Questions concerning Snape and Lucius

Sat May 3 13:11:53 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 56857

Susan XG wrote:

Okay, I have a few questions about Snape and Lucius.

1) Why did Lucius want to send Draco to Durmstrang when he's a 
alumnus of Hogwarts? Is it really because he wants Draco to be 
immersed in the Dark Arts completely or is it because he wanted him 
out of the way? Back in CoS, it was mentioned that Lucius told Draco 
to stay out of the way during the Chamber controversy. Why? 

Me:
It wasn't just because it was a 'controversy.'  I think Lucius fully 
expected people to get killed.  If Draco didn't stay out of the way, 
he stood a good chance of either getting killed himself (I really 
don't think basilisks care one way or the other whether they're 
killing purebloods, Mudbloods, Muggles or toads) or of being blamed 
for what was going on.  Lucius was trying to protect his son, I 
believe.  He was putting his son in a very dangerous position, but 
perhaps he thought to take his son out of school would look 
suspicious.  He had a bit of a balancing act to maintain.  I think 
sending Draco to Durmstrang is something he considered, or may have 
discussed with his wife, for the purpose of protecting Draco.  That 
he didn't is probably more because he thought it would look fishy 
than because Draco did anything to talk his dad out of it.  (His dad 
may not even know Draco knows it was considered--I could imagine 
Draco eavesdropping on his parents' discussions with great 
regularity.) 

Susan XG wrote:

And it's known that Lucius used the whole "I was under the Impervius 
curse", in order to get out of any charges regarding his allegiance 
with Voldemort. 

Me:
I believe you mean 'Imperius.' 'Impervius' was a spell used by 
Hermione to make Harry's glasses 'impervious' to water for playing 
Quidditch in the rain.  (Or it's just a version of 'Imperius' with a 
little typo. :D ) 

Anne NGUYEN HOANG <Anne at c...> wrote:

I don't know if english wizards can skipped the official education 
at Hogwarts. We know that student can be expelled (Hagrid) but I do 
think you need a graduation made by Hogwarts if you want to exercice 
an important job like apparently Lucius does.

Me:
You need to be a credentialed wizard to perform magic.  You are not 
considered to be a wizard otherwise, even if technically you have 
magical abilities, like Hagrid.  We have no evidence that there is 
no one working in the British Ministry who has attended a school of 
witchcraft and wizardry elsewhere.  It would be illogical for them 
not to accept the former students of other schools.  For instance, 
during the Grindelwald years, if he was operating mainly in Germany 
say, or elsewhere on the European mainland, there may have been a 
bit of a diaspora from there to Britain as people attempted to find 
somewhere safe to live away from Grindelwald.  For those people to 
find that their educational credentials were no good in another 
country would be very hindering.  From what we can tell, wizarding 
currency cuts across national boundaries, so there is no reason to 
believe that educational credentials are any different.

Anne NGUYEN HOANG <Anne at c...> wrote:

There's a general mistrust between the different countries (GOF, the 
triwizard tournament, and the quidditch world cup scenes both show 
us that there's a certain bad mood toward "the stranger"), IMHO, 
people who graduated from outside school can't have high 
reponsability jobs. By example, a topstudent from Dumstrang can't 
have Arthur Weasley's job.

Me:
Again, we have absolutely no evidence of this.  There is no reason 
given in canon for why a wizard who attended Durmstrang or 
Beauxbatons could not apply for a position in the British Ministry 
of Magic.  In fact, Fleur Delacour voices an interest in pursuing 
employment in Britain, and she will have finished her education at 
Beauxbatons.  I fully expect to see Fleur working in Britain in 
future books, with no impediment due to her 'foreign' education.  
(And if her Eenglish improves, it will be easier for JKR to write 
her dialogue. <g>)

Plus, I believe one reason why Lucius Malfoy knows Karkaroff, in 
addition to both having been Death Eaters, is because they were at 
school at Hogwarts together.  I have to say, I have been mystified 
at the idea that Karkaroff is Bulgarian or that Durmstrang is in 
Bulgaria, simply because of Krum being Bulgarian.  Bulgaria is 
clearly ONE of the countries from which Durmstrang draws its 
students, but it is a very small country on the Black Sea, situated 
rather far south to be a place where they need to wear furs as part 
of their uniforms.  Karkaroff says something like "Dear old 
Hogwarts," when he arrives for the tournament, which is the sort of 
thing a person would say who'd attended school there. His dialogue 
is not written with an accent of any kind.  He clearly speaks 
perfectly clear English.  Furthermore, he speaks English to HIS 
STUDENTS, who DO have accents when they speak English.  (In addition 
to Krum, a student who is interested in the wine Karkaroff offers 
Krum speaks with a thick accent.)  

The logical conclusion is that a) Karkaroff is from Britain and 
received a Hogwarts education; b) after convincing the Ministry to 
release him by naming names, he fled the country to wherever 
Durmstrang is located (his name suggests that he perhaps had 
relatives in Eastern Europe, who may have provided him with a 
refuge); c) he landed a job at Durmstrang and worked his way up 
through the ranks to be headmaster (which would again mean that a 
person can have credentials from a school in a different country and 
not be impeded in employment).  It is unclear whether English was 
always the 'lingua franca' of Durmstrang, to bridge the many 
languages spoken by students from a variety of countries, or whether 
it is something that was instituted by an English-raised headmaster 
(something that would be very like Karkaroff, it seems).  But it 
clearly IS the language in which Karkaroff speaks to his students 
(again, without any trace of an accent), unlike Madame Maxime and 
the students of Beauxbatons, who speak to each other in French when 
it is not imperative that others understand what they are saying.

Susan XG wrote: 

2) Why did Snape agree to be Lockhart's assistant for the Dueling 
Club? Was it because he wanted to show Lockhart up? Did he want to 
manipulate it so Malfoy would duel Harry? Did Dumbledore encourage 
Snape to participate?

Because even a few people think on that list *grin* Snape is a 
responsible teacher. I bet he heard about Lockhart wanting to take 
care of the duelling club. He didn't want to see dead students, and 
asked him if he can replace him. The silly Lockhart being a big 
mouth, turned that proposition into a assistant's deal.

Me:
You are probably right about Snape being there to protect the 
students from the incompetant Lockhart.  It is still unclear 
how 'onto' Lockhart Dumbledore was (whether, for instance, he wanted 
the lesson of sniffing out a fraud to be the main one the students 
learned that year in DADA), but he could very well have asked Snape 
to be present for the students' protection.  This is the sort of 
thing, of course, that continues to lead the students to perpetuate 
the rumor that Snape wants the DADA job, which I believe is bogus.

--Barb

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent
http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb