This has only just occurred to me, but if the sole threat to the students was (as far as everyone knew) an ordinary troll, and it was daylight outside, and they were already in the Great Hall, then why didn’t the professors just lead the students out of Hogwarts and into the sunny open before assuming defensive formation? It would also have the advantage of giving a group of casters long range on a melee attacker.
Interestingly, the Potterverse is high on mind-affecting spells, but very low on illusions. Assuming illusions are not more difficult to cast than other spells, if artificial daylight holds all the magical properties of normal daylight, vampires and trolls should be virtually (or actually) extinct, since every wizard irrespective of combat training would need only create the illusion of a miniature sun (and presumably close their eyes or look away) to instantly obliterate/incapacitate any such creatures in a fairly large area.
But it is the assumption everyone appears to have made, and they failed to seize upon the obvious solution to the problem they’d set themselves.
Frankly, it seems like the PCs are the only people in the Potterverse to consider that a highly improbable disaster might indicate the presence of a hostile intelligence acting against them.
Of course, Minerva thought, the third-floor corridor—this could be a distraction -
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Some students were speculating in whispers about what the Defense Professor could possibly be trying to achieve by smuggling in a troll, and whether he was angry that Professor McGonagall had caught on to his attempted distraction, and what it was a distraction from.
I’m actually not sure why they assumed the troll would be a distraction. The 3rd floor corridor is important, but IIRC it’s not kept continuously guarded; the troll fiasco won’t draw any guards away from their posts. Perhaps the thinking is that the troll might cause the professors to ignore the corridor wards, but I doubt they would be quite that stupid. And, of course, roving bands of professors searching for the troll on high security alert couldn’t possibly be good for intruders, even if they’re not specifically looking for them. Certainly, attempting a troll “distraction” seems far inferior to drugging Filch and sneaking in at 3AM.
That said, an attack on the third-floor corridor would not be a threat to the students. There was no notion expressed that someone would be after the students themselves—the scenario in which a retreat to the outside could be dangerous.
A retreat by the students to the outside that’s babysitted by the professors would prevent the professors from going to the third-floor corridor to defend it.
I think the core error that they made, was not sending Patronuses out to help. McGonnegal should have messaged Dumbledore.
Also there’s supposedly the Order of the Phoenix to fight.
McGonnegal should have messaged Amelia Bones. Amelia Bones would have time traveled back and arrived into Hogwarts with her crew at directly the right moment to kill the troll.
Michelle Morgan was put on the spot and her primary objective was preventing that the students had to walk around.
She’s excused for not thinking about getting help from the outside. McGonnegal isn’t.
Even McGonnegal herself could without any problem time travel back via Harry time turner and then send the message to Dumbledore and Amelie Bones 6 hours in the past. That way neither Dumbledore nor Amelie Bones would have to use up their own time turner and could use it later that day against another attack.
Bones is the head of the DMLE. Why would anyone need to call her in on a stray troll? If Hogwarts staff can’t handle that, they’re not worthy of their titles.
The fact that there a troll in Hogwarts is a sign that Hogwarts is under attack by someone who thinks that he has something to gain from smuggling a troll into hogwarts.
If you notice that someone breaks into your house, you call the police. It’s the right thing to do even if you sit with a bunch of friends and you have a bunch of riffles at home because you are an American who loves the second Amendment.
The population of magical Britian is very small so Bones basically heads the local police department.
McGonnegal thinks that it’s plausible that the troll is a distraction to an attack on the third corridor where something imported get’s stored.
There’s fog of war.
Even in the case where Amelie Bones has some other fight to fight at the same time, McGonnegal traveling 6 hours back and time and giving more information to Amelie Bones, helps Amelie Bones to understand that multiple targets in magicial Britian are under attack at the same time.
If Hogwarts staff can’t handle that, they’re not worthy of their titles.
Evidently they can’t handle it and as a result one student died. Even if they were 95% certain that they could handle the troll on their own, it would still be prudent to go back in time and place a call for help.
Don’t forget that there are people outside of the Great Hall like the Librarian.
