OoP, of course

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Amanda Peabwain! You got one hell of a birthday present, and birthday 
eve party, even if the Elf did forget to post the announcement!  

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Deranimer wrote:

<< why is Chaser!James playing with a Snitch in the first place? >>

We don't *know* that he was Chaser!James --- that was from a JKR 
interview, and OoP contradicted another JKR interview 'fact' -- the 
interview clearly stated that the Boneses who were killed were Susan 
Bones's grandparents, but in OoP they were her uncle, aunt, and 
cousins. Btw, the old Boneses are a wizarding family with more than 
two children. They had at least: Edgar who was killed, Amelia, and 
Susan's parent (probably father, because of the surname). 

Susan McGee wrote:

<< but wasn't it C.S.Lewis who said in the Final Battle of the 
Narnian Chronicles that a noble death was something no one was too 
poor to purchase..Sirius died fighting evil, and he died trying to 
save his godson...I hope he is with his best friend James, and that 
Prongs and Padfoot are roaming the grounds of Hogwarts forever... >>

My eyes teared when I read that -- I agree with you. But Dumbledore 
wouldn't limit it to the grounds of Hogwarts: "the NEXT big 
adventure".

I want to digress about ghosts. In OoP, NHN told Harry that only 
wizards can become ghosts, and it is something they did deliberately, 
while dying, to avoid going on to the unknown next thing. Well, if it 
is a deliberate choice, surely some people would stay, not from 
COWARDICE, nor even DESIRE FOR REVENGE, but to help their young 
children or to help the good guys against the bad guys. 

Back to wondering how ghosts can pass to 'the next great adventure'. 
JKR has given the impression that it's impossible, but I have faith.

Melissa McCarthy wrote:

<< So, Harry's future. Auror? DADA teacher? Hogwarts headmaster...? 
I'd kinda like to see Harry as headmaster and Hermione and Ron as 
professors. That way the Trio could stay together. Assuming they 
survive book seven. I'm really starting to worry about that. >>

I don't have faith that they'll survive book 7, but if they do 
survive, Harry will be a very good DADA teacher after being an Auror 
... he already is! Hermione will be the first Muggle-born Minister 
of Magic. If Ron were to become publisher of the Daily Prophet (for 
which there is NO clue -- but if he pairs up with Luna, he could 
learn about printers' contracts and so on from her father), he could 
work very well with his two old friends.

Nethilia wrote:

<< 5: The "What if Nevile had been picked, not Harry?" AU. Much like 
Harry in Slytherin, the idea that Neville could have been what Harry 
is. >>

Maybe Neville IS the subject of the Prophecy. He WAS marked by 
Voldemort ... marked with clumsiness and forgetfulness due to 
Voldemort's followers attack on his parents. Maybe after all Harry's 
displayed heroism, it will be Neville who gives the killing blow to 
Voldemort.

Mochajava wrote:

<< Neville ... Keeping the gum wrappers that his mother gives him. >>

I immediately assumed that those wrappers have Meaning, perhaps will 
be a Clue in the next book.

<< if Snape had listened to Dumbledore and continued to teach Harry 
Occlumency, who knows what would have happened? >>

Snape was doing SUCH a terrible job of teaching Harry Occlumency, 
that I thought he was deliberately making Harry MORE open to contact 
with Voldemort, perhaps as part of Dumbledore's plan or perhaps 
because Snape'll turn out to be a traitor to Dumbledore; I don't 
think Snape could have known that his bad teaching would get Sirius 
killed, but I'm sure he was pleased when he found out. 

He gets snotty when Harry said "read minds" but what does he think 
Legilomency *means*? 'Legi-' is 'read' and 'mens' is 'mind'!

I have my doubts about how Snape could possibly be very good at 
Occlumency. If it truly involves getting rid of (eliminating, 
suppressing, repressing) your emotions, how come he does such a poor 
job of even a civilised level of control of his emotions? 

