(no subject)

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

One thing that bothers me about the twins is that no matter what they do, they get away with it. There are never any consequences. When they sneak Harry out of his house, flying a magic car into a Muggle area, there are no legal consequences and Molly blusters but doesn't do anything. When they more or less ignore how badly Ginny's getting on (as do Percy and Ron), and don't notice she's being bewitched, there's no real guilt.

They give Harry the Marauders' Map - what if he disappeared some day - would they have told the authorities that they gave him a method of sneaking out of school? Or just stayed quiet and hoped things worked out?

They slip Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffees - he could have died, but again no consequences. They win their bet with Bagman (it was never explained how they knew it - maybe they used magical means in an early draft) but never face consequences (given that the Ministry is notoriously corrupt, it's surprising that Ludo is always on the defensive, and never tries to e.g. get Arthur fired or have the twins prosecuted for their illegal testing). And then Harry hands them a pile of cash, because there are no more worthy causes.

In OOTP, they spy on Order meetings (how bad is the security?) but no DEs seem to exploit this. They also drop out of school without qualifications - unlike in real life, where this would lead to months of them sitting about in the Burrow doing nothing, they instead become master businessmen.

In HBP, their shop sells stuff that is obviously dangerous if exploited, but even when the DEs use their powder, no-one blames them for selling it, or questions a society that allows such weapons to be owned.

In DH, Fred is killed, but a heroic death in battle. It would be much more likely for him to be killed in one of the twins' experiments gone wrong - this would actually force George to undergo some sort of reflection or growth as a character - but as it is, it confirms that Fred was great and everything the twins did was great.

Comments

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

And just being scared. First time away from home and there's a horror loose in the school

Yep, and the twins decide to make it worse by scaring the hell out of her with their comments and by jumping out at her to freak her out even more, iirc. It's Percy, the reviled brother, who sticks up for her and makes them stop. Why are we meant to hate him again? O.o

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Yep, and the twins decide to make it worse by scaring the hell out of her with their comments and by jumping out at her to freak her out even more, iirc. It's Percy, the reviled brother, who sticks up for her and makes them stop./

Yet Ginny merrily reveals Percy's secret to the twins and decides to follow their lead, not his, to the point where she joins the twins in throwing food at him and trying to claim credit for it.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Well, of course - she proved her mettle, didn't she!
In fact, I think the twins really did that to "help her" - it's a very Darwinistic point of view: either they manage to "shock it out of her", meaning she is strong enough to overcome her fear - then all is well, she's a true Gryff etc. Or else she doesn't - then she can go to the dogs and at least served as fun for her betters. You are either an offender or a victim!

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get why she'd do that to Percy, throw him to the wolves when all he did was be kind to her.

But I suppose, stick to the popular. Loyalty is for Hufflepuffs.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Proposed motto for the Potterverse: Where Nice Guys and Gals Finish Last

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Stick to the popular
That's a good part of the HP morals as far as I can see. The Weasleys are a prime example of it (Clutching onto Harry Potter and Dumbledore no matter what) which is portrayed as them just being on the side of light. Weird they never seem to extend similar amounts of love to Neville - apart from ginny who went to the ball with him as a last resort, obviously regretted it as soon as she found out she could have gone with Harry and somehow got to know Michael corner at that same ball. In fact, you could read her string of boyfriends as a climbing the social ladder: any boy at all - someone better although from an inferior house (thank God no Huff, though!)- a Gryffindor and one year her senior - HP at last!

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

She's a real Ginny Sharp, a social mountaineer. Sounds very ambitious and sounds like she wants to get better than she has, going to more powerful people to gain status. Doesn't Percy do the same thing, but by work and not by dating.

While Dumbledore and Harry weren't always popular, they were powerful.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Oooh... Vanity Fair/HP crossover?

Well, VF does say that it's a novel without a hero, and there sure isn't anything heroic about Harry...

[oryx_leucoryx]

The mental version of what Uncle Algie did to Neville?

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Ha, I had not thought of that, but that might be true - provided Algie got fun out of it. I'm quite sure the twins would never do anything that didn't primarily serve their own fun.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Because he's a stick in the mud who can't see the good fun they were all having.

Poor Percy.