Fleur's Intelligence w/a Quidditch aside

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 13236

Penny wrote:

>Even if Crouch hadn't stunned her
>and she had reached the Cup first, would the points she might have
>garnered been enough to propel her into being the TriWizard Champion? 
>I don't think so.  

Actually, I'm pretty sure the rules were that whoever touched the 
Triwizard Cup first won, not only the the 3rd task, but the 
tournament.  Kinda dumb if you ask me (like having the Snitch be 15 
times the value of a goal*), but I think that was it.  They 
handicapped the champions according to points, and then whoever got to 
the cup first was to win.

Anyway, back to Fleur...


> I don't think it's necessary to be a "Hermione" to be school 
champion.
> None of the 4 seem to be on that level of academic achievement.
> Dumbledore says that the Tasks were designed to test "their magical
> prowess -- their daring -- their powers of deduction -- and, of 
course,
> their ability to cope with danger."  Of the above, really only 
powers of
> deduction requires mental agility.  Magical prowess could be just 
innate
> ability after all.  Anyway .. bottom line is that I'm not convinced 
at
> this point that Fleur is necessarily intelligent *just because* she 
was
> selected as the Beaux Batons Champion.

All good points.  What is intelligence anyway?  "Innate ability" or 
something else?  And can one be extremely talented at magic but 
downright dumb in other ways?  I'm sure.  But if the original question 
is "Does Fleur fulfill a particular stereotype of blondes, e.g. a lack 
of intelligence," then I'd have to say that looking at the big picture 
of Fleur, we can take into account her evident magical talent (and 
hard work and all the other things that presumably go into being that 
good a witch) and say No, she really doesn't.  

If the original question is, can we add Fleur to the list of blond 
characters who are unsavory in one way or another, the answer seems to 
be a clear Yes.  She certainly isn't going to win any popularity 
prizes on this list (though she grew on me, as she did on Harry).

Amy Z

*Actually, this isn't quite so dumb a rule (the Quidditch one) if 
rankings are by points rather than by wins and losses.  In the 
intra-Hogwarts Q. tournament, it's overall points that matter, so that 
the point difference made by a couple of goals could mean the Cup 
(this is what happens the year Gry. wins the Cup).  If it were just 
total wins that won a house the Cup--whoever wins three matches wins 
it--the Chasers and Keeper would be almost irrelevant, and in fact, a 
good strategy would be to ignore offense entirely and put the entire 
team to the task of backing up their Seeker and interfering with the 
other team's Seeker.  I wonder how it works in the national and 
international Quidditch leagues.  Maybe QTA will tell us (ordered mine 
last night! <g>)

-------------------------------------------------
  "Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye
Moody," said Mrs. Weasley sternly.
  "Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he,"
said Fred quietly, as Mrs. Weasley left the room.  
"Birds of a feather."
                    --HP and the Goblet of Fire
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