Summer Weather / monolingual / Questions for JKR

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

K Cawte wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/21329 :

<< Of course the drought and water shortage in the summer will in no
way prevent the floods that are almost inevitable in February, March
and April (I saw the first severe flood warnings on the weather
forecast yesterday evening) >>

Why don't they build drainages to lead the water to impoundments so it
can be stored in reservoirs to be used in the summer?

Sheryll wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/21348 :

<< Summer can actually be quite warm here, with the Humidex rating
occasionally taking it up to near 40 Celsius. >>

40 degrees Centigrade :: 104 degrees Fahrenheit. I was afraid of 
that -- hot, humid, unbearable Midwestern summer weather for
ConventionAlley.  

Ms Tattersall wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/21414 :

<< If a person who speaks two languages is bilingual, and a person who
speaks three languages is trilingual, what do you call someone who
speaks only one language? >>

Cornelius Fudge (at the QWC). 

My two languages are American and Meow. My brain was not capable of
learning any others, even when I was five years old.

Eloise asked in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/21467 :

<< two places called Wrotham and Trottiscliffe. Care to guess their
pronunciation? >>

Plain wild guess: Rome and Triffid. I can understand how SeveNOaKS
became Snooks, but not quite how Featherstonehaugh became Fanshawe ...
somehow that S traded places with the N ...  

Erin put out a call for questions in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/21420 :

<< Are there limits to how far a wizard can be transported by
apparating or portkeys? If so, what are the limits? >>

I'm sure she thinks she already answered the limits of Apparation in
QTTA: "[The Oakshaft 79] will always be remembered as the broom used
in the first ever Atlantic broom crossing, by Jocunda Sykes in 1935.
(Before that time, wizards preferred to take ships rather than to
trust broomsticks over such distances. Apparation becomes increasingly
unreliable over very long distances, and only highly skilled wizards
are wise to attempt it across continents." page 48).

I (present imperfect tense of "to accumulate") my own list of
questions, some of which overlap with yours, and here it is:

------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions for JKR:

1) In the Potterverse, what is a 'warlock'? (warrior-wizard?
MP-wizard?)

1.5) Are International Federation of Wizards, International
Confederation of Wizards, and International Confederation of Warlocks
all the same thing? (IIRC, OoP added International Federation of
Warlocks to the list.)

2) Why aren't Thunderbirds (aka Quetzalcoatls) in FANTASTIC BEASTS?

3) Are Boggarts (not in FB) Beings or Spirits? Are Dementors Beings or
Spirits?

4) Is the Ministry of Magic part of the Muggle government? If it's
separate, how is the Minister of Magic selected?

5) Does Molly Weasley have red hair like her husband and children?

6) About werewolves in the Potterverse: are they contagious when in
human form, or only in wolf form? Is silver harmful to them? Are they
transformed only at night or also in the daytime? For only one night,
or two or three in a row? [I believe that OoP answered that silver is
not harmful to them when in human form, but Iggy disputes that by
comparing silver to a bullet: just touching it isn't harmful.] 

6.5) The Wolfsbane Potion -- does Lupin have to take it every night
for a week before he transforms, or just once any time during that
week?

7) Is Professor Sinistra a witch or a wizard? 

8) Why do they have to study so much Astronomy? Does the class include
Astrology? Do they have to know the locations of the planets because
they're going to travel there?

9) What is Arithmancy? 

10) Hermione's birth year? panswered on CoS DVD: 1.6 months younger
than Harry.]

11) Is Fleur a Seeker on a Beauxbatons Quidditch team? For that
matter, is Beauxbatons's Quidditch intramural like Hogwarts's or
extramural?

12) How does Fidelius Charm work? [answered in OoP]

13) Do the wizarding folk have recorded music? Does anyone listen to
Wizarding Wireless at Hogwarts? Are the professional Quidditch Matches
broadcast?

14) How old are Arthur and Molly Weasley (same age as Hagrid? Older?
Was Arthur in school with Lucius?) [Lucius Malfoy's age, implausibly
young 41, was answered in OoP.] At what age do witches hit the change
of life? 

15.5) How old are Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix nee Black? I
figure that Andromeda must be at least 42 because her daughter Tonks
is 23. If Narcissa is the oldest, she would be older than her
husband. 

15) Are Spells the same thing as Charms? because the Standard Book of
Spells is the Charms textbook.

16) Is Blaise Zabini a boy or a girl? What are the given names and the
Houses of the students in Harry's year named Moon and [T.] Nott? [OoP:
Theodore Nott] 

Is Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw, who tried to fool the Age Line, the same
Miss Fawcett who was in the rosebush with Stebbins (or is that one a
Hufflepuff)? The same Miss Fawcett who was at the Dueling Club? The
same as S. Fawcett who checked out QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES from the
library? What does S stand for? [Apparently recent printings of GoF
have MIss Fawcett of Ravenclaw in the rose bush with Mr Stebbins of
Hufflepuff, thus showing that JKR intended to have only one Miss
Fawcett.]

17) Is there ever a Muggle-born student Sorted into Slytherin? How do
they stand the abuse from the purebloodists? 

18) How many prefects are there and who chooses them? [OoP answered:
Dumbledore chooses them.] 

19) Does the J in Remus J. Lupin stand for Justyn, Januarius, or Job?
Are James Potter's middle names Godric Merlin? Is Sirius Black's
middle name Orion? 

20) The Weasleys' names -- is Bill short for Bilius like his uncle who
died from seeing a Grim, is Charlie short for Charles, is Fred short
for Frederick or Alfred, is Ginny short for Virginia or Gwenevere or
Jennifer or Iphigenia, or are they all actual given names, not short
for something else? [OoP answered: Percy is not short for Percival] 

21) Can you confirm that Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew were in
Gryffindor with Potter and Evans?

22) Was Grindelwald active in Britain or in Europe or both? Did he
terrorize the wizarding folk kind of like Voldemort? 

23) Was Karkaroff recruited by Voldemort in Britain or or in his
native country? Did he do his crimes in Britain or in his native
country? Was he a teacher at Hogwarts when he was recruited, did he
recruit Snape as still a student?

24) Can a Squib, or a Muggle, make Potions if they can get the magic
ingredients, or does a person have to use magic to make the Potion
brew correctly?

25) Is "Godric's Hollow" the name of a house or the name of a
village/neighborhood? 

26) Did the Slinkhard DADA textbook demonstrate what you, Ms. Rowling,
think of non-violence in real life Muggle situations?

27) Please confirm that Salam Witches' Institute (mentioned in GoF) is
the Women's Institute, not a girls' school or university.

28) How come Dumbledore didn't use Legilimency to identify the spy in
the first Order of the Phoenix?

29) How come the Mobili- charm (Mobiliarbus, Mobilicorpus in PoA) was
replaced by Locomotor (Locomotor Trunk) in GoF?