Why did Rowling intend to kill Arthur in book five?

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 180416

"pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> replied in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/180415>:

<< The story could have gone much the same way, provided that Harry
thinks he could have saved Arthur if he'd gotten help sooner. >>

Yes to the Ministry raid. But it would still have strained his
relationships with the surviving Weasleys.

> Does Ginny really hex everyone? Or just people who annoy her?
> Presumably she grew out of it as James did. How come no one seems
> to think that naive readers will be confused about the nature
> of evil if the bad guys aren't perfectly bad, but think
> they'll be confused about the nature of goodness if the good guys
> aren't perfectly good?

I *hope* Ginny grew out of it, but she didn't grow out of it as James
did: James changed his behavior as an attempt to win Lily's esteem,
and Ginny already has her beloved's esteem. I hope James learned the
innate value of his improved behavior from doing it. 

How delightful it would be if Luna brought Ginny to a realization of
her behavior -- Ginny flies into a rage at someone for harassing Luna,
but Luna offers sympathy to the victim ('Here's a hand up. Should I
get you some Numbing Nostrum? I know falling like that hurts, from
when people jinx my shoes.')

It never occurred to me that naive readers might be confused about the
nature of goodness by Ginny's bullying ways. It did occur to me
momentarily that Rowling might be a bit confused on the subject, but
mostly I just found OoP!Ginny a little annoying and HBP!Ginny very
annoying.

And something that annoyingly occurred to me just as I clicked 'Send'
on the previous post: Kreachy told Narcissa that DD, Sirius, and all
the red-haired brats knew of the attack on Arthur even before the
night watchman found him. If Kreachy knew that they knew because Harry
had spread the word because Harry had seen the vision, he would have
told her that, too. So that would be how LV learned of the scar
connection, not because he felt it in his own headache or something.
Maybe all other readers had already figured that out but me.

Therefore, in the following long but heavily snipped excerpt from OoP,
Snape is concealing from Harry that Harry's actions, DD's actions, and
Kreachy spreading the word had given this information to LV. Snape
appears to be making a point of deceiving without actually lying. On
one paw, Snape has to be a good liar to survive his double-agent role
for even minutes. On another, has he ever outright lied to Harry? I
wonder why?

'It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection
between you and himself until very recently. Up till now it seems that
you have been experiencing his emotions, and sharing his thoughts,
without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you had shortly
before Christmas -' 'As I was saying, the vision you had shortly
before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark
Lord's thoughts -'
 
'And Vol - he - realised I was there?'

'It seems so,' said Snape coolly.

'How do you know?' 
 
'It is enough that we know,' said Snape repressively. 'The important
point is that the Dark Lord is now aware that you are gaining access
to his thoughts and feelings. He has also deduced that the process is
likely to work in reverse; that is to say, he has realised that he
might be able to access your thoughts and feelings in return -'