The population of magical Britian is very small so Bones basically heads the local police department.
I’m not sure this is quite right. The population of Magican Britain may be roughly on the level of being served by a “local police department,” but I get the impression that they have to devote a greater proportion of their government’s resources to law enforcement than muggles would, because wizards are so much harder to police. Every wizard is much better equipped to create public disorder than a muggle would be.
Wizards in general are hard to police, but if the police has turn turners and a lot of the criminals don’t have them law enforcement get’s easier.
In any case an attack on the school to which the children of everyone go is a serious business and nobody would complain if the ministry does take great care that all children in school are safe.
If you believe this is a distraction, why on earth would you use your ace in the hole dealing with it? Wait to see what it’s distracting you from, and then start burning resources. Unless you want Bones to be out of time-turns when she finds out that she needs to go back an extra ten minutes.
In general the troll runs faster than any human. It was luck that Argus Filch is alive to tell the people in the Great Hall about the troll.
This is not to be expected by the person who smuggled the troll into Hogwart. It would be likely that the first contact of the troll with a human would be with a student and the student would be dead.
Hogwarts wards don’t go off on troll attacks so the troll might already have killed someone but if time turned people where around they could prevent that student kill.
The politics of a student getting killed after the affair is Draco is complicated.
Wait to see what it’s distracting you from, and then start burning resources.
You can’t undo things that are already happened with time turners. You also need to be in a position where you can communicate.
Unless you want Bones to be out of time-turns when she finds out that she needs to go back an extra ten minutes.
Then send a patronous to Bones in the now to ask whether it’s safe to send her information 6 hours into the past.
In general the heuristic I advocate is when under attack is to communicate the information to everyone who could use it to help defend you.
That solution has the disadvantage of requiring the students to move through the halls, which is extremely hazardous. The Great Hall has its own risks, but the seventh year armies should be sufficient to secure it.
According to the Harry Potter wiki, the Great Hall is located off the Entrance Hall, which suggests that leaving the castle from it should be fairly trivial.
The professors are mostly there, which is a sufficiently powerful bundle of combat magic to handle a troll. If you don’t need to split them into four groups, then there’s plenty of leftover firepower.
This has only just occurred to me, but if the sole threat to the students was (as far as everyone knew) an ordinary troll, and it was daylight outside, and they were already in the Great Hall, then why didn’t the professors just lead the students out of Hogwarts and into the sunny open before assuming defensive formation? It would also have the advantage of giving a group of casters long range on a melee attacker.
For that matter, I wonder if the sky illusion on the Great Hall ceiling counts? It reflects real weather.
Interestingly, the Potterverse is high on mind-affecting spells, but very low on illusions. Assuming illusions are not more difficult to cast than other spells, if artificial daylight holds all the magical properties of normal daylight, vampires and trolls should be virtually (or actually) extinct, since every wizard irrespective of combat training would need only create the illusion of a miniature sun (and presumably close their eyes or look away) to instantly obliterate/incapacitate any such creatures in a fairly large area.
There’s probably something magical about direct sunlight.
Considering McGonagall’s first impulse was sending them back to their dormitories, I believe they just didn’t think it through.
This assumes that the troll is the only threat. That’s not a safe assumption to make.
But it is the assumption everyone appears to have made, and they failed to seize upon the obvious solution to the problem they’d set themselves.
Frankly, it seems like the PCs are the only people in the Potterverse to consider that a highly improbable disaster might indicate the presence of a hostile intelligence acting against them.
No, they specifically not made that assumption.
I’m actually not sure why they assumed the troll would be a distraction. The 3rd floor corridor is important, but IIRC it’s not kept continuously guarded; the troll fiasco won’t draw any guards away from their posts. Perhaps the thinking is that the troll might cause the professors to ignore the corridor wards, but I doubt they would be quite that stupid. And, of course, roving bands of professors searching for the troll on high security alert couldn’t possibly be good for intruders, even if they’re not specifically looking for them. Certainly, attempting a troll “distraction” seems far inferior to drugging Filch and sneaking in at 3AM.
Point.
