A nice capsule summary of the problem with endorsing non-instrumental heroism.
That said, Hermione raises a decent question that gets lost by the end:
“maybe people who are going to be heroes, will be heroes no matter what. But I don’t see how anyone could really know that, aside from just saying it afterward.”
Dumbledore has a clear opinion on the matter, and he does have some credibility, but he isn’t showing his work. And Hermione’s skepticism seems warranted.
If Hermione is actually interested in finding out, it would seem that some experimentation is called for. I wonder if that will occur to her. (Presumably it will occur to Harry, but it’s unclear that he cares.)
Perhaps, if she learns anything reliable about how to learn heroism, she could dedicate herself to training up the next generation of heroes. Write a book, or something.
Also, while I’m here...
Harry Potter hadn’t smelled the chicken burning. Which meant that it had probably been a pebble or something, Transfigured into a chicken and then enclosed in a Boundary Charm to make sure that no smoke escaped into the air
I’m intrigued by the implications of this line.
On the face of it, while the lack of smoke is reasonable evidence of a Boundary Charm or equivalent, it’s extremely weak (read: negligable) evidence that there was any Transfiguration involved. After all, when I cook chickens, I turn on a ventilator to keep smoke from escaping into the air, entirely for aesthetic reasons; it seems likely to me that even Great Googly Moogly wizards similarly don’t care for getting smoke everywhere.
So… how do Flitwick, et al, get from “no smoke” to “Transfiguration”? What do they know here that I don’t?
Well, if it was Transfiguration, it would be really important that none of the particles escape into the air. I think we’re supposed to infer that there wasn’t so much smoke as to be objectionable for its own sake—if there was visibly a lot of smoke, Harry probably would have noticed it behaving oddly, instead of having to rely on smell.
Re: chapter 70...
A nice capsule summary of the problem with endorsing non-instrumental heroism.
That said, Hermione raises a decent question that gets lost by the end:
Dumbledore has a clear opinion on the matter, and he does have some credibility, but he isn’t showing his work. And Hermione’s skepticism seems warranted.
If Hermione is actually interested in finding out, it would seem that some experimentation is called for. I wonder if that will occur to her. (Presumably it will occur to Harry, but it’s unclear that he cares.)
Perhaps, if she learns anything reliable about how to learn heroism, she could dedicate herself to training up the next generation of heroes. Write a book, or something.
Also, while I’m here...
I’m intrigued by the implications of this line.
On the face of it, while the lack of smoke is reasonable evidence of a Boundary Charm or equivalent, it’s extremely weak (read: negligable) evidence that there was any Transfiguration involved. After all, when I cook chickens, I turn on a ventilator to keep smoke from escaping into the air, entirely for aesthetic reasons; it seems likely to me that even Great Googly Moogly wizards similarly don’t care for getting smoke everywhere.
So… how do Flitwick, et al, get from “no smoke” to “Transfiguration”? What do they know here that I don’t?
Well, if it was Transfiguration, it would be really important that none of the particles escape into the air. I think we’re supposed to infer that there wasn’t so much smoke as to be objectionable for its own sake—if there was visibly a lot of smoke, Harry probably would have noticed it behaving oddly, instead of having to rely on smell.