A Headmaster other than Albus
Jan. 22nd, 2012 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oryx_leucoryx posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockSo here is an idea for an AU scenario. Anyone is free to develop it into a fic, but we can just discuss the what-if:
Sometime between November 2nd 1981 and July 1991 Albus Dumbledore died suddenly. Maybe in some magical mishap, maybe a sudden heart attack, whatever. The important bit is he didn't expect this to happen and had no time to do any ad-hoc cover-ups nor did he have a chance to influence the choice of his replacement or to incorporate his death into some plot. The permanent replacement is chosen by the Board of Governors. If this happens early enough Lucius isn't yet on the board, if later he is on, but probably still trying to earn a reputation as an outstanding member of society who would have never joined forces with Voldemort willingly so I don't think he'd support anyone blatantly against the inclusion of Muggleborns. Anyway, the replacement turns out to be someone not as outwardly impressive as Dumbles - not so showy, with perhaps average or slightly above average magical performance, but a capable administrator with good organizational and interpersonal skills, but most importantly someone who cares about the students' well-being and education. It can be someone from Slughorn's network or even someone who thought well of Albus as long as s/he didn't have a chance to look too closely at how Hogwarts was run, but definitely not an Order member or any other close associate of Dumbles. Maybe an older, more experienced and less idealistic version of Percy.
The members of the Hogwarts staff are as we know them in PS (Care of Magical Creatures is taught by Kettleburn, Hagrid is still a groundskeeper), except for DADA. Depending on timing, Quirrell might be the Muggle Studies teacher. I think the DADA curse should still be active, so the teachers are still being replaced annually (we don't want the new school Head to have it too easy).
So I think this new person shows up and tries to run Hogwarts like a normal school. Some teachers object because that's not the way it was always done, some are relieved to have a professional in charge for a change. The handling of disciplinary matters changes. The inter-House politics change.
And then in the summer of 1991 Quirrell comes back from a sabbatical with a personally transplant. And one Harry Potter oddly doesn't reply to his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. (I doubt the new Head had a reason to look into Harry's situation of hir own initiative earlier, but maybe someone can make a convincing argument for that?) So what now?
Sometime between November 2nd 1981 and July 1991 Albus Dumbledore died suddenly. Maybe in some magical mishap, maybe a sudden heart attack, whatever. The important bit is he didn't expect this to happen and had no time to do any ad-hoc cover-ups nor did he have a chance to influence the choice of his replacement or to incorporate his death into some plot. The permanent replacement is chosen by the Board of Governors. If this happens early enough Lucius isn't yet on the board, if later he is on, but probably still trying to earn a reputation as an outstanding member of society who would have never joined forces with Voldemort willingly so I don't think he'd support anyone blatantly against the inclusion of Muggleborns. Anyway, the replacement turns out to be someone not as outwardly impressive as Dumbles - not so showy, with perhaps average or slightly above average magical performance, but a capable administrator with good organizational and interpersonal skills, but most importantly someone who cares about the students' well-being and education. It can be someone from Slughorn's network or even someone who thought well of Albus as long as s/he didn't have a chance to look too closely at how Hogwarts was run, but definitely not an Order member or any other close associate of Dumbles. Maybe an older, more experienced and less idealistic version of Percy.
The members of the Hogwarts staff are as we know them in PS (Care of Magical Creatures is taught by Kettleburn, Hagrid is still a groundskeeper), except for DADA. Depending on timing, Quirrell might be the Muggle Studies teacher. I think the DADA curse should still be active, so the teachers are still being replaced annually (we don't want the new school Head to have it too easy).
So I think this new person shows up and tries to run Hogwarts like a normal school. Some teachers object because that's not the way it was always done, some are relieved to have a professional in charge for a change. The handling of disciplinary matters changes. The inter-House politics change.
And then in the summer of 1991 Quirrell comes back from a sabbatical with a personally transplant. And one Harry Potter oddly doesn't reply to his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. (I doubt the new Head had a reason to look into Harry's situation of hir own initiative earlier, but maybe someone can make a convincing argument for that?) So what now?
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 01:59 am (UTC)Mwahaha, how about this one? ^_~
Her twist in the last book was that he bordered on evil back when he was a teenager, but was 100% 'good' during all the time he was headmaster, I'm pretty sure that is the official position.
Not to bring up Snape all the time, but ugh, Dumbles was out to CONQUER THE WORLD AND OPPRESS MUGGLES, he was best buds with the original Dark Wizard way back when, but his reputation's spotless, everyone's all 'aww, but his flaws make him even more perfect because it shows how HUMAN he is!' Meanwhile, no such consideration is given to Snape, he dared to put in his lot with Voldy and he can never be redeemed, he's an evil bigoted racist, etc. etc. when Dumbles was in the same position. Ariana died (possibly by his hand), and he repents, now he's 100% Good Guy; Lily dies (through Snape divulging the prophecy), he repents, BUT HIS SOUL IS FOREVER DAMNED.
