A Doll's Head and a Secret

[queenbookwench.livejournal.com]

So, now I'm really curious about how exactly Pansy came upon Marie the doll's head. It could be that it was simply an accident, and that the charm/curse operated in exactly the way Professor Acton described it. However, it's more interesting for plot purposes to assume that it was somehow deliberately placed in Pansy's way. The question is, who would want to do such a thing, who would be able to, and what goal would they be hoping to achieve?

As far as who, it seems to me that it would have be someone who knows Pansy quite well--because not every girl would pick up a doll's head that was lying around, much less take it to bed with her. But Pansy is just the sort of curious, somewhat lonely, eccentric, slightly morbid girl who would.

As to how--it seems like it would have to be someone with ready access to the castle, which implies a student or faculty member. Unless an invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map (although I think it's been hinted that the twins have it here, as in canon), and/or the passage from the Shrieking Shack were involved. Hmmm...

What do they want to gain from it? It seems to be related to her father in some way, and to things that suggest his view of the world didn't exactly toe the standard LP line. I still wonder if her father's ghost could be involved somehow.

Also, I'm very curious about the nature of Pansy's secret. She says in her sleepwalking that it's a Black secret, which to me suggests something to do with either Sirius or Regulus. It would be especially interesting if it was Regulus. This could be a totally crackpot theory, but...what if he is an Occlumens and his return to the LP's fold isn't what it appears to be? I could see that fitting somehow with what we know of canon!Reg and the horcruxes.

I'm also curious as to how much of Pansy's abject apology is sincere, and how much is put on. The girl is in Slytherin, after all! My guess is that she is sincerely upset by Lucius' disapproval, and believes a good portion of what he told her about deserving to be hit and all, but I also think that another part of her is even more determined to go on observing and questioning, just much more secretly. I think it's very interesting that not too long after the fracas, she left a comment on boot's journal--not an overtly friendly one, but not a hostile one either. On the other hand her (at least expressed) attitude toward Dennis seems to be all one expect of a pureblood in this universe.

Comments

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

Here are a few of the thoughts I'm having about Pansy and Marie, in light of recent information:

-She started saying all the pro-Muggle stuff before Marie was broken. Even though she blames it on the curse, it's really the good-dream spell of Marie that seems to have originally been causing these thoughts in her. I don't know whether that's relevant.

-She said Marie "talked" to her, and told her things like that she was her only friend, and to ask Lucius about Machiavelli. Is that just part of the dream spell? Like induced daydreams? It sounds more like an additional enchantment.

-Did the *content* of Marie's influence come from Marie, or was it all from Pansy's own thoughts and memories that Marie brought forth? If Marie had been owned by a different Slytherin, would they have been influenced in some of the same ways, or would it have been entirely different?

I am interested in her Black secret as well. She seems to think it's a bad thing ("don't leave me. even if I have a Black secret"). But then in her next post she says she has a wonderful secret. Is that the same secret, or a different one?

And here's an old loose thread from Pansy. Remember when Harry gave her his old broom (http://alt-pansy.livejournal.com/1417.html?nc=10) and when she asked what he wanted in return he had to tell her in the common room because he didn't want to say it in the journals? What was that about? Could it be related to any of the other storylines happening now?

[queenbookwench.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that Pansy is to some extent using Marie as a smokescreen for her own real thoughts--if everybody blames the whole episode on an charm/curse, they'll be less likely to expect her to do unconventional things in the future.

I tend to thing that the Black secret and the wonderful secret are the same thing--to her it is wonderful, but she fears that others would find it terrible if they knew.

*I'm so glad Alternity is here to distract me from election results*

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

I used to think Marie was entirely a way for Pansy to process her own thoughts without feeling threatened by them. Assign them to the doll instead of her, and therefore be able to examine them without feeling disloyal or whatever. But in the last few comment where she talked about Marie communicating with her, it started to sound much more literal than I had thought. Especially when Marie said that nobody else loved Pansy except her.

I do agree that Pansy is using Marie's curse as an excuse for her previous pro-Muggle ideas in order to take the heat off of herself, rather than because she no longer believes those ideas.

[qwerty88.livejournal.com]

And besides, she has just offered Boot her dad's jumper now that she has his chess set.

http://alt-pansy.livejournal.com/6663.html and
http://alt-terry.livejournal.com/7703.html?thread=41751#t41751

Which continues to argue in favour of having pro-Muggle leanings.