Connecting the dots- how Quirrell fits in (long - part 3 of 3)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Constance Vigilance <constancevigilance at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> Yes. Isn't it interesting that once again, we are
> drawn to Scandinavia. I suspect they will be
> successful at finding that Snorkak. Could they also
> find Durmstrang? Or Grindelwald? I'm beginning to like
> the idea that he is alive as well.
> 

Kneasy:
Scandinavia....the final battle....Ragnarok!
Oh yes please! Blood and guts in abundance.
For all that JKR peppers her tale with mythological allusions,
those of the Norse/Germanic variety have been a bit thin on
the ground. Now's her chance - and a fair few of the key
players can be shoe-horned in without too much trouble.

There's the Great Worm, Fenrir Wolf (which would make
Lupin ESE - that'll please Pippin) and Voldy as the Loki look-alike. 
Hogwarts bursts into flames, the Whomping Willow splits asunder,
the old order goes down, a new world is born with one innocent
remaining from the previous management. 
So who'll be Balder?

I've always wondered.... correct my maths if I'm wrong,  but by
my calculations the internal time-line of the books may be due for
the conclusion to be at the end of the millennium, approximately.
An allusion to a bright new age - with no magic?

> > Neri, 
> > whose first post as a newbie in HPfGU was the only
> > reply to Constance
> > Vigilance's Quirrell Is Alive TBAY.  
> > 
> CV:
> Ah, gee. Thanks. Too bad TBAY died. It was especially
> great just before Book 5 while we battened down the
> hatches for Hurricane Jo.
> 

Kneasy:
Do not speak too soon, do not tempt  fate. 
It may only be sleeping...

> CV:
> Carolyn pointed out that the Q-man could have been
> DUMBLEDORE's first VWII victim. I hadn't considered
> that.
> 
> I'm not surprised that he found Vapor!Mort. He went
> out LOOKING for trouble, in a manner of speaking. I
> think he could have heard rumors of strange things
> happening to animals and followed the trail to the
> forests of Albania. As for the stone and Gringott's,
> I've said before that I think he had a confederate at
> Gringott's. Hagrid says that only a Gringott's goblin
> can open a secure vault. I tend to take him at his
> word and assume that a goblin was involved. Couldn't
> the inside-goblin at the bank pass the word along that
> there is an item in a certain vault that might be of
> interest to somebody with designs on immortality? The
> whole goblin class seems a little dodgy to me.
>

Kneasy:
There's always been the sound of shuffling feet from the
back of the class whenever the Gringott's episode has been
discussed. Something's not quite right. Unfortunately we don't
know much about Goblin magic, but as the WW treat them with
a measure of caution verging on apprehension, we can assume
that it's not negligible. Somebody swans in - how do they know
since no trace was left? It's not as if anything was there to be 
stolen and reported as missing - from a security vault that they 
normally only bother to check every ten years or so. 

And why do I think it's no coincidence that Sirius's vault (711) is 
so close to DD's (713)? And that Sirius can arrange for money to 
pay for the Firebolt to be removed from his own vault but not use
his own name?

"I used your name but told them to  take the gold from Gringotts
vault number seven hundred and eleven - my own." PoA chap 22.

I'm sure it means something, but I'm stuffed if I can think what.
You'll not be surprised that suspicions of collusion and conspiracy
are well to the fore with DD as a prime mover.

 
> Carolyn:
> 
> There is only one person who could have given
> permission for Quirrell's year off.  And only one
> person likely to suggest the type of first-hand
> knowledge of Dark Arts that was needed, and the travel
> itinery. And who might decide to `share' his
> specialised knowledge of alchemy and the stone with
> such a `brilliant mind'?
> 
> CV:
> 
> Hmm. Interesting idea. I hadn't thought that my sweet
> Q-man might have been "played" by the puppetmaster in
> such a way. In that case, wouldn't it be even more
> likely that DD would want to save his life? How cruel
> would it be to trick him into a situation and then let
> him die as a result?
>

Kneasy:
Why not? He seems to be to blame for everything else that
goes on. Dear, oh dear. Is there no limit to his Machiavellian
machinations? Apparently not. Good oh.

It's true that  there's no absolute evidence in PS/SS that
Quirrell ascended to the choir invisible - an odd omission when
you think of it, and it's probable that we've been contaminated
to a greater or lesser extent by the film images. In the true canon
Quirrell doesn't crumble, he blisters. Survival, with help from a 
previous hearty draught of unicorn blood doesn't seem impossible.
DD's phrasing could be a pointer, too. One would expect him to
say "Quirrell didn't get the Stone." Instead it's "Quirrell doesn't
have the Stone" - present tense, not past. A snippet you'll have 
highlighted in your TBAY for sure.

If it was all a ploy cunningly contrived by DD to bring Voldy  out
into the open then there's a question worth asking - was Quirrell
a patsy or a volunteer? From Quirrell!Mort's whitterings at the
climax he seems to have been a good egg before Voldy did the 
business. And continuing the mythological theme - Janus - the
two-faced god - two-faced as in untrustworthy or two faces each
with different views? Ah, the possibilities!