Harry Potter: What do you think would have happened if he'd been in another House?

[Little Woodsman]

My big "What If" for the HP series has often been "What if the Dursley's hadn't been a bunch of arseholes, and
treated Harry like an actual family member?"

He'd probably have been a fat bastard like Dudley, and been eaten by the Basilisk or something due to not being able to outrun it. Dumbledore implies as much when he says that at least Harry escaped the horrible damage they inflicted on Dudley.

Anyway, the Dursleys never beat Harry, so there's that. The baggy clothes are something I guess, but they wouldn't bound straight to a home visit. All their abuse of Harry was quite private. For instance, when they buy him an ice lolly at the zoo to keep up the public facade.

Besides, I think it implies quite a bit that Harry's teachers marked him as a troublemaker too, so would probably adopt a similar point of view to the Dursleys, what with him ending up on the school roof. Even more so when he's at Hogwarts and Vernon goes around saying he's in a criminal institution.

As for Mrs Fig, she wasn't there in any official capacity. She was just there because of Dumbledore. And Dumbledore wouldn't take Harry away from the Dursleys, because he had magical protection by being with his blood relatives.

I kind of rolled the whole "spoiling and overfeeding their birth son until he's the size of a small orca" in to the
whole ass-hat-ery of the Dursleys so if they acted like decent normal people that wouldn't have been an issue ....but yeah...though I suppose if Harry had been as obese as Dudley the basilisk
might have choked to death on him.....
I also kind of figured that since there are some wizards in the books who are adept at interacting with muggles, (Kingsley being the prime example) if Arabella Figg had told the right people someone could have dropped by the
Dursley's home and let Vernon & Petunia know that they were watching Harry, and expected him to be treated at
least halfway decently. (A-la Mad-eye Moody at the end of the fifth book) Maybe even told the Dursleys that if
they resented having to pay for Harry's necessities the cost would be covered and converted some wizard gold into
regular currency to cover it--with a stern warning that misappropriation of it would have dire consequences.
Heck, come to think of it if I was a wizard friend of Arabella I'd have worked out something where I'd set up
a study room in her house (maybe using transdimensional magic like the tents or Hermione's bag) and told the
Dursleys that I wanted Harry to come over to do chores for a small fee, let the kid use the time/room to keep
up (or even get ahead) on his schoolwork and sent him home with a few quid (is that still the right term?) to
give to the Dursleys.
But you know, that's only because I am perfect, wonderful and infallible. {wink}
Tired, stressed & going to bed now...

 

[The Funslinger]

My big "What If" for the HP series has often been "What if the Dursley's hadn't been a bunch of arseholes, and
treated Harry like an actual family member?"

He'd probably have been a fat bastard like Dudley, and been eaten by the Basilisk or something due to not being able to outrun it. Dumbledore implies as much when he says that at least Harry escaped the horrible damage they inflicted on Dudley.

Anyway, the Dursleys never beat Harry, so there's that. The baggy clothes are something I guess, but they wouldn't bound straight to a home visit. All their abuse of Harry was quite private. For instance, when they buy him an ice lolly at the zoo to keep up the public facade.

Besides, I think it implies quite a bit that Harry's teachers marked him as a troublemaker too, so would probably adopt a similar point of view to the Dursleys, what with him ending up on the school roof. Even more so when he's at Hogwarts and Vernon goes around saying he's in a criminal institution.

As for Mrs Fig, she wasn't there in any official capacity. She was just there because of Dumbledore. And Dumbledore wouldn't take Harry away from the Dursleys, because he had magical protection by being with his blood relatives.

I kind of rolled the whole "spoiling and overfeeding their birth son until he's the size of a small orca" in to the
whole ass-hat-ery of the Dursleys so if they acted like decent normal people that wouldn't have been an issue ....but yeah...though I suppose if Harry had been as obese as Dudley the basilisk
might have choked to death on him.....
I also kind of figured that since there are some wizards in the books who are adept at interacting with muggles, (Kingsley being the prime example) if Arabella Figg had told the right people someone could have dropped by the
Dursley's home and let Vernon & Petunia know that they were watching Harry, and expected him to be treated at
least halfway decently. (A-la Mad-eye Moody at the end of the fifth book) Maybe even told the Dursleys that if
they resented having to pay for Harry's necessities the cost would be covered and converted some wizard gold into
regular currency to cover it--with a stern warning that misappropriation of it would have dire consequences.
Heck, come to think of it if I was a wizard friend of Arabella I'd have worked out something where I'd set up
a study room in her house (maybe using transdimensional magic like the tents or Hermione's bag) and told the
Dursleys that I wanted Harry to come over to do chores for a small fee, let the kid use the time/room to keep
up (or even get ahead) on his schoolwork and sent him home with a few quid (is that still the right term?) to
give to the Dursleys.
But you know, that's only because I am perfect, wonderful and infallible. {wink}
Tired, stressed & going to bed now...

