[HPforGrownups] Re: questions for JKR (long)

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 3812

Joywitch wrote:

> Why do the dementors try to give Harry the kiss of death (in PoA)?

Because he's there? Didn't they try to kiss everyone? The whole group?

> In GoF, why was it necessary to have Harry win the Triwizard
> Tournament in order to have him touch a portkey?  Why couldn't
> Moody/Crouch have just made any old thing into a portkey and thrown
> it in Harry's path sometime during the school year, or even hit him
> over the head with a spell?

So he would be isolated for a length of time before anyone was alarmed? Wow,
I never thought of this. I'll cogitate.

> How did Hagrid get the key to the Potter's Gringotts vault?

I'm betting Dumbledore had it. Or some other trustee.

> How come Moaning Myrtle is able to flood the bathroom?  (Ghosts are
> supposed to be able to pass through matter without disturbing it, and
> there are numerous references in the book to them doing so, such as
> Professor Binns entering the classroom through the blackboard)

Perhaps it's an option, not a hard-and-fast rule. Peeves is a spirit and can
shake things up (I know, poltergeists are different, but he's still on the
same plane).

> How come no one except Lupin ever noticed while looking at the
> Marauders Map that Ron is always accompanied by Peter Pettigrew?

Well, Scabbers wasn't at the school til Ron was, and by that time Fred and
George were just using it to check on Filch and Snape, pretty much, right?
And why would Harry check his own rooms (which is where Scabbers lived)? He
knows what's there; he wants to know who's around the corner.

> What's the difference between a wizard and a warlock?

One's a state of being and one's a rank, I think we consensused. You're born
a wizard. You achieve being a warlock (elected office? award?), because
there's that International Confederation or whatever.

> Dumbledore's card (from the Chocolate Frogs) says that one of his
> accomplishments is the defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in
> 1945.  Is Grindelwald supposed to be Hitler, or one of his
> allies/advisors?

Probably it just reflects that the two worlds are intertwined and
interconnected. Chaos in one means there's a good chance for chaos in
another. Why else point out that Voldemort went after Muggles, too? WWII was
our perception of the chaos.

> Does that explain why the Allies won World War II?

Probably helped a whole lot.

> [I think that this would be a particularly fun question to ask her; I
> intend to submit it myself on the AOL chat.]

I hope a bunch of us do; there's so many WWII parallels--Fudge's
Chamberlain-like character, the whole pure-blood "master race" thing, this
intriguing date and the Germanic name of the wizard he bested....

> Where do kids from wizard families go to school before they are old
> enough for Hogwarts?  They have to learn to read and write somehow,
> but if they went to regular schools wouldn't all the muggle kids
> learn more than they should about witches and wizards?

Yeah, I wondered about that, too. Has anyone asked this one on the list yet?

> What was in the letter that Dumbledore left with Harry on the
> Dursley's doorstep when Harry was a baby?

Tag, you're it...no, seriously. I thought it told the Dursleys that they
were the only living relatives, that it would become known if they didn't do
the "proper" thing and raise Harry, and that Harry would be attending
Hogwarts, in all probability, upon his 11th birthday.

> Is it realistic that Harry, whose major passion in life is Quidditch,
> would completely stop playing for an entire year (in GoF)?  How come
> they don't seem to even have "pickup" Quidditch games at Hogwarts,
> they way they do when Harry is visiting the Weasley's house?

We don't know that they don't. But we do know the fourth years have LOADS of
homework and not a lot of free time...

I really want one of those T-shirts that says "I'm talking and I can't shut
up"

--Amanda