That said, an attack on the third-floor corridor would not be a threat to the students. There was no notion expressed that someone would be after the students themselves—the scenario in which a retreat to the outside could be dangerous.
A retreat by the students to the outside that’s babysitted by the professors would prevent the professors from going to the third-floor corridor to defend it.
I think the core error that they made, was not sending Patronuses out to help. McGonnegal should have messaged Dumbledore.
Also there’s supposedly the Order of the Phoenix to fight. McGonnegal should have messaged Amelia Bones. Amelia Bones would have time traveled back and arrived into Hogwarts with her crew at directly the right moment to kill the troll.
Michelle Morgan was put on the spot and her primary objective was preventing that the students had to walk around. She’s excused for not thinking about getting help from the outside. McGonnegal isn’t.
Even McGonnegal herself could without any problem time travel back via Harry time turner and then send the message to Dumbledore and Amelie Bones 6 hours in the past. That way neither Dumbledore nor Amelie Bones would have to use up their own time turner and could use it later that day against another attack.
Bones is the head of the DMLE. Why would anyone need to call her in on a stray troll? If Hogwarts staff can’t handle that, they’re not worthy of their titles.
The fact that there a troll in Hogwarts is a sign that Hogwarts is under attack by someone who thinks that he has something to gain from smuggling a troll into hogwarts.
If you notice that someone breaks into your house, you call the police. It’s the right thing to do even if you sit with a bunch of friends and you have a bunch of riffles at home because you are an American who loves the second Amendment. The population of magical Britian is very small so Bones basically heads the local police department.
McGonnegal thinks that it’s plausible that the troll is a distraction to an attack on the third corridor where something imported get’s stored.
There’s fog of war.
Even in the case where Amelie Bones has some other fight to fight at the same time, McGonnegal traveling 6 hours back and time and giving more information to Amelie Bones, helps Amelie Bones to understand that multiple targets in magicial Britian are under attack at the same time.
Evidently they can’t handle it and as a result one student died. Even if they were 95% certain that they could handle the troll on their own, it would still be prudent to go back in time and place a call for help.
Don’t forget that there are people outside of the Great Hall like the Librarian.
I’m not sure this is quite right. The population of Magican Britain may be roughly on the level of being served by a “local police department,” but I get the impression that they have to devote a greater proportion of their government’s resources to law enforcement than muggles would, because wizards are so much harder to police. Every wizard is much better equipped to create public disorder than a muggle would be.
Wizards in general are hard to police, but if the police has turn turners and a lot of the criminals don’t have them law enforcement get’s easier.
In any case an attack on the school to which the children of everyone go is a serious business and nobody would complain if the ministry does take great care that all children in school are safe.
If you believe this is a distraction, why on earth would you use your ace in the hole dealing with it? Wait to see what it’s distracting you from, and then start burning resources. Unless you want Bones to be out of time-turns when she finds out that she needs to go back an extra ten minutes.
A troll entered hogwarts.
In general the troll runs faster than any human. It was luck that Argus Filch is alive to tell the people in the Great Hall about the troll.
This is not to be expected by the person who smuggled the troll into Hogwart. It would be likely that the first contact of the troll with a human would be with a student and the student would be dead.
Hogwarts wards don’t go off on troll attacks so the troll might already have killed someone but if time turned people where around they could prevent that student kill.
The politics of a student getting killed after the affair is Draco is complicated.
You can’t undo things that are already happened with time turners. You also need to be in a position where you can communicate.
Then send a patronous to Bones in the now to ask whether it’s safe to send her information 6 hours into the past.
In general the heuristic I advocate is when under attack is to communicate the information to everyone who could use it to help defend you.
That solution has the disadvantage of requiring the students to move through the halls, which is extremely hazardous. The Great Hall has its own risks, but the seventh year armies should be sufficient to secure it.
According to the Harry Potter wiki, the Great Hall is located off the Entrance Hall, which suggests that leaving the castle from it should be fairly trivial.
The professors are mostly there, which is a sufficiently powerful bundle of combat magic to handle a troll. If you don’t need to split them into four groups, then there’s plenty of leftover firepower.