Quirrell Corner (was: Sending Voldie through the Veil)

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 162131

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Constance Vigilance" 
<ConstanceVigilance at ...> wrote:

> CV:
 Here, let 
> me buy you a Purple Turban. They are delicious.

Marianne:

Is it wise to start drinking these things at 8:00 in the morning???
 
> CV:
> 
> Actually, I only recently began to understand the abuse metaphor 
> espoused in Quirrell. When I fully began to see Quirrell's 
symptoms 
> as representing a tortured person in the grip of another, I began 
to 
> wonder why nobody, including myself, feels sympathy for this guy. 
How 
> can we be so cold? Maybe Quirrell's duplicitous act is so 
effective 
> that we don't have the time to get to see the pain that lies 
beneath 
> the surface. But then, isn't that the way with abuse victims? They 
> can so perfectly mask the pain that other people are completely 
> fooled.

Marianne:
And you've sold me on this. When I read your first post I felt a 
pang of remorse because I had tossed Quirrell on the dung-heap of 
despised characters without really stopping to think of his 
situation. Really, how can one not cut the guy some slack once you 
think about being under Voldemort's control to the point of having 
his face sticking out the back of your head?  The more I think about 
that, the more creeped out I get.

Maybe I would have paid more attention to him had he stuck around 
for more than one book. Instead, he's gone and each succeeding book 
gave me more events and characters to think/worry about.

<snip>
> CV:
> 
> Peter is another interesting character. On one level, he is a 
> snivelling weakling who will sell out his friends for his own 
> purposes. On another, he knows that he is the runt of the litter. 
He 
> is the butt of jokes. He has very few personal resources. This is 
the 
> type of person who is easily seduced, especially by a person who 
> makes promises. Peter is another victim of Voldemort.

Marianne:
I think Peter is a much more capable wizard than people think. He 
was overshadowed in his school years by Sirius and James, but they 
were supposedly extremely bright and gifted. Even an above-average 
student would look sub-standard by comparison. I think Peter made a 
deal in his own mind that it was worth being the low man on the 
Marauders' totem pole in order to reap the benefits of having strong 
friends who would carry him to some extent, ie, helping with the 
Animagus transformation. 

Whatever triggered his decision to turn to the DEs, I wonder if in 
the back of his mind he felt he'd be ensuring his own safety by 
trading the protection of one group for another which now had gained 
what he thought was the upper hand?  
 
CV:
> One wonders how Voldy communicates with people when he is in his 
> gaseous form. Can he talk when he is smoke? Or does he possess 
people 
> in order to talk to them?

Marianne:
And some prefer not to wonder about such things because they lead to 
nightmares<g>. I'd vote for possession. It's so much neater. The 
person can't try to outrun you and, once you're "inside" you can 
control them.  Now I'm wondering how Vapor-mort travels. Does he 
linger in the air waiting for some unsuspecting human to wander by?  
Would a severe storm blow him across the country?
 
<snip> 
> Marianne:
> 
> As we all anxiously await for a 
> > supposedly dead character to reappear in Book 7, perhaps it 
won't 
> be 
> > Emmeline Vance or Caradoc Dearborn or Amelia Bones or Regulus 
> Black. 
> > Perhpas it will be Quirrell.
> 
> CV:
> 
> Yay! (Are we anxiously awaiting a supposedly dead character to 
> reappear? I know *I* am, but has there been other indications to 
that 
> effect, or is this just speculation?)

Marianne:
Oh, it's rampant speculation.  Ever since DD tried to convince Draco 
that he could be hidden while the world thought he was dead, there 
had been pondering about whether some character who we were told had 
died might really be alive.  And then, of course, there was that 
mention long ago about the Draught of Living Death.  It's about time 
for that to make an appearance. 

CV:
> There is a theory that has been floating around for a long time 
that 
> basically states that each task in the dungeon represents one book 
in 
> the series. In that case, the final book should be something like 
> Harry Potter and Nobody Expects Quirrell. Right?

Marianne:
Sure, why not? Quirrell's "death" was the perfect opportunity for DD 
to pull a fast one.  Who else was around to witness what might have 
happened? Let's make a Purple Turban pledge - Quirrell will return 
in Book 7!

Marianne