Deathly Hallows:Ariana Dumbledore

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181959

a_svirn:
> I assumed she was, though, when I read the story. I don't see what 
her age has to say to anything, and we are not told what the boys' 
ages were. What makes me think that she was raped, not just beaten, is
her father's reaction. Why would he pay the price of the lifetime 
sentence in Azkaban merely because his daughter was badly beaten by a
bunch of small prepubescent boys? There would be other ways to punish
them. I think, if Percival Dumbledore proffered no explanations for
his actions, it was because he was trying to keep what he must have
considered damaging information about his daughter secret. 

>
Carol responds:
I think that a father whose child had been, say, hit in the head with
rocks and traumatized, or who had been nearly killed in any way, but
react just as Percival did. Surely, he would be outraged by *any*
serious injury to his little daughter (or son)? "Attack" doesn't have
to mean "rape," nor is rape the only cause of trauma in a child or
other helpless victim.

Carol, who thinks that readers are free to assume what they like and
hopes that JKR chooses *not* to tll us what happened