The Chance for NEW CANON- cont.

[joywitch_m_curmudgeon]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Erin" <erinellii at y...> wrote:

>  In PoA, Lupin had a bag with Professor R. J. Lupin stamped on it 
in 
> peeling letters.  Where was he a professor before Hogwarts and 
what  
> does his middle initial stand for? 
> 
> Joywitch comments:  
> > This seems obvious to me -- I think that JKR would say that 
there's 
> > no reason to think he was a Professor before Hogwarts. He's a 
> wizard, remember?  As soon as he got the Hogwarts job, all he had 
to 
> do is  point his wand at his bag and say something like "Engravio" 
> and the  word "Professor" appears in front of his name.
> > 
> > OTOH, I'd love to know what his middle name is.
> 
> Erin answers:
> See now, you liked that question after all :-)   The thing with the 
> letters is that they are old and peeling, so obviously he's had 
them 
> on there for awhile, suggesting that he'd taught elsewhere.  And 
even 
> if she tells us he hasn't, that is also knowledge we formerly 
didn't 
> have.

It doesn't say "old and peeling," it just says "peeling." Maybe they 
were peeling because Lupin didn't know how to do the spell very 
well.  OK, that's weak.  I give up.


> Question and Joywitch comment:
>  Ron got his leg broken in PoA.  Which leg was it, and does he have 
>  a scar there now?
> > 
> > This would be a wasted question, IMO.  Broken limbs don't usually 
> > leave scars.  Do you really care whether it was Ron's left or 
right 
> > leg?
> 
> Erin answers:
> Ah, that question is a sly one from the "Is Ron Dumbledore via the 
> Timeturner" people.  If she answers "left knee", and says there 
*is* 
> a scar, then we can start wondering if it looks like a map of the 
> London Underground, you see? :-)   

OK, I give up.  You're too sneaky and clever for me.


> Question and Joywitch comment:  
> > > Do "evanesco" and "scourgify" make things cease to exist or 
just 
> go somewhere else?
> > 
> > Great question.  I'd have the same question about some of the 
> charms  which make things appear.
> 
> Erin answers:
> Yay, another question! Which charms?  Write out the question for me 
> and I will put it on the list.

The problem is, we don't know what those charms are called.  I'm 
thinking of the spell Dumbledore uses to conjure up the squishy 
purple sleeping bags (POA), and the chair at Christmas dinner (POA) 
and the chairs at Harry's hearing (OOP), which he doesn without 
saying anything. McGonagall also conjures up some chairs in OOP with 
just a flick of her wand.  Are they just so good at Summoning Spells 
that they don't have to even say "accio?"  Or are they actually 
creating something?


> Question and Joywitch comment:  
> > > Are the Pensieve's memories totally objective like a video 
camera?
> > 
> > How could they be objective - they are the memories of a specific 
> > person.
> 
> Erin:
> Ah, come on, Joywitch, I know you haven't been *that* out of it.  
> People have been arguing this one on the list for 7 months now.  
One 
> of the theories is that the Pensieve uses the memory as a small, 
> selective timeturner to transport the viewer back to the specific 
> incident.  Surely you notice in the Pensieve chapters that Harry 
> seems to have seen things (such as what James was drawing, 
> conversations in a crowded, noisy hallway) that it would have been 
> difficult for the person whose memory it was to have been aware of 
at 
> the time.  I'm not going to go into all the other theories now, but 
> suffice it to say that this *is* a hotly contested subject, and a 
> perfectly valid question IMO.


Yeh, well, just because people have been arguing about it for 7 
months doesn't mean that I can't dismiss it out of hand simply 
because it annoys me.  ;-D   To me, the real question is "Why is 
Harry able to see and hear things while he's in Snape's Pensieve 
memory that Snape couldn't possibly have seen or heard? Is this just 
another plot inconsistency, or do you have an explanation for it?" 
but even I wouldn't be that rude to JKR.

> Question and Joywitch comment:
> > > Why do some people make a loud "crack" when they disapparate, 
and 
> > > other people make only small "pop"s?
> > 
> > I think JKR would just say that different people have different 
> skill levels.
> 
> Erin says somewhat archly:
> Well, what you think JKR might say and what she actually says 
aren't 
> necessarily the same thing, you know.   

