[HPforGrownups] Re: Apparate or Die Trying / Dumbledore's Dispensability

[amanda_snape at juno.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 39446

---------------->Apparate or Die Trying
On Thu, 06 Jun 2002 02:28:52 -0000 "cindysphynx"
<cindysphynx at comcast.net> writes:
> This *is* bothersome, isn't it?  JKR has not done a single thing to 
> explain the many instances when wizards ought to apparate out of 
> trouble but just don't.  Sheez, all kinds of wizards just *stand* 
> there all flummoxed, about to be blasted to *bits* when they should 
> be popping right out of there?  

~*Maybe a power of Dark wizards is the ability to impair certain powers
of other wizards at will?  Sort of like the Dementors' power of sucking
the happiness out of a room?  Or maybe, like you said, the victims are
simply flummoxed.  I would be paralyzed with fear if a DE showed up on my
doorstep!

> OK, so James and Lily don't apparate, er, because they can't do it 
> with Baby Harry.  Fine.  Frank and Mrs. Longbottom have the same 
> problem with Toddler Neville.  Whatever.

~*Darn, where's that jar of floo powder when you need it?  ^_~  Hey, you
have to cut the Potters a break.  It may have been different if it was a
couple of DE thugs, but LV *himself*? ... I'm still not satisfied with
the Longbottoms, though.  Sure, you're being tortured by evil Death
Eaters.  Sure, you're probably really distracted.  Maybe your kid is even
being held hostage (where was Neville when all of this was happening?)
But you'd think at least one of them could have popped out of there and
gone for help!

> So why doesn't Bertha apparate away? 

~*How much do we really know about Apparating?  Does it require a wand or
a special command, or is it some of this mysterious "wandless magic" JKR
has hinted at?  Even if Bertha realised who Peter was, would she have
been in a position to Apparate away?  

> How about Real Moody pops out 
> of a tight spot before he is captured by Crouch Jr. and Wormtail?  

~*Crouch Jr. and Wormtail:  two of _Voldemort_'s followers.  I'm willing
to bet they found some way to stop him Apparating - after all, I wouldn't
just *ambush* (tee hee) one of the most powerful Aurors around without a
Plan B, would you?  

> How about Crouch Jr. apparates out of the top box to freedom?  

~*Wasn't he under Imperius? And if he was still magically bonded to
Winky, he couldn't have anyway.  Apparently, you can't apparate with
passengers - and house elves have their own kind of magic, too.

> Wormtail's chances of survival are probably better if he just 
> apparates away when Sirius corners him instead of this elaborate 
> self-mutilation scheme, right?  

~*Ah, but then PoA would have been a Very Short Novel! ^_~  Besides, you
have to give Peter *some* credit here.  Which one is better:  Apparate,
and live to be hunted down for revenge another day... or fake your death
and frame the guy who could incriminate you?  *Jeopardy theme*

>That Wormtail *still* hasn't sorted 
> out the ins and outs of apparition when he doesn't apparate out of 
> the Shrieking Shack, preferring to sweat profusely and glance at the 
> door instead.  Sirius doesn't apparate out of the Shack when Harry 
> is about to blast him either.  And Lupin and Sirius fail to apparate 
>  out of Snape's clutches, preferring to take their chances with the 
> dementors, apparently.  

~*In all of these cases, the wizards in question were in a weakened
state.  Peter's been a rat for 12 years, Sirius has been in Azkaban or on
the run, and Lupin is fighting the full moon.  You just can't win in the
Potterverse!

> Good grief!  Why did JKR even add the concept of apparating to HP if 
> she wasn't going to set up some reasonable rules governing it?  
> Yeah, we know that you can't apparate off of the Hogwarts grounds.  
>  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  But what about everything else that happens away 
>  from Hogwarts?

~*If there's a charm that can keep you from Apparating at Hogwarts,
surely the DEs have tapped into this handy magic and made their own?  Who
wants to chase down innocent Mudbloods, after all, when you can just sit
there and keep them from Apparating and AK them on the spot - without
even getting your robes dirty!  Now there's the kind of demented, evil,
DE logic we all know and love....  

> I hope she fixes this soon, 'cause wizards aren't doing *nearly* 
> enough apparating to suit me so far.

~*Yep, you're right.  *sigh*  Wizards in the Potterverse must just have
incredibly bad luck(obviously - being AK'd can't be too pleasant...) I
don't think it's a Flint on JKR's part, though -  seems to me that every
AK'd wizard we've met so far died because there was No Other Way Out.

----------->Dumbledore's Dispensability
>So you want us to think outside of the box on Dumbledore's demise, 
>eh?  OK, then.  What lethal things has JKR established in the 
>wizarding world that haven't killed anyone just yet?
>Here's a partial list:  

~*You left off a few:  
-Defective broomstick
-Arsenic-laced pumpkin juice
-Bludger gone astray
-Tragic fire in Dumbledore's office (thanks, Fawkes)
-Those chains Filch mentions: some ominous foreshadowing?  
-The Monster Book of Monsters 
-Runaway Gringotts cart
Ah, the possibilities.....  ^_~

~*Amanda Snape
who gets annoyed every time she runs spellcheck and it tries to change
HPforGrownups to "phosphorus"

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