Discussion Main / MoralLuck

So we've got this entry:

• Lampshaded in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone just after the troll incident. Prof. McGonagall awards Harry and Ron five House points each "for sheer, dumb luck". While there was some skill involved, both Ron and Harry were exceptionally lucky nevertheless.

To which Shadowgazer added: "Its more of a variation since 1) Harry and Ron endangering themselves wasn't a matter of morality but a matter of recklessness and 2) the consequences for failing would just be their deaths which wouldn't allow much chastising afterwards."

After I deleted it, they readded it with a minor wording variation: "Unlike most cases this wasn't a matter of morality but a matter of recklessness and the consequences for failing would just be their deaths which wouldn't allow much chastising afterwards anyway."

This is natter. Their recklessness is a matter of morality: ordinarily any student caught anywhere but where they were supposed to be in an emergency situation would be chastised, but because they got insanely lucky and succeeded in defeating the troll, they were rewarded instead.

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• Played much straighter near the end of the book/film. After losing Gryffindor massive points for sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night, the Power Trio do so again when they believe (through incomplete snooping and eavesdropping) that Snape will steal the Philosopher's Stone. Neville to keep them from going out lest they get caught and lose their House more points. They turn out to be half-correct; someone does try to steal it, but it isn't Snape. Still, what if they had been 100% wrong and no one was trying to steal it, or at least not that very night? But because they turned out to be right, they're hailed as heroes and awarded all the points they lost and then some at the End of Year Feast. Repeat: When they get caught sneaking out at night and have nothing to show for it, they lose House points. When they sneak out and it turns out their suspicion about a bad guy is correct, they are hailed as heroes.

This entry is a huge stretch. They did have basis to suspect Snape and tried to stop him with 100% noble intentions. True, they could've turned out wrong, but what then? If there wasn't any attempt on the stone they would be only breaking school rules, and maybe preemptively steal stone, but they wouldn't be doing this for gain, so they'd probably give it back to Dumble, proving only his defences suck. At worst they'd have been caught and lose some more points, which is small risk when the stake is potential return of biggest badass Evil Overlord in their history On the other hand if they were right and did nothing Snape would've taken the stone and Tom would be back. That's even more valid in the books when they clearly attempted to get to the stone first as last resort after they've extinguished every other possibility of stoping Snape, meaning they've pretty much had no choice at this point.

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