Best of Enemies all three parts

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at w...> 
wrote:
> 
> --- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith (Kneasy) wrote
> in
> 
> << 5 so-called anti-Harry characters appear in book 1 >> 
> 
> Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, Draco, Quirrell, Lord Voldemort...I count 6. 
>

Ah, lists. We each have our preferences. "Round up the usual suspects!"
we say, but we find that they're not always the same.
What is interesting is the name that we've both omitted from our lists...
 
> <<  And if it isn't credible, then once again all might not be what it
> seems in the Potterverse of sneaky old Jo. >>
> 
> And Jo MIGHT not be AS sneaky as some fans give her credit for.
>

True.
But I remain in a state of (possibly) unjustified optimism. 

> << Hexing the broomstick. Huh. Not impressed. Classic demonstration of
> a conflict of goals. Ignore Potter - just get the damn Stone. Why's he
> farting around playing silly buggers with an 11 year old? >>
> 
> Presumably that was LV's doing; he, on the back of Q's head, saw
> Potter and had a reflex response of being determined to smash him like
> a bug.
> 

Don't think so. No scar pain - and that's more or less a given when Voldy
turns his thoughts Potterwards.

Now I'll admit that Quirrell's own words could lead one to think that Voldy
is constantly directing his actions and monitoring what's going on "He is
with me wherever I go" but that need not predicate that the boss is
always active. Indeed, at the climax Quirrell expresses concern that
Voldy wants to get involved "Master, you are not strong enough!"
Could be that Voldy spends much of  his time in a quiescent stand-by
mode saving what little strength he has.

> 
> << And anyway, can't he do better than broom-nobbling? He's supposed
> to be an expert on Dark Arts, isn't he? So why not use 'em? >>
> 
> He (if you mean Q) is supposed to be an expert on DEFENSE Against the
> Dark Arts. And, as Defense against Dark Creatures appears to be just
> as much of the curriculum as Defense against Dark Arts, maybe he was
> hired solely for his skills with creaturess.
> 

I doubt it - unless he did a correspondence course from the Dolly 
Umbridge DADA Academy "Learn in your own time - anywhere! Just send 
50 Gal. and by return owl you will receive a pack that will enable you to 
defeat DEs! You will be presented with a tasteful framed certificate after 
passing the multiple-choice final exam paper!" 

Whatever the  Dark Arts and Dark Creatures are (and I agree
that the text is distressingly silent on the definitions) I'd  be amazed if
anyone could become sufficiently knowledgeable to teach the subject
without having practiced with the real thing. And if you want to teach
others how to defend themselves - well, somebody  has to produce the 
spells that they must learn to counter. Witness Crouch!Moody and the
need to form the DA. 

> 
> << Though I've never quite figured out why Ginny doesn't die too. 
> If Tom turns up his toes because his life-force is destroyed by the
> deadly dentition being thrust into the Diary and the life force
> concerned has been extracted from Ginny.... >>
> 
> I thought Tom died because the deadly dentition crashed the computer
> (the spell in the diary) that was running him as software until he got
> a body (he was getting a body from Ginny's life-force).
>

We could discuss this one until  the cows come home  and reach no
conclusion. To my way of thinking you need magic to break a spell (what
you call the software). Is Basilisk poison magical? I'd have thought not, it's
just a run-of-the-mill curdle your blood, fry your nervous system, death-
dealing venom. May be wrong of course. But it's my understanding that
according to the conventions of role-playing games a magical poison
is considered as a bit underhand, sharp practice. Perhaps Jo doesn't play
games.
 
> 
> Oh, surely Lucius Malfoy is utterly evil and incapable of repentance.
> Surely Dumbledore only 'went easy' on him because that (removal from
> the Board of Governors) was all the punishment that DD had the power
> to administer to him. Because Lucius was so powerful in wizarding
> society -- surely he never did anything so blunt as to threaten his
> fellow Governors that he would curse their families; surely a mixture
> of perjured witness testimony and *subtle* hints of loss of immunity
> for certain past crimes or loss of a preference essential to their
> career would suffice. Surely Lucius's power didn't depend only on such
> slender reeds as bribed civil servants and friendly Fudge; surely
> putting him in Azkaban even when he was caught in the act in the MoM
> raid required a careful lining up of ducks in a row to prevent
> consequences of a collapse of the wizarding stock market or street
> riots by trained thug-wizards.

Wouldn't have mattered if I'd been in the chair.
Due process and all that stuff isn't nearly as satisfying as death, destruction,
sowing his land with salt and selling his children into slavery.
But I'm totally opposed to unnecessary violence.

> 
> I have this vague theory that Lucius doesn't know that Voldie knows
> that Lucius plans to betray and vanquish(*) Voldie when the time
> arrives that Voldie seems more of a liability than an asset to
> Lucius's ambitions. (To me, Lucius doesn't mind being the power behind
> LV's throne but does mind e.g. LV destroying the economy that keeps
> him rich.) 
> (*) If Lucius believes the Prophecy, he will want to keep Harry alive
> under his control for that reason.
> 
> But Voldie does know; he keeps Lucius around for the time being
> because Lucius is useful AND Voldie actually feels a bit of affection
> to him (possibly because of my other theory that TMR was Lucius's
> godfather, possibly because working-class orphan TMR never got over
> being impressed by toffs) but plans to destroy Lucius just before
> Lucius turns against him.
> 
> I'm not sure which one will win, but I enjoy imagining the utter
> *surprise* of whichever one loses. "But, but, but -- *I* was supposed
> to betray *you*"

That's one scenario.
But it all depends on Voldy remaining mortal for Lucius to end up on
top. Is Voldy mortal? He has a mind/spirit that keeps bouncing back
and a body  that was constructed by spell-work. That'll be a tough nut
for Lucius to crack - unless he joins DD. Which is what I (and presumably
you) don't want.

OTOH Voldy probably considers all his henchwizards as disposable,
useful for the moment, but basically replaceable. Lucius is on very thin
ice. A wrong word, look, action or even thought - and zap! 
Oh, look at the pretty green lights!