Another Eavesdropper?

[inkling108]

No: HPFGUIDX 121855



 
> Annemehr wrote:
> I never really tried to analyse exactly what happened here.  Let's
> have the whole paragraph and take a look:
> 
> "A streak of silver light flashed around the room; there was a bang
> like a gunshot and the floor trembled; a hand grabbed the scruff of
> Harry's neck and forced him down on the floor as a second silver 
flash
> went off; several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a
> cloud of dust filled the air.  Coughing in the dust, Harry saw a 
dark
> figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of him; there was a
> shriek and a thud and somebody cried, 'No!'; then there was the 
sound
> of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan...and
> silence."
> 
> In the aftermath, we see that Fudge, Umbridge, Dawlish and 
Shacklebolt
> are unconcious, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Harry are certainly
> concious, and McGonagall had forced both Harry and Marietta "out of
> harms way."  Dumbledore's desk has been overturned, there's dust
> everywhere, and the office is a wreck.
> 
> But what exactly had Dumbledore done?  His spells were two silver
> streaks of light, so they were not stunners; anyway, as far as we 
know
> a stunned person *stays* stunned until someone uses Ennervate on 
him,
> but these people woke up on their own. Further, we only see two
> flashes of this silver light, yet four people went down and the 
office
> is in shambles. How did that happen?

Inkling now:

Dumbledore is not specific (he says "I had to hex Kingsley too") 
about the hex.  My impression is that hexes do wear off eventually, 
though not this quickly.  But since he was able to do the hex 
without an incantation, maybe he was also able to lift it without 
one as he was leaving.

Just checked -- in GoF Winky is stunned by streaks of red light, not 
silver, so this is not a normal stunning spell, though it behaves in 
a very similar way. 

  How did McGonagall keep Harry,
> Marietta, and herself out of the way of two spells that took care 
of
> everything and everyone else in the room?

Maybe McGonagall is familiar enough with Dumbledore's repetoire of 
hexes that she knows how to deflect them?

(snip)
> Here's another question: McGonagall had kept Marietta out of harm's
> way, and then afterward McGonagall is described as "getting up and
> dragging Harry and Marietta with her."  So, is Marietta still
> conscious or not? I can't see McGonagall lifting an unconscious 
girl
> one-handed.  Yet, just after this, Dumbledore talks freely about
> having to hex Kingsley, Kingsley's Memory charm on Marietta, and 
how
> they must keep it a secret that they have had a few minutes to
> communicate before Dumbledore leaves -- not something I'd expect 
him
> to say in front of Marietta, even if she is afraid to talk now.

This bothers me too.  Maybe people who have just been hit with a 
memory spell are so out of it that they don't really process what's 
going on.  Remember Mr. Roberts vauge "Merry Christmas" as Harry and 
the Weasleys were leaving the World Cup campgrounds?  Marietta may 
be in a similar condition.

Inkling