the DADA jinx

[ceridwennight]

No: HPFGUIDX 138104

Sherry <sherriola at e...> wrote:
> By the way, do they coincide with the seven deadly sins, 
> or any other seven somethings?

Ceridwen:
I thought the same thing.  First, though, I wondered if the vices 
you mentioned could have been an ever-rotating litany of the 
strengths of the four houses.  

When you posted:
<i>Lupin *(Snip)* ...His desire to be liked that kept him from telling Dumbledore that Sirius was an animagus. His desire to be liked kept him quiet all year.</i>

I suddenly thought, his <i>loyalty</i>.  To the Marauders, to the 
memory of the dead, to Sirius the friend of his childhood no matter 
how he turned out later.  His <i>loyalty</i> kept the secret of his 
friends long after they would not be punished for it by Dumbledore, 
though if they were caught being unregistered it could cause some 
problems.  Loyalty is a Hufflepuff trait.

Then, Snape, who blanches at being called a coward.  The opposite 
of coward is <i>brave</i>, Gryffindor.  So, two houses down, four 
professors to go...

But the only thing I could come up with for Lockhart is <i>sloth</i>, 
the avoidance of work.  Being lazy.  Relying on others to do his 
job.  Which Lockhart seems to do by letting another wizard do the 
deed, then Obliviating him.  <i>Envy</i> came in second, he envied 
the powers of others and took them for his own.

Maybe Quirrell's 'sin' is <i>pride</i>.  He thinks so much of his 
powers as an expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts that he walks 
straight into danger.  He believes, in this pride, that nothing can 
harm him.  Or, it could be <i>envy</i> of the experiences of others 
that he only teaches from books.  He wants to go out and make a 
name for himself.

I would say Umbridge suffered from <i>greed</i> if this is indeed a 
litany of the Seven Deadly Sins.  She wants more and more and more.  
She gets the DADA position.  She then steps up to become the High 
Inquisitor.  Then, the next logical step, headmistress.  Stepping 
stones to power, glory, ALL.  Greed is the desire for material 
wealth and gain, ignoring all other types of wealth.

But here, I get bogged down.  I can't decide for Crouch.  Gluttony?  
Envy?  Lust?  Anger?  Or should we try to fathom Moody's reasons for 
taking the job?  And, since Snape is not a new character, should we 
then assign the 'sin' to Slughorn, the new character?

For Snape, the only possible answer is <i>envy</i>, with <i>lust</i> 
a close second possibility.  He has envied that position for years.  
Or, he has 'lusted after it'.  I don't think he would be 
<i>anger</i>, the one instance of him in class (weren't there two?  
Or am I just fixating on two halves of one class session?) don't 
really show an angry Snape.  Not nearly so much as Snape was angry 
and vindictive in Potions.

So, I don't know.  Rotating house qualities which bring people down?  
We would need more information to guess that.  We know or assume (I 
don't recall the canon for this, so I'll be safe) that Quirrell left 
once after his year, was gone for a year, then came back as 
Quirrellmort.  What about the others who went before him?

The Seven Deadly Sins:
Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, Sloth
The Seven Heavenly Virtues:
faith, hope, charity, fortitude, justice, temperance, prudence
The Seven Contrary Virtues, proposed by Prudentius around AD 410:
humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality, 
diligence 
The Contrary Virtues are designed to be the opposites of each 
Deadly Sin.  I got the list at http://www.deadlysins.com/

Ceridwen.