Flitwick, Duelling Champ? WAS Re: ESE!McGonagall (not what you think)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 164459

> Carol:
> I don't know about anyone else, but I started wondering
> whether Snape was something more than a Potions whiz at this point,
> especially in light of his early remark about "silly wand waving." 

zgirnius;
Oh, me too. I concluded he's probably pretty dangerous. (Though I 
didn't get a final confirmation of how right I was for another 4 
books...) His willingness to tangle with Lupin and Sirius in PoA 
suggested it as well.

Carol:
> So what is that remark about?
> Sour grapes for not being assigned the DADA class?)

zgirnius:
Perhaps. Or, perhaps it's more about resentment of the attitude his 
students have towards Potions. I'd say Snape knows it is real, and 
powerful, magic. I do think he loves the subject as well as DADA, I 
can't see having been such a creative genius at it at some point and 
then giving up on it altogether.

Everyone expects DADA class to be coll and interesting.

> Carol: I hadn't thought about that. But Snape would have had to 
attack
> him with his back turned, and I think Flitwick would have said
> something about that. He doesn't even mention being Stunned, does 
he?

zgirnius:
No, he does not, it maintains the ambiguity of what happened. If he 
hit his head upon being Stunned, though, he could be experiencing 
temporary memory loss. Or he could have just fainted, we don't know. 

His failure to recover, if it was Stunning, would probably be related 
to the bump on the head. While people usually recover from Stunning 
quickly, Flitwick could have happened to bump his head badly as he 
fell. (Since this kept Hermione and Luna out of action, this 
seemingly unlikely event could have been caused by Felix).

> Carol:
> And if Flitwick was so good at duelling, why not hire *him* as DADA
> teacher? True, there's a jinx on the job, but what could it do to 
him
> except cause him to retire a bit early? Better Flitwick as DADA
> teacher than Umbridge, who taught them nothing except obedience to 
the
> Ministry's official line.

zgirnius:
There is no indication he wants the job. And who would teach Charms?

Also, I am not so sure DADA=duelling. It seems to me DADA, Charms, 
and Transfiguration are all branches of magic that may be of 
assistance to someone in a magical duel (judging from the most 
impressive one we have seen, DD vs. LV in OotP). Flitwick may not 
have any particular expertise or interest in the Dark Arts.


> Carol:

> But to return to Flitwick, surely Lockhart would have heard the 
rumor
> if it were actually circulating and asked him first? 

zgirnius:
AS I already said, I think the rumor would have had the opposite 
effect, of causing Lockhart to look elsewhere. He does back down when 
confronted by an authority (for example, when Snape pointed out HE's 
the Potions Master).

Carol:
> so of course in his own mind he'd have no trouble defeating
> a former duelling champion. The better the opponent, the better 
he'll
> look defeating them.

zgirnius:
Then why did he not take the golden opportunity Harry provided him to 
show his stuff at the end of CoS? Defeating Slytherin's monster would 
be the ultimate achievement. Order of Merlin, First Class and all. He 
didn't try, because he knew he couldn't.

Carol:
> Also, you snipped my most important point. Flitwick is so light 
that a
> simple Summoning or Banishing Charm sends him zooming over the
> students' heads in his own classroom. Imagine that happening in a 
duel
> or a battle with DEs--or what a stronger DADA spell like 
Expelliarmus
> would do to him. 

zgirnius:
In a duel, if he was good, I imagine he would avoid them, or block 
them. In class, his mind is on other things. As bboyminn points out 
as well, a competitive duel is a controlled situation: there is 
exactly one source of potential danger (not an unpredictable class 
full of students or messy fight with DEs), and no obstacles like 
furniture, etc - just some arena-like flat area.

Carol:
> So even if the rumor that Flitwick was a duelling champion in his
> youth isn't just a joke circulated by kids who've sent him flying 
with
> an Accio or knocked him off his stacks of books with a stray 
Banishing
> charm, I don't think that duelling other students in his youth makes
> him particular useful against ruthless opponents twice his height 
and
>  two or three times his weight.

zgirnius:
I agree he might be past his fighting prime, we have not seen him in 
action. I do think your insistence that weight matters is wrong, 
though. One could equally suggest his short stature makes him a 
difficult target (his students aren't aiming for him). This is magic, 
not wrestling (though even there...my former Judo sensei was 5'8" and 
135 lbs, and he competed successfully againt men well over 200 lbs in 
his youth). Lucius did not seem to think he could take Dobby, huge 
weight advantage notwithstanding.