[HPforGrownups] Summary: CoS Chapters 5 an 6

[princesskatie115 -]

No: HPFGUIDX 23840

Question 1:  Mrs. Weasley certainly is neither  stupid nor dull.
How come she doesn't notice the magical transformations the car
has undergone? ("Muggles *do* know more than we give them credit
for, don't they?")

*** What are the odds that Molly Weasley has been in more than just a few 
cars? For all she knows, we muggles could all be engineering geniuses...   I 
think it's just a matter of her never having driven or been a passenger in a 
muggle car, so she has nothing to compare the enchanted car to. Yes, yes, 
she may have driven in the Ford Anglia before... but if she had it was 
probably with fewer people or belongings with her so she could chalk up the 
extra room to her not noticing before, simply because the circumstances were 
different.


Question 2: I'd like you to express your opinions on the couple
Molly&Arthur. They seem to get on  very well, but would you say
the have a relationship of equals?

*** From the first time I read the book I thought instantly of my 
grandparents....my bumbling, comedic, well-meaning grandfather, and my more 
level-headed, organized, and practical grandmother. They balance each other 
out and bring out the best in each other, just like I see Molly and Arthur 
do. Molly keeps Arthur's imagination and such in check, and Arthur helps to 
soften Molly up a little.

Question 3: Did anybody at this point think it had something to do
with Dobby or did you attribute the sealing of the gate to their
being late (it rhymes, I'm thunderstruck with my own talent!)?

*** Ah, yes, If only I was so talented! I am immeasurably jealous! 
Ahem...Now moving on to my response :: I am ashamed to admit that I wouldn't 
allow myself to believe that Dobby was the culprit (he was too cute, 
although I already knew he was cunning). Although I did think that it had 
something to do with Dobby and his warning, I took it as the bad things 
beginning, instead of Dobby trying to protect Harry. Granted, it's been a 
while since I've read the book, so my initial perception might have been 
different.

Question 4: (As the question about starting the car/underage magic
has already been sufficiently discussed, I just leave it out.
BUT:) Doesn't this scene tell us something about Ron? He knows
that Harry has already got one warning from the MoM and will face
expulsion if he's caught doing Underage Magic another time. Is Ron
selfishly trying to show off? Is he extremely impulsive?

*** No, I don't think Ron was trying to show off...impulsive, yes...but he 
didn't want to miss Ginny's sorting, he wanted to make waves at the school, 
he'd already flown it with Gred and Forge (the actual driving part of the 
plan having gone off without a hitch), and he honestly believed the 
situation to be dire enough that the ministry (and Hogwarts) wouldn't punish 
them for it. As far as Harry's warning from the MoM: Ron both opened the 
boot with the wand and operated the car...Harry was just going along for 
ride (although I think that if Dumbledore felt the flying car was grounds 
for expulsion, that fact wouldn't be enough to save Harry's bum, since he 
easily could have said 'no thanks...I'll wait for your mum and dad to see us 
and owl the school.')


Question 5: Do you think the weather in general and the
meteorological conditions on 1 September have a symbolical value
in the books? Is it important that, as the books are
getting "darker", the weather on the day of departure is getting
worse with every book?

*** Hmm...I've never thought about it that way before. I suppose you could 
think about it that way...although it may be a bit of a stretch, as JKR may 
be taking the weather think one book at a time instead of saying 'ok, the 
first day in the first book can be nice and sunny, but the seventh will be 
by far the darkest...so I think that a nice twister is in order, oh yes! 
Flying cows and all!!' Ummm....feel free to ignore me from here on...seeing 
as how I'm running on sugar...


Question 6: What do you think the car is running on?  And why does
the engine die at this point?

*** I have no idea what the car is running on....but as far as the engine 
dying at that point... Icing on the cake! Just when they think it couldn't 
get worse for them, and the excitement has worn off and now they're just 
miserable, the engine starts to splutter, and they start to wonder why they 
drove the car in the first place...what if they don't make it to Hogwarts?! 
What if they crash the car and have to walk the rest of the way and miss the 
feast and the sorting anyway?! What if they crash the car and *can't* walk 
the rest of the way?! Oh the drama!!

