HARRY

This is a non-profit tribute to the works of JK Rowling who, together with her publishers and licensees, owns the characters and situations elaborated herein. SPOILERS

A/N Thanks to my reviewers and special acknowledgements to Cecelle, Bellegeste, Verity Brown, Under the Bridge and unlikely2 for their HBP thoughts and/or fics.

Harry, oh Harry, how hasty were you,
Shooting off hexes that you never knew,
When did your ethics lose out to expedience
And did you learn nothing from Ginny's experience?

Don't trust a book when you don't know who's written it
What's his agenda and what did he put in it,
Don't try out hexes unless you know what they're for -
Or you have back-up who'll wipe the blood off the floor.

Snape was so nasty 'twas easy to hate him
Blame him for everything, in lessons bait him,
Yet he was the adult who never had lied to you
Surely such honesty showed what he'd tried to do.

Twenty years spying had taught him obedience:
Orders are orders, no matter how tedious
Horrid or painful, they must be obeyed.
What did you know of the choices he'd made?

Albus lay dying, he knew death was near,
Long as you stayed alive he had no fear,
He knew he'd done all he could to prepare you,
He was the sacrifice fated to spare you

So to his trusted spy gave the command,
' "Severus ... Please ..." I must die at your hand,
Draco remain unstained, Harry alive;
Kill me now, kill me quick, let them survive.'

Did you learn nothing from your expedition
When Albus put you in the very same position?
Didn't he force you his orders to follow?
Didn't you force him his poison to swallow?

Were you the killer and Snapey the saviour?
Doing his duty to end it and save you
From death and from knowledge they both knew would break you?
When you called him "Coward", how tempting to wake you!

Harry, oh Harry, how hasty were you,
Judging and hating one you never knew?
Sometimes emotions must lose to obedience,
To win this war you must learn from experience.