Dumbledore, the wizard world, Harry's wizarding [was Quidditch] skill

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 30861

Phil wrote:
> 
> > Has anyone named Dumbledore as a candidate in the "Who Will Die?" 
> > discussions? Several times in _Goblet of Fire_, Harry notices how 
old 
> > Dumbledore is -- when Harry's in his office (first time), and 
later 
> > in the novel, too.

I think the deaths of main characters will be foreshadowed, and not 
just used for overwhelming dramatic (read: shock) effect.  So far, I 
don't think Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Hagrid, at least, are in 
danger.  

My bets are on:

- Dumbledore.  Frequent mentions of his great age, and comments of 
his such as the one about death being just another adventure to the 
well-organized mind seem to not only imply that he accepts his own 
eventual death and is more than prepared for it, but also that the 
readers should possibly do the same.

- Sirius.  Death-wish guy.  While in school, he tricks Snape into 
nearly getting himself killed ~ which, wow, talk about a way to get 
yourself in the HUGEST amount of trouble possible.  Then, he laughs 
and lets himself be taken to Azkaban without even trying to tell 
anyone what Pettigrew has done ~ very accepting of a fate equal to, 
or even worse than, death; this could be explained by depression & 
guilt, but on the other hand, I would think that generally a person's 
survival instinct would kick in and at least *some* attempt would be 
made to defend oneself.  Yet, no so for Sirius.  Lastly, the fact 
that he takes off for Hogwarts to kill Pettigrew at great risk to 
himself, rather than trying simply to out Pettigrew and thus save 
himself; and then he later takes off for Hogwarts, again at great 
risk, when Harry's scar hurts him.  That last is a wonderfully 
sentimental and heroic thing, however based on past actions, I'd 
say 'heroic' should be modified to 'tragic (i.e., doomed) hero' in 
Sirius's case.

- Percy Weasly.  He has shown a penchant for taking too seriously his 
reputation and rules and pragmatic duties, over things like family & 
the feelings of others.  Also, he showed completely blind devotion to 
the doomed Crouch Sr., and I can see him doing much the same in 
regards the Ministry of Magic.  I don't think he's in danger of going 
over to the 'dark side,' or of betraying his family for rules and 
reputation, so much as being another casualty in the Ministry's (or 
at least Fudge's) determination to ignore Voldemort's return.

Anyhow, that's mho.  But it's getting me down.  :-P  So moving on.

Elizabeth wrote:
> Catlady wrote:
> 
> > ...I also would not 
> > be surprised if the entirely wizarding world and all the magic 
> > people except Hermione were destroyed...
> 
> I've wondered myself if this is where JKR is headed. Partly because 
the 
> wizard world is so flawed-- riddled with prejudice, wracked by 
> factional infighting, and heavily dependent on slavery and 
oppression 
> of other intelligent species-- is it really worth saving? 

No way (imho). The wizarding world is only as flawed as the real 
(outside the books) world. If Rowling dismisses all of the wonder, 
beauty and possibility with which she has imbued the wizarding world 
as not worth saving simply because it is naturally flawed, than I 
think she would be also dismissing all of the goodness & potential of 
our own world, as well.  I don't think she's that pessimistic, really.

Elizabeth wrote:
> Actually, I'd go even further and ask, what if *all* Harry's wizard 
> abilities come from Voldemort, without which he wouldn't have been 
a 
> wizard at all? 

Hrm.  I thought I remembered that it's writ somewhere that a magical 
quill writes, in a book in Hogwarts, the names of magical children at 
the moment of their birth?  If this is the case, I would think that 
Harry had some magical ability at birth, at least.  It would be very 
interesting to discover what exactly he got from Voldemort, though, 
as you say!  I expect he'd be willing to give up the Parselmouth gig; 
but what if he's so low on the talent scale without Voldemort's added 
power that he'd be about as capable as Neville currently is without 
it?  That would certainly be a blow.

Mahoney
P.S.  I started out signing my name as 'Dana,' but I see there is 
another Dana here.  So I'll use 'Mahoney' from now on.