GOF Chapter 10: Mayhem at the Ministry

[oryx_leucoryx]

Arthur is confident Mr Roberts will be alright, though at the moment he doesn't know which day it is, and worse. And Arthur knows that based on the extensive time he spent with Muggles, learning all about them and their culture? I doubt there is any long-term follow up on victims of Obliviation. How does Arthur know they don't develop some form of early-onset dementia later? Heck, maybe Mad Cow Disease is a front for Obliviation side-effects.

Molly is worried because of scary headlines in The Prophet. That's because she totally forgot to look at the living room clock where she could see that no family member was in mortal danger (or if any were for a while the danger was long over by the time she got the paper).

Rita Skeeter criticized the Ministry's lax security at the game. Last week she criticized Percy's cauldron project. And as we shall see later, earlier in the summer she called Dumbledore an obsolete dingbat. Does she have an agenda or is she an equal opportunity trouble-rouser? (Or perhaps she is in the process of upgrading from the latter to the former.)

Arthur keeps insisting nobody was hurt, but I can't forget those green flashes.

Molly tries to object to Arthur's going to the office to take care of the crisis when he is supposed to be on holiday. Percy doing the same is met with no reaction whatsoever.

Harry finally tells his friends about his dream, though as he expected they offer no help. Hermione disses Trelawney and her prophecy. Little does she know.

Sorry madderbrad (and other H/Hr shippers out there) but here we have evidence Hermione doesn't understand Harry all that well - not as well as Ron, at least. He does prefer playing Quidditch with the boys (Ginny? Who's that?) than going to bed early to worry.

Percy's help was in fact needed after all. (He reports no change in Crouch's behavior, though we know that by now Crouch has been placed under Imperius. Perhaps because at this point his instructions were 'act naturally'.) And kudos to Percy for catching Mundungus in his lie. This is the second mention of Mundungus before we learn he is an Order member. He gets a lot more foreshadowing than Sirius Black, though his role is significantly more minor.

Percy makes accusations against Arthur, Bill defends him citing his own run-in with Rita, but is countered by Molly who actually agrees with Rita's criticism of his hairstyle. Looks like Ms Skeeter has a talent for sowing discord that puts Voldie to shame.

Fred and George have already started their campaign to get Bagman to pay them with real money.

Bertha Jorkins' disappearance is finally serious business, once Rita found out about it (how dare she?). Now Arthur claims to have told Ludo to send someone to look for her. Hmm, he just asked him if there was any news of her and quickly shut up when Ludo said there wasn't. Can't afford to get on the bad side of the one who got you the tickets. It was Crouch who repeatedly asked for a search party.

You know, while Rita's style is annoying, she does catch instances of improper conduct at the Ministry. Maybe if she and her likes had better access to the goings-on people would be scared-straight and start doing things right. Though they'd probably only intensify the covering-up.

Hermione isn't of age yet so it is Molly who washes the socks.

Didn't Molly go shopping while the rest were at the match? So why is it that the first time either boy sets eye on the acquisitions it is the last night of vacation, 6 nights later?

I can understand Molly buying Harry more expensive robes than she bought Ron, since she was using his money for that, but that's still not a reason to buy Ron robes that were in bad taste, in a bad state, in the color he hates - and do nothing to improve them after the purchase. She did have 6 days for that. Any wonder locket-influenced!Ron believed his mother preferred Harry to him? (Now that I'm thinking about this - Molly treats Ron almost as badly or incompetently as Eileen treated Severus. Well, on the one hand, other than the dress robes Ron doesn't look visibly neglected, but on the other Severus seems to have been better informed about Hogwarts and magic than Ron. So perhaps it's a wash.)

Comments

[600ants.livejournal.com]

I know that it's supposed to be humorous Yeah, so do I, but it still makes Molly look like a very bad mother. I know there's no law that parents must love all their kids equally, but they should at least try not to let their favouritism show. And Ron isn't that bad a son, anyway. He's just a regular kid, who doesn't deserve to be treated like a second-class offspring.

doesn't care about buying her own son robes in a color that he hates The stupid, it burns. So on one hand, children can turn mice into cups, but on the other, a grown-up housewife witch can't think of a spell that would at least change the colour to something less offensive and noticeable, such as black.

[sunnyskywalker]

Or neatly take off the lace. How hard can that be?

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And you know what, it's actually even more stupid than I thought, because with both Ron and Ginny at school, Molly has literally _nothing to do_ all day, every day. Maybe dhe doesn't have the money to buy quality robes (though I have my doubts about that, too), but she sure has as hell has plenty time to not only to alter the hand-me-downs, but also to buy fabric and sew brand new ones.

[sunnyskywalker]

Maybe she does a lot of gardening and canning? And... um... sells the excess, plus all the extra chicken eggs they must have... and makes magical clocks to order? But yes, she would have significantly less to do - certainly enough time to take the lace off a set of dress robes and tweak the color to something a little more red than maroon - and yet we're expected to believe she's just as busy as when all the kids are home. Like that comment she makes toward the end of GoF about it being nice to take a night off cooking for once. She's only cooking for two! They can have leftovers every other night easily, and couldn't Arthur pitch in on weekends?

