The most disturbing thing (of many) about this episode is that the twins did this as they were *leaving*. When Harry came in, they excitedly asked if Dudley had eaten the candy. But honestly, what they were really asking was if he had eaten it *yet* -- and think about that. What if Arthur *hadn't* delayed Harry by insisting on a proper goodbye? And then Dudley had managed to wait the extra thirty seconds for this nutcase to fix their house and get out of it before he ate the candy that one of their guests dropped, which really sounds far more likely, anyway, given how scared he is. This wouldn't have started until after all the wizards were gone. There isn't a spell being used here, it's a magical object. As far as we know, emergency wizarding squads *weren't* called in. Presumably they wouldn't have been if Arthur hadn't been there, either.
So the most *likely* result here, leaving out narrative necessities, is that Dudley's got a several foot-long tongue, which is also apparently getting wider, and there is absolutely no one who can stop it. It's not like the Dursley's can catch the Knight Bus and rush to St. Mungo's, or fire-call the Weasleys and make them come fix it. They would probably go to a Muggle emergency room, but the doctors wouldn't be able to help, and the things they'd try would probably have other harmful effects on Dudley's health. The Canary Creams reversed themselves in a few seconds, but after a couple minutes or so in this chapter, there was no indication that this would, and the twins didn't say that it would while "defending" themselves. So does it eventually? And has Dudley choked to death by that point? And what on *earth* happens to all the victims of these caused by the WWW sales?
I'm also rather horrified by the heartlessness in that, in this chapter, we *know* exactly why Dudley is terrified. Harry knows it, too, and the narrator spells out his extremely good reason for being terrified. Yet his terror is still supposed to be really funny and is presented as "look how stupid Dudley is,being scared by the Weasleys". Looks like he was certainly right to be.
Uh, so no, this wasn't one of my better-liked chapters.
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Date: 2005-09-08 01:52 pm (UTC)So the most *likely* result here, leaving out narrative necessities, is that Dudley's got a several foot-long tongue, which is also apparently getting wider, and there is absolutely no one who can stop it. It's not like the Dursley's can catch the Knight Bus and rush to St. Mungo's, or fire-call the Weasleys and make them come fix it. They would probably go to a Muggle emergency room, but the doctors wouldn't be able to help, and the things they'd try would probably have other harmful effects on Dudley's health. The Canary Creams reversed themselves in a few seconds, but after a couple minutes or so in this chapter, there was no indication that this would, and the twins didn't say that it would while "defending" themselves. So does it eventually? And has Dudley choked to death by that point? And what on *earth* happens to all the victims of these caused by the WWW sales?
I'm also rather horrified by the heartlessness in that, in this chapter, we *know* exactly why Dudley is terrified. Harry knows it, too, and the narrator spells out his extremely good reason for being terrified. Yet his terror is still supposed to be really funny and is presented as "look how stupid Dudley is,being scared by the Weasleys". Looks like he was certainly right to be.
Uh, so no, this wasn't one of my better-liked chapters.