harrysnotgoingtodiein7
Friday 17th August 2007 09:00 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| shudder ... i hope Meaning of One never includes Umbitch (Breanie thought of that one lolol) becoming Interim MoM. |
| Monday 10th December 2007 10:30 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| Yeah, that thought makes me shiver, too. Thanks for reading. |
Malchior
Monday 6th August 2007 15:36 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
Interesting if a bit evil, however you failed to remember one little thing.
Barty Crouch sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial.
I believe in POA (or maybe GOF) it was mentioned that Fudge was one of the first people on the scene of Pettigrew's attack because he worked for the Department of Magical Law Encorment at the time? I'm not sure if it's the right job he was working for, but I am pretty sure it was Fudge that was one of the first (can't find my book right now so I can't be 100%) |
| Monday 10th December 2007 10:26 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| Just because Crouch sent Sirius to Azkaban doesn't mean that h/g place the full blame on him. Fudge is the figurehead of the ministry, and he's never done anything to see justice done. Plus he was the one with the role in PoA, after which this story is set. Still, you're right. The story just wouldn't have been the same if they'd sent their message to Crouch. Thanks for reading! |
GryffindorDragon
Thursday 19th April 2007 14:14 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
This is very curious. What was in Hagrid's cabin? The binnie, Fudge referred to? At first I thought this might have something to do with Norbert or Buckbeak, but neither of those are present yet (year 2 and year 3), so I guess I'm just plain confused. And Umbridge doesn't appear until year 5 (she might have had some small ministry position, but I don't think she'd risen to Senior Undersecretary yet, had she?)
So whatever creature was in the hut (binnie) wrote something on the parchement, which they then sent to Fudge, who went bonkers after reading it? Well, there has to be a backstory to this somewhere. I hope I get a chance to read it.
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| Thursday 19th April 2007 14:20 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
The story takes place after third year, and h/g are seeking revenge for Sirius' imprisonment without a trial.
Back in Chapter 12 of MoO Part One, Ginny jokingly said, "We think so, Harry, but where are we going to get a Fwooper and a Quick Quotes Quill at this hour?" This story is about what might happen if you combined those two things. The QQQ is designed to take whatever's said and write it down, making it sound flowery and a bit ridiculous. The Fwooper's song is said to drive people insane. When you combine the two (as H/G did), the QQQ translates the Fwooper's song into something that can be read, but the result apparently still drives people insane if they read it. So they got the song onto paper without hearing or seeing it, and then they sent it in a letter to Fudge. |
Rhetor
Thursday 19th April 2007 00:00 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| Oh, and one more thing: Are you deliberately paraphrasing Robbie Burns? |
| Thursday 19th April 2007 07:27 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| No. Would you care to elucidate me on what it is I'm paraphrasing? |
Rhetor
Wednesday 18th April 2007 23:55 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| Oh, and one more thing: Part i could imply square root of negative one, but I sincerely hope that's not what you meant. Perhaps all you meant was that it's imaginary, as in "imaginary number." (As if MoO weren't imaginary enough -- as if canon weren't imaginary enough...) |
| Thursday 19th April 2007 07:26 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| Why such a sincere hope? They are behaving a bit like an anti-One, aren't they? And the possible metaphors involved with a square root are quite entertaining. But, aside from that, it's perfectly acceptable and intended to think of it simply as an imaginary "part number" assigned to a story that is imaginary in context. |
Rhetor
Wednesday 18th April 2007 23:50 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
Ooookay. Really, puzzle stories aren't my cup of tea, but...
The genre isn't actually mentioned here on PS, but on SIYE it's "tragedy," which is what I assume you mean.
The creature in the cage was a fwooper. Like any fwooper, it was sold with a silencing charm, and remained silenced until finate incatatem. At that point it began to sing to a Quick-Quotes Quill that took down the sound as dictation. H & G wore earmuffs to protect themselves from the fwooper's song. I gather they decided to give the bird to Luna because either they believed her already to be insane (consequently incapable of being harmed by the song) or that she'd be so naturally careful with such a creature that she'd never endanger herself.
Apparently even reading the dictated form taken by the Quill will drive one insane, which is why the partner picking up the parchment had to be blindfolded. (This makes no sense to me, but I assume I'm missing something.) When Fudge read the letter, he was rendered insane by the song.
In the alternative, perhaps this was a special sort of parchment that speaks when being read (e.g., the screaming book in PS). But in that case Fudge would need to be alone to read it. I'm guessing that the "carefully worded note" was a precaution that he read it only in private.
The six taps apparently set some sort of timing charge that destroyed the letter and envelope after a while. Ten minutes per tap.
It isn't clear to me why they had to use Hagrid's hut, or indeed any part of the Hogwarts grounds, for this operation. It also isn't clear to me why the parchment needed to be rolled and bound before being unrolled and put into the envelope. (Unless that was simply a precaution against their seeing it while putting it in the envelope.) I don't know what Fudge means by a "binnie."
As to why it's a tragedy, I'm lost. This seems to me to be the equivalent of a political assassination, which I suppose would be tragic if the victim weren't such a danger to the state. (That was Brutus's excuse, anyway.) I agree that if H & G were like this all the time I wouldn't want to read more about them.
The story occurs after the backfired memory charm of Gilderoy Lockhart (which was caused by something other than Ron's broken wand, probably), and also after the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban, which I'm assuming occurs during Year Three in this universe.
