[HPforGrownups] Re: Arabella Figg and Polyjuice/Arthur and Molly's past

[yr awen]

No: HPFGUIDX 42778

Corinth said:
I just thought of another bit of support for my "Arthur and Molly are 
not old crowd members" theory.  I was about to ask why we assume 
Arabella is not actually old.  I always have simply so she would be a 
contemporary of Sirius, Lupin, James, and Lily.  Taking this into 
consideration, it seems Dumbledore assembled a very young group to 
fight Voldemort.  <<<<<<<<

I think you're omitting someone who may end up being important -- Mundungus Fletcher, who is described by Arthur himself as being "old Mundungus Fletcher", is one of the 'old crowd.' The impression I got from Dumbledore's words is that the old crowd isn't a highly, highly exclusive group of people, but rather those who are the most dedicated to stopping Voldemort. The people Dumbledore wants to summon, furthermore, seem to be a group of outsiders (we know how Lupin feels about the threat of Voldemort, but not Figg -- although we have good conjectures -- or Fletcher), and thus untainted by Ministry politicking.

Corinth:
Why?  Perhaps he felt that with all the Imperius 
curses going around, he couldn't trust anyone who had previous 
experience.  This would include MoM employee Arthur.  Why assemble a 
group a young, just-graduated wizards, and then throw Arthur and 
Molly into the mix?  They simply don't fit. <<<<<<<<<

Are you referring to the first confrontation with Voldemort, or the second? I'm sorry, but I'm not clear on that :-) I'm guessing you're meaning that, in the first battle, Dumbledore needed the 'rookies' (so to speak), while older wizards/witches -- eg McGonagall, Arthur -- could possibly be corrupted or influenced due to their being more well-known, or being thought of as a more logical target for the Dark side. But then, I could be completely off-base.

In GoF, Dumbledore doesn't seem to be setting up a full-frontal assault against Voldemort, at least, not yet. He is, however, explicit that Arthur needs to begin working right away in order to convince people in the Ministry not to share Fudge's attitude. Additionally, the in-gathering of the 'old crowd' may be limited to just Lupin, Sirius, Arabella, and Mundungus, but the structure of Dumbledore's request leaves that in doubt; he is either saying that the above four (plus himself) are the totality of the old crowd, or is assuming that by telling Sirius just a few names he'll know who else to contact. Hagrid, for example, may be a member of the old crowd, but is being sent off to rally the giants to Dumbledore's side; Arthur may be a member of the old crowd, but he has to play the role of insider in attempting to influence Ministry opinion.

Secondly, in an earlier post it was mentioned by someone, I can't remember who, that Molly's reactions to Sirius Black and her obvious, yet suppressed, fear when Dumbledore asks if he can count on her, indicate she and/or Arthur is/are not a member/s of the 'old crowd' or a trusted cadre of Dumbledoreian soldiers. I honestly can't agree with that, at least, as a piece of evidence. She has a very large family and a *lot* to lose in the coming war, and I think it takes a lot of courage to place herself and her children in danger. There, too, is always the presence of the "mortal peril" location on the Weasley family clock -- for me, that has unexpectedly dark overtones in a descriptive passage that is otherwise light-hearted. Dumbledore probably recognizes this, and wants to find a way to say he *knows* she and Arthur will help him out without actually stating it as such.

Of course, I think the difficulty in figuring out who the 'old crowd' is is complicated by Dumbledore's vagueness and the fact that, outside of a few key conflicts, not much is known about everyday life during the first war, or the lesser struggles that took place outside the events mentioned in the books. Maybe Molly and Arthur should sit down and tell a few war stories... Bill would probably remember fairly well, as would Charlie. Hagrid's sketch of the first war with its attendant distrust and fear (PS/SS) is quite intriguing.

HF
--
www.ontheqt.org
eth.pitas.com

Habent sua fata libelli.
/Books have their own destiny.\
+ terentianus maurus +


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