Muggleborn students - Voldemort/Riddle - big bad John - Lupin

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 16042

IIRC people started suggesting, under spoiler warnings, that Crookshanks
might be a Kneazle, on the evening of March 12. They also argued whether
the K is silent in Kneazle and Knut.

Vlaka wrote:
> What I'm wondering about are the reactions of Muggle-born
> kids and their parents.  Personally, if I found out that my
> (hypothetical) children were targeted by a hate group that
> was gaining power, I'd try to insure their [yes, yes I know, relative]
safety,

I wonder about this in relation to: How does Dumbledore persuade the
parents of  Muggleborn students to allow their children to attend
Hogwarts? Even parents who are too polite to say "I AM NOT PAYING FOR
SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" would think something
along those lines: there is no such thing as magic, I am not going to
entrust my child to crazy people who believe in magic, even if they're
very nice people, my child has to go to a high school that will give her
a strong grounding in science and math so she can go to Caltech or MIT
for college, so Dumbledore (or his Admissions staff) must say some very
persuasive things to the parents.

And mentioning that there are evil wizarding terrorists going around
killing people in hope of installing a dictatorial type of government is
NOT going to make a good impression on the parents.

But denying it, if they ask, would be lying. I don't mean that parents
are knowledgeable enough to ask: What about Death Eaters? or even What
about wizarding terrorists?, but they could ask: Is there a lot of
violence in your world? How about crime? What are the dangers?

Samaporn Teeravechyan wrote:
> That brings me to the question about Voldemort being 'the last
> remaining ancestor of Slytherin'. I noted that as an error in word
> use, but then I recently found a web page saying that, although
> the word was corrected in some editions, later ones have the
> word 'ancestor' put back. Also, was someone speaking at the
> time or was it the narrator?

Dumbledore said it. I tend to believe that Dumbledore is as reliable as
the narrator (I'm not sure how reliable that is). If  he meant
'ancestor', that's cool: there must be a time-travel subplot going on.
If he meant 'descendent', I am annoyed because I want families like the
Malfoys (and even the Snapes) to claim that they are descended from
Salazar Slytherin and to have a scrap of plausibility to their claim.

Trina wrote:
> But Lord Voldemort is *not* his "true name."  His true name
> would be Tom Marvolo Riddle,

I think he ceased to be Tom Marvolo Riddle when he ceased to be "human
enough to die".  I think it was some specific point in the long process
of turning himself into a horrific immortal scaly snake-man.

> What would happen if Voldy's true identity were known by the
> rest of the wizarding world? How would that influence the
> upcoming fight?  ("That's who You-know-who is?  Why, I went
> to school with that despicable little prat!  I always knew he'd turn
> out to be no good. He convinced Binns I cheated on the Goblin
> Rebellion exam! Let me at him!") Would it make any difference?

The memory-Tom is depicted as so charming as well as intelligent and
magically talented that only Dumbledore distrusted him. People who
remembered Tom Riddle from their school days might be MORE attracted to
Voldie if they knew he was good ol' Tom Riddle rather than LESS
attracted.

> How about if it were common knowledge he was a half-
> Muggle himself?  How would his minions react to that?

At least Barty Jr knew it "We both had very unsatisfactory fathers." All
the DEs who came to the circle CAN know it -- I don't remember if V said
anything about that useless old Muggle finally does something useful,
but they could have read the name on the grave marker and later looked
up who Tom (not Marvolo) Riddle had been.

> He tells Harry in CoS that he had started calling himself LV
> while in school, but only his most intimate friends knew it.
>  (Query:  Where are those friends now and who were/are they?)

With the slower aging rate of wizarding folk, Lucius *could* have been
at school with Riddle. If Lucius and his father had both reproduced at
Muggleishly young ages, Lucius's father could have been at school with
Riddle.

Amy Z wrote:
> Chris wrote:
> >For a long time I believed that joining
> >a group as a posting member involved wrestling with a troll, I am
> >relieved to find that this is not the case (it isn't is it ?).
>
> No, but you do have to try on the hat.  Those who emerge as Slytherins

> are required to wear leather pants and chant daily, "Millicent
> Bulstrode is a foxy lady!"  And no trying 10 times 'til you get put in

> Gryffindor!
>
> As an alternative to trying on the hat, you may seek out and kill John

> Walton.  We have taken up a little collection and are offering a
> bounty of $25,000 US plus bail.  Welcome!

Doreen wrote:
> You obviously have not met our resident troll, John.

Here is the forbidden LOL reply. Cheers for Amy and Doreen!

Amy Z wrote:
> Harry's lack of curiosity about his parents may be one place
> where plot is driving character.

I still think that the reason why Harry doesn't speak or go to the
Library about his curiosity about his parents is one of the (amazingly
few) lingering effects of his Dursley upbringing: they didn't actually
succeed in beating the curiosity out of him, but did succeed in training
him to repress it

> Rita wrote:
> >I was saddened that FB's section on werewolves says nothing
> > about whether lycanthropy is contagious when the werewolf
> > is in human form.  If  human who happens to be a werewolf
> > bites you, do you become a werewolf? How about if he just
> > slobbers on you?
>
> Or kisses you deeply for hours and hours?

Mind reader!

Lea MacLeod wrote:
> He doesn't have decent stuff because he's so poor -
> he must  have had real trouble getting a job because nobody
> wants to employ a werewolf.

I agree with you, but it has been suggested that he doesn't have decent
WIZARDING stuff because he has been living in the Muggle world, because
he could get jobs THERE because Muggles at least don't believe in
werewolves. Hey, they might even be decent jobs if he can persuade
employers that he has to take off the days before and after the Full
Moon for religious reasons!

In the self-pity speech in the Shrieking Shack (and he has EVERY right
to give a self-pity speech!),  he said of  Dumbledore: "he gave me a job
when I have been
shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I
am." I always remember that as 'unable to find employment', which I
prefer: I expect he can't find much UNPAID work either if people refuse
to associate with him.
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