Interesting idea, though in the initial book, it'd spoil Dumbledore's idea of 'let's not have him know he's a wizard so he doesn't become a fame induced ass-hat.'

And I'm not sure Fig really knew that much about Harry's day to day other than the fact that the Dursleys resented him to some extent, worked him like a dog (sucks, but isn't illegal) and that Dudley bullied him.

As for the 'bars on windows' business, I think if the Weasleys hadn't broken him out, they'd have intervened to get him to school. I think he was only stuck in there for a few days.

And let's be fair, it's a children's book that kind of became more complex as its generational audience grew, so the idea of your scheme might be a bit too much to throw at the young'uns.

I do see what you're saying, but I figure if I can play Devil's Advocate, I may as well. That, and this is also what I think.

 

[Little Woodsman]

My big "What If" for the HP series has often been "What if the Dursley's hadn't been a bunch of arseholes, and
treated Harry like an actual family member?"

He'd probably have been a fat bastard like Dudley, and been eaten by the Basilisk or something due to not being able to outrun it. Dumbledore implies as much when he says that at least Harry escaped the horrible damage they inflicted on Dudley.

Anyway, the Dursleys never beat Harry, so there's that. The baggy clothes are something I guess, but they wouldn't bound straight to a home visit. All their abuse of Harry was quite private. For instance, when they buy him an ice lolly at the zoo to keep up the public facade.

Besides, I think it implies quite a bit that Harry's teachers marked him as a troublemaker too, so would probably adopt a similar point of view to the Dursleys, what with him ending up on the school roof. Even more so when he's at Hogwarts and Vernon goes around saying he's in a criminal institution.

As for Mrs Fig, she wasn't there in any official capacity. She was just there because of Dumbledore. And Dumbledore wouldn't take Harry away from the Dursleys, because he had magical protection by being with his blood relatives.

I kind of rolled the whole "spoiling and overfeeding their birth son until he's the size of a small orca" in to the
whole ass-hat-ery of the Dursleys so if they acted like decent normal people that wouldn't have been an issue ....but yeah...though I suppose if Harry had been as obese as Dudley the basilisk
might have choked to death on him.....
I also kind of figured that since there are some wizards in the books who are adept at interacting with muggles, (Kingsley being the prime example) if Arabella Figg had told the right people someone could have dropped by the
Dursley's home and let Vernon & Petunia know that they were watching Harry, and expected him to be treated at
least halfway decently. (A-la Mad-eye Moody at the end of the fifth book) Maybe even told the Dursleys that if
they resented having to pay for Harry's necessities the cost would be covered and converted some wizard gold into
regular currency to cover it--with a stern warning that misappropriation of it would have dire consequences.
Heck, come to think of it if I was a wizard friend of Arabella I'd have worked out something where I'd set up
a study room in her house (maybe using transdimensional magic like the tents or Hermione's bag) and told the
Dursleys that I wanted Harry to come over to do chores for a small fee, let the kid use the time/room to keep
up (or even get ahead) on his schoolwork and sent him home with a few quid (is that still the right term?) to
give to the Dursleys.
But you know, that's only because I am perfect, wonderful and infallible. {wink}
Tired, stressed & going to bed now...

Interesting idea, though in the initial book, it'd spoil Dumbledore's idea of 'let's not have him know he's a wizard so he doesn't become a fame induced ass-hat.'

And I'm not sure Fig really knew that much about Harry's day to day other than the fact that the Dursleys resented him to some extent, worked him like a dog (sucks, but isn't illegal) and that Dudley bullied him.

As for the 'bars on windows' business, I think if the Weasleys hadn't broken him out, they'd have intervened to get him to school. I think he was only stuck in there for a few days.

And let's be fair, it's a children's book that kind of became more complex as its generational audience grew, so the idea of your scheme might be a bit too much to throw at the young'uns.

I do see what you're saying, but I figure if I can play Devil's Advocate, I may as well. That, and this is also what I think.

