Saving Ginny (was Re: Lockhart's incompetence)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 143243

> >>Geoff:
> Well, they certainly knew now that the Chamber existed. Was there 
> no spell to locate it?

Betsy Hp:
I doubt it.  Hogwarts was being attacked for the entire school 
year.  And before that a student died.  I think if there were that 
sort of location spell, someone would have used it.  Or they did use 
it but Slytherin had a block up of some sort.

That's why the teachers' air of helplessness worked for me.  Harry 
had an in.  He spoke the language and heard the monster creeping 
about the school.  None of the staff had even that level of knowlege 
to go with, so they didn't have much of a place to start, IMO.

(Again, I *do* think Dumbledore should have been able to figure out 
as much as Hermione did -- at least that the creature was a 
basilisk.  However, I can accept that JKR needs a certain level of 
adult incompetence for her story to work, and this slip isn't too 
egregious for me.  I do doubt any of the other staff members would 
have gotten as far as I expected Dumbledore to, except for Snape --
 'cause I think he's wonderful <g>.)

> >>Geoff: 
> Again, Mineva McGonagall knows that Dumbledore has had a number of 
> conversations with Harry, including the one after Justin was 
> petrified. Dumbledore seems to believe that Harry is not          
> implicated but maybe there might have been some clue in their     
> conversations. Why not ask Harry if he is able to help -  she does 
> seem to have quite a good deal of faith in his abilites. If he    
> said "No", it would at least eliminate one line of enquiry.

Betsy Hp:
Hmm.  McGonagall did think well of Harry at that time, though this 
pre-dated the whole "Chosen One" thing, so I don't know that she'd 
look to him for any sort of special knowledge.  And, once the 
students were safe, she may well have questioned Harry about his 
conversations with Dumbledore.  (Though, I don't think Dumbledore 
was that far out of the picture, really.  I'm betting he and 
McGonagall conversed fairly regularly.)  Plus, IIRC, the 
conversations with Dumbledore were more about how Harry *wasn't* the 
heir of Slytherin, which McGonagall would concur with.  So I'm not 
sure why she'd think Harry would be someone to go to.

> >>Geoff: 
> I think wringing their hands and crying "Woe, alas" at this point 
> is a bit early in the game.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
You're being a bit harsh, don't you think?  McGonagall is getting 
the rest of the student body out of the school, a task in and of 
itself.  Also, we really don't know what sort of efforts the staff 
went through while Harry and Ron were hanging in the Gryffindor 
common room putting pieces of the puzzle together (pieces they'd 
only recently acquired).  For all we know they were pooling what 
knowledge they had, desperately checking their resources for further 
information.  The Chamber *was* incredibly well hidden.  

Personally, I think the biggest leap JKR asked of the readers was 
that Harry and Ron never shared their information while in the staff 
room, and then chose to go to Lockhart rather than McGonagall once 
they decided to speak up.  It was an OOC moment for both Harry and 
Ron, though minor enough to slide by, IMO.

> >>Andrew:
> Dumbledore had this uncanny ability to trust people even in the
> strangest situations. Maybe he just thought or new that Harry could
> figure it out or must figure it out in order to grow toward
> fulfilling the prophecy?

Betsy Hp:
It's an idea.  And it certainly explains why Dumbledore missed the 
clues Hermione picked up on.  However, it's not a theory I 
personally like because I much prefer fallible!Dumbledore to 
puppetmaster!Dumbledore.  Plus, it goes against OotP, when 
Dumbledore chose to wrap Harry in swaddling rather than put him at, 
what was essentially, an emotional risk.  I cannot reconcile OotP!
Dumbledore with a Dumbledore who'd deliberately put Harry in danger 
all in the name of a prophecy. 

Betsy Hp