CHAPDISC: DH8, The Wedding

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 179417

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> <snip excellent summary>

Carol: 
I had almost completed this post and had to start over after losing
the whole thing! I hope I can remember what I said earlier. :-(

> Questions:
> 1. How is that Harry can take a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and
it lasts the entire wedding and reception afterward? Throughout the
books, Polyjuice Potion's effect lasts just one hour, unless the taker
uses it again before that hour is up. How does a larger dose suffice?
Do we just assume Harry kept taking doses throughout the day/evening?

Carol:
This inconsistency with previous books is one of several in DH. I
can't decide whether JKR merely forgot what she said in the earlier
books, or whether she's changing the rules at her own convenience and
hoping *we'll* forget. At any rate, there's no evidence of Harry's
taking doses every hour, so I guess we just have to assume that a
larger dose will get him through the entire evening. As for later
incidents, maybe the events at Godric's Hollow and Gringotts take less
than an hour.
> 
> 2. Did the Delacour family pay for most, if not all, of the wedding?
Seeing as how often it is described how little money the Weasley
family has to spare, how could they afford such a wedding at their home?

Carol:
In RL, at least in the U.S. and (I think) in Britain, the bride's
father (or parents, these days) traditionally pays most of the wedding
expenses. Bill, who presumably makes good money as a curse breaker,
could easily pay any expenses traditionally assigned to the groom's
family. Meanwhile, the Weasleys are providing a supposedly secure
place for the wedding and hospitality for the bride's family (the
other members of the wedding party are Weasleys, anyway). And they
seem to be keeping track of the presents in case Fleur is the sort of
bride who writes thank you notes. (BTW, I hope that they wedding
presents survived the raid. We don't hear them mentioned in later
chapters.)
> 
> 3. What is wrong with Lupin? He's at a celebration, why can't he
enjoy it, especially since he and Tonks are newlyweds themselves?

Carol:
Lupin is clearly regretting his marriage and possibly Tonks's
pregnancy, if he already knows about it. He seems to feel guilty for
endangering his bride (and unborn child?), not to mention that his
chronic illness and unemployment make it difficult to provide for her
(or necessary for her to be the sole provider, which can only make him
feel more inadequate), and the sight of a happy, healthy young groom
with a steady income probably doesn't make him any happier. True, Bill
was mauled by Fenrir Greyback, but it doesn't seem to have harmed
either him (beyond scarring) or altered his relationship with Fleur. I
suspect that Lupin, besides being unhappy for himself, can't help
envying Bill (in contrast to Tonks, who seems oblivious to her
husband's emotional state because she's so happy herself).
> 
> 4. What is the significance of meeting Xenophilius Lovegood? Is it
just to explain where Luna gets her "Looneyness" from?

Carol:
Xenophilius Lovegood will prove important later, both in relation to
the Deathly Hallows and his daughter's own kidnapping (which leads him
to attempt to betray Harry to the DEs). He also serves to introduce
the Deathly Hallows symbol, which Viktor Krum associates with
Grindelwald. Lots of foreshadowing here, not to mention the minor
mystery of why a Ravenclaw lunatic, erm, eccentric, would be an
apparent follower of the Dark wizard DD defeated in 1945.
> 
> 5. If the Lovegoods essentially were neighbors of the Weasleys, how
come Ron and the other Weasleys (Ginny apparent knew Luna because they
were in the same year) didn't know her before we met Luna in Order of
the Phoenix on the train?

Carol:
Although the Weasleys know that the Lovegoods live in Ottery St.
Catchpole (Mr. Weasley mentions in GoF that they won't be taking the
portkey to the QWC), they don't live close together. HRH can see the
trees and hedges that screen the Burrow from view (it's hidden from
Muggle eyes) when they land on a hill overlooking the village, but
they walk for *two hours* without catching sight of any house that
looks as if the Lovegoods would live in it. They Disapparate to
another hill a few miles away and then spot what has to be the
Lovegoods' house. (Ron has never been there, but he has no trouble
picking it out.) I'm guessing that Luna was home-schooled, first by
her mother and then by her father, and that the eccentric Lovegoods
don't socialize much with other families.
> 
> 6. Auntie Muriel asks where Harry is, since Ron says they are close
friends. If so many people know Harry is that close to the Weasleys,
wouldn't they expect him to be there? The important people know
Harry's in disguise, but wouldn't more people be questioning his absence?

Carol:
Since we're seeing from Harry's pov, we don't know whether anyone was
asking about him besides the few people that he speaks with. People
might ask Ron or Hermione, but they're out on the dance floor escaping
Auntie Muriel and/or Viktor Krum, and I don't see why anyone would ask
"Cousin Barny" about Harry. Maybe the Weasley Twins and their parents
are fielding the questions about Harry.
> 
> 7. Are we just to assume Ron and Hermione are an item now? Does
everyone else assume they are? No one seems to acknowledge it except
for a brief exchange between Viktor and Harry.

Carol:
I'm sure that the Weasley family has seen the attraction building
between the two and expected them to get together before now. Viktor
quickly finds out that Hermione is "taken," and Lavender doesn't seem
to be present. I'm not sure why anyone else would care. Anyone who was
present at DD's funeral would have seen Ron comforting Hermione, in
any case.
> 
> 8. JK Rowling said in an interview after Goblet of Fire that
international wizards no longer were going to factor in the books. Why
was Viktor here, just as a device to explain Grindelwald's symbol?

