TBAY: Bill is Ever So Dead with DIMINISHED CAPACITIES

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 55257



Had I only wandered into the Tavern with hopes of a drink or two? Ha, 
if only life were that simple, for here I was with a mound of moldy 
scrolls, piled in my arms and no way to even get to my drink anymore.

"I am head of the Auror!Arthur department of the Imperius!Arthur 
trimaran." Abigail proclaims. "Can I interest you in some of our 
literature?"

I gulped; glad that between the scrolls and my fedora, no one else 
was likely to see my bemused expression. "Um... do you think you 
could give me a summary?" I asked tentatively shoving the parchment 
rolls on to the bar. "And what else do you have in those pockets? 
Beyond the squashed sausages and slug repellent clinging to these 
scrolls I mean
"

"Well, you don't really need to get into all the canon for either 
theory at this point." Abigail conceded ignoring my latter 
question. "What you need to know is that Imperius!Arthur contends 
that at some point during Voldemort's first reign of terror, Arthur 
was placed under an Imperius curse. The older children, Bill and 
Charlie, would have been 10 or thereabouts by the time Voldemort 
fell, and would have more coherent memories of the time. They were 
probably cautioned not to reveal anything to their siblings, but this 
is a time of crisis, and Harry and Ron are not children anymore, and 
if Bill is going to spend a lot of time with them... Well, you know 
that I think OOP will be about the Ministry, so isn't it convenient 
that Harry's conduit of information has been replaced by a character 
who knows a lot more about Voldemort's first reign?"

"Um, I'm not too sure I buy all of the Imperius!Arthur theory
to start with" I protest feebly. "I guess that that will be
another round of drinks with Elkins, amongst others."
"However it
doesn't really matter to Dead!Bill that much. Harry has enough
people 
close to him now who know a lot about Voldemort's first reign
–
starting with Sirius, whom he is not hesitant about quizzing on those 
topics. Bill would only function as the conduit of one particular 
piece of information, namely letting the cat out of the bag about 
Imperius!Arthur
that's really not much to do
."

Abigail shakes her head violently. "How can you suggest that Bill
has no larger role when he has in fact usurped the role of one of his 
brothers."

"One of his brothers?" I echo. "You don't mean Percy?"

"That's right." Abigail smiles. " Just as events outside Hogwarts 
begin to become important to the Trio, they are conveniently provided 
with a conduit of information directly from the Ministry in the shape 
of Percy. However, towards the end of the book, when Ron writes to 
Percy with questions at Sirius' request, Percy responds almost 
angrily, and refuses to share information beyond what he tells 
everyone who questions him. So who is it that next gives us 
information about goings-on in the Ministry? Bill. I suspect that 
this dynamic will continue. It's very likely, in my opinion, that 
Percy will have a storyline in OOP, in which case we're going to need 
another character to provide us with information. That character is 
Bill."

"Oh, please." Derannimer interrupts. "We all know what you're really 
getting at. Don't listen to her, Errol...."

"Ah, I might be listening to her Derannimer" I winked
"...but don't you think for a minute I've bought it!.
Just for 
starters, its not Bill who provides the information at the end Of GoF 
but *Molly*. And if that dynamic continues, I still don't see a
role 
for Bill. <grin>. And how could Bill possibly replace Percy as a 
source when he is not at all involved with the ministry? Gringotts is 
internationally run by goblins, quite separate from the local 
government. In fact if there is anyone in the series less likely to 
be affected by troubles at the ministry or have access to their 
secrets I'd like to know!! 

The trio can still continue to get information from Arthur, and 
indirectly from the rest of the Weasleys
and what they won't
discuss Draco will set right, no fear. Nope, I don't see Bill as
the 
informant. He's going to be more of a hero, and that's a
bigger calling than mere informant." 

"Hey now, play fair" Abigail protests, exasperated.
"Didn't you
just contradict your own statement that Bill doesn't quite have a 
function in the narrative?"

"Not in the overall theme of things, no. But definitely a major
role in OotP. He has to get really close to Harry, and do enough for 
us to really mourn him when his beautiful young life gets tragically 
nipped in the bud"

"The very notion that Bill is the one to die counters your
insistence that the deaths of sympathetic characters have to have a 
progression to them" Abigail points out. "Bill is very similar to 
Cedric, and his introduction to the readers is practically identical. 
We met Cedric briefly in PoA, we got to know him better in GoF, at 
the end of which he died. So far, Bill has followed that exact same 
pattern. We may have known about his existance before GoF, but we 
only met him in that book, and now we suspect that he will have a 
larger role to play in OOP. Add to that the fact that Bill and Cedric 
are both coded the same way by the text - handsome, responsible, 
personable young men
."

"And there ends the similarity!" I interrupt. "Bill is
more personally identified with Harry, much more that Cedric who was 
viewed with from a `rival' PoV. Harry grudgingly came to like
Cedric –Bill is already established as actively representing
"Family" now, and is the one the lot of them look up to.
I'm quite 
certain he'll have adventures with Harry and establish an even
better 
personal rapport. Didn't Lupin do as much? Bill's death, I
guarantee,
will be much more horrible to write than Cedric's. 

