TBAY: Lars is bright tonight (part 1 of 2)

[Susan Miller]

No: HPFGUIDX 87645

This is the first of a two-parter that describes my Quirrell theory. 
Because a large part of the theory is, well, pretty theoretical, it 
seemed that it would be best presented in the fictionalized format 
that TBAY defines. However, I realize that many do not like the TBAY 
format. For this reason, I will be following these two TBAY posts 
with another in standard essay format that gives the same information 
and will, hopefully, encourage participation by listees who are not 
comfortable in the waters of the Bay.

The title of all the posts "Lars is bright tonight" is intended to 
describe how important Scandinavia will become in this version of the 
Potterverse.

(Standard disclaimer, this is my first TBAY effort, yadda, yadda ... )

So, grab your snorkle, and let's follow the fish into the Bay .....


<"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   <"((><   

Mid-morning being about the right time to start the day, George walks 
through the front door of George's Tavern, which is always kept 
unlocked, to begin today's business. To his surprise, the room is not 
empty. In a large corner table, surrounded by books, scrolls and 
pamphlets, is a witch in a gold robe wearing a green hat. She is in 
deep concentration over something on the table. George approaches.

"Hello, I don't believe I've seen you in here before."

The witch looks up. "No, I haven't visited before. I'm Constance 
Vigilance, and I dropped by to visit some friends over on the Big 
Bang Destroyer. But it seems to be adrift and I found this floating 
nearby." She points to the Big Paddle which is leaning against the 
wall. George's eyes widen. "Anyway, I went looking in the Rec Room 
and found this puzzle. I brought it over here where the light is 
better. I hope you don't mind. I made some coffee - help yourself. 
Oh, and don't mind my little friend here," she says, pointing to the 
spider dangling off her hat, "This is just my sister, Hyper 
Vigilance, transfigured. She won't hurt you, but she keeps me in line 
with all my canon references."

Ever the proper host and proprietor, but eyeing the black spider, 
George takes the Big Paddle and asks, "Can I get you some food?"

"Oh, yes, please! I'd like your Scandinavian breakfast platter."

George steps away and returns shortly with a plate of herrings which 
he delivers served up on the Big Paddle. He helps himself to some 
coffee. "So, what's with the puzzle, Constance?"

"Well, it's a bit hard to tell because I don't have the box lid, and 
there are lots of pieces missing, and I think there are some extra 
ones, too. But I think it's a picture of how canon fits together. The 
background is a map of Europe, see? I've got some of the sections 
assembled - Hogwarts fits nicely in the Scotland area, but most of 
the rest of the locations could fit in any of several places. I've 
also got a lot of the characters, but it's hard to decide how they 
all fit together."

Constance is pushing one rather inconsequential-looking section 
around thoughtfully.

George sips his coffee. "So, this guy - purple turban, stammering, 
duplicitous look ... why is old Quirrell giving you trouble? He 
should just go in the Hogwarts Morgue for DADA Teachers Who Went Bad?"

"The problem with Quirrell is that there is so little of him. He was 
barely even IN the story that he stars in, and of course, was 
disposed of right afterwards." Constance helps herself to a herring. 

"He has some odd characterisics, I mean, besides having Voldemort 
stuck on the back of his head. First, he seems to be quite dedicated 
to his craft, and to the study of the Dark Arts in general. And he 
seems to be quite a skilled wizard - he does lots of wandless magic 
in the dungeon. But the most puzzling thing is his seeming connection 
to Scandinavia."

"Quirrell in Scandinavia?" George sits down at the table, 
interested. "That's a new one. How so?"

"Well, there are two links. First, he has a particular skill with 
trolls. Trolls are especially prevalent in Scandinavian lore. I'm 
thinking he might have spent quite a bit of time living near trolls 
to learn how to handle them so well. Secondly, he was able to get a 
Norwegian Ridgeback dragon egg. This is no simple task because we 
know that these are quite rare. It is logical to assume that a rare 
type of dragon might not have much of a range outside of Norway. I'd 
say Norway or Sweden, but not much farther, otherwise, because of 
their rareness, they would not be able to find a breeding parter and 
would die out."

George looked quizzical. "But how could he have gotten to Norway and 
back without having been missed? You can't apparate out of Hogwarts, 
the Knight Bus can't go under water, he would have to get permission 
from the Ministry of Magic for a portkey and broomsticks take too 
long?"

Constance put the Quirrell section next to Hogwarts, where it fit 
perfectly. The puzzle began to hum softly.

"Yes. That is the problem. He could have asked someone else to get it 
for him, but since the whole purpose of the egg was to get the answer 
on how to get past Fluffy, he probably wouldn't want to talk too many 
people about that. And he had to hurry - if the egg gets cold, the 
baby dragon would die. Even someone who he might ask to send a 
dragon's egg would have the same problem of how long it would take to 
travel being bad for the baby dragon. He could have made it easy on 
himself by just getting the egg of a local dragon, such as a Welch 
Green, but he didn't. So, why was Scandinavia his first choice?"