Carol:
To me, it makes perfect sense for Fleur, as a fellow TWT champion, to
invite him. (I expected Madame Maxime to be there as well, but I
suppose that her house-sized carriage and Abraxan horses would have
drawn a bit too much attention to the Burrow, even if the Weasleys
could have come up with the single-malt whiskey to "water" them.) It's
a nice touch to bring in Viktor and tie up the loose thread of his
brief relationship with Hermione, but, of course, he also helps Harry
to remember who Gregorovitch is and identifies the Deathly Hallows
symbol as Grindelwald's mark, introducing two or three subplots at
once (GG/DD, the Hallows, the Lovegoods). He also provides a touch of
humor ("What is the use of being an international Quidditch star if
all the good-looking girls are taken?) it's a shame that he didn't
stay around to join the Order, but I suppose a little thing like the
takeover of the British MoM by Death Eaters can't stop the ongoing
Quidditch competition. Either that or he felt a need to protect his
home territory (Bulgaria or Romania or wherever Durmstrang is) rather
than remain in England.
> 
> 9. Did Hermione discontinue her correspondence with Viktor? She had
no idea why he was at the wedding? She made a point of staying in
touch for at least a year after Goblet of Fire.

Carol:
Hard to say. Maybe the increasing threat of Voldemort or her feelings
for Ron (finally brought into the opening after he's poisoned in HBP)
caused her to stop writing to Viktor. I think he's last mentioned in
OoP before the battle of the MoM.
> 
> 10. Just like many other traditions and holidays, the magical world
has seemingly borrowed from Muggle traditions again with the entire
wedding. Why isn't there much difference between that ceremony and a
traditional Muggle ceremony, religious or not? Is it easier just to
believe there is more in common between the two worlds than they let
on? We see this wedding through Harry's eyes. Harry admittedly has
never been to a wedding – magical or Muggle – before. Does that make a
difference?

Carol:
I don't think Harry's pov makes any difference, but JKR is clearly
suppressing any religious elements here, just as she did with DD's
funeral. I think that the WW shares common traditions with the Muggle
world and to some degree went its separate way after 1692 (or 1689, if
we use the revised date in DH), but the large number of Muggle-borns
and Half-Bloods probably influenced the way those shared traditions
were celebrated. In other matters (clothing, communication, lighting,
etc.) the WW has remained more conservative, in part because it never
substituted "eckeltricity" for magic.
> 
> 11. Why is Grindelwald's symbol so important? Why is Xenophilius
Lovegood wearing said symbol? Is it just costume jewelry?

Carol:
As we find out later, Xenophilius, like DD and GG before him, is in
quest of the Hallows (not that he would ever find them). It's
certainly not costume jewelry. He certainly knows that the Hallows are
real and is aware of the Peverell connection. Since he tends to
believe what other wizards reject as absurd, I suspect that he
believes the entire tale of the Three Brothers, including their
meeting with Death. Hermione's connection of the symbol in her book to
Xenophilius takes them one step closer to solving the mystery of the
Hallows and the parallel mystery of the Grindelwald/Dumbledore
relationship. (Harry's quest for truth relates primarily to DD.)
> 
> 12. Is Elphias Doge protecting Dumbledore's memory by telling Harry
not to believe a word Rita Skeeter says?

Carol:
I think that Elphias Doge believes what he wrote about DD and reveres
him almost as a saint. He is horrified by Rita Skeeter's (and Auntie
Muriel's insinuations). The only thing he knows that he's covering up,
IMO, is that Aberforth broke Albus's nose at Ariana's funeral. But he
believes what he says about Ariana being frail and not being a Squib,
and he probably has reason (as does almost everyone who knows her) to
distrust Rita Skeeter's brand of investigative journalism.
> 
> 13. What is the deal with Doge's relationship with Dumbledore? Did
Doge love Dumbledore as more than a friend? Knowing Dumbledore's
sexuality now, could Doge and Dumbledore also have been lovers at some
period? Or could Doge have had that kind of affection for Dumbledore,
but it was never realized in a physical sense? Was their planned
yearlong journey around the world more than just two friends on a quest?
> 
Carol:
I seriously doubt that Dumbledore felt anything besides a vague
affection or tolerance for Elphias, who was probably a hero worshiper
much like Wormtail in relation to James Potter. As for their planned
journey around the world, the Grand Tour was the culmination of every
young Englishman's (or at least, every young English gentleman's)
education in the nineteenth century, and, in many cases, part of a
young Englishwoman's, too. The only difference between Doge's Grand
Tour and that of his Muggle contemporaries is that he visited wizard
sites rather than Muggle attractions.

> 14. Muriel seems so taken by the scandals involving Dumbledore; do
you think she's ashamed of the Weasley clan? She mentions once,
"Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes." What would she think of the
scandals Arthur's been involved with? Does she dismiss it because she
apparently is from Mrs. Weasley's side of the family?

Carol:
I agree that she's from Molly's side of the family (the Prewetts), so
she wouldn't feel any *shame* in relation to the Weasleys. A bit of
aristocratic contempt for her poor relations (by marriage), maybe. I
don't know what she would think about the scandals because I'm not
sure whether you mean his legislation or the flying Ford Anglia or the
Ministry's mishandling of the QWC. I doubt that she worries much about
it. In fact, I'm surprised that she allowed her house to be used as a
 "safe place" for the Order members. Maybe there's more kindness in
her than she reveals.
 
> 15. Was Kinglsey not at the wedding because he was still protecting
the Prime Minister? If so, how did he know so quickly about the
Ministry of Magic's fall and Rufus Scrimgeour's death?
> 
Carol:

Good question. Maybe the little froglike man in the portrait informed
the Prime Minister, who informed Kingsley. He must have had a Ministry
contact of some kind.

Carol, thanking IPPY for the interesting questions even though she
doesn't know who IPPY is