Agreed with above; in fanon Aurors tend to get labeled as incompetent in the same way the entire Ministry is, which I don't think has much basis in canon. The ministry's biggest problem in canon seems to be a willingness to do what's politically expedient rather than what's right (well, that and Death Eater infiltration), not the gross, bumbling incompetence we see in fanon.

Of course, JKR probably hasn't helped clear up the fanon misconceptions when in book seven she has Auror Dawlish get beaten by Neville's grandmother

 

He'd been Confunded, remember. And Mrs. Longbottom is always referred to as a formidable woman, so I should think that she's a reasonably skilled witch.

 

Augusta has been described as a formidable-looking woman, so I don't think it requires that much of a stretch to imagine her defeating Dawlish.

She could be rather similar to McGonagall, for all we know.

Of course, a certain Mollywobbles defeating top Death Eater Bellatrix in battle is another story altogether... *facepalms*

Edit: Dang, Taure's in b4 me.

 

I agree that Neville's gran could very well be a good dueler, but, as Lucullus points out, there seem to be way too many normal characters who are good duelers in canon. In fights, we rarely get the impression that one dueler outclasses the other as long as Dumbledore and Voldemort aren't around. There just aren't many of the characters we know anyhting about who are depicted as bad duelers.

 

Erm, I wasn't trying to imply that Mollywobbles was even a semi-decent dueler. I was trying to point out how while it may be half-believable for Mrs. Longbottom to defeat a Confunded Auror, it is truly ludicrous for JKR to have Bellatrix losing to a fat housewife, one who is more at home with cooking and cleaning than dueling, of all people.

She might as well have written Voldemort falling to Colin Creevey or Harry Potter getting eaten by an Acromantula while in the Forest after his 'resurrection' for sheer stupidity on a comparable scale.

 

Well, the fact is, she is a decent dueler in canon, whether you want to imply it or not. I agree that it's ludicrous and useless, because of all the people I really don't see why she had to be any good. Mollywobbles defeating Bellatrix isn't about a stupid housewife who can't hold a wand by the right end defeating a top dueler, it's about the housewife actually being a good dueler. That duel is the only indication of her magical skill I can think of in canon, so there is no reason why it should be unbelievable. However, I agree that were it to be found in fanon, I wouldn't see it quite so favourably.

 

The only conceivable way I could envision Molly killing Bellatrix is if she...

...Erm...

...Well, I can't see Molly killing Bellatrix. Ever.

 

The only way I can imagine Bella getting beaten by Molly is if Molly put a sonorous charm on herself and yelled in Bella's ears, causing Bella's eardrums to burst and get disoriented. But since that was not done ....

 

What does Molly do in her spare time? Cooking and cleaning for the family, bustling about her household chores, maybe arranging her son's wedding. What about Bellatrix? Trained personally in the Dark Arts by the Dark Lord, she well, kills and tortures Aurors, Order members and Mudbloods for a living.

You read this and tell me Molly defeating Bella (an un-Confunded Bella by the way) is plausible. I'd be surprised if Molly can even cast a decent Shield Charm. Let's face it, she is only in the Order because of her husband and sons, as well as her loyalty to Dumbledore.

 

I found an HP/Mollywobbles fic the other day if anyone would be interested.

Edit: Here jew go.
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php/67662/214365#fic_c

 

Post the link, I say. I've read some horrific ones before, and am eager to see how this will compare to them.

 

With her children out of the house, we don't really have much of an idea of what Molly Weasly does in her spare time. Why would Percy or Charlie be decent duelers? I'm not saying she's really better than Bellatrix, but I'm not sure Bellatrix is better than Sirius either. I just think the looser was careless in both cases. Very few characters get fighting training. What evidence do we have of Bellatrix' skill?

 

She beat Tonks, Sirius and Kingsley at the Ministry in OotP. Beating Kingsley is very impressive, since he had previously dueled 2 Death Eaters at once and won, and in DH was (just about) keeping up with dueling Voldemort with McGonagall and Slughorn assisting.

In addition, she was able to escape Dumbledore when no other Death Eater was able, though this may have been because he was focusing on Voldemort.

As well as this, we know that she has been trained in the Dark arts by Voldemort. Her "job" is that of a fighter, so she will have much experience and practice at dueling, and with magic practice certainly does make perfect.

Finally, we have her reputation from the first war to consider.

 

Was she really trained by Voldemort? That's pretty cool.

I'm not very good with OotP; can't really remember so I'll take your word for it. Maybe it was her idea of motherhood power... pretty pathetic if it is.

