[HPforGrownups] Ron might die!

[Richmond Paul-ra9250]

No: HPFGUIDX 54663

Ali wrote:
> Running Weasel never lost a game of chess and was killed by his rat 
> that was dyed yellow by some of his friends as a joke earlier. 

OK, this is just funny.

My first thought was that this was an obvious joke, and I was amazed that anyone could believe it.  Then I take a look and see that this silly story is posted on at least a dozen websites!  It has all the earmarks of an intentionally created hoax, including the fact that this same story is quoted almost word-for-word on all these sites.

There was one site that had something a little bit different, posted by "Speedball":

"Uh-huh. In this fantasy novel I read recently, there is this character whose name is much like "Running Weasel". Historically (i.e. according to one of his presumed descendants, Kat Weasley) this guy was supposedly a great warlord and a brilliant military strategist, who also never lost a single game of chess. In the end he was said to have been killed by a rat -- one that had been dyed yellow. The rat knocked down a lamp in his house and burnt the place to the ground, killing Running Weasel."

Kat Weasley? Is this a character from a fantasy novel? Nope, it's a Harry Potter fan who's posted on several fan sites.  Including one where she posted as "Kat and Ali Weasley."

Wait, wasn't that email from Ali?  Aha!

My only question to Ali: did you invent the hoax, or are you just helping it spread?

- Paul Richmond