Question 7: Why does Snape wait for them?( It should be McGonagall
who is Head of Gryffindor. She does not necessarily have to survey
the Sorting ceremony, as we know from PoA, where she summons Harry
and Hermione into her office, while Prof. Flitwick replaces her at
the Sorting.)

*** In my opinion, this can go two ways....

ONE: Snape notices that they are not seated at the Gryffindor table and 
excuses himself so he can wait for the boys' arrival and nail them for not 
coming on the train, fulfilling his dream of getting Harry Potter expelled, 
and a Weasley as well! Two birds with one stone, Yippee!!! A (because I'm 
sure there's more than one) caveat to this is that someone else is bound to 
have noticed that 'Famous Harry Potter' and Ron Weasley (especially 
McGonagall, the Weasleys, Hermione and Dumbledore) were missing from the 
feast... Maybe Snape volunteered to Dumbledore before McGonagall could, and 
got permission to wait for them, being the concerned teacher that he is...


and

TWO: Snape had business to attend to and stumbled upon Harry and Ron. YAY! 
Got that pesky anti-B.O potion finished so I won't have to shower and wreck 
my lovely hair for at least 6 or 7 weeks...AND I caught Potter and Weasley 
trying to enter the feast after being so deviant as to try to come to school 
by another means than the Hogwarts' Express!!!

Question 8: What Ron and Harry did, would certainly have been
worth expulsion. Much as we all like the two of them, do you think
it OK McGonagall lets them get away just with detention? And why
do you think she made this decision?


*** They both have promising futures in the wizarding world...and although 
they do have a habit of breaking the rules, they have saved the school from 
a Mountain Troll and recovered the Philosopher's Stone from 
Voldemort/Quirrell. Expelling kids with such an admirable record at only 12 
years old would be like taking a 12 year old shoplifter with no previous 
record, and an A average, and sentencing him or her to life in a maximum 
security prison. It was just a lapse of judgement on the part of two 
children...and while it did have major repercussions with the ministry 
(having to memory charm all those who saw the car, etc...), to expel them 
would be too drastic.

Question 9: If Hermione had been with them at King's Cross, do you
think the two boys would have convinced her to fly to Hogwarts
with them by car? ( Later on in the book (Polyjuice Potion) we see
that Hermione is as capable of rule- breaking as the other two,
which she has already demonstrated in the Norbert-  episode in
PS/SS)

*** She broke those rules for Hagrid, and ultimately for everyone's 
safety...I mean, a dragon running around Hogwarts...things could get 
ugly...I think Hermione would have had the sense to wait for Mr and Mrs. 
Weasley and send Hedwig ahead to inform McGonagall and Dumbledore that they 
missed the train and would be talking to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley about what to 
do. I doubt she would have made such an impulsive decision.


CHAPTER 6- Gilderoy Lockhart

Question 10: It has never been made really clear how Mr. Weasley
managed to keep his job at the MoM, given that the charge against
him was quite serious (Rita Skeeter's article in GoF only mentions
that he was charged with the illegal possession of an enchanted
car) . How do you think he got himself out?

*** There was a loophole in the law...He himself, the enchanter of the car, 
never intended to drive it, or allow anyone else to drive it. That's like 
the owner of an enchanted tea set falling ill and having a neighbour come 
over and try to make a cup of tea for her poor sick friend, only to be 
scalded by a very angry tea kettle and pelted by sugar lumps by a 
mischievious little sugar pot...  And we all know that Rita Skeeter isn't 
one to check her sources (..'Several bodies found at the Quidditch World 
Cup...'?!), so Arthur may not have ever been charged at all...just 
investigated.



Question 11: I cannot get rid of the thought that some of the less
important characters, and especially Lockhart, are caricatures of
very real and unpleasant persons JKR met and couldn't resist to
have her little revenge on. What do you think?

*** Ah, yes, I can just picture JKR hunched over her computer cackling 
wildly over the thought of old Bobby Bumblebee (her know-it-all 
next-door-neighbour who claimed he could fix her car and ended up just 
cracking the 'whirling-ka-thingermajinger' and and denting the 
'cumbustulator'), and snickering with glee over the thought of Gordon (her 
enormous step-cousin who always got his way at family gatherings) sprouting 
a tail and wimpering with his hands over his massive rear-end.

