The Twins and the Puffskein

[allies426]

No: HPFGUIDX 145171

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "va32h" <va32h at c...> wrote:
>
> Montague is not described as being "nearly murdered" or "starved" 
as 
> I recall. Disoriented, yes. Practically dead, no. Shoving Montague 
> into the cabinet was not an exemplary act, but since none of the 
> teachers made much of an effort to find and punish the would-
> be "murderers", it does not appear than anyone at Hogwarts 
> considered the situation that serious. 
 
Allie:

Draco does tell Dumbledore that Montague "nearly died" attempting to 
apparate out of the cabinet.  Maybe he just splinched himself and 
that's an exaggeration on Draco's part.  (BTW - I'm assuming he must 
have disapparated while he was at Bourgin & Bourkes since it could 
not have been at Hogwarts??)  It does seem quite mean to leave 
someone in a cabinet for days (or was it weeks?).  OTOH, I don't 
think that a Slytherin would hesitate for a minute to do that to 
Harry if given the chance. (Not that that makes it okay, I know.)


> The gnome & puffskein incidents: The puffskein squashing was 
> mentioned in a single offhand sentence in a book that is not even 
a 
> true part of the series. I can't believe that JKR intended this as 
> anything more than a throwaway line. Which means I don't give it 
> much weight - I mean, I saw it as equivalent to squashing a pet 
> cricket. Not nice, but not a harbinger of future sadistic 
antisocial 
> violence.  

Allie: 

I agree and disagree.  A puffskein is definitely not a cricket - it 
would be horrible enough if they squashed Ron's pet cricket to 
death - but a puffskein is more like a guinea pig or a kitten, in my 
mind anyway.  I didn't even take note of the puffskein incident when 
I read Fantastic Beasts, but when BetsyHP brought it up, I was very 
distubed.  (I'm a vet!!)  I really DON'T think JKR meant that to be 
taken seriously, since it was just ONE line in an ancillary book, so 
I am trying very hard to come up with another reasonable explanation 
to let the Weasley twins off the hook.  (I'm okay with pretty much 
everything else they've done.)  So far these are what I have:

1.  The puffskein died from something else that would somehow be 
Ron's fault (maybe he fed it the wrong food), but the twins knew how 
upset Ron would be so they made up the bludger story.  Let him be 
mad at them instead of himself.

2.  Ron was embellishing the story.  He brought the Puffskein 
outside while the twins were practicing and it died of natural 
causes.  Or got hit by a stray bludger (ACCIDENTALLY).

3.  Ron never had a Puffskein and he and Harry were just making up 
stories while they were bored in class.

Someone help, are there any other explanations?  I can't bear to 
think of the twins bludgeoning a poor little puffball on purpose!  
(They're SELLING them now, remember!)  I feel much more at ease 
thinking it was one of the 3 above.  (Does it help you at all, 
Betsy?)  

Allie