The Epilogue and the post-DH WW

[colwilrin]

No: HPFGUIDX 169627

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:
>
> My question is, what do all of you think the WW will be like at that
> point? Will Scrimgeour still be Minister for Magic, or will it be Mr.
> Weasley or someone else (Percy, LOL)? I expect that Hogwarts will have
> made some progress toward House unity, with the stigma removed from
> Slytherin (please, JKR), but what about the WW? Obviously, Muggles
> won't be part of it...

Colwilrin:

Funny you bring this up as I was just thinking about it while reading
OOP last night.  In the books, Ron is what I like to call my "voice of
truth".  He tends to blurt out things that seem comical or silly on the
face...then later, you read back and see that he was foreshadowing the
truth.  I don't have the canon for specific examples right now, but
this thought has been supported by many posts to this site.  I have
gotten to the point where whenever Ron says something that makes me
giggle...I highlight it.

Last night I highlighted a phrase where Ron said that something was as
likely to happen as "my father being made Minister of Magic".  That
made me stop and think.  Arthur may seem bumbling and distracted at
times, but Dumbledore could also appear that way.  What about Arthur as
Minister?

Then, I remembered the chapter of HBP where the MOM visits the Muggle
prime minister.  That chapter never really made complete sense to me
before.  Why even devote an entire chapter to this...especially one in
the beginning of the novel?  It must be important.  Muggle and Wizard
relations must be important.  Then I thought about the sorting hat,
encouraging everyone to join together, sides that are normally not as
one.  I think that was a school illustration of the larger concept of
Muggles and different Wizarding people to stand together.  Finally, in
each successive novel, we have seen the wizard world encroach further
into Muggle life...with larger "messes" caused by magic (good and bad)
to be dealt with.  It started with a loose snake in SS/PS, then a
flying car in COS, in POA a fugitive with no harm done and one floating
aunt, in GOF muggles being carried about by DE, in OOP a demeantor
attack on a muggle in broad daylight, and finally in HBP outright
muggle killings and large scale disasters.  It is not a big stretch
that JKR may try to bring the two worlds into one with great, if not
full, awareness of each other by the end.

Now, who would be the perfect person to run the ministry in this new
age of enlightenment?  The established ministry member with the most
skill and knowledge of muggles of course...Arthur Weasley.