Suspension of disbelief -Idiots of War

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182447

bboyminn quoted:
> 
> --- DH; CH-13, Am Ed, HB, Pg 255 ---
> 
> "Don't pretend, Runcorn," said Mr. Weasley fiercely. "You tracked
down the wizard who faked his family tree, didn't you."
 
Alla responded:
> 
> How does this translate into "Members of the Ministry, and wizard 
world in general, falsified their relationships with muggle-borns to
convince the Ministry that those muggle-borns indeed had magical
ancestry"  In this quote I see a wizard who maybe muggleborn himself
and faked his family tree to save himself. I surely do not see
somebody in particular or WW in general doing it FOR HIM. 

Carol responds:

We have a bit of a problem with ambiguity here. "His" refers to
Creswell, but is Cresswell also "the wizard who faked his family
tree"? IOW, did Cresswell fake his own family tree, as you seem to be
reading the sentence, or is "the [unnamed] wizard who faked
{Creswell's] family tree" someone else? 

I read "You tracked down the wizard who faked his family tree" as
meaning that Runcorn tracked down an unnamed wizard who faked Dirk
Cresswell's family tree, not Cresswell  himself. Why would Runcorn
need to track down Cresswell, who works in the Ministry, or did until
Runcorn informed on him? And it would be odd for Mr. Weasley to refer
to Cresswell as "the wizard who faked his [own] family tree" when
Cresswell has just been named. He'd call him by some variant of his
name, not as "the wizard," which suggests that Mr. Weasley doesn't
know the wizard's name. Moreover, Dirk Cresswell can't be the only
wizard who faked a family tree or had it faked, as "the wizard who
faked his [own] family tree suggests. ("The," in contrast to "a," is
specific and points to only one person or thing, known or unknown,
just as *the* Half-Blood Prince is specific and suggests that the HBP
is the only one of his kind. The Wizard who faked Dirk Cresswell's
family tree would also be just one person.)

It may help to look at the passage in context:
 
"'One moment, Runcorn.'

"The lift doors closed and as they clanked down another floor, Mr.
Weasley said, 'I hear you laid information about Dirk Cresswell.'

"Harry . . . decided that his best chance was to act stupid. 'Sorry?'
he said.

"'Don't pretend, Runcorn,' said Mr. Weasley fiercely. "You tracked
down the wizard who faked his family tree, didn't you?'

"'I--so what if I did?' said Harry. 

"'So Dirk Cresswell is ten times the wizard you are,' said Mr. Weasley
quietly . . . . 'And if he survives Azkaban, you'll have to answer to
him, not to mention his wife, his sons, and his friends--'" (DH Am.
ed. 255).

I can see why you would think that Cresswell is in Azkaban (which,
BTW, he escapes by Confunding Dawlish) for faking his own family tree,
but, as I understand it, he's being sent there for the "crime" of
being a Muggle-born, just like many others in the WW. In his case, he
was also trying to keep his important Ministry job as Head of the
Goblin Liaison Office (and, presumably, for retaining possession of a
wand), so he'd be a very important prisoner.

As I read the sentence, "his" does refer to Cresswell, but "the wizard
who faked [Cresswell's] family tree" is someone else altogether. (As I
said earlier, Mr. Weasley doesn't seem to know this Wizard's name.)
Whether the Wizard faked Cresswell's family tree for a price or as a
favor to Cresswell or as an act of rebellion against LV's regime is
not clear, but, if I'm correct in my interpretation, he certainly
wasn't faking someone else's family tree to save himself. 

*If* one wizard is faking family trees (and being hunted down by the
likes of Runcorn for doing so), it's at least possible that other
Half-blood or Pure-Blood Wizards are faking family trees for
Muggle-borns. Even if such people charge for their services, they're
taking a great risk of being discovered and tortured or imprisoned or
both. 

Carol, wondering what happened to the unknown Wizard who (seemingly)
faked Cresswell's family tree and to Cresswell's wife and sons