Eagle owl redux

[lupinesque]

No: HPFGUIDX 43108

Once again, I weigh in on a TBAY post and sink the SCOW with my 
un-narrative writing style.

> Dicentra scratches her head.  "But if it isn't delivering that
> message, what is it doing?  Why mention it?  Either it's SCOW fodder
> or it's a FLINT. And as much as I like collecting can(n)ons for my
> little barge, I'm going to bet that this one is a FLINT."  

<snip>

[JKR]
> messed up with the timeline
> in the rewrites.  Otherwise, there's no reason to include Owl Flies
> Through Coil." 

It's the ultimate in bad taste to quote liberally from one's own old 
post, but since it's in the noble cause of saving JKR from another 
Flint accusation, I'll unselfishly sacrifice my good name.  <g>

I wrote, in message 37881:

[Cindy having asked] 

> >So. What was that darn eagle owl doing that night?

>What I take from this, given the other mentions of eagle owls as 
>associated with Draco or (in Harry's dream in GF, "The Dream") 
>Voldemort, is that "eagle owl" is a big screaming neon sign 
>saying "TROUBLE HERE!" In the midst of this rather poignant scene, 
>it's a warning. This reader missed it completely the first 3 times 
>she read GF, but if any eagle owls stick their beaks into OoP, I'm 
>on 'em like white on rice.

>What was it doing that night? Well, we know there are communications 
>between Crouch Jr. and Voldemort, and as Tex points out, there may be 
>some between Draco and Rita as well. Then there are the other dodgy 
>things going on, like Bagman coping with the goblins (Cindy, you 
>asked long ago whether we could implicate him <g>) and Fred and 
>George coping with Bagman. No particular event in the books matches 
>up with this post, if it even is a post and not just an owl out for a 
>pleasant springtime fly, but to very attentive readers it conveys a 
>sense of foreboding.

I now add, here on August 24:

In other words, master plotter though she is, not everything JKR does 
is plot-related.  Sometimes she is creating atmosphere, and should not 
be accused of Flint production for engaging in this most literary of 
aims.  

She has "loaded" eagle owls so that they are now symbolic as well as 
being plot-significant.  They convey character (if a new character 
owns one, we'll be suspicious of him/her) and mood.

Amy Z

--------------------------------------
Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a 
kind, thoughtful and sensitive boy.
      --HP and the Chamber of Secrets
--------------------------------------