All posts by LectorMagnificus

OK, that was fun. Please keep making these.

Based on the books or the movies?

I would say yes. My proof? The video games have Peeves. That by itself should be proof enough.

Dumbledore should have suggested that Lily should be Secret Keeper. Unlike the more adventurous James, she wasn't going to leave the house.

Yeah, I don't think that's possible. Crouch almost certainly wasn't removed from his position before 1982. Regardless, for your writing the Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement has to be Crouch, because we are certain that he oversaw his own son's trial, which happened some time after Voldemort's first downfall, while your story apparently happens only two days after. Furthermore, there simply would not be enough time for the Lestranges to initially proclaim their innocence, then attack the Longbottoms with Crouch Jr., get arrested, be tried in court, be sent to Azkaban, then for Crouch Jr. to scream for his mother for a few days, his mother's health to deteriorate from stress, for her to talk her husband into her plan of her swapping places with her son, for that to actually happen, for her to die in Azkaban disguised as her son and for the public to then slowly turn on Crouch Sr. for imprisoning his own son and basically condemning him to death, which, according to Sirius in GoF, was what cost Crouch his career in Magical Law Enforcement. I already doubt this could all happen in two months, but two days is just impossible.

Where exactly did you find that? If it really says that, it needs to be changed, because Crouch only lost his position after his son supposedly died in Azkaban, which happened in 1982, although we don't how long he managed to cling to his post afterwards before becoming Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation.

Glad I could help. One more thing, though: Amelia wasn't head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in 1981, Barty Crouch Sr. was, as I mentioned earlier. Amelia could have been a high ranking official within the department, though.

We have not been told who held these positions, so you could just make up new characters. However, if you want to use known names, there are a few things to consider.

For Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, the most logical candidate would have been Umbridge, since she is the only person known to have held that post. Unfortunately. this is impossible. Hogwarts Mystery made it clear that she was the head of the Improper Use of Magic Office during the 1980’s, and we know she worked her way up through that department, so in 1981 she definitely wasn’t the Senior Undersecretary.

That means we need someone else to fill this position. Considering the importance of the post it is likely that the occupant remained a person of importance during their Ministry career, becoming head of a Department or perhaps even Minister for Magic. Fudge himself would therefore be a logical choice. However, we know what job Fudge held during 1981, because he told us in PoA; he was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes. Another senior Ministry official, Barty Crouch Sr., also can’t have been Undersecretary in 1981, because he was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time.

That brings me to my two most likely choices. The first one is actually Crouch’s successor: Amelia Bones. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is the largest and most powerful department in the Ministry, so it would be considered a promotion for the Senior Undersecretary to be appointed to that position. The most important counterargument I have to this choice is that I have trouble envisioning Amelia Bones working anywhere other than the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, because of her strong sense of justice, but that may just be my impression of her. Regardless, Amelia Bones seems like a solid choice.

My only other choice, funnily enough, is Amelia Bones’ successor: Pius Thicknesse. Like I said before, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is perhaps the most powerful position within the Ministry with the exception of Minister for Magic, so Thicknesse must have been important within the Ministry at that point. Furthermore, when Thicknesse became Minister after the coup, it doesn’t seem to have surprised many people (even though the policies he began implementing clearly did), which suggests that he had been a logical candidate to begin with. To me it seems that Thicknesse is a more natural choice for Undersecretary than Amelia Bones, although it does beg the question what position he held during Umbridge’s tenure in that role.

Now, let’s turn to your other question: who could have been Court Scribe in 1981. I must admit I had considered quite a few names before landing at the one I should have considered immediately, because she is the only person except for Percy who filled this position in the Main Series: Mafalda Hopkirk. You may recall that Hermione, while disguised as Mafalda, was immediately assumed by Umbridge as the help she requested to record-keep in the Muggle-born trials, which suggests she had experience in that role, possibly because she knew stenography. If you want to assign her the role of Court Scribe in 1981, you would only have to assume that this was a role she held at the start of her career, and that she subsequently made a transfer to the Improper Use of Magic Office. Court Scribe seems like a very junior role within the Ministry, so working in the Improper Use of Magic Office would likely have been a promotion. Being once more relegated to more menial tasks by the Death Eater led Ministry after the coup also seems to be on point for the Ministry at that point in time, as they had been undergoing an enormous transformation and needed skilled record-keepers for the now quite common court cases against Muggle-borns. And let’s face it, I rather doubt Mafalda would have had much choice in where she was put to work in a Ministry led by Death Eaters.

These are, of course, just suggestions. Like I said, if you want to create new characters for these positions, that is entirely up to you. But if you want to use known names, I think these would be suitable. I wish you good luck with your writing and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

This is actually true for all nobility, both in fantasy and reality.

When James and Lily died, you mean? Back then the Weasleys were not part of the Order of the Phoenix, nor were they close to the Potters.

Yeah, there is good reason the number thirteen has its own page on this wiki. By the way, Sirius also fell victim to this unlucky number.

I don't think that substitutes just sit and wait for an owl from the Hogwarts Headmaster. In all likelihood Grubbly-Plank has another occupation to keep her busy, but one that does allow her to take extended leave to take up a temporary teaching position. This seems to be supported by the fact she explicitly said to Umbridge during her inspection that she was offered 'a couple of weeks' teaching work'. The addition of the word 'teaching' here suggests to me that she doesn't normally teach, otherwise 'a couple of weeks' work' would have been sufficient.

Yeah, I will never understand why film makers insist on doing that. I mean, for whom are they doing that? The casual fans will see it, think 'O, I know who that is' and then basically stop caring, while the more committed fans will see it and go absolutely ballistic, because it breaks canon. It's just so unnecessary.

History of Magic would probably be my favourite subject at any school except Hogwarts, so I think I'd have to go with Ancient Runes.

I agree, Cedric's death would likely be the catalyst for most or all of them to join. I wonder if this is how Tonks joined the Order. Before HM I would have assumed she had been recruited by Moody.

He should be a playable character in the Lego Games.

Clearly not everyone takes that long to accept death though. In Hogwarts Legacy while in a flying carriage the main character watches George Osric get attacked by a dragon and then basically get mauled to death. It took the MC about five seconds to process that, judging by the fact that they can suddenly see Thestrals.

Yeah, that's the explanation given by Rowling, but this seems to be a plothole she tried to solve later on.

Then I suppose Quirrell is the only one, right?

Ominis Gaunt