I agree with most of your points (especially "what's bred in the bone" and its relevance to Linton vs. Hareton and Tom vs. Harry). What intrigues me is that the Victorians, for all their faults, did at least acknowledge the necessity for society to help the disadvantaged: in the world of JKR, however, there seems no such "necessity". Rescues certainly do happen in the Potter books, but when they do it's intended to illustrate not the need, but the deserving nature of the person receiving the assistance.
I've attempted to express my feelings here (http://community.livejournal.com/dimmeststar/3585.html), in an essay entitled "Harry vs. Merope, or why Blessed = Virtuous". It's not entirely synthesized yet, but I think I more or less made my point in that and the subsequent comments: at no point does JKR stress the need for the wizarding society to look after its weaker members. If Harry gets help, it's because he "deserves" it. If Merope doesn't... she clearly doesn't.
Compare this to LES MISERABLES, where help is extended to both Valjean and Thenardier at "low points" in their lives. (The fact that Valjean uses his hand-up to become a saint, and Thenardier uses his to continue his wicked ways, is not the point. Hugo naturally has to make us aware that not every act of charity will result in a life-changing act of repentance on the part of the recipient!) We're also shown that help arrives for Fantine only when she's on the point of death, which makes us wonder what her life might have been like had she received it earlier. Contrast this with JKR, who doesn't seem to think that society owed Merope anything in the way of assistance at all (and if she did... why didn't she make it clear in that section of the book?)
So yes, I think that quite "un-Victorian", but equally it does bear striking similarities to the "Calvinism" theme.
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I've attempted to express my feelings here (http://community.livejournal.com/dimmeststar/3585.html), in an essay entitled "Harry vs. Merope, or why Blessed = Virtuous". It's not entirely synthesized yet, but I think I more or less made my point in that and the subsequent comments: at no point does JKR stress the need for the wizarding society to look after its weaker members. If Harry gets help, it's because he "deserves" it. If Merope doesn't... she clearly doesn't.
Compare this to LES MISERABLES, where help is extended to both Valjean and Thenardier at "low points" in their lives. (The fact that Valjean uses his hand-up to become a saint, and Thenardier uses his to continue his wicked ways, is not the point. Hugo naturally has to make us aware that not every act of charity will result in a life-changing act of repentance on the part of the recipient!) We're also shown that help arrives for Fantine only when she's on the point of death, which makes us wonder what her life might have been like had she received it earlier. Contrast this with JKR, who doesn't seem to think that society owed Merope anything in the way of assistance at all (and if she did... why didn't she make it clear in that section of the book?)
So yes, I think that quite "un-Victorian", but equally it does bear striking similarities to the "Calvinism" theme.