Hey, rebut me, criticize me, pick my posts apart--discussion & getting the old brain-boxes working and getting the
creative juices flowing (gee that sounded kind of dirty....) is what these sorts of discussions are all about!
So play devil's advocate! Play angel's advocate! Play earth spirit's advocate! Play dryad's advocate! Play backgammon!
Play parcheesi! OK, I think I killed the metaphor.......
But anyway, your points about the type of story and audience are well taken....one of the things I struggle with in
this type of fiction is that having run so many RPG's I try to make a working system for the world--which is not
always a productive use of my time & effort.

 

[Lionsfan]

Hmm, I'm more interested in what might have happened if Harry had ended up in a different house than the Dudley's.

On that note, I know muggles are useless and boring, but surely social services would've reacted at some point to Harry's troubles? I mean, if I were the Dudley's next door neighbour, I'd have called the social services right away if I knew one of their kids had to live in a cupboard under the flippin' stairs. Or at the very least when they renovated one of their bedrooms into a prison cell.

Dumbledore, you senile old sod, you might as well have left the baby balancing over the shark tanks at the aquarium.

If he wasn't in Gryffindor, and didn't become friends with Ron so much - would he have been rescued from his temporary prison near the beginning of the second book? Who else would have been able to and willing to do it, provided they knew? And what would've happened then?

Come to think of it, I always wondered what the Dursleys would do when someone reported to social services bars on a bedroom window on the FRONT of the house (as if no-one will notice). Was that seriously their long-term plan?

My thoughts on the subject were pretty similar to this. One of the reasons I delayed starting to readthe books (and I've
never watched the movies) was that while I can suspend my disbelief enough to take in wizards hidden all over the world,
magical creatures all over the place hidden by the wizards etc.... it just boggled my mind that
1)The Dursleys were such a bunch of arseholes that they treated their nephew/cousin like that
2)Why in the ^#** no-one ever called social services! The kids & teachers at his school had to have noticed that he
was wearing castoff clothes way too big for him when he came from an upper-middle class family! If I were one of
his teachers my first thought would have probably been "Oh my god, I bet those are to hide bruises!".

And seriously--Harry's parents were supposed to be so well loved, Harry himself deeply appreciated and *nobobdy*
from the wizarding community ever thought to check up on him? Arabella Figg, supposedly put in to the neighborhood
to keep an eye on him *never* told any decent wizards about his circumstances? Or if she did, nobody did anything
about it?

My apologies, I got kind of rant-tastic there.....

My big "What If" for the HP series has often been "What if the Dursley's hadn't been a bunch of arseholes, and
treated Harry like an actual family member?"

Regarding the social services bit, I'm pretty sure that their cover story for him not attending a local school was he was a dangerous criminal or something. Like his parents were drunks, and he was the fuckup. The "school" he was attending was called "St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys" and the Harry Potter wiki has this as it's description: "is an institution for "mentally subnormal" and violent adolescent males.". Given that Harry was always seen as an outcast and a troublemaker, even before he went to Hogwarts and cut himself off entirely from his Muggle Neighborhood, and he lived "in perfectsville", and it's not too hard to think that the neighbors didn't really care.

Not caring and ignoring signs is also unfortunately truth in real life too....

 

[The Funslinger]

My big "What If" for the HP series has often been "What if the Dursley's hadn't been a bunch of arseholes, and
treated Harry like an actual family member?"

He'd probably have been a fat bastard like Dudley, and been eaten by the Basilisk or something due to not being able to outrun it. Dumbledore implies as much when he says that at least Harry escaped the horrible damage they inflicted on Dudley.

Anyway, the Dursleys never beat Harry, so there's that. The baggy clothes are something I guess, but they wouldn't bound straight to a home visit. All their abuse of Harry was quite private. For instance, when they buy him an ice lolly at the zoo to keep up the public facade.

Besides, I think it implies quite a bit that Harry's teachers marked him as a troublemaker too, so would probably adopt a similar point of view to the Dursleys, what with him ending up on the school roof. Even more so when he's at Hogwarts and Vernon goes around saying he's in a criminal institution.

As for Mrs Fig, she wasn't there in any official capacity. She was just there because of Dumbledore. And Dumbledore wouldn't take Harry away from the Dursleys, because he had magical protection by being with his blood relatives.

