Stan Shunpike

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 178943

I'd like to share a few thoughts about Stan.
We don't know much about him, he is a underpart in the HP books - but that
does not mean he is unimportant.

First, the facts. Stan is about five years older than Harry and he is the
conductor of the Knight Bus. As far as we see him, he is not ... too bright.
We don't know about his qualification and position in the WW, that is, we
don't know whether he visited Hogwarts, whether he graduated, whether he is
muggleborn etc. Actually, we don't know much more than that he has pimples
and seems to come from London (Cockney accent).

We meet him only three times in person: in PoA, in GoF, and in DH, and hear
about him a couple of times. Each time he appears in person or as an issue
in a conversation, he has a certain significance for the story and for
explaining Harry's situation.

When the Knight Bus with Stan appears in PoA, Harry is lost. He sees himself
as a homeless outlaw with nowhere to go. He was frightened by the "Grim" and
seems to be in grave danger. The bus, and especially the conductor Stan is
the comical relief in the situation, to slow down the storytelling and
smooth out the tension.
Additionally, Harry being still quite ignorant about the WW, Stan is someone
to explain things to him (Muggles don't see magic, who is Sirius Black) that
Harry would know if he weren't muggle-raised.

We meet Stan in GoF, again as a comical relief - so it seems to be. The
situation is critical and dangerous. The DE have their show at the World
Cup, and Harry among others escaped in the woods. Stan tries to impress a
Veela with nonsense talk about him becoming Minister of Magic.
Harry recognises him, but this scene seems to be unimportant. But maybe it's
not, if babbling nonsense is one of Stan's habits.

In HBP, we hear about Stan. He was imprisoned and sent to Azkaban, as a
suspected DE or collaborator of the DEs. He was overheard speaking about the
"secret plans" of the DE's - the trio immediately thinks that he simply
bragged. Mr Weasley supports this estimation, stating that because the
Ministry does not have any success in finding real DEs, they arrest innocent
people for political/public relations reasons.
Harry mentions Stan to the new Minister Scrimgeour twice, to express his
disagreement with the Minstry's policy and to decline Scrimgeour's
approaches to win Harry as a "cover boy" for the Ministry.
Stan's imprisonment is used to show how the Ministry works. Nothing's really
changed after Fudge's demission. The Daily Prophet still is the propaganda
instrument of the Minister, the Ministry does not solve problems, it only
pretends to do so in a very superficial way. Harry is more or less a
grown-up now. He understands how and why the Ministry acts, and figures out
why Scrimgeour tries to gain his support. He is not the naive boy who met
Stan at the Knight Bus or Fudge at the Leaky Cauldron, wondering why the
Muggles can't see the bus or what punishment the Minister will impose. His
view of the WW is not that of someone who learns new miracles every day, he
is part of the WW and more, he can see behind the curtain many people don't
bother to even look at.

We see Stan again at the beginning of DH. He is one of the attackers at the
flight from Privet Drive. Harry recognises him and his "blank face", which
seems to indicate that he is imperiused. Harry does not want to harm him and
choses his favorite spell - the disarming spell. The attackers recognise him
as the "real Potter" at this very moment and Voldemort himself joins them to
chase him.
Later, Harry is told off by Lupin (IIRC), that using this spell is well
known as his speciality, and therefore he endangered himself and the whole
mission by using it instead of a more force-/harmful spell. After this,
Harry starts to use other spells, Unforgivables among them, to return to his
Expelliarmus in the final duel with Lord Voldemort.
Stan being used by Lord Voldemort shows the way he "recruits" the
instruments of his terror. Due to the Imperius curse, nobody can be sure
about any person - maybe one explanation of how he could control the entire
WW with just a few real followers.
Another important point seems to be the disarming spell. To use it instead
of any probably harmful spell (even a stunner could have been fatal for Stan
high above the ground) is the "real Harry". Later, after Lupin's last
lesson, we see "combat Harry", not exactly ruthless, but definitely more
violent. Only to face Voldemort himself, Harry returns to the first duelling
spell he learnt.

Well, I started to call Stan Shunpike an underpart. But maybe "supporting
character" would be a more precise term?

Miles