[HPforGrownups] Re: Ron and the Trouble with Veela

[Torsten]

No: HPFGUIDX 50667

Star Opal:
>But then why make her part veela at all? Why not just keep her a beautiful, 
>capable (she is a champion) witch with a French accent? I'm not saying that 
>her having Veela abilities would detract from her at all.

Maybe just to add one more point for fans to argue about - what's at work here, Ron's 
hormones or Fleur's possible special power? ^_~

>Why point it out like that? Why, until we find out her name and before that 
>she really is part veela, call her 'the girl who looked like a veela' or 
>'the veela girl' (just had a creepy Peanuts Red Headed Girl moment ^_^ )?

Why point it out? To add another red herring and to give the reader a better impression 
of just how gorgeous she is. If Snape does indeed resemble a vampire in appearance, 
and Harry had seen one, there would be a mention of "Snape, who looked like a 
vampire", but it wouldn't neccessarily mean our favorite potions master really is a 
blood-sucker. At least not in the literal sense. ^_~

>"Ron went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but 
>nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise. <snip>
>But she wasn't entirely right about that. As the girl crossed the Hall, many 
>boys' heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily 
>speechless, just like Ron."  - GoF ch 16 pg 252

So why just "many boys' heads", why not "all" or "nearly all"? It's very unlikely the 
typical student has that much willpower. And why aren't the teachers affected?

>But while Ron does tend to act or speak without thinking, its not things 
>that are completely out of character for him. Like defending his family and 
>friends against insults. BUT asking someone out on a date isn't something 
>that Ron would normally do, much less in front of EVERYONE:

He didn't do it till then, since he's not been interested in girls before. Ron acts without 
thinking when he's overwhelmed by emotions. We most often see it when it's based on 
anger or lately jealousy, true, but here's it's love or strong sexual attraction, call it what 
you want.

>Sounds like a spell to me. "I don't know what made me do it!" "... it sort 
>of came over me..." "I just sort of came to my senses.."

But if Fleur's supposed-to-be Veela powers had been at work there, why was just Ron 
behaving oddly? There were plenty other people around, but Ron mentions none of 
them acting strangely, and he saw the whole scene of Fleur and Cedric talking 
surrounded by peers before he lost his senses.
Remember, "As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys' heads turned, and some of them 
seemed to have become temporarily speechless, just like Ron." If they were affected 
there, they should have been affected in the corridor, too.

>So why isn't Harry (and ALL the male students of Hogwarts) effected? Because 
>she's only PART veela. So someone like Ron who isn't as strong as Harry 
>against spells would still be susceptible. 

Wouldn't it be odd if Ron, who's been through real Veela attraction didn't grow to resist 
a minor version of it? It's possible to overcome Imperio - some can do it almost 
immediatly, others need more time - after all, and Veela powers seem like a weaker, 
more specialized version of it.
Ron's affected by Fleur's looks just like Harry is by Cho's, Ron just shows his feelings 
more openly than Harry, all the time.

>who has nothing against Fleur and is sorry if she gave that impression

I don't think she has these powers, but I of course think it's possible, and she might 
display them later. She just doesn't strike me as a person which uses them to gain an 
unfair advantage - if she can control them at all, can decide when to turn them on or off. 
She's just arrived at Hogwarts and is obviously quite unhappy about everything, 
complaining all the time - is that the moment when she wants to get all the boys' 
attention? She wants to affect Ron at the dinner (like: 'I would give everything to get ze 
bouillabaise'  ^_~), but not when she's leaving? Both rather unlikely.

Time to get out my main argument: Look at what exactly Veela power make men 
behave - they want to impress. They tell lies and consider to do 'impressive', foolish, 
dangerous things like jumping out of the Top Box. We see none of Fleur's admirers do 
that, they are simply stunned, as teenage boys tend to be when confronted with a 
gorgeous girl. If those 'many' boys in the hall had started to behave like those HRH saw 
in the woods, of if Ron had challenged Cedric to a duel to impress Fleur instead of 
stammering an invitiation to the ball, I'd agree she has Veela power. But to weaken the 
force of the power as well as change it's nature would be stretching things a bit too far, 
I say.
Also, she's a teenage girl that impresses other teenagers, but except for that 
photographer no older male seems to be as affected as strongly, though Veela power 
makes no difference there.
More, if she had the power, shouldn't she have the drawbacks, too? The mascot 
Veelas' "faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly 
whings were bursting from their shoulders-" when "the Veela lost control" (GoF, The 
Quidditch World Cup). Fleur doesn't change when she's angry (Harry becoming 
champion) or loses control otherwise (Second Task).
Finally, if she had the power and was aware of it, she would show some reaction when 
someone (like Harry) easily resists it.

Torsten