The only reason this really needed to be MoO H & G, rather than some other pair of conspirators, was so that they could coordinate using the hands of one and the eyes of another. Actually this reminded me of the scene at the end of Dune Messiah, but that's probably a cooincidence.
I rather like the use of first-person plural to describe whatever action or body part is being employed at the moment. I'm thinking this sort of blurring of boundaries is the direction in which MoO is eventually moving.
I gather I'm missing a lot. Not sure how much I care.
~Ken |
| Thursday 19th April 2007 07:25 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
I figured that it wasn't your favorite sort of thing, but I'm glad you gave it a shot anyway. You're right about the Fwooper and QQQ and how they work. I did have them giving the Fwooper to Luna as someone who would know how to care for it.
What is it that makes no sense about the blindfold? Simply the logical leap that the QQQ's transliteration would have the same madness-inducing effect as the song itself? Well, yes, that is in fact a leap, but it's the point of the story, so I accept it.
The carefully worded note both promised secret information (aka the whereabouts of Sirius Black) and called for a private reading. Harry might even have signed it himself to give the instructions a bit more weight.
Hagrid's hut was a convenient structure that was far enough away from any other structures or people to avoid driving them insane when the Fwooper was allowed to sing. I suppose they could have done the same thing in the middle of a field somewhere, but it seemed more logical to seek a structure.
Rolling the parchment before putting it in the envelope was in fact a precaution against seeing it. Once rolled, they simply flattened the roll, which effectively folded it without forcing them to see it. "flattened" was, perhaps, not the clearest choice of words.
A "binnie", in UK slang, is a trash collector.
There are three tragedies, more or less. First and foremost is the tragic loss of conscious which allows h/g to deliberately set out to drive Fudge insane and, worse, to laugh about it. Undertaking an assassination for the good of the state is one thing, but giggling about it is quite another. Their attitude and actions here are what we might call a very bad sign. The second tragedy is that Umbridge has become Minister, and that might have similarly far-reaching consequences. Fudge is bad, but Umbridge might be worse in terms of a leader during a time of war. Thirdly, they have caused Sirius to be accused of a crime, and Sirius cannot possibly prove that he didn't do it unless h/g confess to the whole thing. Pettigrew's capture would exonerate Sirius for the betrayal of the Potters and the murder of all those Muggles, but there's nothing so simple and just that would keep him from being pursued for Fudge's assassination.
As you guessed, the story takes place after third year, and h/g are seeking revenge for Sirius' imprisonment without trial. That, of course, ties to the tragedy that they've caused him to be even more vilified than he already was.
I'm glad you liked the first-person plural sequence. I had a lot of fun writing it.
As always, you are not required to care.
Thanks,
Dave |
jeanne
Tuesday 17th April 2007 11:23 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| chatmandu Two minds . one thought. |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:10 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| Clever, isn't he? |
jeanne
Tuesday 17th April 2007 11:21 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| I do hope that Umbitch is not there for the long haul as it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire. otherwise, no comment at this time. Jeanne. |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:09 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| You never know what the political situation might be like, but I'd say the chances of Umbridge sticking around are about 50/50. |
Erin
Tuesday 17th April 2007 10:35 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
Ummm - sorry, but I really don't understand. I'm definitely missing something here... they've played a prank on Fudge, but how?
Erin |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:09 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
Back in Chapter 12 of MoO Part One, Ginny jokingly said, "We think so, Harry, but where are we going to get a Fwooper and a Quick Quotes Quill at this hour?" This story is about what might happen if you combined those two things. The QQQ is designed to take whatever's said and write it down, making it sound flowery and a bit ridiculous. The Fwooper's song is said to drive people insane. When you combine the two (as H/G did), the QQQ translates the Fwooper's song into something that can be read, but the result apparently still drives people insane if they read it. So they got the song onto paper without hearing or seeing it, and then they sent it in a letter to Fudge.
Hope this helps,
Dave |
lantis222
Tuesday 17th April 2007 09:12 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| Sorry I hit the wrong button so you get an extra review from me. Where was I Oh yes, Umbridge in office, that thought is terrifying. I think it's scarier than Voldy himself. Anyway I really liked it. I hope they get Umbridge next. |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:05 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| Umbridge in office is pretty bad, yes. And how are they ever going to prove that Sirius didn't do what Rita accused him of? |
lantis222
Tuesday 17th April 2007 09:10 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
| Boy am I confused. So this happens after fifth year? No that can't be right, but Fudge doesn't really do anything until then to warrent ths kind of revenge. Still it was more than deserved. I really don't like that man, I mean REALLY don't like him.. Still Umbridge in office for even a little while, |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:04 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
| It happens after third year. They're seeking revenge on Fudge for imprisoning Sirius without a trial twelve years earlier. Nobody likes him, I don't think, but I'm not sure he deserves to be deliberately driven insane. Thanks for reading! |
Chatmandu
Tuesday 17th April 2007 04:39 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes |
I am thinking they found that Quick-Quotes Quill and the Fwooper mentioned in passing from a MoO scene?
I wondered about Mills and Boon. A quick Google let me know I was right. (snort!, chortle!)
Err... Darling Dolores as Interim Minister? Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!
If One writes an AU outtake of an AU story, does that make it canon? :-) |
| Wednesday 18th April 2007 07:03 | Meaning of One, Part i: The Best Laid Schemes (Author Response) |
Yup, you got the basic plot element.
Let's all hope that this is not canon. The last thing we need is to have a switchblade-wielding Ginny who has little regard for morality. |
