It seemed to me that in the chapter, Harry was trying to convince Lucius, while Lucius was performing debate-as-theater. Like Harry threatened Lucius because he thought Lucius would care, which was a bad move because Lucius would lose face by appearing threatened by a child. Lucius responded by calling Harry out on his “child” status, which would not serve to make Harry see his way, but would help sway the audience against Harry.
And so I had speculated that Harry’s solution would have to involve switching to a debate mode of discourse. Which may have had something to do with my ignoring the intended meaning of the title of the sequence, which suggests that he instead would find a compromise that Lucius would agree with.
That hadn’t been meant to be a clue—it’s fulfilled immediately after, when Harry starts seeing them as subjects of moral judgment.
I, for one, definitely read it as a clue.
It seemed to me that in the chapter, Harry was trying to convince Lucius, while Lucius was performing debate-as-theater. Like Harry threatened Lucius because he thought Lucius would care, which was a bad move because Lucius would lose face by appearing threatened by a child. Lucius responded by calling Harry out on his “child” status, which would not serve to make Harry see his way, but would help sway the audience against Harry.
And so I had speculated that Harry’s solution would have to involve switching to a debate mode of discourse. Which may have had something to do with my ignoring the intended meaning of the title of the sequence, which suggests that he instead would find a compromise that Lucius would agree with.