[HPFGU-Movie] Lockhart's "mission"

[wynnde1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/19/2002 6:09:10 AM GMT Standard Time, 
illyana at mindspring.com writes:


> I highly doubt that the faculty would give Ginny up "for dead or 
> worse" - think about who you're talking about. I could possibly see 
> Snape not caring (although, in my opinion, I think that Snape *does* 
> have a heart), but there is no way that McGonnagal or Dumbledore 
> (especially Dumbledore) would ever give up on a student who was in 
> danger, even if there was a 99% chance that the student was dead. I 
> do agree that Lockhart's mission was most likely a ploy to get rid of 
> him, but Ron and Harry probably did not know that, and might have 
> thought that the rest of the faculty was, in fact, replying on 
> Lockhart to rescue Ginny. I think that's why Ron was so upset.
> 

Now me:

Snape definitely DOES care (CoS, The Chamber of Secrets):

When MacGonagall tells the staff that a student has been taken by the 
monster, 

"Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, 'How can you be sure?' 
"

That sure sounds to me as though he is very upset at the idea of a student 
coming to harm. And all the other staff members mentioned have equally 
intense reactions of distress.

And yes, Lockhart's mission was definitely a ploy to get rid of him, and 
Harry and Ron know this, as they were still in the closet to overhear 
MacGonagall say, 

"That's got HIM out from under our feet.The Heads of Houses should go inform 
their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take 
them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no 
students have been left outside their dormitories." 

So the thing that is sort of strange here is that Ron and Harry do know it's 
a ploy, yet at this point, they still have enough faith in Lockhart to 
believe that he is really going to try and enter the chamber:

"Do you know what," says Ron. "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell 
him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him 
where we think it is, and tell him it's a Basilisk in there."

And we (as well as Ron and Harry) don't see any plan on the part of 
MacGonagall to actually try and save Ginny, although we also don't know that 
she isn't planning to do something, either. So that may have been part of the 
reason they decided to go - believing that no one but Lockhart was going to 
try.

:-)
Wendy


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