"There's another reason why I don't think it's a good idea to
kill off a Weasley at this point." Abigail insists stubbornly. "
Up
until now, all the enemies Harry's faced have been focused on him. 
Killing off a Weasley brother moves the focus from Harry to Ron. I 
don't care how much a member of the Weasley family Harry feels 
himself to be. If Bill, whom he hardly knows, dies, the people most 
affected would be Ron and his family, and as we don't have direct 
emotional access to Ron, we wouldn't feel the full emotional impact 
of this death."

I sighed and turned to ferret out my drink from under the scrolls.
" Abi, Of course it would affect the Weasleys more –
Cedric's I
imagine hurt his family a lot more than it did Harry, but we still 
end up focusing on Harry's feelings. That's the way the
narrative is 
written. Ron would totally go berserk
but for the first time,
Harry will learn how others deal with grief. For the first time, he 
will not be mourning alone. Harry will be devastated by Bill's
death,
and feel guilty, and try to comfort Ron, watch Percy come back to the 
fold, stop the twins from going off the deep end, or perhaps even 
form "the order of the Phoenix" with the remaining siblings
to get some hot-blooded revenge
.anything could happen, the impact
depending on how it is written – and I'd say our Jo knows how
to 
write! 

I still hold that Bill's death is perfect in the progression
– a more involved character, important to Harry but not tooo 
important, a death that would open a whole lot of issues on dealing 
with death. In fact I'm liking it better now ...Ron engulfed in
grief 
might mature real fast, and if he tends to mourn by withdrawing, 
Harry will be on his own at the end of OoP and vulnerable (even if he 
has Hermione). ....say, does George mix anything in particular with 
these drinks? I seem to be rambling more than I ever do
"

" No such thing" George protested "you've just got an
extra dose of mould into that.... really should pay attention to 
where you put those scrolls, you know. Abigail's pockets are the 
leading sources of food poisoning around here"

I gingerly replaced my glass, almost fearful it would explode, and 
turned an inquisitive gaze at Abigail. "You do buy the
Progression spin to DIMINISHED CAPACITIES don't you?"

Abigail nods thoughtfully. "I can see that. I can also see several 
variations on that list. And frankly, I'm troubled by the fact that 
you've got three items on it. It occurs to me that this is the number 
of remaining books in the series. We've already had a book that ended 
with the death of a sympathetic character. What you seem to be 
suggesting is that every book yet to come will end with the same 
device." Abigail hops on a barstool. " And while you may be right, 
that DIMINISHED CAPACITIES demands a steady progression in the 
intensity of Bangs, it also demands that these Bangs have an element 
of surprise to them. The most effective Bang is the kind that no one 
expects. Consider this. OOP ends with the death of person X as you 
assumed. GoF already ended with Cedric's death. We've now had two 
books end with the death of sympathetic character - can there be any 
doubt that book 6 will also end in such a death? And when that death 
occurs, will it have the emotional intensity of Cedric's death and 
the OOP death?"

I nod gratefully at George as he passes me another drink. "Oh,
not at all...I never said each of the books *ended* with a death. 
Bill could die toward the end, even middle of OotP, but Book 6 might 
not Have any specific deaths
someone might turn up missing
perhaps
and
Book 7 could start with a Death, followed closely by another one in a 
double whammy
.anythings possible. And with two successive deaths
in 
4 & 5 wouldn't you be waiting for one in 6 – how like Jo to
not
give us one! Steady state? No way!"


Marina laid a comforting hand on my shoulder as she joined us at the 
bar. "Hmm... You know, Errol, I think you're onto somethng here.
In the later chapters of GoF, I seem to recall a definite suggestion 
of Fleur Delacour finding Bill rather... uhm... fanciable. And then 
we get a hint that Fleur might be returning to England the following 
year. Sounds to me like there is romance blooming in Bill's future, 
which, for a supporting character, is a sure-fire way to lower life 
expectancy."

Abigail's cheeks redden.

"What is it, Abigail?" I ask.

"What? Oh, it's nothing." Abigail says hurriedly. "I agree that if 
Bill finds luurrve in OOP, his chances of survival decrease, but 
whether or not he will is pure speculation."

"That's not it." Derannimer says gleefully. She reaches into one of 
Abigail's pockets, and pulls out another dusty tome.

"Give that back!" Abigail cries. "It was just a joke! I wrote in on 
OT-Chatter, for heaven's sake!" "Well, if you must know, I used the 
third task Fleur Delacour encounter that you two seem to find so 
romantic to suggest that Bill is the first canonically gay character 
in the series."

This is met with some silence. I don't think I was the only one
who lost the use of my vocal chords just then
.

"Er....cough...does the fact that Harry reacts so much less
strongly to Fleur than Ron signify a significantly reduced libido 
toward women? Or does it typify a stronger constitution that can 
resist Imperius with impunity? I'd say Bill is Strong too
if
Fleur
was turning on the charm there, he was well up to not making a fool 
of himself, and I'm sure that intrigued Fleur more
come on,
she's so used to those poor saps fawning around her.
Did she turn on a full blast of magic then? Maybe, `cause Harry
not reacting is no clue – He's practically immune too. Was
she so
stunned to see him that she temporarily forgot to turn on her charm?
Possible
it was just for a few minutes after all. Was she 
uncomfortable enchanting Bill? Oh I think not!...Bring it on
Baby!!"

And about this marriage thing..(grin) Tell me, George? Does you 
mother keep pushing you towards marriage as well?

Errol.