Chaperones (Was: Chapter 20 - The First Task

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 5999

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Jim Flanagan" <jamesf at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Sarah Rettger wrote:

> > 3. How well chaperoned are Hogwarts students?  Are
> > they just left alone in their towers each night with
> > the assumption that they will stay in their beds all
> > night?  Harry and Hermione practice the Summoning
> > Charm in an empty classroom until midnight, and then
> > in their common room until two o'clock, and they are
> > never seen by an adult.  Thoughts?

It is the House Prefects' job to enforce bed-time and lights-out and 
not going into the bedrooms of opposite sex students. Adults 
(especially Filch) enforce only the curfew on being out of one's 
House. Perhaps the out-of-House curfew time for fourth-year students 
(like H and H) is midnight, which is why they moved to Gryffindor 
tower, where perhaps the prefects gave them a break because they were 
working on the TWT. Perhaps the out-of-House curfew for fourth-year 
students is normally earlier than midnight, but the adults gave H and 
H a break because of TWT.
> 
> There are lots of examples of this problem: 
> Percy and Penelope spending time in disused 
> classrooms (with those nice horizontal benches); 

That was in the daytime! I remember there were MANY secluded places 
at my old high school that patrolling teachers and guards NEVER 
checked in the daytime. I suppose that in the daytime we were thought 
to be by chaperoned by a combination of our own old-fashioned sexual 
morality (ha!) and the fear of being stumbled upon by other students 
and thus reported.

> Snape finding several couples in the bushes on "prom" night; 

I got the impression that JKR intended that to be something special 
for "prom" night, such as a lot of going-together couples who 
normally limited their physical displays of affection to shaking 
hands good-night became suddenly inspired by the sight of their 
beloveds looking good in dress robes and fancy make-up. Or maybe 
there was something special in the punch at the Ball.

> the Weasleys coming home at 4 in the morning when they were
> students.

If they had been caught out so far after curfew, they would have been 
chewed out and given detention. In fact, Arthur *was* caught by 
Filch's predecessor Argus Pringle and was given detention. Molly was 
chewed out by the Fat Lady but somehow persuaded the Fat Lady not to 
rat on her to the prefects or professors.

> Even the otherwise admirable Prof. McGonnagal fails 
> to give any sort of personal guidance or supervision 
> to the charges in her House.

In this context, I think you mean Sex Ed. This list once had a long 
conversation about whether there are sex education classes at 
Hogwarts (which I think would be better taught by Madam Pomfrey than 
by the miscellaneous Heads of Houses) or does the wizarding habit of 
old-fashioned-ness keep them in the Victorian theory that if you 
don't tell children about sex, they won't find out about it for 
themselves?

In other context, this is something that bugs me. I am convinced that 
it *must* be the responsibility of the Head of House to notice when 
hiser charges are sick and make them go see Madam Pomfrey, notice 
when they are having trouble with their school work and either give 
them a scarey warning or fix them up with an older or better student 
as study coach (depending on the cause of the school work trouble), 
and notice when they are in emotional distress and give them privacy 
with their feelnigs, a kind word, a helpful piece of advice, or an 
appointment with the school psychiatrist (depending on the cause of 
the distress). We should see McGonagall trying to help Neville, 
maybe by lending him "how to improve your memory" books, or 
requiring him to memorize a doggerel version of "The Ugly Duckling", 
or to write his affirmations 500 times a day ... I didn't say that 
the Head of House has to be *successful* in caring for hiser charges! 
 
> Either Madame Pomfrey's cupboards are well stocked with
> contraceptives or there are things (in addition to
> apparating) that can't happen at Hogwarts.  Someone 
> should ask JKR about it some time.

See message #130 with the irrelevant subject line "Re: Veela (was 
Chatterly Saga (was McGonagall's Age", in which I postulate the 
pamphlet "Simple Contraceptive Charms". I am sure that any half-way 
trained "witch" can do a variety of contraceptive spells and 
fertility spells without any need to consult a professional.