Molly and Missing Weasley

[m.bockermann at t-online.de]

No: HPFGUIDX 37444

Eileen wrote:
"The terror it inspired ... you have no idea, you're too young. Just
picture coming home, and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your
house, and knowing what you're about to find inside ..." Mr. Weasley
winced. 'Everyone's worst fear ... the very worst ..."
"There was silence for a moment."
Missing Weasley children anyone?


Me:
There is even more to support the Missing Weasley theory. And it is the very
next scene after the end of "The Dark Mark" in GoF: it is in the chapter
"Mayhem at the Ministry".

The first time I read "The Dark Mark", I couldn't understand Molly's
reaction at all. (The first time, I was reading the German translation
where - IMHO - the ambiguity of the end of "The Dark Mark" gets lots in an
inaccurate translation). The scene seemed totally exagerrated and out of
character. This is a mother of seven children, I thought. With that many
children, at least one should always be in trouble, ill or something like
this. As much as I adore JKR, I thought the scene was below her usual
standard. Well, it happens to the best I thought, and moved on to the next
where everything was again in order.

But the scene takes on a totally different, hackle raising quality if you
consider the possibility of a dead Weasley child. Rita wrote in her article
(GoF, 165): "The Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of
the Dark Mark, alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any
more information. Wether this statement will be enough to quash the rumours
that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be
seen."

This is what Molly reads about the World cup: there has been the Dark Mark
and probably bodies. And then she freaks. She waits before the house for
them to come home. When her husband and children turn round the corner, she
cries out, runsto them with a pale face and red eyes and with her bathroom
slippers still on. She embraces the twins with whom she had argued before
the cup ... having dreaded the possibility that they had died and that she
wouldn't have a chance to make amends. She is actually sobbing. Her husband
has to soothe her and prise her from the twins. Hermione has to make her tea
and Arthur adds a shot of whiskey.

After reading the article one would expect some anxiety... but to this
degree? I don't think that this is foreshadowing or simply Molly's nerves.
>From what we have seen, Molly is a strong person who handles a lot of
responsibility and masters it superbly. She is described as a friendly
person, very loving who cares deeply for her family. But she has a temper,
too, as can been seen in her arguments with the twins. That speaks of an
inner fierceness. Such is not a person who would freak easily or without
reason.

Molly says something that is intriguing: "What if You-Know-Who had got you,
and the last thing that I ever said to you is that you didn't get enough
O.W.L.s?" The chain of thought: Dark Mark -> You-Know-Who -> death is as
strongly present and vivid in her mind in her than in those of her
husband's. That speaks of a conditioning that runs deeper than hear-say or
compassion with another victim's families. It reeks of personal experience.
I daresay that Molly has been there before, has lost a child this way: with
a Dark Mark hovering over their house upon their return.

Also note, that Arthur tries to reach Molly early: he wakes up the children
after only a couple of hours sleep and has a "hurried discussion" with
Basil, the keeper of the portkeyes. I believe he hopes to reach Molly before
the news can reach her - and fails.

What do you think, ye supporters and attackers of the Missing Weasley
theory?

Greetings,
Barbara Jebenstreit