TBAY: In the control room

Thu Nov 27 20:57:45 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 85981

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "erinellii" <erinellii at y...> wrote:
> "Very good," says Pippin, but before she can continue, Oliver and 
> Abigail walk into the room.  A small owl sits on the shoulder of 
> Abigail's many-pocketed overcoat.  
> 
> "There you are, Erin," says Abigail. "Right after you and Jenny 
> disappeared, this owl turned up with a letter addressed to you. I 
> figured this was where we'd find you.  
> 
> "And," says Oliver, clutching his BB GUN as he watches Pippin 
> closely, "We wanted to make certain you were all right."  The PARTY 
> LINE badge on his otherwise unadorned black cloak chooses that moment 
> to gleam brightly.[snip]
> 
> > 
> "Evil!Bill who kills Dumbledore, and-" Erin is amending, when 
> suddenly a flash of bright green light slices over her shoulder, 
> missing her by inches.  Erin, Jenny and Abigail scream.   
> 
> A tall man in black with long red hair tied back behind him and an 
> upraised wand stands before them.  "You have irked me far too often 
> this day.  Spilling my secrets, trying pyschoanalyze me, and now 
> revealing my Ever So Evil plan to off Dumbledore.  You must be 
> silenced!  Avad- "
> 
> "Quickly!  Into the control room!  It can only be accessed by 
> Portkey!" yells Pippin.  The five of them race through the halls 
> until they reach the control room, where Sneaky the House-Elf is 
> already cowering.  
> 
> "We wizard-proofed this place a long time ago," explains Pippin, 
> gesturing at all the rows of buttons, levers, and 
> videoscreens. "There's no telling how much harm Stoned!Harry could do 
> if he were able to enter.  Now, you two," she says, turning to Erin 
> and Oliver, "you do realize what you've done?"
> 
> "It's Ever So Evil Bill," whispers Oliver miserably. "Our belief has 
> embodied him. Oh Erin, what are we going to do?"
> 
> 

"Oh my God, I cannot believe it" utters a thunderstruck Olivier.

"What ?" asks Erin, "don't tell me you're afraid of Evil!Bill now that we have created 
him. You knew all along this was going to happen."

"No no, it's not that. Erin, do you realize that I am now stuck in a room with Pippin ? It 
is... it is a pleasure getting to know you" stutters Olivier.

"I have never trusted stuttering people" says Pippin, advancing towards Olivier. "So, 
you are the one who has been giving away Support Lupin badges anywhere in the Bay 
? Why, did you really think you could convince anyone ? I was there before the release 
of GoF, you know ? I have seen many ships cheered, many harbors cleared, and many 
newbie like you going as they've been stunned and are of sense forlorn."

"I am not afraid of you" cries an appalled Olivier 

"Yes, you are" whispers Erin.

"Shh, don't let her know !" whispers back Olivier before continuing with a falsely 
confident voice. "I'll stand by Lupin till cannon shoots us down. I am not weaponless." 
Olivier threw back his cloak. The Erin-made BB GUN glittered as he grasped it and its 
bright canon shone like a sudden flame as he swept it out. For a moment, it seemed 
to the eyes of Erin that a white flame flickered on Olivier's PARTY LINE badge.

"Do you think that impresses me ?" Pippin smirks at the view of the weapon of her 
opponents. "I am from the lord of the rings too, so stealing quotes from it won't help 
you. What do you have to say in defense of your beloved Lupin anyway ?"

"Well, I believe ESE!Lupin is wrong, deeply wrong, fundamentally wrong. You even 
admitted it way back in your 39362 post, Pippin" says Olivier.

"The fact that it is sad does not mean it is not true" cuts Pippin "what do you think ? 
JKR is not writing a lullaby."

"True, but until now she has shown great thematic consistency, she would not ruin the 
whole thematic impact of a book just for the pleasure of Lupin saying "bang! you're 
dead Dumbledore, I was evil right from the start". Now what is the main theme of PoA 
?" Olivier asks

"Some have argued it is overreaction" answers Abigail. "Just about every one seems to 
overreact in it : Aunt Marge overreacts to James, then Harry overreacts to her, Ron 
overreacts to the loss of Scabber, Hagrid to Buckbeack's case, Snape to Sirius, Sirius to 
Peter, Wood to Quidditch and so on. It is literally and symbolically a book where 
everyone seems to act like animals."

"Yes that is true, but I think it is not the whole story. I think a most important theme 
is liberating oneself, breaking free" says Olivier.

"You sure read the title" says Pippin, somewhat sarcastically.

Ignoring the comment, Olivier goes on : "Of course, we have the main plot of Sirius 
breaking free from Azkaban, but also Harry leaving the Dursleys and experiencing 
freedom from the first time.