I kind of rolled the whole "spoiling and overfeeding their birth son until he's the size of a small orca" in to the
whole ass-hat-ery of the Dursleys so if they acted like decent normal people that wouldn't have been an issue ....but yeah...though I suppose if Harry had been as obese as Dudley the basilisk
might have choked to death on him.....
I also kind of figured that since there are some wizards in the books who are adept at interacting with muggles, (Kingsley being the prime example) if Arabella Figg had told the right people someone could have dropped by the
Dursley's home and let Vernon & Petunia know that they were watching Harry, and expected him to be treated at
least halfway decently. (A-la Mad-eye Moody at the end of the fifth book) Maybe even told the Dursleys that if
they resented having to pay for Harry's necessities the cost would be covered and converted some wizard gold into
regular currency to cover it--with a stern warning that misappropriation of it would have dire consequences.
Heck, come to think of it if I was a wizard friend of Arabella I'd have worked out something where I'd set up
a study room in her house (maybe using transdimensional magic like the tents or Hermione's bag) and told the
Dursleys that I wanted Harry to come over to do chores for a small fee, let the kid use the time/room to keep
up (or even get ahead) on his schoolwork and sent him home with a few quid (is that still the right term?) to
give to the Dursleys.
But you know, that's only because I am perfect, wonderful and infallible. {wink}
Tired, stressed & going to bed now...

Interesting idea, though in the initial book, it'd spoil Dumbledore's idea of 'let's not have him know he's a wizard so he doesn't become a fame induced ass-hat.'

And I'm not sure Fig really knew that much about Harry's day to day other than the fact that the Dursleys resented him to some extent, worked him like a dog (sucks, but isn't illegal) and that Dudley bullied him.

As for the 'bars on windows' business, I think if the Weasleys hadn't broken him out, they'd have intervened to get him to school. I think he was only stuck in there for a few days.

And let's be fair, it's a children's book that kind of became more complex as its generational audience grew, so the idea of your scheme might be a bit too much to throw at the young'uns.

I do see what you're saying, but I figure if I can play Devil's Advocate, I may as well. That, and this is also what I think.

Hey, rebut me, criticize me, pick my posts apart--discussion & getting the old brain-boxes working and getting the
creative juices flowing (gee that sounded kind of dirty....) is what these sorts of discussions are all about!
So play devil's advocate! Play angel's advocate! Play earth spirit's advocate! Play dryad's advocate! Play backgammon!
Play parcheesi! OK, I think I killed the metaphor.......
But anyway, your points about the type of story and audience are well taken....one of the things I struggle with in
this type of fiction is that having run so many RPG's I try to make a working system for the world--which is not
always a productive use of my time & effort.

Yeah, it is easy to get bogged down in the details.

But you know, JK did that too. She came up with all this history and all these mechanics for the world all the time in the process of writing so that if she needed something in one of the books '[she] could have a piece of throwaway lore'. That's actually why Pottermore works. It's not just adding onto her universe for precious royalties, it's putting out stuff she's had written down for her own benefit for years.

 

[Angie7F]

I feel sorry for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
At least if you were in Slytherine you get to be the villain. Nothing is more boring than being " the rest of the students".


I think the bigger question would be, as pointed out already, if Harry was treated well by the Dudlys.

I never got to like Harry Potter. He is rich, he is good at sports, he is talented in magic...
I much prefer Shinji from Evangelion. At least he has a reason to be insecure. Harry doesnt.

 

[Legion]

I think the bigger question would be, as pointed out already, if Harry was treated well by the Dudlys.

I don't see how. It would change practically nothing. He was treated poorly by them but still turns out to be a pretty normal, fairly happy teenager who makes good friends, is fairly popular and does well at school.

It's not like having no friends, being bullied and treated poorly affected his personality for the worse. He doesn't look down on muggles, is quite happy to help people and is able to socialise normally.

What would change if they were nicer to him other than his summers being more pleasant?

Genuine question, because I can't see what it would affect in the long run.

 

[Lionsfan]

Head of House:
Regardless of which house Harry went to I could see Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape, and Pomona Spout all being better Heads of Houses' than Minerva McGonagall.

Her failings are many:
1. Instead of punishing Harry as she rightfully should (Madam Hooch had said anyone caught flying would be expelled faster than they could say Quidditch), she instead rewarded him by showing blatant favoritism by allowing him onto the Gryffindor Quiddtich team, oh and got him a Nimbus 2000, although it's debatable whether she bought it or the money came out of Harry's vault.