/rant.
she has Harry assure him that he was 'the best'. No-one EVER slams him for putting the kids in jeopardy (that I know).
So gross. I can't get over Harry forgiving this guy when he set him up to die, FFS. Harry, the guy characterized by violent temper tantrums, is going to be all 'no, dude, that's cool'?
Malfoy persuades the board to relieve him of duty in CoS due to charges of incompetence, that's all. And Umbridge and Fudge aren't concerned about the kids being in danger, just Dumbledore usurping their political power.
And y'know, these are the BADDIES, so their criticism and vendetta against Dumbledore is proof he's a Good Guy and he's doing the right thing! I would've loved one person on 'the right side' to criticize Dumbledore and have their views taken seriously. (this is why I liked Aberforth, the one person not to buy into the Dumbledore=God BS)
that Draco thing is there in black and white. And even if he hadn't initially thought that Draco would be so incompetent/careless as to harm other students with his hit-and-miss attitude, after Katie he should have.
IFKR? But he was concerned about Draco's ~soul, which, I can't even. IDGI at all. Are we meant to applaud him for wanting to preserve his ~innocence, despite the school being potential collateral damage? (and I can't forgive him for being so dismissive of Snape's soul, like, 'no, kill me, you've already tarnished your soul so badly it won't matter', ugh)
Re: Quirrell, Dumbles keeps referring to him doing crimes instead of making a distinction between him and Voldy (I'm pretty sure nobody is all like GINNY ATTACKED PEOPLE after CoS, it's made clear she wasn't the perpetrator), and then there's comments like the following:
'He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies...'
'Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason...'
Right, because Dumbles knows FOR SURE that Quirrell was this hateful person who SHARED his soul, uh-huh. *side-eyes the hell out of him*
he couldn't be rescued, it was too late for him
It was too late after the unicorn was slain- up til that point, I'm sure they could've at least TRIED to exorcize Voldy's soul, but after the unicorn blood was ingested, that's like, the point of no return because of reasons. (it's a symbol of purity and killing something that precious...something something, IDK)
ETA. sorry for all the edits. I miss 'comment preview'. *sighs*
no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 03:33 am (UTC)Heh, love it. The expression on her face!
Reminds me of how I felt when I first discovered Livejournal, back in the early days of my being in the fandom. After a few months I discovered the H/Hr community, and the profusion of icons that adorned the posts and comments will always stick in my memory as a large part of my overall impression of those times and that part of the HP readership. The myriad facial expressions of Emma Watson with all the clever tag lines! Such a pretty girl, too.
(I always pitied the H/G side of the fandom, who had a sad paucity of instances of Wright's homely visage to work with.)
But I digress ...
Meanwhile, no such consideration is given to Snape, he dared to put in his lot with Voldy and he can never be redeemed, he's an evil bigoted racist, etc. etc. when Dumbles was in the same position.
Yeah, but don't forget, Snape had bad PR. Because he was a spy he wasn't able to tell everyone OH HI I AM REDEEMED.
I can even understand why Snape's true allegiance had to be kept a secret; 'need to know' makes perfect operational sense. Of course, Rowling's series is a farce because she had Dumbledore trust absolutely no-one else at all as a second-in-command ... but she had to do that to keep her story from falling apart. Anyway, poor Snape wasn't allowed to tell anyone that he was a good guy.
(And as far as he acted, as a teacher at Hogwarts, he was a nasty sod. But that ground has been covered before in this community.)
... so their criticism and vendetta against Dumbledore is proof he's a Good Guy and he's doing the right thing!
It's a pity that we don't have some more clear quotes in DH like the "keep an eye on Quirrell" one that Oryx reminded me of that similarly tells us that Dumbledore knew about the basilisk, or Pettigrew, or Crouch. Instead we've just got the very fuzzy "it was essential ... to let him try his strength" nonsense, which might cover the whole set of Dumbledore-places-everyone-in-needless-jeopardy instances, but has some wriggle room for a staunch pro-Jo Rowling defender.
Are we meant to applaud him for wanting to preserve his ~innocence, despite the school being potential collateral damage?
Ultimately I think we just have to accept that the entire series was as flawed as - gasp! - DH. I mean, the errors are *obvious* in the last book, but then if you work backwards, knowing there's no excuses for things that happened in the past, Rowling's mistakes - well, her "don't look closely, just think what I want you to think because otherwise my story won't make sense" plots - become very clear.
