[HPforGrownups] Re: Molly and Missing Weasley

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 37464

Amanda comments on Barbara's post:
> Bravo! Well stated. I have also always thought Molly's reaction a bit
> extreme, given the reactions we have seen from her to some of the twins' or
> Ron's escapades. This was true fright, as opposed to Mom Being Extremely
> Mad, and I know the difference, having more than a few child-induced gray
> hairs myself. And I agree that a prior experience with having a child done
> great harm while she wasn't there to protect it could bring on this
> intensity. [It also may explain part of why she mothers Harry so; his mother
> *was* there to try to save him, and failed...it doesn't *all* have to come
> 

Well said. 

> The main objection to the Missing Child theory in the past was that Ron
> didn't mention it. I believe that Ron doesn't know. In my family, sure, we
> all would, we'd talk about it, but that's how *we* deal with things. But
> plenty of families do not process grief that way, and might wait until a
> very young child was older to explain, and then spend years not finding the
> right time.
> 
> There are loads of other things that Ron doesn't know about the Voldemort
> years; I likened it before to my own generation/age (I'm 37) and the Vietnam
> war. It ended when I was in the first grade; I know next to nothing about
> the particulars. I happen to have grown up in the window when those who were
> involved just wanted to leave that part of their lives behind them, and
> those who wrote history books did not yet include it, it was too recent. It
> was not a topic of discussion at our house, it was either something for
> discussion to take you away from or not something you discussed in front of
> 

I agree totally. My parents generation grew up during WWII and it is common 
for people of that generation not to want to talk about it. Yes, the 
community spirit it engendered, the camaraderie etc, but not the painful 
details. The wizarding community seem to be particularly tarred with this 
brush. They seem to have a particular propensity to hide their heads, 
ostrich-like in the sand. They won't even mention Voldemort's name, let alone 
talk about the terror of living in the time of his greatness. They take 
refuge in rules and regulations, in cosy assumptions rather than face up to 
the possibility of it all happening again.

Amanda
> So I find nothing particularly peculiar in Ron's ignorance of the Voldemort
> years. They were horrific, and they are the recent past. All the adults in
> the wizarding world were deeply affected, to the point where this is still
> not what they chat about over scones and tea. And the history that the
> Hogwarts children are learning will get them to the Voldemort years sometime
> 

Yes. I wonder if Binns is spending so many years in the Middle Ages, or 
whenever the Goblin Rebellions were, simply to avoid having to teach more 
recent history.

Amanda:

> But back to the Missing Weasley child(ren). Other objections, harder to
> explain away, were two: (1) that the clock in the Burrow, whose description
> I cannot find at the moment (rrrrgh!) shows if any Weasley is in mortal
> peril; a glance at the clock should have reassured Molly. Counters to this
> ran: dead is not mortal peril; it wouldn't register on the clock, and so
> Molly could still be terrified; or, Molly is so wacked out by the resurgence
> of her former experience that she either simply didn't think of it, couldn't
> bear to look at it, or did and doesn't trust it. (2) If Arthur knew that
> Molly was likely to have such a reaction, and it seems he did, then he could
> have Apparated to the Burrow, reassured her, and Apparated back to the
> children. Counters to this were that Arthur might not have wanted to leave
> them, given that one of them is Harry Potter and the perpetrators of the
> Dark Mark were still at large. [He could have sent Percy....had Percy
> already gone someplace else? sorry, long time since I read this and I've no
> 

Ah... But what if the clock *did* say mortal peril (during the evening, that 
is)? With the DEs at large and Barty Crouch running around with Harry's wand, 
who knows what any of them might have done if cornered. OTOH, Molly might 
have been safely tucked up in bed by the time of the activity and missed what 
the clock said. Yes, by the morning, if they were dead, mortal peril would 
seem a bit inaccurate.
I think Arthur was concentrating on what at the time was most important. It 
may not have occured to him that the news would reach Molly before they did, 
as (as Barbara noted) they reached the Burrow shortly after dawn. (The paper 
also got there jolly early!)

I would imagine also that he and Molly have been through this sort of thing 
before. There must have been many times in the past (the past we don't talk 
about) when he was in danger and when Molly had to wait in uncertainty, 
perhaps times when the clock really *did* point to mortal peril. He can't 
have kept apparating backwards and forwards to reassure her and I'm sure 
Molly wouldn't expect him to.

Amanda:
> Anyway, bravo again; I do think this supports the theory nicely. Molly is
> not a castaway character, but rather central; I don't believe JKR would be
> sloppy or casual about any details of her reactions. Molly reacted very
> strongly because JKR wanted her to, and there was a reason.
> 


Seconded. Does this mean I've signed up to the missing child theory? I like 
to keep my options open, you know.

Eloise


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]