\u201cYou know, the political landscape after the war ended up being completely different from what the Order of Phoenix would have expected\u201d, Harry smiled at his wife. \u201cThey had a very black and white picture of reality in their heads, where they are the good guys and everything they believe and do is good and should prevail, while the other side are the bad guys and everything about them should be abolished and discarded. In reality, our long talks at school taught me that the other side is actually right in so many things, we should be very careful about ignoring those arguments\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we ended up adopting a balanced policy that acknowledges good arguments from both sides\u201d, she nodded. \u201cThings like Hermione being considered a pureblood, or House Elves being considered family members\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also the dangers of magical blood dilution and extinction being taken very seriously, and preservation of ancient tradition and family lineages being enshrined in state policy\u201d, he smiled. \u201cRather than one of us recruiting the other to their side, we ended up teaching each other and adopting good ideas\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I definitely consider myself as having switched to your side when Voldemort returned\u201d, she was serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when we divorced the Voldemort issue, dark magic issue and the pureblood issue, I think I adopted all of your good ideas and slightly modified them. I think the lesson is that when two intelligent people argue, it\u2019s not realistic to expect that one side will be completely right and the other completely wrong. In fact, when I realised how smart you are and how well thought out your arguments were, I expected to outright lose every argument with you and that terrified me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, there were certain arguments I didn\u2019t actually want to win. I was just afraid of what it would mean if I lost. For instance, the Voldemort thing. My parents were so intertwined with him, that it terrified me to think he might actually be evil, and I rather spent inordinate amounts of energy thinking of all sorts of rationalizations as to why he might actually be the good guy despite all evidence to the contrary. Because, if he were evil, what are my parents then? Should I not love them because they are objectively on the wrong side? The idea terrified me. In the end, even after my parents emotionally separated themselves from him, it was excruciatingly hard to save them while at the same time not raising attention to the fact that I\u2019m on your side\u201d, she grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a more terrifying situation than anything I ever experienced, and I had a piece of his soul in my head showing me evil things\u201d, he nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the key point was the understanding that Voldemort hijacked the pureblood issue that was actually important to people. He also hijacked the issue of dark magic, which was sometimes actually useful and people objected to the fact that it was outright outlawed. When the two of you disentangled those two issues from Voldemort and the specific Death Eater ideology one could only embrace if they were a murderous lunatic like Bellatrix and other thugs, things became much simpler\u201d, Hermione joined them. \u201cWhen separated from the death cult of Voldemort, the other two issues became quite rational and even I had to accept most of the arguments, even when it put me personally in a vulnerable position\u201d, she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you chose to put yourself in a vulnerable position, I felt so protective that I lobbied for laws that would guard you\u201d, Lyra took her hand and smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to play the game of political extremism when you love people on the other side of the divide\u201d, Harry nodded. \u201cThat\u2019s why Lyra and I kept holding hands while arguing. It\u2019s hard to make deliberately injurious arguments against the other side when that other side is somebody you care about. We looked more like lovers than enemies and I guess that\u2019s what we were, if not for my thick head.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to argue categorically against dark magic when we ourselves had to use Crucio<\/i> or Imperio<\/i> in the war if we wanted to win\u201d, Hermione was serious. \u201cYou had to separate intent from the means. Saying that dark magic is universally bad is like saying good people should only smile all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry and I ended up not wanting to win an argument unless it made the other one happy. It was just not seen as a victory if the other side ends up feeling defeated, because that would hurt, a lot\u201d, Lyra squeezed Hermione\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I decided that I may be a hamster, but at least I\u2019m your hamster\u201d, Hermione smiled at her friend, who pulled her sweater over her head and groaned in embarrassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never live down that stupid insult\u201d, Lyra let out a muffled whine.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, don\u2019t get me wrong, it was an insult in the beginning, and it hurt. But then, after the challenge in the hallways, I started paying attention and started seeing you for what you are, and the idea that you just might be such a wonderful person that I might actually feel like a pet next to you cured me of lots of my intellectual arrogance and egalitarianism. For the first time in my life, I looked at someone my age and was forced to accept that they are superior to me in every way, and it didn\u2019t feel humiliating, it felt great\u201d, Hermione touched her cheek to Lyra\u2019s hand. \u201cI was just miffed for not being allowed to be your friend, so when you approached me after the war, I was in hamster heaven\u201d, she laughed, to Lyra\u2019s enormous embarrassment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou know, the political landscape after the war ended up being completely different from what the Order of Phoenix would have expected\u201d, Harry smiled at his wife. \u201cThey had a very black and white picture of reality in their heads, … Continue reading