Regarding Quirrell, yes, there's some assumptions made there by the all-knowing - as in, knowing-he-won't-be-contested-in-his-muddled-thinking-and-stupid-plans - Dumbledore. But Rowling took pains to ensure that no good guy held an opposing view or questioned the headmaster - as you've said - so there you go. It was just very lazy writing.
Ultimately there's so much of the series that is left unsaid - or skirted by huge DETOUR! DO NOT GO THERE! road blocks in the plots - that one can only shake one's head at Rowling's horribly lazy writing. Again, this was the most obvious (to me, anyway) in DH, where Harry and Hermione never ever considered options to their passive course through the book. But that sort of thing prevailed in all of the other novels too.
sorry for all the edits. I miss 'comment preview'. *sighs*
Yes, it's a big pain, isn't it? I have no idea why LJ had to rip that feature out when they put the new ones in. Well, time for my own post-and-double-check cycle ...
no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 04:23 am (UTC)No, it's still BS. You let a child "try his strength" by pitting him against peers. What Dumbledore did was pit a child against a superpowerful adult Dark wizard and his tools. That's like having an eight-year-old from Pop Warner football play against an NFL pro team.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:34 am (UTC)That's like having an eight-year-old from Pop Warner football play against an NFL pro team.
B-but but but what if the eight-year-old from Pop Warner has the Elder Wand? Huh?
*ducks*
:-)
no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 01:26 am (UTC)You're welcome. I understand. There are so many mistakes and problems, no one person can possibly keep up with them all. That's why we need this comm.
B-but but but what if the eight-year-old from Pop Warner has the Elder Wand? Huh?
The last time I checked, wands of any kind aren't used in football. ;-) Besides, Harry didn't have that weapon either, remember?
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Date: 2012-01-26 06:35 am (UTC)I'm sure in all the years they spent duelling each other, someone else would've disarmed Draco and won mastery over his wand, so for us to believe Harry physically disarming him in DH had any relevance...goddamn this plot.
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Date: 2012-01-25 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 06:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 04:26 am (UTC)Yeah, whose dumb idea was it to take that feature out? Those of us without paid accounts can't edit at all. Or maybe that was the point--to push more people into getting paid accounts. Too bad for them I'm an excellent proofreader, so that's not going to happen in my case.
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Date: 2012-01-25 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:39 am (UTC)(Best one yet ... at least for a pro-Hr fan like myself.)
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Date: 2012-01-25 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 11:31 am (UTC)I'm glad I clicked on the link from the e-mail notice. Another perfect choice.
*wonders how long he can keep this going so he can see more of borg_princess's icons*
Uhm ... lovely weather we're having, yeah? :-)
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Date: 2012-01-25 12:05 pm (UTC)I expect two rolls of parchment right away>:P
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Date: 2012-01-26 03:31 am (UTC)thumped with a newspapercorrected.Thank you for bringing a grin to my face today. :-)
I'm sorry, I've exhausted the shipping-neutral Hermione icons that I have available. But this was the very first icon I ever made myself, hopefully that counts for something?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 03:58 am (UTC)Also, good job with your first icon ever! That was basically my reaction to R/Hr: Does. Not. Compute.
(although to be fair, the movies did do a better job of making it appear as though they actually liked each other instead of the 99% of the time they spent fighting and sulking in the books. Then again, the movies also elevated the H/Hr relationship way past what was already pretty good in the books, so...)
no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 05:52 am (UTC)I was thinking just this morning that what we,
the H/Hr fraternitythe entire HP fandom needs is a novelisation of the movies. Can you imagine how different they would be to Rowling's efforts? Quite a few errors fixed. And so, so much closer to a H/Hr resolution, with only really that silly epilogue to cut.no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 06:19 am (UTC)Also, it helped when you didn't have to read admissions of how stupid they were being- like when Harry in the book talks about how they spent two weeks planning, but then the moment they get into the Ministry, they're flying by the seat of their pants and have no clue. *headdesk* And then Ron tries to fix the rain in that office, wtf.
Not pushing a ship agenda here, but my god, I wish that epilogue out of existence. The movie had a really good alternate penultimate scene ending with the trio standing together, holding hands and just taking a deep breath once all the fighting was over. As opposed to Harry crawling into bed and wishing Kreacher would bring him a sandwich. *eyeroll*
Btw, if you look at caps of the last two scenes, it's amusing to me that Hermione looks closer to Harry anyway. It's all about body language. ^_~
All that aside, I do think the movie's major misstep was its portrayal of the battle. I disliked how Harry and Voldy went off on their own, with no witnesses. At least in the book it kinda made sense why the opposing army took off- they saw the Dark Lord bite the dust and shrugged and decided to call it a day. But in the movie, there were freaking THOUSANDS of wizards (where the hell did Voldy get them from? It's like, twice the population of the WW!) and none of them saw him die, but they all took off anyway?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-26 06:47 am (UTC)(Must. Collect. More.)