2. Inconsistency - when Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco were caught out of bed she docked twenty points off Slytherin and awarded Draco a detention, whereas for her three Gryffindors she docked fifty points each, or one hundred and fifty combined, and then to make matters worse their detention was held in the FORBIDDEN FOREST, yes four first years in a place that is forbidden and at midnight too, with the only adult there unable to do magic, and they knew something dangerous was there because unicorns were dying, Hagrid said so himself. Are they stupid? But you know what's even more aggravating? The fact that McGonagall only gave Harry and Ron detention in 2nd year, you know when they stole a car, broke the Statue of Secrecy, and damaged the Whomping Willow, maybe if she'd of reversed the punishments for the offenses she'd have been right, but because she didn't it doesn't make any sense.

3. She did nothing when three of her own students confided in her about the Philosopher's stone, yes it was shocking and perhaps it could have been put down to childish imagination, but regardless she should have just humored the kids and checked anyway, and if there's nothing wrong no harm done, but if there is something wrong well then they can do something about it, you don't just blatantly ignore the issue. Is it any surprise Harry dealt with things on his own when the adults around him didn't listen to him when he asked for help?

4. She was the direct cause of Ron, Hermione and Harry being treated as outcasts in first year due to the point deduction, and did nothing about it, just as she didn't help Harry when he was being slandered by the entire school in second year, or again when the same occurred in fourth year through the tournament, and surprise, surprise, no help again when he's being accused of lunacy in fifth year too. In fact the only time she actually did anything remotely worthwhile was in his career meeting, when she promised to help him become an Auror, yet I suspect it was more to do with putting Umbridge in her place, than actually helping Harry, and no surprises because in sixth year she didn't make good on her promise.

I could probably go on but this post has already gotten too long.

I gotta disagree with some of this. Number's 2, 3, and 4 really.

For their punishments, I believe that she docked Malfoy an initial 20 points, and was going to leave it up to Snape for anymore. Throughout the entire series I don't think there was ever a situation where another Head of House severely punished a child from another house besides detention or something along those lines. In the second book we see that Snape wants to expell Harry and Ron, but Dumbledore says "They're in McGonagall's house, her final say." Malfoy not getting punishment was Snape's decision. I agree with you about the detention choice, but to me, that's just Rowling not thinking of another way to introduce Firenze.

As far as the punishments in 2nd year, I suspect she "went easy" on them to spite Snape, he was the one who was the most angry about the Whomping Willow. They didn't really steal a car either, since it belonged to the Weasley's, and as far as the Statute of Secrecy goes, well they were open about violating it. The Muggles seeing the car could be chalked up to the crazy sorts who claim to see UFO's, and most of their journey was over the Scottish countryside, and if a trial ever occurred, I bet they would be tried as minors and get off with a warning.

Number 3, I suppose she could have humored them, but look at it from her point of view. These 3 have been getting in trouble all year, and now they're accusing Professor Snape of trying to steal the stone. Given McGonagall's previous work with Snape, and the fact that Dumbledore trusts him, I don't think it's too big of a leap to just write them off as stupid kids. I think that's more of a fault on Dumbledore than anything else. By keeping all his plans so close to himself, he's requiring everyone to just assume he has thing's handled. Which he does for the most part, but if his plan doesn't work, then there's serious trouble.

As far as Number 4, well in the first year they only had themselves to blame for their outcastation (yeah that's a word now, deal with it). They don't want to lose points, stay in bed. Had Snape punished Malfoy too, he probably would have been outcast from Slytherin as well. As far as the 2nd year slandering, well even if she directly intervened, there's only so much an adult can do among schoolyard gossiping. And we don't even know the whole story as far as who-all was slandering him. I'm sure a bunch of 12 year olds were, but what about the 7th years who are on their way into the real world, do you think they care about Harry or not? The same goes for the 4th year, she can't control schoolyard gossip, especially when there's not really much ground for Harry to stand on. The 5th year, the Ministry of Magic was embeded in the school, so she can't go outright against Dumbledore, and she can't control what opinions people might have about Harry from reading the Prophet.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I gotta disagree with some of this. Number's 2, 3, and 4 really.

For their punishments, I believe that she docked Malfoy an initial 20 points, and was going to leave it up to Snape for anymore. Throughout the entire series I don't think there was ever a situation where another Head of House severely punished a child from another house besides detention or something along those lines. In the second book we see that Snape wants to expell Harry and Ron, but Dumbledore says "They're in McGonagall's house, her final say." Malfoy not getting punishment was Snape's decision. I agree with you about the detention choice, but to me, that's just Rowling not thinking of another way to introduce Firenze.