********
It took Harry several days to get used to his strange new freedom.
PoA ch.4
********

And for a moment at the end, he even thinks he is going away from then for good. 
Sirius himself escapes a second time, not to mention Buckbeack. Of course it is not 
all, most of the plot in PoA is devoted to Harry feeling imprisoned in Hogwarts while 
his friends are in Hogsmead and him finally sneaking out. And of course, Peter 
escapes. In the words of our dear Sybill 

********
His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the 
servant will break free.
PoA ch.16
********

So I think my point is well supported."

"But where does Lupin play any role in this ?" asks Erin.

"I think Lupin, and also James, Sirius and Peter, have a part in the liberation theme 
too. Let us come back to PoA ch.18.

********
My transformations in those days were - were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a 
werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. 
[...]
My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so whiled I was with 
them.
[...]
Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the 
village by night."
PoA ch.18
********" 

I have always read this as Lupin's liberation : going out from the Shrieking Shack, 
where he was suffering agony, trapped in his own body, to roam the grounds freely, 
and very carelessly by the way, but freely. I have always found the image of a stag, a 
bear-like dog and a gigantic wolf running in the Forbidden Forest very picturesque. 
But can we say Lupin has achieved freedom with this ? In my opinion no, he was 
betraying the confidence of Dumbledore and putting his friends and the other 
students in an extremely dangerous situation. It is but justice that Lupin's 
transformation ruins everything at the end of PoA and that Lupin has to go away in 
the end..."

"That is the only part where I would agree with you" remarks Pippin. 

"Let us now pay a look at what happened to the "breaking free plot". Sirius is forced to 
go in hiding again, and we now know that he was bound to spent the last years of his 
life entrapped again, on the worst possible place for him except for Azkaban. Harry is 
forced to go back to the Dursleys. Okay, he has a signed form from Sirius allowing 
him to go to Hogsmead, so in a sense, part of the freedom plot is resolved, but it is 
arguably the least significant. Peter has rejoined the Dark Lord, and even if it is hard 
to guess what fate awaits him, one can hardly say he is free. So Lupin only remains. 
Suppose for an instant he was ever so evil" says Olivier in a dramatic voice. 

"It's okay, Erin, it is just an hypothesis" he adds to a shivering Erin. 

"Let us suppose so. Then it would mean that all the breaking free plots were doomed 
from the start. And that I cannot accept, I am sure JKR would not have made this 
theme so pervading in PoA only to show its vanity in the forthcoming books. 

In fact, it was you that gave me the idea how it could be developped, Pippin. The only 
thing I have ever considered in ESE!Lupin is the fact that Lupin could be tempted to 
join Voldemort if he was convinced that Voldemort could free him from his illness. So 
unless JKR has chosen to doom the "breaking free theme" in PoA, it is necessary that 
Lupin free himself from his werewolf condition."

"Wait" shouts Pippin, "that is nothing but meta-thinking. You suppose that breaking 
free is a theme in PoA and then you suppose that JKR would not contradict a previous 
theme. You have absolutely no canon to support any of your claims."

"It is meta-thinking" concedes Olivier. "But you must admit that there are plenty of 
canon for the breaking free theme in PoA. And you yourself put for the idea that one 
of Lupin's driving force was to be freed from his illness. So that is acceptable. As for 
the idea that JKR will expand on a Free!Lupin, look at him in OoP : he is serene and 
very ready to discuss with his fellow werewolf. Besides, I have always thought meta-
thinking was a sound way to proceed. I mean, JKR's world is not perfectly coherent, no 
matter how you look at it, some things will never make any sense. On the other hand, 
it is beautifully coherent on the symbolic level, so I would rather rely on my thematic 
intuition than on pure logical analysis to understand it. Anyway, Erin, do you want to 
adhere to FILK LOAD ?"

"What does it mean ?" asks Erin.

"Freed from Illness Lupin Kan Lead Order After Dumbledore's Demise !" answers an 
obviously overjoyed Olivier, "it gathers those who trust Lupin enough to envision him 
leading the Order should anything happen to Dumbledore. Yeah, I know, I know there 
is some misspelling and it should really be FFILK LOADD, but you get the idea. After 
all, I should speak like Fleur." 

Regards,

Olivier

PS : All my apologies to Pippin, Erin and Abigail if I distorted their views on this post, I 
could not resist the envy of dueling against Pippin in person. 

References :

> 
> ESE!Bill parts 1 and 2:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/85610
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/85729
> 
> ESE!Lupin:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39362

Some poetry from Coleridge and a few words from the Two Towers have also sneaked 
in this post.