Nagini's attack on Arthur in OotP

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

We know that Arthur was an Order member, guarding the door to the DoM (and asleep on the job under an invisibility cloak which didn't hide him from a creature that hunted by heat and scent), when Voldemort's snake attacked him.

What did the Ministry think, and the average Prophet reader?


If Fudge had realized Arthur was there on Dumbledore's orders, surely he'd have sacked him?

In fact, why wasn't Arthur sacked anyway? What business had he to be in the Ministry at all in the middle of the night? Much less loitering suspiciously outside the DoM with an invisibility cloak?

And just what kind of security does the Ministry have, that Order members, Voldemort's slaves and pets, and schoolkids, can come and go after hours as they please? I've never worked anywhere that didn't lock up when everyone left.

In fact, aren't the Aurors based in the building? Shouldn't they have a night shift (what, Dark wizards never operate at night, you tell me?), and therefore a night shift on reception to check people in who have business there?

Finally, if Fudge didn't think the snake was Tom's pet, whose did he think it was and how did he think it got in and escaped?

Thoughts?

Comments

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"you're getting caught up with the religious fervor against them, etc. The last one was from my mother of all people, despite the fact that I write fantasy myself and have no real qualms about including magic in it. Clearly, the hatred of the religious right doesn't necessarily mean the book is good. ;-)"

Now that you mention the religious right, it's kinda odd that they criticise it for including magic, as opposed to, say, the whole "crush your enemies and get praised for it because you're in Gryffindor" mentality. That's pretty opposed to Christian teaching, but nobody ever seems to mention it. Maybe because they never actually read the books, so don't really know what happens in them.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Good point. Magic is probably the least creepy aspect of the series. That's why I find it so weird when people try to draw Harry/Jesus parallels. The two could hardly be less similar- Harry spends most of his time thinking about himself and seems to take credit for what his friends do a lot, while Christ's whole reason for being on earth was to save others. I just don't see it.

I kind of wish some of these fundamentalist naysayers had actually taken the time to read the books. Do you think they would have picked up on the other moral issues?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Depending on the fundamentalists in question, that's exactly the sort of Christianity many of them preach but with a different iconography. Gloating over the punishment of your enemies, ignoring similar cases on your own side, low knowledge of the outside world, Muggles/unbelievers are only important in that you can get Muggle-borns/converts from them who are encouraged to assimilate, and American right-wing Christians often consider themselves persecuted despite their colossal privilege and influence while wizards hide away in fear of angry mobs despite the fact that they can teleport, mindwipe, mind-control, torture, kill, mutilate, etc. Change all occurences of the words "magic" and "spell" to "prayer" and you're done.