Snape has no problems docking points from students from other houses nor does he mind giving them detention, and McGonagall had to know this and must have also known how biased he was to his own Slytherins, so to me it seems stupid to let Snape punish Malfoy because he clearly won't. Also I got the impression that she dealt with Malfoy and then overreacted when she later found her own students out of bed, rather than her deciding to deal with her own students and let Snape deal with his. As for only dealing with students from their own houses I believe that only applies to expulsion.

As far as the punishments in 2nd year, I suspect she "went easy" on them to spite Snape, he was the one who was the most angry about the Whomping Willow. They didn't really steal a car either, since it belonged to the Weasley's, and as far as the Statute of Secrecy goes, well they were open about violating it. The Muggles seeing the car could be chalked up to the crazy sorts who claim to see UFO's, and most of their journey was over the Scottish countryside, and if a trial ever occurred, I bet they would be tried as minors and get off with a warning.

In the law if you take something without permission than that's stealing, hence why people have been known to be charged for taking their parents' cars and getting in trouble with the law because they didn't have permission, so yes they did steal the car since neither Mr or Mrs Weasley gave them permission, hence why Mrs Weasley's howler said so. And it was more they couldn't expel the Boy-Who-Lived rather than McGonagall going easier on them, yet I still think if she had given them detention for being out of bed, and docked a 150 points for stealing the car and the rest it would have been more appropriate, and you really can't argue that they did break the Statue of Secrecy because they did.

Number 3, I suppose she could have humored them, but look at it from her point of view. These 3 have been getting in trouble all year, and now they're accusing Professor Snape of trying to steal the stone. Given McGonagall's previous work with Snape, and the fact that Dumbledore trusts him, I don't think it's too big of a leap to just write them off as stupid kids. I think that's more of a fault on Dumbledore than anything else. By keeping all his plans so close to himself, he's requiring everyone to just assume he has thing's handled. Which he does for the most part, but if his plan doesn't work, then there's serious trouble.

I may be remembering this wrong but in the book (not the film) they never actually accuse Snape, nor have they been getting in trouble all year either. Yes they were caught out of bed once, but that's hardly anything to cry over, why it probably happens all the time hence why they have professors and prefects patrolling. As for the troll incident they weren't actually breaking any rules and were really just unfortunate to be where they were. That shouldn't even matter though, because as a responsible adult you don't just ignore a claim, especially when they're saying someone's trying to steal the stone, in fact you're the first person I've ever seen try to defend her for this, because from the people I've spoken to (and I've spoken to a lot) most if not all are agreed McGonagall is in the wrong here.

As far as Number 4, well in the first year they only had themselves to blame for their outcastation (yeah that's a word now, deal with it). They don't want to lose points, stay in bed. Had Snape punished Malfoy too, he probably would have been outcast from Slytherin as well. As far as the 2nd year slandering, well even if she directly intervened, there's only so much an adult can do among schoolyard gossiping. And we don't even know the whole story as far as who-all was slandering him. I'm sure a bunch of 12 year olds were, but what about the 7th years who are on their way into the real world, do you think they care about Harry or not? The same goes for the 4th year, she can't control schoolyard gossip, especially when there's not really much ground for Harry to stand on. The 5th year, the Ministry of Magic was embeded in the school, so she can't go outright against Dumbledore, and she can't control what opinions people might have about Harry from reading the Prophet.

I think it's harsh to put all the blame on the kids for being out of bed, I mean if Hagrid was actually a responsible adult he would have dealt with the issue himself, and not roped three eleven year old kids into his problem, and as I said it was their first offense, and you're telling me she's never been so ashamed? Or is she forgetting the Marauders used to attend Hogwarts?

As for second year there is a lot the faculty could have done, McGonagall included since she attended Hogwarts at the time Voldemort did. It wouldn't have been so hard for the staff to say the chamber had already been opened once before, and clearly Harry wasn't responsible then, and that they knew he wasn't this time either despite him being a Parslemouth. I mean how hard is it to say that Harry was in the infirmary when Colin was attacked? McGonagall was there and she saw that too.

Fourth year is the same, she could have quite easily docked points or punished those wearing the badges, which I'm surprised she didn't since just before the students from the other schools arrived she was lecturing people on not shaming the school, you'd think badges slandering one of the Hogwarts champions would fall under that category. Although I do admit there's probably not much she could have done in fifth year, but it wouldn't have been hard for her to call him to her office and give him some private support.