildered/frightened the boys are, or how crazy girls in general are.

But yeah, it would be 'a campaign of intimidation' if Ravenclaw did that, whereas if Gryffindor do, it's just rooting for the Underdogs who've won for the last five years.
See, this is where I think the disconnect in fandom comes in - a lot of people see things exactly how Harry does.
Harry believes he's a humble, modest kind of guy.
He believes that he hates every single aspect of being famous, and that he's justified in everything he does.
Hence the vast majority of the audience believe all this.
Likewise, Gryffindor inarguably are not underdogs. But since they believe themselves to be hard done by, everyone else does.
And weirdly enough, this appears to apply to characters inside canon also. It's as if nobody thinks in a way that contrasts to Harry's. Everyone has the same values, whether they're applied differently or not, and everyone sees him in a positive light, either as worthy, intimidating competition (even Malfoy is frequently identified as being 'just jealous' and he himself points out reasons for disliking Harry such as being 'Saint(ly)') or as a friend, or a benevolent stranger (look at the DA's reactions. Or the Hufflepuff's in CoS: 'But he's so nice!' Not that Harry can't be nice, but really.
Imagine you attend school with a wealthy, famous boy, who has a fascinating tragic story.
He doesn't speak to you of his own volition, and associates only with members of his house, and then usually only those in his intimate circle. His housemates make it clear that their opinion of other houses is low (I love that scene in GoF where they're blithely pissing off the Hufflepuffs by saying 'We have to have a Gryffindor champion!') and they usually end up with special circumstances made for them (the house cup in PS, in CoS, in OotP, Harry's being in the GoF tournament, Harry's being on the Quidditch team at all. His brooms.)
He dates only the prettiest girls, like his friend, who attends a ball with a world-famous star.
He gets private tuition and help from teachers.
He has interviews in national papers.
You don't know him well enough to know most of the hardships, and there are rumours that he makes things up for attention, coupled with his aggressive, sometimes violent behaviour.
And yet their general impression of Harry appears to be his own - how nice, modest and kind he is.
It's like JKR is incapable of writing a character who has views other than her own, so even the negative ones are easily bested, almost never argue anything on an intellectual/ideological basis, or have motivations other than their own weaknesses for doing anything.
Look at Peter Pettigrew. I don't think you can really justify betraying your friends, and certainly if he'd tried, he'd probably have been killed right off, but still. His attitude is very much similiar to the rest of MWPP: Bravery is all, and those who don't achieve it are weak and disgusting.
And he lives up to this, sobbing and moaning: 'It's more than I deserve! I was never brave like you!'
Or even Draco Malfoy. When he gets accused of buying his way onto the team in CoS. No pride in his apparent cunning - he's insulted. He wants people to think he got on fairly rather than through manipulation.
Or when his parents are insulted - no weighing up the risks of taking on TBWL, or considering self-preservation. Nope. Avenge the family name. Like a Gryffindor.