This seems like brinksmanship. My instinct tells me Dumbledore was right and anything Harry does is weakening the ultimate compromise that everyone who matters knows will be reached (most likely behind closed doors.)
We’re given at least two hints about this during the trial, though I did not read too closely.
Agreed. The option that seems clearest to me is to Lose, not to escalate. It’s the first Potions class all over again, with Harry offering to sacrifice his humanity and the political stability of the country for Hermione’s comfort.
Harry may lose in the sense of failing to keep Hermione out of Azkaban, but I doubt he’ll choose to lose. The lesson of the first potions class was not to get caught in a status/dominance fight at the cost of important goals. The lesson on losing in the Battle Magic class added “how to pretend you’ve lost without giving up any important goals.” Losing in this case does not mean sacrificing “Hermione’s comfort,” it means letting his best friend die slowly.
The line about seeing the Wizengamot as PCs vs. as wallpaper and the final lines about Harry’s knowledge of wizarding laws and culture suggest that Harry’s solution is going to fall within the law and custom of wizarding society. Harry has already decided to undermine the political stability of the country because he objects to said country on moral grounds, but he won’t do it now because it isn’t time yet. As for sacrificing his humanity, I wouldn’t want to bet on his ability to stay human with Hermione dying in Azkaban.
Losing and begging sounds far superior to most of the other options considered; the prospects for success may not be greater, but the loss if he fails is little.
Unfortunately he’s gone Dark, and his dark side doesn’t seem to know how to lose.
I’m coming to the conclusion that Harry will lose, at least this time.
The only other “clever” thought I had was that he could zap the Dementor, explain how he did it, cause the entire Wizengamot to lose their Patronus, and then force them into Obliviating themselves (and the result of the trial vote) in order to get their power back. Very dramatic, but then what?
How exactly can he change the vote… can he force them to memory-charm each other to believe they’ve acquitted Hermione, because if they don’t, he’ll destroy the next Dementor, and keep on with the Groundhog Day effect until they get it right? Seem pretty unlikely.
Given that the vote is already happening, and there is a clear majority in favour of Azkaban, there doesn’t seem to be any way he can avoid losing except for such Groundhog Day tricks. His dark side will probably come up with a solution (e.g. pinning the blame on Dumbledore or Quirrell) but too late, and that leads us into the rest of the arc. And I’m guessing we won’t find the solution tomorrow either… another cliff-hanger.
Many of those in attendance probably can’t cast a Patronus anyway, so they wouldn’t have any reason to Obliviate themselves to get back what they never had.
IIRC Lucius’ catspaw (perhaps multiple), Dumbledore’s behavior towards Lucius (Lucius rejects it for being too obvious + a gambit to get more out of it rather than compromise early.)
This seems like brinksmanship. My instinct tells me Dumbledore was right and anything Harry does is weakening the ultimate compromise that everyone who matters knows will be reached (most likely behind closed doors.)
We’re given at least two hints about this during the trial, though I did not read too closely.
Agreed. The option that seems clearest to me is to Lose, not to escalate. It’s the first Potions class all over again, with Harry offering to sacrifice his humanity and the political stability of the country for Hermione’s comfort.
If Harry loses well enough, he may even win.
Harry may lose in the sense of failing to keep Hermione out of Azkaban, but I doubt he’ll choose to lose. The lesson of the first potions class was not to get caught in a status/dominance fight at the cost of important goals. The lesson on losing in the Battle Magic class added “how to pretend you’ve lost without giving up any important goals.” Losing in this case does not mean sacrificing “Hermione’s comfort,” it means letting his best friend die slowly.
The line about seeing the Wizengamot as PCs vs. as wallpaper and the final lines about Harry’s knowledge of wizarding laws and culture suggest that Harry’s solution is going to fall within the law and custom of wizarding society. Harry has already decided to undermine the political stability of the country because he objects to said country on moral grounds, but he won’t do it now because it isn’t time yet. As for sacrificing his humanity, I wouldn’t want to bet on his ability to stay human with Hermione dying in Azkaban.
Losing and begging sounds far superior to most of the other options considered; the prospects for success may not be greater, but the loss if he fails is little.
Unfortunately he’s gone Dark, and his dark side doesn’t seem to know how to lose.
No, I think it learned that lesson:
That said, losing leads directly to Hermione in Azkaban...
I’m coming to the conclusion that Harry will lose, at least this time.
The only other “clever” thought I had was that he could zap the Dementor, explain how he did it, cause the entire Wizengamot to lose their Patronus, and then force them into Obliviating themselves (and the result of the trial vote) in order to get their power back. Very dramatic, but then what?
How exactly can he change the vote… can he force them to memory-charm each other to believe they’ve acquitted Hermione, because if they don’t, he’ll destroy the next Dementor, and keep on with the Groundhog Day effect until they get it right? Seem pretty unlikely.
Given that the vote is already happening, and there is a clear majority in favour of Azkaban, there doesn’t seem to be any way he can avoid losing except for such Groundhog Day tricks. His dark side will probably come up with a solution (e.g. pinning the blame on Dumbledore or Quirrell) but too late, and that leads us into the rest of the arc. And I’m guessing we won’t find the solution tomorrow either… another cliff-hanger.
Many of those in attendance probably can’t cast a Patronus anyway, so they wouldn’t have any reason to Obliviate themselves to get back what they never had.
While in Azkaban, his light side also thought very emphatically that “losing was for House points, not for people”.
Mind spelling them out for those untutored in the Dark Arts?
IIRC Lucius’ catspaw (perhaps multiple), Dumbledore’s behavior towards Lucius (Lucius rejects it for being too obvious + a gambit to get more out of it rather than compromise early.)
That’s exactly the same behaviour we’d see if he really did just want to put the girl in Azkaban.
brinksmanship doesn’t work if no one believes your threats are actually plausible.