Objections to Magic Dishwasher - Shrieking Shack

[Grey Wolf <greywolf1@jazzfree.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51756

 > Melody on terrorist war being canon:
> Well, to be honest.  The idea of the terrorist war was JKR's not
> Pip's. It is canon not theory, so the praise should go to JKR.  That
> is* what Voldemort and Dumbledore are doing before the fateful night
> and after...or are you trying to say the terrorist war *is* just a 
> theory and not canon?

> Amanda Geist:
> Um. I have read the books as much as anyone and never considered it a
> "terrorist war." I looked at the current situation as kind of a tense
> one, a period of uneasy suspense. Dumbledore knows that It's Not
> Over, something will happen, but I don't think it's an *active*
> period. To me, "terrorist war" means a sequence of raids, forays,
> incidents; this is not what I perceive here. I can buy that
> Dumbledore's been active in making *plans,* but that is not quite the
> same thing. He's ready, because he's spent a lot of time with trusted
> allies and his Pensieve, preparing various contingencies for any of
> several scenarios. And now that this scenario is unfolding, he sets
> the most appropriate contingency in motion. But that's not a 
> "terrorist war," so I'd hesitate to say that's "in canon" 
> necessarily.An interpretation of it as a "terrorist war" can be 
> rooted in canon.

The terrorist war of which Magic Dishwasher talks is the one commonly 
known as VWI - i.e those 11 years when Voldemort and the DEs had free 
reign over the entire WW, killed wizards and wizards's families by the 
score and even muggles. Your description of what a terrorist war is 
coincides almost exactly with what was happening at the time. 
Obviously, when Voldemort got himself almost obliterated, the terrorist 
war in itself stopped, and only the information war continued at that 
point. And an information war *also* coincides with your description of 
what Dumbledore et co. have been doing. 

Please note that when Mel mentions the terrorism war, she is speaking 
of the time *before* the fateful night (i.e. the night James and Lily 
were killed).

> Wolf:
> Sirius was roaming the castle in form of a dog. Dumbledore needed him
> to have more or less free reign, so Harry could have a chance to save 
> his life.

> Me:
> Why does Harry have to save Sirius' life? Isn't it Pettigrew's life
> that Harry has to save, in MD's view? I'm confused.

That was the original feeling of Pip. It was changed sometime back, 
though. I hope you'll excuse me if I don't remember the exact post out 
of the 300 or so that might have mentioned the change. Basically, MD 
says (and has said for some time now) that Dumbledore couldn't be sure 
of who exactly had been the traitor that night. They distrusted Lupin, 
and for all they know Sirius was indeed responsible (he was secret 
keeper, after all - although whther or not Dumbledore though that or 
not at the time is still in the air), and Peter has faked his own death 
and remained hidden, even when considered a hero for 11 years (remember 
that MD says Dumbledore knew about Peter). It is entirely possible that 
any of the three, and maybe even two of them or even the three, are in 
fact Voldemort allies. 

So the plan behind SS is to have the traitor scape with a life debt to 
Harry - whomever that might be. And, during that night, they manage to 
have Peter scape in rat form with a life debt to Harry, and Sirius 
scape in Buckbeak with *another* life debt to Harry. Well, two out of 
three ain't bad. If Peter had indeed been inocent and Sirius the real 
traitor... well, by the time Dumbledore had suggested helping Sirius 
escape, he would've guided them to some other method, but the result 
would've been the same, in the end. And, really, all Dumbledore wanted 
was results.

> Wolf:
> Snape was close enough to peek at Lupin when he entered the tunnel.
> We assume that Lupin was in his wolf form at the time. Now, a real
> wolf is between twice and three times as fast as a human on the run 
> (and werewolvesare suposed to be even quicker), so if the wolf had
> wanted to catch up with him, Snape wouldn't have had
> time to go all the way back the tunnel. And werewolves are driven to
> hunt humans (canon, FB). So, Snape was dead. And since James was 
> there with him,so was he - unless he changed into an animal big 
> enough to control Lupin -his animagus form. There is no other way for
> James to save himself and Snape from a crazed werewolf (no potion in
> those days). So Snape knows about James' animagus abilities, and thus
> so does Dumbeledore (which I'm pretty sure asked for explainations 
> after the prank).

> Me:
> I object to this phrasing of conclusions as fact. We simply don't
> know that there was no other way for James to do what he did. It
> needs *In my opinion,*

OK, I thought it was clear from my style that this is all part of a 
theory (I'm still talking MD, after all), but that might be just my 
brain thinking in another language. Consider the "IMO" at the beggining 
of the paragraph inserted.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf