Nice of Voldemort to use the little strength he has to deliver some seemingly unrelated exposition.
Yep, and to reassure Harry that he was just teasing about the begging for mercy, and James and Lily died heroically as we would expect. (Not sure why he's impressed with Harry for calling him a liar, unless it's because he's used to people knowing better than to talk to him like that.)
The truth should be treated with great caution, says Dumbledore, going all Winston Churchill.
Dumbledore's a man of his word. He does indeed treat the truth like it's a man-eating tiger to which you should never get too close. I particularly admired his footwork regarding the Snape-James feud. Omitting the little detail that James was the school bully was fair enough, Harry doesn't need to hear that right now. The part where Snape must have believed that James was in on the Prank is too complicated to go into. But "Funny the way people's minds work" is plain spin doctoring. If DD had said truthfully, "We have this thing called a life debt, like if Draco saved your life you'd be his personal slave [or whatever it entails] until you repaid him", I think even Harry would get the point.
And Harry goes off, announcing that he’s looking forward to a summer full of bullying Dudley to get back at him.
This suddenly brought to mind the end of Stephen King's "Gramma" (spoiler)
Not saying Harry's a monster for wanting to get back at Dudley, but I'd like to see a fandom comparison of Harry and young Tom Riddle that dwells a bit less on Harry's exceptional goodness and more on Tom being exceptionally smart, gifted and focused. If Harry had had control of his powers at the same early age as Tom, I'm not at all certain that he'd only have used them for good.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-03 02:07 am (UTC)Yep, and to reassure Harry that he was just teasing about the begging for mercy, and James and Lily died heroically as we would expect. (Not sure why he's impressed with Harry for calling him a liar, unless it's because he's used to people knowing better than to talk to him like that.)
The truth should be treated with great caution, says Dumbledore, going all Winston Churchill.
Dumbledore's a man of his word. He does indeed treat the truth like it's a man-eating tiger to which you should never get too close. I particularly admired his footwork regarding the Snape-James feud. Omitting the little detail that James was the school bully was fair enough, Harry doesn't need to hear that right now. The part where Snape must have believed that James was in on the Prank is too complicated to go into. But "Funny the way people's minds work" is plain spin doctoring. If DD had said truthfully, "We have this thing called a life debt, like if Draco saved your life you'd be his personal slave [or whatever it entails] until you repaid him", I think even Harry would get the point.
And Harry goes off, announcing that he’s looking forward to a summer full of bullying Dudley to get back at him.
This suddenly brought to mind the end of Stephen King's "Gramma" (spoiler)
Not saying Harry's a monster for wanting to get back at Dudley, but I'd like to see a fandom comparison of Harry and young Tom Riddle that dwells a bit less on Harry's exceptional goodness and more on Tom being exceptionally smart, gifted and focused. If Harry had had control of his powers at the same early age as Tom, I'm not at all certain that he'd only have used them for good.
-L