Disappearances and Nagini

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 158602

---  "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> ...
> 
> Carol again:
> The partially snipped sentence, which you've left 
> incomplete, should read:
> 
> "Since Voldemort planned to feed first Wormtail ... and
> then Harry ... to Nagini after killing them, it seems 
> likely to me that Voldemort fed both Bertha Jorkins and 
> Frank Bryce to Nagini after killing them, partly to 
> reward or appease Nagini and partly to dispose of the 
> evidence." <snip stuff on VW1>
> 
> I've restored the sentence since it states the point I'm
> making, or rather the speculation I'm presenting for 
> consideration.
>  
> Steve (bboyminn) responded:
> > 
> > Correct me if I'm wrong but Dumbledore says he found
> > out about Frank Bryces death by reading it in the 
> > muggle newspaper, and when he speaks of Nagini killing,
> > he says 'muggle' but he doesn't specifically mention
> >  Frank.
> > 
> > 
> > If it was in the news, then there must have been a 
> > body .... <snip>
> 
> Carol again:
> Actually, you *are* wrong, ...
> 
> Here's the canon paragraph that alerted me to the 
> *possibility* that Frank Bryce and Bertha *may* have 
> been fed to Nagini:
> 
> "'The years of Voldemort's ascent to power,' he 
> [Dumbledore] said, 'were marked with disappearances. ...
> And there was a third disappearance, one which the 
> Ministry, I regret to say, do not consider of any 
> importance, for it concerns a Muggle. His name was 
> Frank Bryce, ..." (GoF Am. ed. 601).
> 
> So, Steve, there wasn't a body--just a "disappearance"
> --and Dumbledore does specifically mention Frank Bryce,
> ...

bboyminn:

I stand corrected, one of the hazards of working from 
memory, especially when it is a memory like mine. 

As to my version of your quote, I assume people are 
following along and only need a reminder of the salient
points being made by the pervious poster, and to keep my
quotes as lean as possible.

> Carol:
>
> ...
> 
> What better way to "dispose" of her than to feed her to
> the same twelve-foot snake that circles the graveyard 
> waiting to be fed Harry's body, the same snake that has
>  been promised, and then denied, thetreat of eating 
> Wormtail? "'Nagini,' said the cold voice, 'you are out
> of luck. I will not be feeding Wormtail to you, after 
> all... but never mind... there is still Harry Potter...' 
> (GoF 576, ellipses in original). 
> 

bboyminn:

What better way to get rid of a body? Oh... I don't know,
perhaps a simple vanishing spell? Transfigure the body 
into say a bone or a rock or a twig? Magically 
transferring it six feet underground? Disintigrate it
with several well placed Reductor spells, and leave the
/dust/ to the creatures of the forest to clear up.

I don't take Voldemort literally when he says he is 
feeding people to his snake, not in the sense that most
snakes feed anyway. Which, for the record, usually 
involves swollowing it's prey whole.

However, we don't really have a /normal/ snake. I don't
think Nagini parallels any known snake in the muggle 
world; not a King Cobra, not a Black Adder, not a Black
Mamba. To eat a person, in the normal snake sense, she
would have to have the body of a giant python or anaconda.
But those snakes aren't poison, and Nagini clearly is. 

So, I think JKR has created a fictional magical world 
snake in Nagini with unique properties that can't be 
derived from normal muggle snakes.

Note Nagini's attack on Arthur Weasley, she has powerful 
jaws capable of snapping bones; probably rib bones, but
still that's no small feat. She has powerful poisonous 
fangs with a poison that is very difficult to counter.

So, I think it would be possible for Nagini to feed on 
the body of a person, but not eat it in the normal sense
of a snake. That is, she could gnaw on the (pardon me) 
carcass the way a dog, wolf, or lion might eat a dead 
animal. But even with her very large size, I don't see 
her eating a full human body, unless it was done over 
the course of several weeks. 

Also, note that since normal snakes are cold-blooded, 
after they eat, they normally lay down and go to sleep. 
That's pretty much a snakes life; eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
Nagini seems far to active to be eating huge heavy meals 
of dead bodies. 

So, in the context I have layed out, I can see an unique 
snake like Nagini snacking on the flesh of a dead body, 
but not eating it whole, and not eating all of it unless
she had a tremendous amount of time to do so. 

I think when Voldemort speaks of feeding people to 
Nagini, it is somewhat metaphorical. He uses the image 
as an intimidation tactic. He tries to terrify people 
with the image of a snake feeding on their flesh. But I 
think that's all it is, intimidation. In a way, he mocks
Harry and degrades his corps with the idea of a lowly
snake feeding upon it; it's a mark of distain. Not to say
that Nagini wouldn't enjoy the snack. Just saying that I 
seriously doubt that it is a practical or effective way
of disposing of bodies.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

Steve/bboyminn

Who is off to have a nice hot bowl of homemade Chili.