Ooooohhh, dem's fightin' woids, Erin.


> Someone else might think it 
> perfectly obvious that she'd say it depends on the distance 
> involved.  Or other various factors.  I've seen this one discussed 
on 
> the list as well.
 
Allright, allright.  I *guess* you have a point.  (she conceeds, 
grumpily)


> Question and Joywitch comment:
> > > We've seen in OoP that portkeys do work inside Hogwarts.  So 
how 
> come Crouch Jr. had to get Harry into the Triwizard Tournament and 
> wait for the third task before sending Harry to Voldemort?  
Couldn't 
> he just have turned anything in the castle into a  Portkey at any 
> time?
> 
>  I think that this is one of the many weak plot devices in GOF, and 
>  I'd be embarassed to ask JKR about it.
> 
> Erin answers:
> Well, maybe so.  Maybe so.  And yet, it's such an obvious plot 
> hole... I mean the whole freakin' *book* is written around it and 
> we're supposed to believe it never even crossed her mind?  

Well, she did say that she really rushed to get the book done by the 
deadline, and it *is* filled with inconsistencies, IMO.

> I'm 
> personally hoping she'll come out with a brillant explanation that 
> will put us all to shame for having doubted her in the first 
place.  
> Yeah, that's it.  We're just not giving her enough credit!  
> 
> What I tell myself now is that you can only use portkeys from 
> Dumbledore's office, the rest of the school and grounds are 
> protected, and the protection had been lifted from the maze to 
allow 
> the champions who could to apparate or whatever.

Well, the fact that Dumbledore turns the tea kettle into a portkey in 
OOP does seem to back that up, although maybe it is Dumbledore 
himself, not his office, that is the key factor here.  IOW, maybe 
only Dumbledore himself, or only a Headmaster, can make portkeys or 
use other types of transportation spells in Hogwarts.

Another possible explanation is that the Triwizard trophy itself is a 
portkey that contains some type of magic that works (or is allowed to 
work) despite the anti-apparation spells around Hogwarts, and Crouch, 
Jr. just alters the place it takes the champion to.  Since people 
couldn't see what was going on in the maze, it makes sense that the 
first person to touch the trophy would be transported to the winner's 
circle or something.

But I guess the point of this post is not really to argue this stuff.


> But anyway, no one is making you ask it.  *I* intend to.

You go, girl!


> Question and Joywitch comment:
>  Will Mark Evans (the ten-year-old Dudley beat up at the beginning 
>  of OoP) show up in the next books at all?
>  
> And is he related to Harry, since Lily's maiden name was Evans.
> 
> Erin answers:
> That was actually the question I was trying to *avoid* asking, as I 
> thought it would be one she'd refuse to answer on grounds that it 
> spoils the plot of future books if the answer is yes.   

Again, you're too clever by half.

> Question and Joywitch comment:
>  Fans have found ways to anagram many of the names currently in 
> > Harry Potter.  Are there any more names in the series that are 
> > intentional anagrams of anything?
> > 
> > What do you mean, any *more* names that are intentional 
anagrams?  
> As far as we know, none of them are *intentional* anagrams.
> 
> Erin, mouth hanging open in shock, stammers:
> Um.... riiiight.  Well, Tom Marvolo Riddle springs to mind, but 
then, 
> maybe that's just me....

Doh!  ::shuts ears in oven doors::  I was thinking of that anagram 
for Snape and others that I've heard people mention as if they knew 
JKR had done them on purpose and, um, I was...oh, forget it. ::crawls 
under the bed::


> Question and Joywitch comment:
>  Will Harry, Ron, and Hermione ever meet (or have they already met) 
a 
> vampire?
>  
>  Why not just ask "Is Snape a vampire?"  Oh, and the answer is, 
>  obviously, YES!
> 
> Erin:
> Once again, too darn obvious.  Not to mention that poor Pippin 
would 
> probably have a nervous breakdown if the answer was no. :-D


The answer is yes!  YES! YESYESYESYESYES!  Snape is SO a vampire!  I 
refuse to have it any other way.  If JKR says he's not, she's just 
wrong!  Pippin and I know the truth!

--Joywitch