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

She might be too busy in the summer to take care of altering Ron's robes, but that doesn't help at all, because Ron doesn't need dress robes for the first day of school. She might want to buy the secondhand robes before anyone leaves, so she can make sure they fit, but she could send the altered robes along later. It isn't as though we haven't seen students receive packages at Hogwarts.

I can imagine that secondhand robes might be significantly cheaper than the basic materials, particularly if they're unfashionable secondhand robes. Also... I can imagine that Molly could sew fairly well, but not be up to the task of making *dress* robes. Even old fashioned dressy clothes look *dressy*, but Molly's creations might not, even if she made them out of velvet.

Molly doesn't make her kids' clothes for school either, apparently. In CoS, in the Diagon Alley chapter, we see the line, "Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to a secondhand robe shop." It could be something similar. School uniforms need to meet certain criteria, so a homemade one wouldn't look right, while a secondhand uniform would be acceptable.

Or maybe Molly *can't* sew, even if she knits?

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Even old fashioned dressy clothes look *dressy*, but Molly's creations might not, even if she made them out of velvet. Fair enough. I was thinking about the robes we saw in the movie, which are fairly easy to sew, but they might have been described as more ornate and complicated in the books, I don't remember.
Yes, maybe she can't sew at all, no shame in that, but then what can she do? She obviously never had a job, and if she she doesn't have clever hands for housework and craftwork, either, then... she's basically no more than a children-popping machine.

[sunnyskywalker]

I once hypothesized that she's an expert in magical timepieces, and maybe at least repairs or builds a few on the side in addition to handling her own. Nothing ever came of that, but it wasn't jossed either.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Nice idea!
Is Mrs. Weasley some sort of timepiece-magic expert? That would be pretty cool, actually! Sadly, JK decided having seven kids is career enough for a woman.

There was another clock in CoS, one that had things like "Time to make tea" and "Time to feed the chickens" instead of numbers. :D Do they really need such clock? Because it reminds me of when I was going to kindergarten for forenoons and I couldn't tell time and ma used to tell me I'll be back for you when the big hand covers the small hand and they both point up here. Now I imagine Arthur leaving for work and instructing his wife, who also can't tell time: don't forget to feed chicken when the hand points at the pretty picture of the hen here, dearie. :)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Do they really need such clock? Because it reminds me of when I was going to kindergarten for forenoons and I couldn't tell time and ma used to tell me I'll be back for you when the big hand covers the small hand and they both point up here. Now I imagine Arthur leaving for work and instructing his wife, who also can't tell time: don't forget to feed chicken when the hand points at the pretty picture of the hen here, dearie.

To be fair, perhaps the clock was made for the Weasley children for when they were too small to tell time by a regular clock.

Of course the children now are all old enough to tell time, but the old clock is kept as a sentimental memento, just like kids' old toys, drawings, etc.

[sunnyskywalker]

It might also have some limited ability to shift automatically for changes in schedule, like keeping slightly different hours during holidays or if they're home late (we don't know whether wizards do Daylight Savings Time, but if so, I bet it adjusts for that on its own). It's when your schedule is thrown off that you're most likely to forget what you're supposed to be doing, so it could be handy that way.

And if it is mostly for kids, that's also the sort of thing that might be popular to owl-order from catalogs :D The mortal-peril clock sounds more like something she would have wanted after her brothers died in the first war.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

:D That would have to be an awful lot of it, to keep her occupied even in winter. Now I honestly can't imagine what she was doing with all her free time. The magical household basically runs itself (or are those magical knitting neddles etc. only movie!canon?) and Arthur spends most of his time at work, so it's pretty much preparing breakfasts and dinners for two, what keeps her so "busy".

and makes magical clocks to order? Off-topic, but it just occured to me – why on Earth Lupin never worked at home? Instead of bitching about how nobody would employ him, why didn't he just, I don't know, learn French and translate books? No chance lycanthropy would stand in the way of this sort of job, and you can make a nice living off it.

[sunnyskywalker]

Or run a mail-order potions business, or a mail-order curse-breaking business, or... yeah, there could be something there!

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Magic tupperware? Magic Home Interior, Magic Avon, Magic Pampered Chief, Magic Designer handbag parties?

Tries to think of other crap muggle women sell on the side for a at home business to make extra money.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Tries to think of other crap muggle women sell on the side for a at home business to make extra money.

Not just women; you have a long history of door-to-door salesmen touting various housecleaning products, magazines, greeting cards, rugs.

Then there's the telemarketers, altho the wizarding world doesn't have phones, I suppose someone could do mailorder via owl, selling food products, home repair, etc.

Lupin could have opened up a wizarding equivalent of a job lot/dollar store..."Lupin's Leftovers -- Nothing More Than A Galleon!" He could have had James and Sirius put up money as an investment when they first got out of school; I mean, what exactly did Lupin plan on being/doing when he graduated Hogwarts?

