More Musing on the Put-Outer

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 30275

Calypso wrote:

> In the scene where we see the put-outer we are seeing it in "muggle 
> narrative", so to speak (<g> I'm making up English terms for HP 
^_^). When we 
> find out about the world of witches and wizards the perspective 
changes into 
> third person omniscient when we see things from Harry's POV. 
> 
> Did that make any sense? I'm trying to think of a better way to 
word what I'm 
> trying to say but the medicine seems to fog my brain -_-
> 
And Pippin wrote:  

>   1.The wand is a give-away for wizardry, whereas the Put-Outer, 
> Dumbledore's watch and the motorcycle aren't necessarily 
> magical. 


I understand what you're both saying.  The name Put-Outer is clunky 
because we're hearing JKR "speak muggle," sort of, and she doesn't 
want to reveal about wand usage and magic just yet.

Whether she wants to or not, she is certainly telling us that there 
is magic going on.  After all, when Hagrid shows up, Dumbledore and 
McGonagall look "up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; 
it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky -- and a huge 
motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of 
them."  If she wanted to conceal the presence of magic, she could 
have re-written this passage to much more ambiguous.  

I think that she wouldn't resort to using and naming the Put-Outer 
for reasons of "muggle speak" or POV, though.  If Dumbledore took a 
brown stick out of his pocket and pointed it, she still wouldn't be 
giving anything away about magic wands if she didn't call it a wand.  
And Hagrid shows up on a flying motorcycle, but she doesn't bother to 
give it a formal, capitalized name, like "Air Bike."  She also 
doesn't bother to give the watch a wacky name like "Planet Watch," 
although it is also a magical device.  That's a reason to believe the 
Put-Outer is unique and awfully important.

While we're on the subject, though, I need to quickly tweak 
this "forcefield" idea.  This "protection" we see Dumbledore embed in 
the lamps could be a couple of things:

1.  A forcefield/invisibility screen that prevents wizards from 
finding the Dursleys house unless Dumbledore tells them the wizard 
where it is.  This idea works well enough, as the force field isn't 
in place to prevent Hagrid from arriving.  Presumably Mrs. Figg and 
her band of feline hit wizards have been told the location, so the 
forcefield wouldn't prevent them from protecting Harry.  

But the problem with the forcefield idea is that Fred, George and Ron 
are able to find the house in CoS in a flying car, Dobby finds it in 
CoS, and Mr. Weasley connects it to the floo network.  Owls also find 
it quite easily.  So I don't think it is a forcefield or invisibility 
field after all.  I take it all back.

2.  A surveillance device that lets the good wizards know everything 
that is happening on Privet Drive.  This works a lot better, I 
think.  We certainly know that MoM instantly knows about all magic 
that happens on Privet Drive, based on their response to Dobby's 
magic and Aunt Marge (and we know they don't react instantly to magic 
other underage wizards perform).  We know that Hagrid or Dumbledore 
knows that Harry isn't receiving his letters, that he is moved from 
the cupboard to the bedroom, and that the Dursleys flee.  Maybe each 
of the 12 street lamp is a separate surveillance device, perhaps 
sending different types of information (magic usage, communication 
monitoring, visual image) to different recipients (one for MoM, one 
for Dumbledore, one for Mrs. Figg, etc.)

Also, Voldemort tells us in the graveyard that he would have had a 
shot at snatching Harry at the Quiddich World Cup, but Voldemort 
wasn't yet strong enough.  That indicates that Voldemort believes 
that Harry didn't have the protection at the QWC, but Harry is 
protected if he goes anyplace with permission of his parent or 
guardian (which is why neither Fudge nor McGonagall is willing to 
sign his Hogsmeade form).  Also, we know Fudge was panicked when 
Harry ran away after he blew up Aunt Marge.  JKR specifically tells 
us that he was a few streets away, on Magnolia Crescent.  So it is no 
wonder why MoM panicked -- Harry was "off the radar," they couldn't 
see him, and they had no means of protecting him.

Another (and hopefully last) obstacle is figuring out how Harry is 
safe when he is at school, away from the 12 monitoring devices on 
Privet Drive.  Maybe the answer is that Harry is safe when he is in 
the presence of his relations.  When he is at school, he is in 
Dudley's presence.  Had Dudley gone to Smeltings and Harry gone to a 
different muggle school, that protection wouldn't have existed.  It's 
a good thing the wizards spirited Harry away to Hogwarts when they 
did.

Cindy (pleased to think that maybe Dudley serves a purpose after all)