Muggle Magic (was Re: Got a question...)

[hg_skmg]

> > hg:
> > I dug around the posts from the past few months and turned up 
CV's concise post 2966, but are there more on this I missed?  Just 
how popular (or unpopular) is this topic on TOC?  It's occupied way 
too much of my brainspace since the summer.
> 
> Anne:
> Oh, sorry - wrong group.  There's more to be found at the Hogs_Head,
> especially beginning here (public archives, so anyone can read):
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hogs_Head/message/4717
> 
> And a more compact version, that CV gave at Salem during the Leaky
> Cauldron's Pottercast. This is a section of the transcript; just
> scroll down about 1/3 of the way until Constance makes her 
appearance:
> 
> http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/pottercast/index.php?
mode=transcripts&id=show8_3
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/9888k
> 
> ~Annemehr
> hoping CV doesn't mind if I toot her horn for her a little bit...
> 
> (by the way, if you read the rest of the Pottercast transcript, I am
> FlyOnTheWall and also the "audience member" who discusses with Chris
> Rankin about sympathising with Percy's character)

hg:
Right on -- you guys are celebrities!  How cool.  
I couldn't find "FlyOnTheWall," but "Audience Member" really held her 
own.  (I'm a Percy-sympathizer myself.)

And about CV, I'll just have to toot along with you, because I think 
she's right -- she said the same thing as in her post (thanks for 
directing me to it) -- here's a snip:

(CV, Hog's Head, 9/23/05):
"As a student of muggle magic (illusionism), when something is done 
out of sight or behind a curtain, it's always because there is some 
trickery involved. That was my first thought when I read the chapter: 
the AK hit DD and he went over the side to die where we can't see 
him. This is complete David Copperfield stuff...Then I wondered about 
the slight smile and bit of blood dripping from DD's mouth. Smiling? 
While you are being AK'd or falling to your death? Neither one of 
those seemed to be something that would result in a smile. And the 
blood - it was ringing a bell. Blood. Blood. Where had we seen blood 
in this book before? Oh, yes! Slughorn used dragon's blood in part of 
his fake death scene." 

I've been discussing Muggle magic on another forum, because I think 
for sure we were treated to some misdirection and gimmick here in the 
tower scene and funeral, perhaps even in the cave.  (I've proposed 
the possibility of a switch with Slughorn that perhaps is divergent 
from CV's take on the matter, but I think Muggle magic is at work 
here, with real magic of course, and with or without a switch.)

But Muggle magic makes a pointed appearance in this book, first with 
Slughorn's fake crime scene, then through the twins and their shop.  
It stands to reason that's to lay the groundwork for more.

A biggie for me is the connection of Slughorn to "Muggle magic," both 
in his actions in Budleigh Babberton and an interesting (possible) 
historical basis for his character, a magician from the Golden Age of 
Magic by the name of Horace Goldin.  Aside from the first name, and 
maybe the 'wink' with Slughorn's golden buttons, Goldin also 
resembled Slughorn physically, and specialized in a fast, patterless 
act (I'm reminded of the two-minutes preparation at the Muggle 
cottage).  Goldin in his early years idolized a magician named Albini 
and had a pet tiger named Lily.  And JK shows us Slughorn's hands 
repeatedly.  The connection with Slughorn and misdirection seems 
especially pointed when Harry knows what he's up to, taking the venom 
from Aragog; the only thing he's able to notice, despite watching 
Slughorn carefully, is the faint clinking of the vials in his pocket.

I definitely think that blood on the body (body?) was little more 
than set-dressing; moreover, I think it was from the vial of dusty 
dragon's blood Slughorn rebottled in chapter 4.

hg.