Dragons, Produced and Tickled, and Other Pleasantries

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
>
> The BoG, the staff and the Ministry know about Slytherin's little pet, the
> parents, the kiddies and the Daily Prophet remain clueless. Myrtle's death
> is hushed up, the kids don't know why Hagrid was expelled and the
> same situation seems to obtain when the serpent returns. We're dealing
> with a people schooled in secrecy from childhood, after all.
> 

That's what we're supposed to believe, yes. The needs of the plot
over-riding commonsense reasoning, in all probablity.

DD runs Hogwarts School of Mayhem and Misdirection more or less as
he wishes, otherwise logically the damn place would be closed half the time.
Apparently DD doesn't keep parents informed, except maybe in an 
end-of-year report - 
"Little Agrippa has done very well in Herbology and Charms, though he 
needs to work on his athletic prowess, as was demonstrated by his 
inability to run fast enough to get away during the unfortunate outbreak 
of death-dealing monsters that caused a hiccup earlier in the year. You
may well have noticed that he didn't write home for a while.
Fortunately his petrification was reversed after only a few weeks and he 
soon caught up with the rest of his year - though I'd strongly advise that
you avoid the word 'serpent' for the time being - he's liable to become 
hysterical."

We are also expected to accept that the kids never bother to mention such
events in their owls to their families.
OK. It helps the plot progress, but it'd be great fun watching the oleaginous
DD scrambling down corridors to escape the wrath of pissed-off parents
waving wands.
 
> The staff and the Ministry know about Lupin's return (and one would 
> assume there's overlap between the Ministry and the Board). Again the 
> kiddies, parents and Prophet are out of the loop, Malfoy having 
> conveniently resigned prior to Lupin's return. I suspect  most board members
> are too old to have kids in school. It is somewhat tutworthy canon, as there
> could be a different setup for Lupin's initial sojourn chez Hogwarts, 
> but it would seem sloppy and a waste of all that exposition.
> 
> Lupin appears to be a natural occlumens. "Don't ask me to fathom the way 
> a werewolf's mind works" and "An odd, closed expression appeared on 
> Lupin's face." Adult Lupin is able to conceal that he's hiding something
> from Dumbledore all year.
> 

There's sloppy plotting dotted all over the place - the glaring discrepancy of
Lupin's transformations during Shrieking Shacks I & II having caused rumbles
in the past. 

Dementors don't give a toss whether one is an Animagus or not because
the mind is the same in both. And it's the mind they concentrate on - another
discrepancy that surfaced in the Sirius sub-plot.

As for DD and his whimsical asides - more deliberate misinformation or
misdirection IMO. The only times he's ever given half-way useful info
is during the traditional end-of-book exposition, and even then it pays
to concentrate on what he doesn't say or to look for alternative meanings
in what he does say. 

See, we all know that you're of the opinion that Lupin is to blame for more
or less everything since Attila the Hun was a lad and you don't believe a word
he says. Fine. No problem. But it looks as if your enthusiasm is running away 
with you when you start accepting that DD is a fount of veracity. A more 
secretive, devious, sneaky, manipulative old fixer than any that has stalked 
the pages of fiction for many a year. He may well be on the good side but
that doesn't mean he sticks to the Boy Scout Code. He most definitely doesn't.
Don't trust any of 'em, is my motto. They're all lying, prevaricating or covering
up for one reason or another - though it may not be because they're evil -
just weak, ashamed, embarrassed or even protective would do it for most. 

There's a political interviewer in the UK - in fact he did an interview with Jo
just before OoP - Paxman. That was a friendly one, but his usual style is very
different. He's said that when questioning politicos the thought uppermost
in his mind is "Why is this bastard lying to me?" A decent guideline when
tackling the HP books IMO.

> As for Sirius and James, the dementors couldn't tell from Sirius's thoughts 
> that he was an animagus, so it  can't be obvious to the enquiring mind. 
> Besides which, the werewolf outings were only a small part of their careers
> of mischief and rule-breaking. Prodding Sirius or James for guilty feelings 
> would have unleashed years of recollections, only a few of which would 
> have to do with the monthly outings. No reason for Dumbledore to zero 
> in on those if he didn't know what he was looking for.
> 
> If Sirius and James weren't questioned about queer
> goings on in Hogsmeade or the forest, they didn't have to lie. They wouldn't
> have gone to the willow *that* month, because they knew Snape had 
> seen Madame Pomfrey taking Lupin to it and would be watching it from
> now on. That's why something had to be done, IMO. Lupin knew that 
> James and Sirius were too reckless to be put off for long.
> 

All DD need do is ask Snape what happened in the tunnel. Then ask Sirius
and James for their versions. Memories associated with Werewolf!Lupin
would then flood to the surface of their thoughts - including the things
that they most definitely don't want DD to know about. "Mustn't mention
the Animagus outings, mustn't mention why we're so familiar with getting
past the Whomping Willow" would stand out like a beacon, I'd expect. If
nothing else, he'd detect lies - an attribute he's boasted about to Harry.

Kneasy