You're right, Harry does apologize: to Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. People he likes and whose good opinion he wants to retain.
And in a sense to Snape, safely posthumusly, once he's been convinced Snape was on his side all along.
But is he ever sorry for hexing a helpless Squib? For tormenting his cousin with (fake) threats of magic? For hexing Slytherins in the corridors? For cheating repeatedly in class and in an international competition? For lying, repeatedly? For stealing and benefiting from others' thefts, again repeatedly? For casting the Cruciatus Curse?
The only time we see Harry feel anything resembling remorse over anything he does to an enemy is when he casts Sectumsempra on Draco. We read then that he's "horrified by what he had done." But he'd cast that spell, of course, not knowing in advance what he'd be doing and not expecting the result. A few chapters later Harry has no qualms at all about casting the spell in earnest, and the Cruciatus too.
Moreover, even in his moment of "horror", Harry's very first priority was holding onto the Prince's book to learn more goodies from it (and to continue to cheat in class). Harry was resentful of Snape's having the nerve to punish him (for almost killing or maiming another student) with multiple detentions (which punishment his own Head of House characterized as overly lenient). He's soon demonstrably more upset at disappointing the Quidditch team by missing the game than he is at having almost killed someone. Very like his godfather, in fact, although Harry does have the grace to feel a "slight squirm" of conscience.
In the real world, if a nearly sixteen-year-old picked up a gun which he knew MIGHT(or might not) be loaded and fired it at the chest of a boy he's fighting with, almost killed the other boy (would have killed him had not someone else showed up in time with the skills to stop the bleeding) and afterwards felt only a "slight squirm" of conscience and an eager desire to get his hands on more weapons, what would we think?
(And yes, I do remember that Draco was attempting to cast Cruciatus. Which would not have killed Harry, even had Draco been capable of casting it "properly", which neither we nor Harry know to have been the case. Harry, however, was a master of Expelliarmus, good at Stupefy, adequate a Petrificus... he had a whole arsenal of spells he could have used to neutralize Draco without harming him in the slightest. Instead, he used a spell of unknown properties--like I said, like a teen grabbing a gun which he knows might be loaded. And worse, after knowing the effects, Harry wants to go back for more such spells.)
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Fairness to Harry
Date: 2009-08-12 07:34 pm (UTC)And in a sense to Snape, safely posthumusly, once he's been convinced Snape was on his side all along.
But is he ever sorry for hexing a helpless Squib? For tormenting his cousin with (fake) threats of magic? For hexing Slytherins in the corridors? For cheating repeatedly in class and in an international competition? For lying, repeatedly? For stealing and benefiting from others' thefts, again repeatedly? For casting the Cruciatus Curse?
The only time we see Harry feel anything resembling remorse over anything he does to an enemy is when he casts Sectumsempra on Draco. We read then that he's "horrified by what he had done." But he'd cast that spell, of course, not knowing in advance what he'd be doing and not expecting the result. A few chapters later Harry has no qualms at all about casting the spell in earnest, and the Cruciatus too.
Moreover, even in his moment of "horror", Harry's very first priority was holding onto the Prince's book to learn more goodies from it (and to continue to cheat in class). Harry was resentful of Snape's having the nerve to punish him (for almost killing or maiming another student) with multiple detentions (which punishment his own Head of House characterized as overly lenient). He's soon demonstrably more upset at disappointing the Quidditch team by missing the game than he is at having almost killed someone. Very like his godfather, in fact, although Harry does have the grace to feel a "slight squirm" of conscience.
In the real world, if a nearly sixteen-year-old picked up a gun which he knew MIGHT(or might not) be loaded and fired it at the chest of a boy he's fighting with, almost killed the other boy (would have killed him had not someone else showed up in time with the skills to stop the bleeding) and afterwards felt only a "slight squirm" of conscience and an eager desire to get his hands on more weapons, what would we think?
(And yes, I do remember that Draco was attempting to cast Cruciatus. Which would not have killed Harry, even had Draco been capable of casting it "properly", which neither we nor Harry know to have been the case. Harry, however, was a master of Expelliarmus, good at Stupefy, adequate a Petrificus... he had a whole arsenal of spells he could have used to neutralize Draco without harming him in the slightest. Instead, he used a spell of unknown properties--like I said, like a teen grabbing a gun which he knows might be loaded. And worse, after knowing the effects, Harry wants to go back for more such spells.)