Dobby redux (long)

[aggiepaddy]

No: HPFGUIDX 106203

Kneasy:
> What's with Dobby?      <SNIP>
>If he wanted to nip the plot in the bud, he'd warn 
> the Weasleys,  not Harry. 


Aggie:
If Ginny was the original target and not Harry himself.

(Hi Dad!!! Tee Hee    I'm suffering tremendously now that you've 
disowned me!)


Kneasy:      <SNIP>
> Two possibilities occur to me - well, three, but we should be able 
>to discount one of them out of hand. 

Aggie:
This is US you're talking to. . . ;o)


Kneasy:
>We'll  deal with that one first.
>I wondered if there was a parallel in the behaviour of Dobby and 
> Kreacher. <SNIP>  Dobby might  have  done  the same, expressing his 
> philosophical disapproval of Malfoy's moral stance by telling Harry 
>as much as Malfoy's instructions allowed him to. But this would mean 
>that Harry and the Malfoys were somehow related, and we've been told 
>that Harry has no living relatives except the Dursleys. Shame. 
>SNIP>

Aggie:
It could depend on the definition of 'related'.  If you could 
include 'Godparent' into the family circle, then they could be 
related!!  My Collins English dictionary says: 'relation-. . . 
connection between things. . .'   Sirius, Hary and the Malfoys are 
all 'connected'.  It depends on how you look at things!!  DD would 
hardly let Harry be brought up by the Malfoys who would have despised 
him more than the Dursleys for the fall of LV.  
Hmmm. . . ;-S


Kneasy:
> Secondly - there's this mysterious Office for House Elf Relocation 
>in the Ministry. Herself rarely  does something without good reason 
>and this seems a largely irrelevant snippet to throw into FBaWTFT -  
<SNIP>

Aggie:
Mmmmm interesting.


Kneasy: 
> But: we know that the Potters are pureblood, an old wizarding 
family,

Aggie:
Do we? Please enlighten me.  We know that James was from a wizarding 
family, otherwise Harry would have been muggle born but do we know 
he's from an 'old wealthy famiy'? 
 

Kneasy:
> with loadsadosh (James inherited wealth) - just the sort of people 
>to have a House Elf pottering around the family pile, according to 
>Ron.

Aggie:
George said in CoS 'House elves come with big old manors and castles 
and places like like. . .'  Where is the Potter mansion?  GH was a (?)
cottage in the middle of a muggle village (?) can't find description 
but IIRC it sounded just like an average house.  James's parents 
might have had a mansion but why wouldn't James have inherited it 
then? And if he did and just didn't use it then why has no-one 
informed Harry of it's existence?

Dobby says in CoS 'Dobby is a house-elf, bound to serve one house and 
one family for ever.'   This intimates that Dobby has only served one 
family.  (Although, if this IS the case why is there an office for 
House Elf relocation?  D'oh just answered own question, for when they 
get freed!)



Kneasy:    <SNIP>
>is this meant to be taken at 
> face value (Harry  was instrumental in Dobby being freed) or is JKR 
> pulling a fast one - (Harry somehow had the necessary authority to 
> instigate Dobby's release since what Malfoy did was clearly 
> unintentional) and sneakily hiding a clue in plain sight? This 
>subject has been picked over, dissected, discussed, disagreed about, 
> interpreted and re-interpreted at almost tedious length. Life's too 
> short to go through that again - unless something new turns up in 
>the way of evidence.

Aggie:
I haven't picked at it yet and therefore do not know if what I have 
to say is new or not.  Apologies if it's not (more than likely!).

Malfoy's release of Dobby WAS unintentional but this does not seem to 
matter to house elves.  In OotP when Hermione was knitting furiously 
all the hats and scarves to free the elves, they refused to clean 
Griffindor common room in case they accidently picked up the article 
of clothing and *unintentionally* freed themselves.  If it works one 
way round surely it'll work the other.



Kneasy: 
> It's the third possibility that I find fascinating, mostly because 
>it opens up vistas of double-dealing, betrayal  and duplicity. 
>Lovely!  Unfortunately, for all it's attractions it's the option 
>with the least evidential or even inferential  support. Still, > 
>that's never stopped a conspiracy theorist before, so...
> 
> Dobby is under orders from Lucius.
> After all, it's not just a single visit to Privet Drive we're 
>talking about, he drops in on Harry at Hogwarts a few times too. How 
>often can House Elves flout their masters wishes, for Heavens sake? 
>Once - possible; more seems a bit iffy  to me.

Aggie:
It's a possibility.

Kneasy: 
> And there's the strange way he identifies the danger - "Not he who 
>must not be named" - very odd, very.....rehearsed. 

Aggie:
Yes it is. . .because he's trying to give Harry a clue.


Kneasy:
>Add in the mildness of DD's reaction at the finale - after he's  
>been suspended, Hagrid's been to Azkaban, students have been 
>petrified and Malfoy just gets a warning regarding his future 
>behaviour. Hardly seems just or equitable. You begin to wonder if 
>Malfoy's been covering all the options, that hints have been passed 
>and understood; that by sending Dobby with a warning he's also sent 
>a message - "I  can be useful." 

Aggie:
OH Lordy!  It's bad enough having Snape as a double agent but Lucius 
too!!! Tee Hee


Kneasy:
>He's not the type to totally commit himself to a cause that might 
>lose; doesn't Voldy think so too? "Lucius, my slippery friend..." 
>Though he was rather silly getting involved in the Ministry  fiasco. 
>Still, he does seem the type to play both ends against the middle, 
>and to do that he has to appear co-operative when Voldy says "Jump!"

Aggie: 
That would imply that Lucius is not convinced of LV's power. That he 
thinks that there is a chance of LV being defeated.  Whilst I agree 
that he is a 'slippery' character, he has remained faithful to 
the 'dark arts' if not to LV himself. 

Why would Lucius send Dobby to Harry?  I've been trying to bring 
myself around to this way of thinking.  Having an open mind about all 
possibilities is important to me and I do like a good lateral puzzle.

Imagine if Dobby hadn't visited Harry, would anything have been done 
differently? Yes, Harry would have had his post, but unlikely to have 
been able to reply to it.  Yes, Harry and Ron would have been able to 
have caught the Express, but they got to school anyway.  I could go 
on about all the events that Dobby caused, the bludger etc but 
ultimately, these did not alter Harry's behaviour.  If Dobby hadn't 
interfered Harry would still have gone to any lengths to discover all 
that he could about the Chamber.  So what would have been the point 
of Lucius sending him?

My only reasoning was that he was sent to do exactly what he was 
trying to do but for different reasons.

1) Stop Harry going to back to Hogwarts - To stop Harry from 
discovering the Chamber and putting a stop to the basilisk. To 
prevent him from interfering, not to save his life.  But when Ginny 
threw the diary into the toilet, it only resurfaced (so to speak) 
because Harry picked it up.  Without Harry there, it would have 
stopped the killings,sorry petrifyings(?).

2) The bludger - This was actually to harm, maybe even kill, Harry 
not just to get him sent home.


I'm dubious that this is the case otherwise I doubt Dobby would have 
been so happy to be freed, but I guess he might have had no option 
but to follow Lucius's orders and he really didn't want to. 


The problem I have with Dobby (going back to canon now!)is why he 
thought Harry was in so much danger!  Was it just because of Tom? It 
couldn't have been because of the Chamber, he wasn't a muggle-born.

Sorry to have gone on but this was so much fun I couldn't resist!