The Watch and Molly's clock

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 173826

Potioncat wrote:
> I thought it was horrible that she gave Fabian's watch to Harry rather 
> than to Ron. Then I realized--Ron hates hand-me-downs; Harry desires a 
> family. So giving Ron a new watch and Harry one that had been in the 
> family was the perfect thing to do. Besides it will eventually go to a 
> Weasley grandchild.
> 
> I was so convinced that DD's ownership of unusual timepieces, and the 
> Weasley's many different watches and clocks was a hint that they were 
> related. I was certain this scene would be setting something up. Alas!
>
Carol responds:
Very insightful, Potioncat! I loved the moment, personally. I think
Harry understood a great deal more than Ron would have (partly for the
reason you expressed) about the significance of the watch. Ron hadn't
seen the photograph of the original Order. I don't think he knew how
much the loss of Molly's brothers meant to her, and to give Harry
Fabian's watch, knowing that Harry knew that he had died a hero
defending the WW from the Death Eaters, meant a lot to me, as did
Harry's wordless hug that expressed what he could not say in words. (I
hope that some day, he also gets a memento from Fabian's brother,
Gideon, who also died a hero. Or maybe that will go to George. Yes, I
like that idea better. Don't disillusion me, JKR!)

As for timepieces, I had great expectations (well, at least I thought
it would be put to interesting use) for the Weasley clock, which
transforms from an interesting and useful grandfather clock in OoP (I
haven't checked to see if it's a grandfather clock in the earlier
books) which presumably informs Molly that Arthur is in mortal peril
(and later, "in hospital," as the Brits would say) to a mantel clock
she can carry around with *all* the hands pointing to mortal peril.
What use is that? She can't tell whether they're at work or school or
battling Death Eaters. Is she waiting for an hand to fall off? And
then the clock disappears from the story altogether in DH. No huge
loss, but I liked the clock and wanted it to serve a purpose in the
plot. (I used to imagine Percy's hand moving to mortal peril and Molly
watching with pounding heart, unable to save him herself, to see what
would happen.) 

Percy, BTW, was another disappointment. I mean, I knew that he would
come around, and might have done so sooner if his brothers hadn't
flung parsnips at him, but the only glimpse we get of him before his
turnaround is his turning radish red in the lift when he sees his
father. I guess that's enough to hint that he'll come around, but it
wasn't very dramatic. I had expected him to save Ron (foreshadowed by
his reaction to the Second Task in GoF). I always suspected that
beneath the layers of gitiocy and pratness, Percy loved his family.
Then, again, having him call himself a fool and an idiot and a pompous
prat and better still, admit the justice of Fred's charges that he was
"a Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron" (DH 606) is
priceless. I just changed my mind about that scene, whose impact I
missed the first time around. And I can't even talk about his reaction
to Fred's death, which I'm not yet ready to reread.

You know, some things are better the second time around. In the first
rush to find out what happens to our favorite characters and the
unbearable aching grief of certain scenes (or disappointment that
*our* perfect DH didn't coincide with what JKR gave us), I think we're
blinded to little gems like this one. Or I was, anyway.

Carol, now shedding a tear for Fred, whom I didn't even like, and
almost ready to understand and forgive Dumbledore, without whom LV
could not have been defeated