Snape's Task, Hard/Easy way, Harry's loss, Christmas

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 30837

David wrote:

> I don't believe that Dumbledore has any interest in contacting the 
> Dementors.  The idea that they are part of his task follows from the 
> things Dumbledore mentions to Fudge: ally with the giants; remove 
> Azkaban from the Dementors.  When Fudge defaults (a possibility long 
> foreseen by Dumbledore), Hagrid gets the first, Snape gets whatever D 
> can salvage from the second: perhaps to investigate, in whatever way 
> possible, what is going on between the imprisoned DEs and the 
> Dementors.  The Weasleys get the MOM as their task.

Hm... if Snape was sent to Azkaban for *any* reason, that's more than 
enough justification to look pale, in my mind.

> ...I can see the situation developing where 
> Percy will consider that he should take the hard decision to do 
> the 'right thing' and follow MOM policy, rather than the 'easy thing' 
> of going along with his parents' unofficial alliance with Dumbledore;

Oh, good thought. I remember when I read Dumbledore's speech for the first 
time thinking, "Hm, that's an odd way of putting it. Sounds like he's 
pointing out that if you take the 'hard way' you'll end up dead like 
Cedric." I personally don't think that was one of the Headmaster's most 
eloquent moments.

Jennie writes:
> But he [Harry] never tells 
> a sob story or uses the loss of his parents to gain sympathy or 
> advantage.

The closest he comes to this may be in PoA, when he says, "I'll never know 
what my parents wanted me to do, because thanks to Black, I haven't got 
any."

Ladjables wrote:
> I quite enjoyed this analysis and would just like to add two random 
> thoughts, the first being that magical folk celebrate Christmas 
> because it has something to do with the magi(the 3 wise men) who 
> visited Jesus on the night he was born in Bethlehem.

Oh, cool connection. If I ever rewrite that post, I'll definitely include 
this, if I may.

The subject line is full, so I guess it's time to end this post.

Elizabeth