Is Arthur Weasley destined to become the Minister of Magic?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89648

> Derek wrote:
> I predict that by the end of book 7, the WW's policy of remaining
> separate from the Muggle World will end (either because it's no
longer
> practical or for some other reason), and that Arthur Weasley will
> become Minister of Magic because he's viewed as the best person to
> guide the WW into co-existence with Muggles...


Carol responds:
If HP were set in the distant future or a mythical past, I would
expect a reconciliation or a new understanding between Muggles and the
WW. But since it's set in the recent past, such a reconciliation would
already have occurred by the year 2004, which it clearly has not or
we'd be hearing about the WW on the nightly news. The problem (for me)
is that JKR has gone to great lengths to explain to her Muggle
audience why Muggles can't see giants or dragons or even the huge
castle that houses Hogwarts. If the two groups were reconciled, she'd
have to undo all those explanations and (theoretically) remove the
charms around Hogwarts--but we Muggles still wouldn't be able to see
it. Readers like me prefer to believe (or willingly suspend our
disbelief) that we can't see the castle because it's enchanted. The
alternative is to admit that it's imaginary. And where's the fun in
that?

I have no problem with Arthur Weasley as the Minister of Magic working
in secret to stop anti-Muggle prejudice, but I can't see the other
side of the equation--robed witches and wizards openly practicing
magic on the streets of London. Granted, we can't expect realism in a
fantasy series, nor do we want it, but we have the right to expect
consistency and verisimilitude, both of which would be destroyed by a
Muggle/WW reconciliation beyond the secret negotiations that already
exist between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister of Great
Britain.

Leave the enchantments, I say. Keep the WW hidden and mysterious so
that only an occasional Muggle (like Hermione's parents) is invited
in. Or write a sequel that occurs 150 years from now when Harry is an
old man who helps a new young hero bring about the reconciliation
between Muggles and the WW. It's impossible to plausibly depict it as
occurring in a past that her readers have themselves recently
experienced but at least somewhat plausible to do so in a future that
her characters (but not her readers) will live to see.

Carol