Random Inconsistencies

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 8178


> 2) Another little one I caught today:  Right before Harry discovers 
the Mirror 
> of Erised, he comes across a suit of armor.  "There was a suit of 
armor near 
> the kistchens, he knew, but he must be five floors above there." 
(SS, p. 206)  
> But they don't find out where the kitchens are until GoF, right?

I've been mulling this one over myself. I think JKR can get away with 
it because GF says that they don't know how to GET INTO the kitchens, 
not that they have no idea whatsoever where they are. They probably 
knew or could assume that the kitchens were "down that corridor 
somewhere," since it's a door that's in plain sight, right there in 
the entrance hall, opposite of the door that leads to the dungeons. 
Not only that, it's the door that leads to the Hufflepuff common 
room, so kids do go that way all the time. They could tell where the 
smells of cooking were coming from. They knew it must be down that 
corridor somewhere, and there was a suit of armor down there, but no 
one was quite sure where the entrance itself was. Except Fred and 
George, of course.

Funny Harry didn't spot the kitchens on the Marauder's Map, though. A 
room that large? You'd think he'd have noticed it at some point. 
Hmmm...

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon