House Elves and Unforgivable Curses

[Amy Z]

Nia wrote:

> Given the fact that 
> JKR has so carefully planned out the events of her books, I 
> seriously doubt that she would have altered her master plan to 
bring 
> in AK here, two books early--especially with no explanation. (To 
> someone who had not read the books, this film scene would make no 
> sense.)  

Why is that?  I've seen the movie twice, and if LM starts to 
say "Avada . . . ," it takes close watching to realize it (I'll watch 
for it next time).  Anyone who didn't know the book would think the 
same thing I thought:  he's about to curse him in some way, or 
threaten him, as he does with the "sticky end" line.

It would be very stupid for him to try to kill Harry, true.  For that 
matter, it would be stupid (though admittedly not AS stupid) for him 
to try to curse Harry in any way, not only because he's at Hogwarts 
and within 15 seconds of Dumbledore's door, but for the actual reason 
that his curse doesn't work:  he tries it in the presence of a house-
elf who is in possession of his full powers and deeply indebted to 
Harry.  Lucius is clearly in the grip of violent emotion, not of a 
calm plan.  This is the case in the book as well as in the movie, and 
the scene seems very faithful to the book (except for the dumb ankle-
explosing bit, which I could've done without . . . how about a zoom 
in on Harry's sockless foot instead, which makes the sock's origin 
clear without requiring Harry to be dangerously flippant?).

Amy Z