Skeeter - Trelawney - Ginny - Blazon - That Book

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 21322

beyondthelamppost wrote:

> It seems to me that Rita never does anything
> unless it helps her in some way, so I doubt 
> that she joins with Fudge.  I also don't think 
> she would be much use for Voldemort because her
> writing is primarily sensational - not propaganda.
>  However, I wouldn't be surprise to see her go 
> after Voldmort - to get the big scoop.  Hmmmm.
> Also, it seems like their are very strict penalties
> for being an undeclared animagi, so Hermione's 
> threat may very well prevent Rita from saying anything.  

I deeply resent the noxious Ms. Skeeter having *stolen* my personal
name, Rita. Why not Dita Skeeter like Dita Beard?

She could join with Fudge to get a Pardon for being an unregistered
Animagus, or in order to get the Order of Merlin, or in order to get a
job that paid more for less work... depending on what she values in
life.

She's a pretty good snoop, good at finding the truth even tho' she
doesn't publish the truth, and thus could be useful to the Dark Side as
an intelligence officer (like a spy). Or stirring up public rage against
innocent parties by way of protecting perpetrators...

If there are very strict penalties for being an unregistered Animagus
(one more strike against Sirius), then if she did something bad and
Hermione punished her by turning her in to MoM, she would have nothing
to lose by telling the rest of her information against the good guys.
Hermione would be aware of that: it's the Mutually Assured Destruction
(MAD) theory of deterrence that she would have learned from reading
history books about the Muggles's Cold War.

Devika wrote:

> Or what if she publishes her sensational article
> about the shocking story behind the imprisonment
> of Sirius Black, the MOM's injustice, and the true
> story of Peter Pettigrew...nah, she couldn't
> possibly be that helpful.

She would do it if it was to her own advantage. If the DAILY PROPHET
only cares about big circulation, not about supporting Fudge or
supporting Lucius Malfoy, then if Fudge spited her, she could tear him
and his Ministry down for punishment. Or there could be another amoral
politician who wants to replace Fudge, and the rival and Skeeter could
make a deal to build up the rival by tearing down Fudge, if the rival
didn't also hate Sirius and Dumbledore (who would benefit by the side
effects of that method of tearing Fudge down). My implication being that
part of the deal is that the rival would reward Skeeter for her help. 

Jenny from Ravenclaw wrote of Dear Sybil:

> I believe that JKR created her to show us that
> not all teachers have unquestionable knowledge 
> (I know I don't), and some teachers pretend to
> be more than what they really are.   

She already showed that with Lockhart.

Rosmerta wrote:

> I just don't think it's physically possible for
> a child of either sex who's last in a line of 7 
> not to be way *way* more street-smart than Ginny is.

Does it make a difference that the older children were away at boarding
school for 3/4 of each year since age 11? (September 1 to a two week
break for Xmas to very late June)

Amanda wrote:

> I wanted to mention that an archaic term for 
> the badger is the brock
        
Which is why the Badger Animagus (registered) in my LilyFic has the
nickname Brock.

An article about badgers in SMITHSONIAN magazine IIRC in 1999 said the
name 'badger' comes from the idea of a heraldic 'badge', referring to
those bold white stripes. (Do I recall correctly that the 'badge' is the
logo worn by followers, such as the Rose of England, Thistle of
Scotland, Shamrock of Ireland, etc?)

Are a critter's markings allowed to violate the no-color-on-color azure
on sable) rule? 

I believe that the Sinister lion and Regardant brock on the School arms
are Dexter and Gardant on the House arms (and the respective Founder's
arms), but were changed on the Quartered arms in order to face center.
I  believe that was allowed back in the days when William Marshal made
his living fighting in tournaments. Even if it wasn't allowed, other
people's rules can be forced on Hogwarts School no more than on Alaric
Morgan of Deryni.    

I want the Snape family to have long ago grabbed themselves invalid arms
reflecting their claim to be descended for Salazar Slytherin, and all
I've thought of so far is green background (field vert) marked with a
big black X (saltire sable) with a silver serpent plopped down over it
-- if I said vert, ON a saltire sable, a serpent argent, wouldn't the
serpent be small enough to fit entirely on the saltire?

And I keep trying to figure out if the Crest of the Malfoys is the Head
of Janus crowned with laurel, the Masks of Comedy and Tragedy, or the
Kallisti Apple (an apple Or marked with the Greek letter Kappa: K). 

Meg Rose wrote:

> I was reading this book I have recently purchased 
> out of curiosity, titled "Harry Potter and the Bible". 
> I don't have the authour handy, as I have lent the 
> book to a friend.  But my point is that I was 
> TOTALLY APPALLED by the opinions put forth in this 
> book:  He claims that Harry Potter is totally immoral,

The author of that book, Richard Abaness, posted in this egroup back in
April. He was reasonably polite but no one in the group agreed with his
ideas. He seems to view any violations of rules (e.g. going out after
curfew) as a Sin, and any telling of a lie as a sin. I get really
Annoyed when people accuse me of Situation Ethics meaning No ethics, but
I do believe that the situation makes a difference: even tho' I care
very much about truthfulness, the people concealing Anne Frank's family
in the attic SHOULD have lied when the Gestapo asked them: "Do you know
where any Jews are hidden?" In addition to a higher rule superseding a
lower rule, I believe that some rules are just stupid, and obeying them
is matter of self-preservation (from Law Enforcement) rather than
Ethics. Abaness claimed not to agree, and if we had been talking one on
one, I would have asked about Christian martyrs killed for practising
their faith in Ancient Rome or Communist China: were they sinning by
refusing to obey the national laws against Christianity?

Abaness seemed concerned that a child who sometimes breaks rules and
sometimes is impolite is a Bad Role Model. Personally, the point at
which I knew I LIKED this Harry Potter book was page 53 of Book 1, when
Dudley threatened to shove Harry's head down the toilet and Harry turns
it into an insult against Dudley and then runs away before Dudley has
finished figuring out the insult. I was So Pleased that I wasn't being
asked to read about some unrealistic, boring, annoying, inhuman Plaster
Saint of a Perfect (according to adults) Child. I was glad that the
Dursleys hadn't been able to beat all the spirit out of him.

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