(*gasp*)
Reading your quick reprise of the top 4 movie fix-its all in a row was something of a shock. And, of course, there are many more. From a purely HP scholarship perspective I greatly enjoyed the movies in how they acted as a lens in showing us how 'normal' people - folk not invested in the fandom - saw the books. The number of alterations as the films progressed were a joy to witness. My favourite is the complete rejection of every. Single. Bit. Of Rowling's repulsive sixth year H/G from the movieverse. Yay!
Even in the last movie there were canon corrections. The whole Elder Wand mess was watered down (of course). They made Voldemort aware of the destruction of the horcruxes (which I'm a bit iffy about, but still).
They messed a few things up - like Hermione begging Ron for permission to break the Cup, if I recall correctly. This is the brave girl who led the boys on the escape from Gringotts, jumping on a dragon, FOLLOW ME, ARE YOU COMING?!?. And then, in the Chamber, she's pleading with Ron, oh, do you think I should break the cup, really, oh Ron, you big boy you?
ARGH.
Having Ron mention was he'd overheard Harry's parseltongue for 'open' in his sleep was STUPID. No, Ron, what you just said wasn't "open sesame'. It was "gosh that Ginny Weasly is hawt I could tap me some of that". I mean, what else would you expect a seventeen year old boy to say in his sleep? :-)
I didn't see the second-last movie for quite some time, so I knew all about the furore of THE TENT SCENE well before I saw it myself - I'd witnessed one or two pro-canon H/G disciples have slight nervous breakdowns over it, actually - no, I'm serious - but when I saw it myself I was still amazed. Those movie people ... they spat in Rowling's eye. They went right to the bloody brink of having Harry sweep his leading lady onto his broom and fly with her into the sunset. That tent dance, he was making an offer. And by golly, she almost accepted it.
(Reminding me of a tent short story another fervent H/G fundamentalist of my acquaintance wrote, at my request; I asked her to write H/Hr. She wrote a tent scene pretty much the same - Harry and Hermione in the tent, alone, attracted to each other .... but in the end they back off. (Because she said she just couldn't do it.) But in her story - like the movie - we're left asking WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?? And I bet you neither book nor movie versions of Hermione know the answer. Other than "because Rowling wrote us together in the epilogue".)
But I digress. :-)
I disliked how Harry and Voldy went off on their own ... and none of them saw him die, but they all took off anyway?
Fair enough. But on the other hand, something I think they did right ... I'm fuzzy on the scene now, but when Harry jumps up, he's revealed to be alive? Some of those DEs start backing off, disapparating, they don't want no part of it. That's pretty cool, you can see it from their eyes - MY GOD POTTER REALLY CAN'T BE KILLED OMG!!!!11!!!
Oh, the hugest most colossal canon correction of all - the complete junking of Rowling's whole ridiculous melodramatic showdown between Riddle and Harry. Can you imagine it immortalised in the movie? LIGHTS AND THUNDER AND ACTION AND BLASTS AND DEATH AND DESTRUCTION AND ACTION ACTION ACTION AND ... and ... and then everyone links hands and forms a circle while Harry spouts a five minute monologue. Everyone's almost asleep and then the two exchange just ONE SPELL and Riddle falls dead due to wand lore which no-one understands. ZZZzzzzzzz. Is it over yet?
HA HA HA HA HA!!
I don't think so. It would have failed in the movie just like it failed in the book.
My God, WHAT WAS ROWLING thinking?!? I really don't think she cared a lick for her series there by the end. Such a pity the masses still lauded her as a huge success. No justice in this world, I tell ya.
Anyway, I'll be quiet now, and leave you with my icon of Hermione. While I go off and search for the best fanfic version of the films' novelisation that I can find. :-) Oh, and more icons. :-)
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Date: 2012-01-26 01:29 am (UTC)I haven't tried. My cynicism caused me to assume that if LJ had changed, it was to make things worse, not better. It never occurred to me that they might have started giving features away.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:37 am (UTC)I gather it all depends on the 'style' of the LJ post/page. With this particular post of Oyrx's - maybe all the posts on deathtocapslock - I find that I've lost the preview, I'm seeing the funky new fangled AJAX comments, and I can edit.
Five minutes ago I was somewhere else on LJ where it was just like the good old days - there was my 'preview' button, no edit possible.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-25 10:53 am (UTC)In other customized ljs, thankfully, we weren't included in the 'improvements'- I am praying very fervently that TPTB won't somehow override that with their next lot of failtastic fix-its. :/