Was Fudge talking about Sirius?

[msbeadsley]

No: HPFGUIDX 80186

> Yes, but when Fudge says this, it's in OOTP... and Harry and DD 
> have been trying to convince the ministry (Fudge) of Voldemorts 
> return since the end of GOF... so it makes sense that fudge would 
> be talking about Voldemort when he says that. <snip>

I can accept that Fudge is talking about Voldemort.  As you put it, 
it even seems likely.  That makes more sense than what I said; but 
even though I no longer think Fudge was talking about Pettigrew, I 
still think it is a notion that makes more sense than trying to have 
it come out as some sort of foreshadowing about Sirius returning.

> Furthermore, we all have our opinions here and " I'm sorry to burst 
> your (Droobles Best Blowing Gum is my FAVORITE!) bubble," is not a 
> very nice way to start a post. After all, you are 'Sandy', 
> not 'JKR'... so you don't really know what's gonna happen either, 
> do you?

None of us know what's going to happen.  If we did, there wouldn't be 
much point in postulating via posting here.  As for not being very 
nice:  I'm sorry.  As I am still being moderated and anything I 
posted saying, gee, well, you're right, would likely bounce right 
back to me if I didn't scrape up some canon point or other to make 
the statement an addendum to, I am responding offline.

I don't think your tone in pointing out that *I* wasn't very nice is 
very nice, either.  It hurt.  I was not being intentionally unkind or 
snarky.  I got exasperated with what I perceived as people clinging 
desperately to any rationale they could manage to shore up for Sirius 
being "not really dead," "only kind of dead," "only dead for a few 
chapters," or "dead, but destined still to be a vital part of the 
continuing narrative," and got overly intense about it (which I am 
probably still doing here).

I sense/imagine/empathize with a lot of very real pain out there over 
Sirius's death and it was getting to me; I have grief of my own over 
Sirius.  I had a particular fondness for the Dog Star long before HP, 
and it hit me hard when he died.  However, I am trying to get on with 
it, and voices which seem determined to stand still or even go 
backwards inspire in me a flat rejection which I will hereafter (no 
pun intended) keep to myself.  *My* intent was not to "thump" anyone 
over the head; it was directed at getting their train of thought to 
jump the tracks it was on and onto one which might actually have a 
destination other than the trainyard junk heap (and I'm probably 
doing it again, that thing you took exception to already).

Although I am not JKR and do not know her intentions (as is indicated 
by the fact that I *did* say later in the post that "I *think* she 
means we aren't going to see him again") and only know her intentions 
to the degree that I or others whose interpretations I choose to 
agree with are able to fathom them, I, like most of the people in 
this group, sometimes state what I believe as if it were an 
absolute.  Speech gets increasingly cumbersome with each "from my 
point of view" and "what I believe she mean to say is".  I think your 
pointing out of this *in the way in which you did it* is petty and 
mean; I get a sense that you were responding, as you perceive it, in 
kind.  Perhaps it is only because this time I was on the receiving 
end, but you seem to me to have overshot the mark and gone right into 
petty meanness.  So you have left me with much less a sense that my 
behavior was something I might want to examine and much more with a 
sense that you chose to be provoked by it and attack me.

If your only intent is to "thump" me again, please don't bother 
responding to this.  Thanks for sharing your considerations with me 
and the rest of the group.