 

As soon as they leave, she drops her pots and pans and sets off into the secret Burrow basement, where she has a costly set of training equipment. Arthur didn't know he'd married into money, but Molly spent the Prewett fortune on 1337 dueling training stuff. She spends all day working out and honing her skills, before casting a complicated fattening transfiguration for when her family gets home. Shes actually a lean, mean killing machine.

You think that broom shed is really a broomsshed? Nah it opens up to reveal Thunderbird 2 or something.

You just gotta have an imagination

Or be on hallucinogens, whatever.

 

Im leaning towards the hallucinogen option...

 

"Trained" is perhaps too strong a word in retrospect. We know that Voldemort has taught her some Dark arts, but training has a bit of an implication of a regular training regimen or something of that sort, which I doubt. But yes, she has been taught spells by Voldemort, much like we know Snape was taught how to fly by him. He seems to reward his favoured followers by teaching them spells.

Regarding Death Eater command structure or hierarchy, I think there is none. I think there is an informal and unspoken hierarchy which is dependent solely on who is in Voldemort's favour, and I think that it's possible to fall in and out of favour extremely easily. For example: Bellatrix and Lucius fell out of favour, Yaxley seems to have been boosted up the command structure in DH. Snape seems to have always been fairly high up (even before he killed Dumbledore, Voldemort confided "the Plan" to him) and after Dumbledore's death appears to be the most favoured.

I think the first chapter of DH is a very good insight into how the Death Eaters work, with Voldemort telling people where to sit in relation to himself (the closer, the better), and the Death Eaters then seeing this and adjusting how they see people appropriately.

But a formal command structure? I don't think there is any. This is further backed by the fact that the Death Eaters as an organisation fell apart as soon as Voldemort fell. Had there been a command structure then the next highest person would have taken charge, but since the whole of the organisation depends on Voldemort, with him gone there is no structure to it.

This was most likely intentional, to prevent any of his followers gaining enough support to attempt to usurp him.

Regarding Molly vs. Bellatrix:

Molly appears to have won for 2 reasons:

1. Emotion. We have seen all throughout the books that putting emotion (particularly aggressiveness) into the casting of spells increases their power (e.g. the disarming charm often not only disarms but also causes the opponent to be knocked off their feet).

2. Bellatrix underestimated Molly. Just before Bellatrix fell, Harry noticed that she had the same sort of expression as Sirius did before he died, and he knew what was about to happen before it did: like Sirius, Bellatrix was playing around, and Molly got in a lucky shot.

 

That's probably as good an explanation as there is to that duel.

Regarding training, there really isn't much of a reason to believe that any of the characters do dueling training or have access to facilities. Aurors obviously go through training, but most of the order members and death eaters don't seem to... My only point is that whether it be Slughorn or any of the Weaslies, most order members or for that matter most death eaters, we don't get much indication on whether a character is a good dueler before they get into a duel.

On death eater hierarchy, there is also the fact that it doesn't seem like a large group, and it certainly started out as a small group of "friends", as we clearly see in HBP. The idea that it works informally according to Voldemort's favour makes a lot of sense in that respect.

 

I haven't really been able to figure out the concept of Death Eaters at all. Are they rich fucks who get off on torturing muggles? Or ar they rich fucks who believe they are superior? And if they are, why do they reduce themselves to the level of torturing muggles? Why do they follow Voldemort if he tortures them and gets nothing done? And why did they join him in the first place? I can't imagine some high-class bitch like Lucius swearing fealty to a grubby Halfblood.

I get why Voldemort is obsessed with killing Harry... but what's up with the rest of the lot? Where does their loyalty to the snake-faced monster come from. He doesn't seem to have done anything they are rallying for. What are they rallying for in fact? How does "Kill all Mudbloods" make sense if they don't have anyone to be superior to afterwards?

 

Some of them are rich, others appear not to be. As for torturing Muggles, I can't remember any of this occurring. Acts of terrorism, yes, but your classic fanon "Death Eater raid" where they pick some random Muggle's house and go torture them? Nope.

Again, some are wizards who believe Purebloods are superior, others are half-bloods pulling the party line for power and personal gain.

He only tortures them after a great failure, like when none of them tried to find his disembodied self, and when one of them told him incorrect information about the DoM.

As for getting nothing done? You do remember he took over the Ministry, right?

Voldemort's charisma, the lure of power, political ideals (I.e. Purebloodism), a means to revenge yourself on your enemies (Snape), the pull that all great men have which draws people to follow them, sexual desire (Bellatrix), the desire to belong (Barty Crouch Jr.).