Mosque?toes

[Barry Arrowsmith]

An embarrassment of riches on the board this morning, four subject 
lines seductively whispering their siren songs in the Kneasy  
shell-like. Could be in for a busy weekend at the keyboard.

Best to respond in the order in which they were posted, in which case - 
good morning mooseming!

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "mooseming" <josturgess at e...> 
wrote:
 >
Why is it one whole year before anyone does anything about the 
prophecy? Here it is, the biggest dungbomb in Voldy's plans for a 
while, and no one lifts a finger. DD doesn't organise appropriate 
protection Voldy doesn't have a go, what's going on?
 >

A short  digression, if you don't mind. That damn prophecy.

Sybill does the trance bit, DD records it for posterity  and it gets 
stuffed on a shelf in the Ministry - "Voldy & A.N.Other". Mind you, 
Sybill has no track record for prediction so it's provenance and 
significance might be regarded as a bit dodgy.

The frustrating thing about prophecies is that their accuracy can only 
be determined in retrospect (how else to determine that it's a real 
prophecy?) and there is a real danger that they can become 
self-fulfilling. There's a possibility that this is the case here. 
Voldy believed he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy by knocking 
off Harry. So he was, but not in the way he thought. Instead he creates 
his own possible nemesis, something he wouldn't  have done if he hadn't 
been told of the prophecy. Causality. Oh dear. It can get as convoluted 
as alternate timelines.

Retrospective interpretation has its pitfalls too. I've never quite 
worked out the "mark as his equal" bit. Equal in what? Magical power? 
Wouldn't think so, not a 15 month old sprog. Potential then? Maybe, but 
potential for what? The equality mark seems to be linked to it's donor 
and since the donor is the epitome of  evil..... surely not? Stop  this 
line of thought immediately! Do not succumb! Be strong! Or Possession 
Theory will once again be inflicted on a suffering fandom.

Right. The eavesdropper.
It's a cause for some disgruntlement that  the really fascinating 
events in the story don't happen in the timeline of the books at all. 
Tom in the Chamber, the "thrice defied" episodes, the eavesdropper, the 
betrayal, GH, the 24 hours. Anyone would think it was deliberate, 
keeping us in the dark over past actions that are almost certainly the 
determinants for what's happened since. Yeah, sure.

If only  we knew who the listener was. Plenty of  speculation, usually 
focussing on Peter and Snape, with a few non-conformists plumping for 
Aberforth. Don't see that myself; DD says he couldn't warn his master - 
but old Abbers was in the Order, hardly likely Voldy was his "master".

Who would want to listen in on an interview for a Divination teacher 
anyway? Deliberate or accidental, planned or a chance event? And was 
the information passed on immediately? If it was Snape or another Voldy 
hench-wizard then it probably would be; if Peter probably not - it was 
before he started working for Voldy. A snippet passed on when the 
pressure was later applied? Or was it somebody else? We don't know -  
if we did we might be able to come up with a rationale for any delay in 
informing Voldy.

But if he was informed at the time, why the hold-up? Well, brooding on 
the meaning, sussing out possibilities, deciding on the best course of 
action - I doubt he sees any need to rush - once that is he believes 
that this challenger is not an immediate threat. Nobody'd be too 
bothered at the thought of a two foot high avenging angel with nappies 
drooping round his knees.

No; the question isn't why did he wait so long, but why didn't he wait 
longer? DD himself comments that Voldy would have been wiser to wait, 
to assess the situation, to find out more. Yet he delays for over a 
year, then moves. The worst of both worlds,
neither one thing nor t'other. Why? What made him strike when he did? I 
find it intriguing that at the time of the attack there were two 
conduits of information between the Order and Voldy - Peter and Snape. 
DD used one (Snape) to gather information. Did he use the other to 
disseminate it? It's likely that something made Voldy move when he did; 
where did that something come from?  Let us not forget that he was 
winning, he could afford to take his time over a toddler that might or 
might not be of significance sometime in the future. But DD, he needed 
Voldy to come a cropper *now*, before it was too late. Could almost 
make one think in terms of chess - gambits and sacrifices.
Yeah, I know. Two possible causes - conspiracy or cock-up.
No prizes for guessing which one Kneasy leaps to.

The rest of your post I'll leave in abeyance, if you don't mind.  
Minerva, Hagrid, the 24 hours and the Longbottom episode - well, they 
deserve more than a few comments. Worthy of posts of their own. Long 
ones, I should think.

Kneasy