George stirred his coffee. "Do you have an idea?"

"I think he had a short cut north that made a trip to Norway easier 
than getting a local dragon. We know that there is another way out of 
Hogwarts which leads north. We saw it being used once in another 
context. I'm talking about the Lake, of course. We know that we can 
get from the Lake to somewhere on or near Durmstrang. I'm guessing 
that this portal is pretty quick - quick enough to make a Norwegian 
dragon more convenient than a Welch one. But this portal goes to 
Durmstrang. It's north of Hogwarts alright, but does it take us close 
to Norway?"

Constance opened a Golden Scroll labeled "The HP Lexicon" and 
read "Durmstrang: (A) castle in northern Europe, so far north that 
the days are very short in winter."

Constance looked up. "The Lexicon doesn't say much about Durmstrang. 
We don't really know where Durmstrang is."

Constance reached for a pamphlet labeled "So You Want to Attend 
Durmstrang?"

"All we know about the geography of Durmstrang is that the winters 
are cold, the days are short, and there are mountains, lakes and 
forests. That could very well describe somewhere in or near Norway, 
except for the fact that it has a German-sounding name and the 
headmaster and some of the students sound like they belong in Eastern 
Europe. We know that Viktor Krum is Bulgarian, for example."

Constance continued, "I sent an owl broadcast (message 87518, 
Quirrell and Scandinavia?) to see what ideas others had about this 
particular issue. Most people believed that Durmstrang was in Russia 
because of the names problem." Constance picked up a section of 
puzzle which looked different from the rest and moved it next to the 
Durmstrang pieces. "Berit Jakobsen, who is from Norway, provided this 
piece (message 87528):"

"Trolls are certainly "native" to Scandinavian countries, and so are 
the Norwegian ridgeback it seems. Also the mentioning of high 
mountains, lakes and a harsh, cold climate + very short days in the 
winter fit well."

Constance continued, "Berit, a native Norwegian, agrees that 
climactically, Norway is an excellent candidate. But then the message 
continues:"

"The only problem I have (but this is also a big problem that can't 
be overlooked) with Durmstrang being in Norway are the Slavic 
sounding names that you mention. Those names would be very foreign to 
Norwegian language and traditional culture. 

<snip> 

"The only historic incident I know of where a considerable amount of 
people with Slavic-sounding names resided in Norway was during the 
2nd World War: The Germans shipped thousands of Yugoslavians to 
Norway and forced them to do slave labour. A lot of them died from 
hunger and exhaustion..."

Folding up Berit's message, Constance looks up. "Berit was trying to 
prove that the names issue was really a contra-indicator for putting 
Durmstrang in Norway, but in fact, presented a solution to the very 
problem."

Constance opens a book entitled "Modern History of Muggle Norway", 
authored by Berit Jakobsen, and reads briefly before looking up.

"Berit describes part of Muggle War II when Germans occupied Norway 
and imported labor from Eastern Europe. There is actually a very 
interesting section in this book about a lake in Norway which was 
part of the Nazi A-bomb development efforts which is well worth 
reading. If the denizens of the Bay are interested, I would be happy 
to send them the excerpts by e-owl." Constance closes the book. "But 
back to the immediate point. I think it could have been possible for 
a Dark Wizard to have co-operated with the occupying force. I think 
the Dark Wizard could have taken over a wizard school in Scandinavia, 
renamed it with a German name and populated it with young wizards 
from Eastern Europe with the purpose of training them in the Dark 
Arts. In fact, there is a candidate Dark Wizard who could have done 
exactly that."

"I think that Grindelwald was that Dark Wizard."

George choked on his coffee. "But the only thing we know about 
Grindelwald is that he was defeated by Dumbledore in 1945!"

"Exactly. And Dumbledore was at Hogwarts at the time. I think that is 
the source for the portal. I think that Dumbledore created the 
portal, used it to travel to Durmstrang in Norway, and defeated 
Grindelwald. I think Karkaroff might have used it once or twice 
before, too, because he says how nice it is to be BACK at Hogwarts. 
We have no evidence that any non-Brit ever attended Hogwarts, so when 
might he have been there before?"

Constance connected Berit's piece to the Durmstrang piece where it 
fit. Returning to the "So You Want to Attend Durmstrang?" pamphlet, 
Constance continues,

"Since the War, Durmstrang has continued to specialize in training in 
the Dark Arts, becoming a sort of a Magnet School, attracting 
students from all over Europe who want to learn the Dark Arts For 
Noble Purposes. This could be another source for students and staff 
with foreign-sounding names. We know that Draco Malfoy, a wizard with 
a French name, was a candidate for Durmstrang."

Constance took a breath and paused to refill her coffee cup.

"I think Quirrell was one of those foreigners who attended 
Durmstrang."

George stared. He started to make a comment, but just then, a noisy 
group entered the Tavern demanding service and runny eggs. Ever the 
businessman, George said "Stay right there. I want to talk about all 
this as soon as I take care of all these people."


<end of part 1>

Constance Vigilance