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Yea =) I was just thinking women because I just went to a party on Friday. Designer Handbags - which I believe are actually knockoff handbags really. But ya know, it's better than paying $300 for a handbag. I have a friend who buys coach retail, I just could never pay that much even if I did have the money. I don't mind paying $25 or 30, etc.

But yea, there are lots of side business' people run, male and female. And on Lupin it sort of makes you wonder what he was doing all those years before we first meet him in book 3.

Hell, what about Sirius and James for that matter? I guess because it was a war the situation was a little different but people still have to eat and work, etc. even when a war is going on.

It's just kind of convienent that James had lots of money.

Isn't it ironic that Draco and the Malfoy's get bad mouthed about being rich, etc...but Harry certainly doesn't have a problem living off pureblood money his grandparents 'apparently' left James.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Hell, what about Sirius and James for that matter?

They had inherited money, remember.

If James had any plans to do anything, my guess was to be an Auror. Who knows if Sirius had any serious plans... ;-)

[600ants.livejournal.com]

I mean, what exactly did Lupin plan on being/doing when he graduated Hogwarts? Or his parents, for that matter. Knowing he was screwed for life since he was a little kid, you'd think they'd make plans for him early on. The might have opened a small business themselves, so that it would be waiting for him after he graduates/is expelled from Hogwarts, whichever comes first. What were they thinking? The only thing I can think of is that Dumbles promised them he'd take care of Remus, not to worry, and then he didn't, because the war ended sooner that expected, and he didn't need him anymore.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Red Hen speculates that he Dumbledore was paying him to keep an eye on the werewolves even between the wars.

I've also seen theories that he was working in the muggle world as a teacher.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

I've also seen theories that he was working in the muggle world as a teacher.

Seriously? As far as Muggle authorities are concerned, his formal education ended by the age of eleven. The problem is, in canon Lupin isn't quaified for any Muggle world profession - except those that require no qualification at all. :)

[oryx_leucoryx]

why didn't he just, I don't know, learn French and translate books?

There was a fic where he ghost-wrote Lockhart's werewolf book.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

There was a fic where he ghost-wrote Lockhart's werewolf book. I was going to point out "but wasn't if full of crap"? But sadly, canon Lupin is pathetic enough not to mind spreading half-truths about his own kind. :(

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I touch on this in at least one of the essays on Red Hen. There is a limit to how many spells someone can carry around in their head at one time, and the ones that stick are the ones that one is likely to be using *all the time*.

For something like 18 years or so, Molly had specialized in cooking and cleaning spells. She's very good at them.

But I do not think that she ever really had the leisure to try to branch out into sewing spells until the family reached a point that she probably had less of a critical need for them. By that time she was *used* to buying children's clothing at 2nd hand shops.

I also get the impression that Molly is not a particularly "mentally flexible" individual (no more I suspect is Rowling) and quite sincerely seems to believe that what she does for some 18 years is what she is going to do for all her life. Almost as if it were somehow shameful to take up some form of retraining, or that it is an admission of failure on some level to try to learn something new.

Rowling shorted Molly much in the way she shorted most of her characters. Having set her up as the "eternal housewife" she overlooks the fact that even the rules of housewifery change over time. and even a woman with 7 children will eventually work her way out of the job as a child-minder. y expectation is thatRowling sees the Weasleys as now providing Molly with grandkids and so it's just same job, different kids and all starts over again.

Not at all realistic given the claim that wizards live extrordinarily long lives--but then Rowling can't really bear to show us any more people who have done so than you can count on the fingers of one hand.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

There is a limit to how many spells someone can carry around in their head at one time, and the ones that stick are the ones that one is likely to be using *all the time*. (.......) But I do not think that she ever really had the leisure to try to branch out into sewing spells until the family reached a point that she probably had less of a critical need for them. What you say would make perfect sense in any fantasy world but Rowling's. :) HP magic isn't like that – it works on the pattern you need a spell, you look it up, you practice it several times and you can do it. I've used this argument before, but I think it's still valid: if children can manage to turn animals into objects their first year learning transfiguration, then altering robes really should be a snap and there isn't a plausible reason not to do it. Actually, the first time I read about those blasted robes I didn't understand why Ron couln't alter them - as well as all the maroon sweaters - himself. All he needed was to go to the library and look up a spell for changing colors.

Rowling shorted Molly much in the way she shorted most of her characters. Having set her up as the "eternal housewife" she overlooks the fact that even the rules of housewifery change over time. and even a woman with 7 children will eventually work her way out of the job as a child-minder. Absolutely, I couldn't agree more.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

It's insane.
Anybody could take off the lace. No need for magic.
And are we to believe that Molly "The Domestic Goddess" Weasley doesn't know any sewing charms?
If she wanted she could have altered the robes lace and color.

But as she makes him maroon jumpers (something she chooses the color for) every year....

[600ants.livejournal.com]

But as she makes him maroon jumpers (something she chooses the color for) every year.... You don't know how sad this makes me, because it means that Molly easily could have spared Ron a lot of embarrassment and discomfort – she clearly just never cared. And Narcissa is supposed to be the worse mother of the two...