Molly & others' vulnerability (was: Wizard/Muggle "Radar")

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 108942

> Magda: 
> > I think Molly's weak point would be that she'd let her anxiety 
over her children's (and Harry's) safety blind her to reality.  
[snip]
> > Molly's strident efforts to keep the kids ignorant of what was 
going on (Harry in POA, all the kids in OOTP) shows that she has a 
very limited understanding of what the Order is all about and what 
> > demands it might make on its members.  
> 
> 
> SSSusan:
> [snip] it wasn't just Molly who made efforts to keep the kids 
ignorant--Lupin, DD, McGonagall & Fudge also did this.  So I'm not 
sure that this alone shows Molly has a very limited understanding of 
what the Order is about.
> 
> [snip] I was fishing for some canon which would show why Molly 
alone would be susceptible to this kind of DE/Voldy manipulation, 
whereas Arthur [or anyone else who loves someone deeply] would not 
be.  
> 
> We did have the opportunity to see the form which Molly's Boggart 
> took in OotP, so we know from that what her deepest fear is.  We 
> didn't have the opportunity to see Arthur's or Lupin's or Sirius' 
or DD's... so we don't really know whether they'd have been something 
in a similar vein.  

dcgmck:
Sorry about all the snipping, but I just have a few thoughts here I 
wanted to offer:  

1 - Arthur demonstrates in OotP that he can bear being snubbed by 
Percy (in the hall after Harry's Wizengamot hearing/trial), even 
though it hurts.  He also trusts his older sons to do their duty for 
the Order and sides with the others when the younger sons insist on 
hearing some answers when Sirius invites Harry to ask questions.  He 
may not accept the notion of pureblooded virtue, but he does seem to 
buy into the older stereotype of masculine roles and duty within 
society.  His vulnerability seems to lie in the direction of 
overextending himself, of not knowing how to say 'no', as he did when 
he accepted "overtime" guard duty the night he nodded off and was 
attacked.

2 - Lupin's boggart, at least in PoA, is a full moon, which is partly 
how Hermione works out that he is a werewolf.  His greatest fear, 
then, would seem to be his uncontrollable transformations.  His 
dependence on a potion to restrain/contain his bestial impulses seems 
to be his point of vulnerability.

3 - It seems vain to discuss Sirius' vulnerable points, since he's 
been taken out of action. . . again. . . Of course, he wasn't really 
permanently out of action last time, so who's to say this time?  
(Yeah, yeah, JKR...)

4 - Dumbledore only seems to worry about Harry's feelings and welfare 
when Harry is actually in a sickbed or in Dumbledore's presence.  The 
rest of the time he seems content to trust that Harry will be 
protected and/or be able to fend for himself.  Even when Harry 
disappears from the maze in GoF, Dumbledore doesn't get proactive, 
preferring to wait and see how things will sort themselves out until 
he actually deduces that Moody is not the Mad Eye he knows and trusts.

All of these males are too busy fighting on their own fronts to panic 
over hypothetical threats to their loved ones.  If Molly is given 
something more to do than stay behind the lines and tend the home 
fires, she'll have more confidence in the ability of others to sort 
out their own predicaments as well, partly from her own experiences, 
partly because she'll be sufficiently involved in her own quandaries 
to succumb to threats of hypotheticals.  Experience with one's own 
ability to give the lie to a blackmailer's threats can give one 
confidence in one's loved ones to work things out as well, though it 
won't stop that person from rallying others to mount a rescue attempt 
that doesn't involve capitulation.  

In short, (oops, too late...) I don't believe that Molly is innately 
hysterical and vulnerable; she just needs more to do than hang around 
wringing her hands.  Look at the folly just such an existence led 
Sirius to commit.  Why should Molly be any different.  Give the woman 
something active to do (besides housecleaning) and she'll be fine.