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

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

I think a good example of how the Treacherous Trio combine is found in the response of certain commentators, Pat Buchanan among others, to the recent Norwegian massacres. When the news first came out, Buchanan was not alone in declaring that the horrible events were the work of Islamic terrorists (confirmation bias - several commentators were all in agreement and supporting each other). When it turned out one Norwegian man killed all those people, Buchanan was initially silent (cognitive dissonance - the killer was a white guy who said he was a Christian and was inspired by far-right pundits, like Buchanan). Then, Buchanan came out and said the maybe the killer had a point after all, that Muslims were really the problem (motivated reasoning - Buchanan wants to hate Muslims and will find any excuse to do so).

I could also use Hermione/Harry shippers as an example... but that would be too easy. ;-)

But, yeah, it seems to be somewhat natural to remain belligerent and ignorant than to rationally consider evidence or confront one's prejudices.

However, this (http://michaeljfaris.tumblr.com/post/10525569930).

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Heh, Daria. Classic cartoon. She'd be a patron saint of deattocapslock, right? :-)

The Norwegian thing is a good example, although I didn't know much about the early commentary that followed.

I could also use Hermione/Harry shippers as an example... but that would be too easy. ;-)

Heh. Surprisingly, as a H/Hr shipper myself, I didn't see too much of the 'crazy' side of that sub-fandom. I did have contact with a few shippers who were still arguing/hoping for a H/Hr resolution with the last book, based on patterns of 'alchemy' they'd discerned from the books. Half their problem was that Rowling just wasn't as smart as they thought/hoped she was (and they were smarter than her). But they were also flying in the face of the post-HBP interviews where Rowling had made it clear that she thought she'd done a great job writing her OBHWF relationships.

Myself, I've had a few encounters with a handful of semi-feral pro-canon zealots which are classic examples of this sort of thing. I've long been building my own little theory of how H/G shippers can be such, and one of the elements is what I think of as 'deliberate ignorance/blindness'. Which is part of that 'trio' you referenced.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Harry/Ginny was so weirdly executed in canon - OTOH a lot of what might be pretentious literary foreshadowing - if you squint really hard (like Ginny running after the train, or Harry saving her in COS) but no build-up of Harry's feelings towards her, or even recognizing her existence (eg he suddenly realizes he 'has' to share a train compartment with her because Ron and Hermione are with the prefects) that during the week between the OOTP movie came out and the publication of DH some alternate shippers used the OOTP movie as evidence that no, there's nothing between Harry and Ginny, therefore the infamous 'chest monster' must have been the result of a love potion and in DH both of them will end up with other partners.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Canon's H/G was done so badly (that plus Ginny was such a noxious character) I for one would have welcomed a 'love potion' revelation. Seriously.

As I recall the main reason I decided that H/Hr wasn't on the cards - that the series would end up OBHWF - was that Rowling was too happy with herself in her post-HBP interviews. The 'Interview o' Doom' held right after the book's publication, in particular; the nauseating sycophancy demonstrated by Rowling's two interviewers was matched only by Rowling's own self-indulgent satisfaction with what she had wrought. Anyway, unless Rowling was deliberately out-and-out lying to her readers I decided that the series was going to end OBHWF.

(I didn't think it would be as bad as it was, though. A 'hero' who almost totally forgot the damsel left waiting for him, the girl overcome with jealousy every time he went close to another female, the boy who ranked her as less important than a sandwich, so on and so forth, you no doubt know all of the anti-H/G reasons, I'll be quiet now. :-))

But if it wasn't for Rowling's 'meta' interview information ... I would have probably had a much tougher time betting against H/Hr. The sixth book was so *bad* ... was it deliberate? There were love potion references all over the place (including a Warbeck song played over the wireless at the Burrow) ... was it possible that Harry *was* potioned? As of the end of HBP OBHWF didn't officially exist - H/G was 'broken up' and R/Hr were only back to being friends again. All too easy to bring in the *real* romance in the final book ...

I think there were easily ways that H/Hr could have emerged from the ashes of Sweet Valley Hogwarts (as it stood at the end of HBP). Just read any quality H/Hr 7th year fanfic for details. :-)

I don't know if I've ever read a good "love potion" story, I would love to read any.

Using the OotP movie as 'evidence' is pretty silly, though. Although I confess I've always been puzzled as to why Rowling 'let' the movie folk push H/Hr as far as they did on the big screen. Part of it is no doubt due to the actresses they ended up with - the photogenic leading lady as compared with the homely insipid sister-of-the-best-friend - but I do think the movie people also pushed the H/Hr simply because it was another obvious/suitable pairing. Still not official 'canon' though. Not really 'evidence' although certainly usable in gleaning additional canon insight.

... OTOH a lot of what might be pretentious literary foreshadowing ...

I detest H/G but sure, those few moments of foreshadowing are there (actually those two are all I can think of). H/Hr had a couple also, I think; the "Harry and Hermione flying on Buckbeak" was a decent image, for example. Not having the literary depth of the "slaying the dragon to save the damsel in distress" thing but ranking above "waving goodbye to her brothers".

The thing is ... those sort of literary meta symbols (what would you call them?) are nice and good stuff to add to a story, the icing on the cake, but it doesn't remove the requirement to still have substance within the story proper. Ask Harry "why did you fall in love with Ginny?" and he's not going to reply "because she waved goodbye to her four brothers at the railway station and my author thinks railway stations are romantic places". He has to have 'in character' reasons that *he* can see as to why she was the girl for him. And when it came to that Rowling both came up short AND seemed very rushed in conjuring her contrived union in the penultimate novel.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Using the OotP movie as 'evidence' is pretty silly, though.

Author of the essay decided that the film makers must already know how the romances turn out and if Harry/Ginny was important they'd have him pay some attention to her, because with DH coming out soon there was no point in keeping the surprise.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe that makes some sense. OotP was the book where Ginny started to be more than just a background character after all. I'm not sure there was enough of her in the book, though, to turn around and say that there was even less in the movie.

The HBP movie is where the films really start snubbing Rowling's primary romantic pairing.