So... you don't want a Harry that has some balls and enjoys burning the shit out of people willy-nilly?

You on the wrong site, brah.

 

Lol the hell you would. At 11 years old, having grown up coddled - and therefore having no reason whatsoever to teach yourself how to respond to bullies ? No one's that cunning against adults at 11 years old, I'm sorry.

You'd either stand there and take it and cry later, or you'd do whatever was fastest and easiest. After weeks (months ?) of picturing Snape while perfecting a curse, it'd be extremely easy to make the transition to cursing Snape - which is exactly what happened. A learned response to specific stimuli.

 

Firstly, it doesn't take cunning to do that. Only the small degree of intelligence necessary to realize that a given course of action is a Bad Idea.

Again, I've never said that it wasn't unexpected for Harry to do this. It's not something which should be condoned or encouraged, however.

 

You spew outrageous amounts of bullshit, dude. Just quit. ;/

 

I said cunning in response to your monumentally unrealistic hypothetical response. It takes cunning to rationalize that it'd be a better idea to get even with a bullying teacher later when you won't get caught.

A normal child (which is what I'm talking about) in a similar situation will either (a) lash out like Harry did, or (b) not lash out because he fears the teacher will respond in kind. Neither response are a question of having more or less intelligence.

I'd also argue that constantly belittling a child in front of their peers is, in fact, tacit permission for a child to act out, but I'm not about to get into a further argument about teacher-student dynamics.

 

If you expect an 11-year old to think in such cynical terms, you've got to be insane. HIS FATHER WAS INSULTED AND HE DEFENDED HIM. There is nothing more to it than that. Nothing more.

Of course it can. Just not all of them, and we don't know if Snape hasn't created a counter for that specific spell. The man was a Dark Arts whiz, after all.

 

What? are you serious? It takes cunning in order to realize you don't just jump a teacher who could and may want to kill you given the slightest excuse?

If harry was 6, sure. You are *severely* under-estimating 11 years old.

Except it wasn't because of this. It's said quite clearly in the chapter. It was because Harry was stressed about many things, and had already learned to associate anger at snape = casting that curse. Harry is being brainwashed here, and trying to say it's good is lol.

Are we ignoring DH then? Because it was flat out said Dark Arts can't be healed with magic- you can mitigate the damage, but not 'heal' them.

And, yes, Snape couldn't heal sectusempra.

 

No, you dumbshit: read what I said. Pay close attention.

Doing nothing doesn't take cunning, I agree; however, It takes cunning to rationalize that it'd be a better idea to get even with a bullying teacher later when you won't get caught. I don't understand how both of you managed to so easily misinterpret what I was saying - especially you, as you yourself quoted the damn part (in red) that explained my rationale.

Except Snape quite clearly closed up the deep gashes caused by Harry when he used Sectumsempra on Draco. It's right there in Half-Blood Prince, go look it up.

 

Which is merely proof that JK Rowling and consistency do not mix.

Actually, to be honest, I hate that whole idea - that wounds caused by dark arts can't be healed. I think its dumb and problematic, and I tend to ignore it completely when it comes to writing and reading fanfiction.

 

Then what about Moody's eye?

Not trying to be bothersome or anything, especially since I'm of the opinion that not all of the Dark Arts are genuinely Dark, but that there's a fair amount of "We don't like this; classify it as Dark" going on. Still, I was under the assumption that Moody lost his eye because it was taken out by a Dark curse.

Of course, I haven't read the books for a little while, so maybe I'm misremembering.

 

That may be so, but still doesn't change the fact that Rowling was certainly inconsistent when it came to enforcing that little rule.

 

Oh, no, I'm asking what you do about that. Has that ever come up in your stories and, if so, how have you explained it?

 

I've always assumed that Dark magic can't be healed by standard healing charms/potions etc, but has to have a specific counter-curse. To use the Sectumsempra example, Snape can heal Draco, but nobody can heal Fred's (George?) ear in DH. The more popular a particular curse gets, the more likely it is people are going to learn the counter-curse. Not perfect, but it works for me.

 

I don't even think that Sectumsempra is necessarily a case of dark magic. Unlike other dark curses, where you truly have to mean it or draw upon some negative emotion, Harry was able to use Sectumsempra on a whim. It's simply a specific bit of magic with a specific counter, that just so happens to be pretty damn useful in a fight. If I cut off your wand arm and you can't grow it back, then you're obviously fucked....

...but say I want to sculpt my out-of-control hedges, and that bitch stays as boxy and trimmed as the day it was freshly shorn ? Is it still dark magic, then ? Hmmmm ? :awesome

I don't think it's a case of inconsistency on Rowling's part, either. If Snape invented it, it just adds to his overall nature. Of course Snape would have a spell like that, to add to the catalog of matched skllls

- He can read minds while protecting his from the best of opponents
- He creates a seemingly permanent cutting curse while being the only one who can counter its effects
- He knows everything about identifying and combating werewolves, yet he's apparently one of a handful of people who can produce the one thing that more or less tames them
- He goes out of his way to discover his enemies' secrets while fiercely guarding his

I dunno, it all fits to me *Kanye shrug*

 

Updated. Decent chapter, and I can see the plot speeding up a touch now.

 

I'm only on the second chapter and I'm really liking this fic. The little touches are all very imaginative. Rich!Ron is my favorite version of him.

 

Update, and holy hell, what's happened here?

I certainly wasn't expecting this, although I'm for some reason suspecting that Lupin wasn't as unknowing as Harry thinks.

 

What the fuck, man.

 

I'm only disappointed that Lupin didn't finish the job.

 

While true, it did have sense of shock for shock's sake. Guess it depends on how well the Hermione/Harry relationship turns.