Hi Carol - question about your DADA curse theory

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 162219

 "Constance Vigilance" wrote:

> 
> Part of my thesis is that that the "DADA curse" was a distraction 
> (lie!) on the part of Dumbledore specifically to cover up the 
> continued animatory status of Quirrell. The curse is fishy to me 
> because first, there is no comment about it in Book 1. One would 
> expect something like "Dumbledore has been having quite a bit of 
> trouble over the past 40 years keeping someone in this post." You 
> would think such a multi-decade pattern would be noticed, no?

Potioncat:

Does DD mention the curse at all? Is it in HBP that he brings it up? 
I don't think (but I could be wrong) that he mentions it in 
connection with Quirrell.

I think it's Percy who first suggests a jinx on the job. I can't get 
to the books. Not sure if it's book 2 or 3. We didn't know (at that 
time) that the DADA teachers turned over so quickly prior to Harry's 
years. In fact, the wording in SS/PS makes it sound as if Quirrell 
has been teaching a while. Percy says that Snape has been after his 
(Quirrell's) job for years.

Take a look at this essay at the Lexicon.
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/essays/essay-quirrells-leave.html


> CV:
> Secondly, there is no notice of Quirrell being new or new to an 
> assignment in the first book. One must believe that he occupied 
that 
> position for at least the previous year. Quirrell can not have been 
> subject to the DADA curse, if there even was such a thing.

Potioncat:
He could have had the job a year, gone off and returned for an other 
year. It would be two divided years. For that matter, we don't know 
he taught DADA before going off to Albania.

I think JKR sees each book as a complete story in a series while we 
seem to see the whole thing as one story in parts. I think she didn't 
want to introduce the DADA jinx all at once, but has strung it out 
over several books. We used to argue about whether there was a jinx 
or if it was a red herring. Of course, at that time, we thought the 
turnover happened after Harry arrived.