Ok. Questions, comment, and altogether musing brought out of SS!

[milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 2526

Wow! That was a long list! Some of the questions I answered some of 
them I didn't, but I'm sure others will ;-)

> 
> Chapter One
> pg. 2  *None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the 

window.*  Could this be a part of the movie scene, with the 

brown-colored owl?  I am not certain what color tawny refers to 

exactly!
> 
> pg. 3  The word through out this chapter is "cloaks" never robes.  

Are they just wearing cloaks, else why the term?  Of course McG 

mentions not a on changed to Muggle clothing later!>


That could be the scene the pics from empireonline.com since the owl 
they had was brown.

Cloaks are outer wear. I guess the wizarding equivalent to jackets
and 
coats. Vernon saw folks walking about with cloaks on as he went to 
work that morning.


> pg. 11 *..."I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me 

she liked my new earmuffs."...*  Why this comment?  Of course, in the 

next four years, we haven't even seen him wearing a scarf, let alone 

earmuffs?  Or is this a sexual innuendo?
> 
> (Yes, I did allllot of thinking while reading!  Hindsight, you 

know!)
> 

LOL!!! 

> pg. 12  *...dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles...*  Why is 

McG upset and in tears, on this page about Lily and James?  Is is a 

clue to the fact that they WERE in her house, hence the closer 

association?  Or is it only the bond of teacher and taught?  (Ebony, 

here's one for you to field, lol!)  She commented ..."the Potter's 

son, Harry"... and that is a bit contrary.
>

Maybe Lily and James were McGonagall's favorite students and fondly 
remember them from that time?
 
> pg. 14 *...Young Sirius...* Young due to ration of Hagrid's age and 

his, or due to his being only 19 or 20?
> 

I can't prove it but my gut feeling is that the Potters were in their 
early 20's when they died. V. called Lily a "silly girl" as she stood 
protecting Harry. IT maybe just a matter of colloqu1alism (sp?) or it 
could be taken literally. Moreover, Hagrid states that he had to 
RETURN the flying motorbike to Sirius. Yet in PoA, Hagrid recounts 
that Sirius GAVE him the motorbike at Godric's Hollow adding that he 
(Sirius) wouldn't be needing the motorbike anymore. Was this possibly 
a mistake by Rowling?


> ENTIRE CHAPTER> During all the transfiguration/animagi and the 

apparation, we never see a wand being used once, the whole chapter!  

Don't you need a wand to apparate?
> 

I don't think a wand is an absolute neccesity. Perhaps it
concentrates 
or focuses the wizarding power? Afterall, Harry was able to free the 
boa constrictor and blow up Aunt Marge sans wand.

> pg. 23  *..."Majorca...*  Where is this place?  First Neverwhere, 

and now HP?  
> 

Majorca is an island off the coast of Spain. It's a resort area if
I'm 
not mistaken.


> pg. 32  *...Smelting...*  I can't help but think of Smeghead with 

this!
> 

I think "smelt" has something to do with refining metal ore. IF so, 
then maybe "Smelting" is a place where one is supposed to be 
"refined", as in a finishing school?

> pg. 54  *...about 20 years ago now...*  This was Voldie's official 

rise to power!  :)
> 
> pg. 55 *..."Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, 

anyway."...*  Did Voldie try that we haven't heard about within the 

time of his Terror Reign?
> 

EXACTLY (regarding V's rise to power)!!!! Perhaps V was planning on 
attacking Hogwarts. And maybe the mishap at Godric's Hollow put a 
crimp on those plans.


> pg. 56  *..."McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts"...*  Was there any 

children there who survived?  And, in another thought, could one of 

these be Molly's parents? (along the lines of my grandparents 

babysitting theory?)
>
 
In one of the Sorting Ceremonies, there is a mention of a "Bones" 
being sorted.

> pg. 62 *...peppermint humbugs...*  What are they?

They are a mint flavored candy. 


> pg. 69 *...Dedalus Diggle...*  This is the second time by name, and 

third time by mention (unless he was the one mentioned as running
into 

Vernon in a violet cloak?) of this man, the first being the pg. 10, 

chapter one mention of fireworks (shooting stars).  Have we heard
this 

man again since?
> 

Nope. After setting off the shooting stars, bowing to HArry in a
shop, 
and shaking hands with Harry in the Leaky Cauldron. DD hasn't been 
mentioned in the later books.


> pg.  71  *...took a year off...*  It sounds like Quirrel might have 

actually been at Hogwarts for more than the one fateful year!
> 

I had the same impression when I read that.


> pg. 84/85  *...holly...yew...*  Is there any connection or 

opposition of these trees in history, or etc?  We know the feathers 

are the same.  Just looking for a connection with the wood!
> 

There is folklore connected with these woods. I have to look it up
but 
I seem to recall that one of them either attracts or repells "the
evil 
eye".


> pg. 103  *Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, 

...Paracelsus,...Cliodna...*  Who ARE these people?  Anyone in real 

life?
> 

Paracelsus was a chemist(alchemist) during the middle ages.


> pg. 109  *..."you'll go the same way as your parents..."...Scabbers 

the rat was hanging...*  Moments before the attack, Draco was going 

off about Harry's parents.  We know that Scabbers is Pettigrew. 
Could 

Draco have hit a sore point with the comments of Lily and James, and 

that's what invoked the attack?
> 

Good point!