Leading into Temptation/the Light that Failed

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 47573

JOdel wrote:
>One snag in all the Quirrell theories is that we do not know a lot of
>facts about the man and Hagrid is an unreliable witness. So is
>Voldemort, who states that Quirrell was already a teacher at
>Dumbledore's school when he caught him, but I think this was probably
>the truth.

You brought up a very good point there.  How can we trust Voldemort's
word?  And many do not trust Hagrid's since it seems he overstates.  I
want to believe Hagrid since he has never out and out lied, but I
think often times he is not presented the whole truth for his own good
and the good of the cause.


>(And very possibly Quirrell was yet another ex Head Boy -- that would
>bring us up to four, so far.) Very bright, very upstanding, very
>brave, quite ambitious and much too easily sold a bill of goods once
>he gets beyond the walls of Hogwarts and out in the real world.

You know I agree.  He does parallel Percy quite nicely, and I see
those same intelligent traits in Quirrell too.  Even Quirrell says in
the mirror room that his head was "full of ridiculous ideas of good
and evil" (PS/SS Ch17) so it is implied that he was ok until Voldie
"showed him how he was wrong".  He was seduced by Voldie but I don't
think controled, which bring us to your next part.


>Mind you, I agree that the methods and actions which he took while
>possessed were his own. Voldemort ordered this and that with a "make
>it so" compulsion and it was up to Quirrell to figure it out. But the
>direction and the compulsions which drove him were Voldemort's.

I think we will have to disagree.  I see a difference between
following orders and being "willed" to follow orders.  Ginny was
willed.  She did not remember doing any of it, but only when she put
the pieces together did she see what was going on.  Quirrell, on the
other hand, could even talk and argue with Voldie.  In the mirror
room, he bickered with Voldie not to show himself to Harry.  Granted
he did not put up a great fight, but it seems to me, at least, that
Quirrell was free to do as he wished.  He may of been following orders
but he could decide what he wanted to do.  After Voldie attached
himself to Quirrell's head, Quirrell was still normal.  He was
completely himself and could continue with the stutter charade.  He
knew all that was going on and how to reach to everything.

Really, he was, as any seduced person, between a rock and a hard
place.  Voldemort was attached to his head by then.  Voldie could not
torture him like he could Peter, but he seems to be able to affect him
and punish him in some way for his insubordination.  Quirrell may of
been subject to Voldie's whim, but he placed himself there by his own
choice.  To relate back to Ginny, she did not know what she was doing
with the diary.  She was not making conscious decisions.


Melody