Yes, and as with Hermione, the boys' immediate perception that Minerva was "strict" (established in their first class with her) and "didn't favor her own house" (because she actually gave them homework their first week) made her bending the rules in Harry's favor seem acceptable/justifiable.
Harry didn't like or respect Lockhart, so Gildy's singling him out for special treatment made him uncomfortable. Ditto with Fudge, and Rita.
But his Head of House was strict and fair, and so if SHE thought he should be rewarded instead of punished for directly disobeying the rules another teacher had established for her students' safety, she must be RIGHT.
Same with the flying Ford Anglia, book 2--Snape said the boys should be expelled for their gross violation of Secrecy, and at first they AGREED. They knew that expulsion was, in fact, a reasonable punishment for such a severe breach of Secrecy. But then Dumbles said they wouldn't be expelled (and reneged on his threat to do so if they misbehaved subsequently), and Minerva, left to settle their punishment instead, agreed with Harry that Gryffindor shouldn't lose house points.
Wouldn't want to lose the chance to take that Cup again! Even if having their peers angry at a points loss instead of admiring a pointless (and points-lost-less) act of extravagent recklessness might teach both the boys and their housemates a valuable lesson...
So she gave the boys a detention. Which did, indeed, serve to teach them a long-lasting lesson (the more profound because they still thought of her as strict and fair):
This is what we deserved.
Even though we KNOW that others who did the same might be expelled.
That, on reflection, is the truly terrible thing--it wasn't really the Dursleys who corrupted Harry at all. It was Albus and Minerva.
Harry entered Hogwarts thinking that the Dursleys' treatment of him and Dudley was UNFAIR. He had a sense of justice, and the Dursleys' gross partiality towards their son violated it. He was ready, at the beginning of canon, to accept a notion of justice that included equal treatment for equal accomplishments and offenses. He expected, that if he got caught doing something wrong he would be punished--and he accepted that idea, in the hope that ALSO if someone else got caught committing the same offense, THEY would be punished the same. That's the way he hoped the world would work, if it was working rightly.
And Albus and Minerva between them instead trained him that, no, if the world is working rightly, Harry should expect the whole universe to treat him like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treat Dudders. Literally blind to his most obvious flaws, excusing his every misdemeanor, fawning over his lightest accomplishment, adulating him....
(Okay, Albus is clearly a Vernon, but Minerva's not quite so blind as Petunia.--though of course we don't know if Petunia ever, very privately, and certainly out of earshot of Harry, whispered, "Diddiekins, you really could afford to lose a pound or two, you know. Plus, your teacher who suspended you for beating up a lower form really wasn't overreacting that much....")
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timeasmymeasure
More on Minerva--another inspired touch
Date: 2015-08-17 04:42 am (UTC)Harry didn't like or respect Lockhart, so Gildy's singling him out for special treatment made him uncomfortable. Ditto with Fudge, and Rita.
But his Head of House was strict and fair, and so if SHE thought he should be rewarded instead of punished for directly disobeying the rules another teacher had established for her students' safety, she must be RIGHT.
Same with the flying Ford Anglia, book 2--Snape said the boys should be expelled for their gross violation of Secrecy, and at first they AGREED. They knew that expulsion was, in fact, a reasonable punishment for such a severe breach of Secrecy. But then Dumbles said they wouldn't be expelled (and reneged on his threat to do so if they misbehaved subsequently), and Minerva, left to settle their punishment instead, agreed with Harry that Gryffindor shouldn't lose house points.
Wouldn't want to lose the chance to take that Cup again! Even if having their peers angry at a points loss instead of admiring a pointless (and points-lost-less) act of extravagent recklessness might teach both the boys and their housemates a valuable lesson...
So she gave the boys a detention. Which did, indeed, serve to teach them a long-lasting lesson (the more profound because they still thought of her as strict and fair):
This is what we deserved.
Even though we KNOW that others who did the same might be expelled.
That, on reflection, is the truly terrible thing--it wasn't really the Dursleys who corrupted Harry at all. It was Albus and Minerva.
Harry entered Hogwarts thinking that the Dursleys' treatment of him and Dudley was UNFAIR. He had a sense of justice, and the Dursleys' gross partiality towards their son violated it. He was ready, at the beginning of canon, to accept a notion of justice that included equal treatment for equal accomplishments and offenses. He expected, that if he got caught doing something wrong he would be punished--and he accepted that idea, in the hope that ALSO if someone else got caught committing the same offense, THEY would be punished the same. That's the way he hoped the world would work, if it was working rightly.
And Albus and Minerva between them instead trained him that, no, if the world is working rightly, Harry should expect the whole universe to treat him like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treat Dudders. Literally blind to his most obvious flaws, excusing his every misdemeanor, fawning over his lightest accomplishment, adulating him....
(Okay, Albus is clearly a Vernon, but Minerva's not quite so blind as Petunia.--though of course we don't know if Petunia ever, very privately, and certainly out of earshot of Harry, whispered, "Diddiekins, you really could afford to lose a pound or two, you know. Plus, your teacher who suspended you for beating up a lower form really wasn't overreacting that much....")