Professor Monkshood wrote:

<< Snape the yoga/meditation teacher. Which was exactly my thought 
when I got to the Occlumency chapter. >>

But he's a 'pretty rotten' one, to quote your phraseology. Based on 
the theory that one cannot teach something one does not know, Luna 
Lovegood would be a better yoga/meditation teacher than Snape. Btw, I 
am not convinced that theory is always true.

ewdotson wrote:

<< How about the bit where Ron suggests that maybe Snape is actually 
trying to open Harry's mind to V? >>

Did Ron suggest that? Hooray Ron!

SprSun wrote:

<<  He's a good man but he had this fatal habit of overlooking 
apparently insignificant 
people/creature >>

The Sirius - Kreachur thing is terribly Ironic considering it was 
Sirius in GoF who said to judge a man by how he treats his inferiors. 
Btw, Kreachur's name doesn't fit what we had thought was the pattern 
of House Elf names, and his display of loyalty was not to a building, 
not even to a bloodline, but to a person, the late Mrs. Black.

Richelle wrote:

<< And good old McGonagall. Gave him cookies. :) >>

Is Ginger Newt a pun on something Muggle?

<< notice what she tells him. "You need to really want to cause 
pain--to enjoy it--righteous anger won't hurt me for long." >>

I suppose that's what makes the Unforgiveables Unforgiveable, but it 
doesn't speak well for the Aurors who used them.

Laura Metslover wrote:

<< And someone said something to the effect that Lupin has been 
through enough already, and they didn't think JKR would kill him 
because his life was so tragic already, that it would almost be 
overkill.

If that were true, I honestly think she would have been kinder to 
just kill him off. Think about it- a werewolf, shunned his whole 
life, and how he's lost all 3 of this only real friends >>

Maybe Remus will be able to make friends with the new werewolf at St. 
Mungo's, the one he stepped over to comfort on Christmas Day. What 
did he say: "I'm a lycanthropy survivor, too, and I wanted to tell 
you it isn't as bad as you think. I admit it is pretty bad -- as you 
can see, I can't get a job -- but one still can have friends, like 
all my friends with whom I came visiting"?

The thing I wanted most in OoP, I *knew* wasn't going to happen: the 
Sirius/Remus ship, dating back before Wormtail's betrayal. So I feel 
triumphant that she didn't *contradict* it ... altho' imagine Remus's 
heartbreak *now*.

I am sure that the bit with the goblets is to let us know that 
Potterverse werewolfs are not harmed by silver, at least not while in 
human form. She'd already established what kind of person Mundungus, 
so she didn't need it to demonstrate that he'd steal from his host, 
so she must have needed it for something else.

Bit with goblets, at dinner in the Black house (which Tim complained 
was not punned on in relation to the White House), Mundungus asked 
Sirius if the goblets were solid silver, and Sirius said yes. Later 
that very dinner, it is stated that Lupin, who was drinking wine, put 
his goblet down. As it was NOT stated that his goblet was different 
from everyone else's, it was therefore solid silver.

Marc Nguyen wrote:

<< Was I the only one screaming in my head for Harry to use the 
mirror that Sirius gave him instead of the fireplace? >>

No, I had forgotten it just as much as Harry had.  But I cried when 
Harry, packing to go 'home' for the summer, found the present from 
Sirius he hadn't even unwrapped. I didn't think for a moment that 
he'd be able to contact Sirius in it then, but I did think that if he 
(and I) had *remembered* it, he could have chatted with Sirius 
*without* dangerous fireplace-talk, which would have cheered poor 
lonely Sirius up, and maybe if he had mirror-chatted with Sirius 
frequently, Sirius would have carried the mirror around with him 
like a cell phone, so when Harry needed to check whether Sirius was 
at home or captured by Voldemort, he would have *reached* him ... 
when Harry realises that, his burden of guilt will go UP. But Sirius 
should have told Harry "use the mirror I gave you" when Harry called 
him about Snape/James memory.