Arthur, you have my deepest sympathies. What a difficult situation for both you and Ron. You're right, my friend: no child should have to be faced with these kinds of decisions, but living in Lord Voldemort's Protectorate, I'm afraid we must confront them whether we wish to or not.
Of course you can't tell him about the Order, but I suppose you can tell him about some of the dilemmas you face at work, and how you try to weigh the harm you must do against the good you hope to accomplish. He needs to carefully weigh the benefits that the programme can give him. Are the benefits truly worth it? Is he learning valuable skills? Will those skills put him in a position to be able to help people later on? Those pros, whatever they are, must be weighed against the cons, which includes the harm he may be forced to do. And yes, harming others, especially using the Unforgiveables, will mean harming himself.
We taught our trainees that the first step was threat assessment, and there are many choices available to them before they should think to use deadly force. Threats escalate depending on whether the person doing the threatening is a friend, a neutral or an enemy. And who is he protecting? Himself, a friend, or a bystander? Reactions can range from warning to attempting to escape, to causing injury without causing permanent harm, to permanent injury, to death.
So that's how I'd suggest you start, with a talk about the benefits of the programme. To my mind, they'd have to be downright spectacular to justify mucking about with the Unforgiveables. Best to avoid those if all possible. And you had best warn him about the dangers of dealing with Dolores Umbridge if he stays in. You know very well how poisonous she is, no matter how sweet she pretends to be.
no subject
Of course you can't tell him about the Order, but I suppose you can tell him about some of the dilemmas you face at work, and how you try to weigh the harm you must do against the good you hope to accomplish. He needs to carefully weigh the benefits that the programme can give him. Are the benefits truly worth it? Is he learning valuable skills? Will those skills put him in a position to be able to help people later on? Those pros, whatever they are, must be weighed against the cons, which includes the harm he may be forced to do. And yes, harming others, especially using the Unforgiveables, will mean harming himself.
We taught our trainees that the first step was threat assessment, and there are many choices available to them before they should think to use deadly force. Threats escalate depending on whether the person doing the threatening is a friend, a neutral or an enemy. And who is he protecting? Himself, a friend, or a bystander? Reactions can range from warning to attempting to escape, to causing injury without causing permanent harm, to permanent injury, to death.
So that's how I'd suggest you start, with a talk about the benefits of the programme. To my mind, they'd have to be downright spectacular to justify mucking about with the Unforgiveables. Best to avoid those if all possible. And you had best warn him about the dangers of dealing with Dolores Umbridge if he stays in. You know very well how poisonous she is, no matter how sweet she pretends to be.