Question 12: Do you think that Lockhart's way of presenting
himself as The- One- Who- Always- Knows- Best is a result of
stupidity combined with selfishness and conceit, or is it simply a
calculated strategy, trying how far people will let him go
(following Hitler's famous: The bigger the lie, the more people
will believe it)? Is he a Slytherin?

*** Oh, I believe it's a mix of both. While it doesn't say anywhere in the 
books that he even went to Hogwarts, I can assume that he would be in 
Slytherin if he had...because a true gryffindor would never have run away 
from their responsibilities and the chamber of secrets, and I couldn't 
imagine a Hufflepuff running around blasting innocent people with memory 
charms and lying about the story. As far as Ravenclaw goes, could you 
imagine a smart, studious man running around spewing things that have no 
proof of whatsoever...(telling various people that he knew what the monster 
of Slytherin was, and how to kill it, where the entrance to the Chamber is, 
etc.) Even a self-serving Ravenclaw wouldn't be that stupid. Yup...although 
he isn't the typical 'yes-I-am-evil' Slytherin, he probably 'would have done 
well in slytherin', just as Harry would have. If Lockhart indeed did go to 
Hogwarts I can imagine him bragging about his school days to all the 
students in his class (where no teachers could contradict him)...and he 
doesn't, which leads me to believe that he did not go to Hogwarts...but if 
he didn't: where DID he go to school?


Question 13: Which part of the plant is used for potion- making?
Do they chop up the leaves or the "roots" (eurgh!!)? And if it's
the leaves, what happens to the "roots"? Sorry, but this has been
tormenting me since I first read the book.

**Whoever said that they didn't want to know....My sentiments EXACTLY!


Question 14: The general opinion about Colin Creevey isn't too
positive but what about his behaviour during this scene? Standing
up to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, on his first day at Hogwarts and
furthermore being Muggle- born, indicates that he has a lot of
courage. And what do you think about his surprising psychological
insight? Is Malfoy really jealous of Harry?

**I think Creevey is annoying, but cute. And yes he is brave, although he 
could be compared to Aberforth. Dumbledore says that Aberforth went on with 
his business as usual after the controversy surrounding him and his charmed 
goat...and that he wasn't sure if that was bravery or simply the fact that 
Aberforth might not have been able to read, and didn't *know* about the 
rumours and gossip and controversy surrounding himself. Colin could be being 
brave...standing up to Malfoy, the son of a well-known (although supposedly 
reformed) follower of Voldemort, muggle and mudblood hater, blah blah 
blah...or it could simply be the fact that he has never been a part of the 
wizarding world before and doesn't know about all those scarey things 
surrounding the Malfoys.

And Yes, I do think that subconsciously Malfoy is jealous of Harry, which 
just adds to the hatred started by his father. 'Famous Harry Potter' doesn't 
get into trouble for flying the broom, he gets a nimbus 2000 and a place on 
the Quidditch team...that kind of thing. Draco wants the kind of 
appreciation Harry gets, which he feels he deserves simply for being Draco 
Malfoy.


Question 15: How come that Hermione who as far as we know her, is
not a person to judge people because of their looks, is so easily
fooled by Lockhart? If not his tactless behaviour to Prof. Sprout,
at least the Pixie incident should have cast some light upon who
and what he really is.

**Oh, it's classic behaviour....Even thought the gorgeous blonde has no 
conversational skills and is about as smart and full of personality as a 
loaf of bread, all (or most)of the guys like her, become tongue-tied around 
her and follow her like little lost puppies... Same goes for girls...even 
though the best-looking guy in the class is cocky, rude, stupid, etc; all 
(or most) of the girls think he's
'just *sigh* PERFECT!'...and practise writing their first name with his last 
name all over their notes. Hermione is no exception, I guess.

Katie**

*Who STILL doesn't have a catchy little quote to end her rants...
Anybody wanna lend me one?!?! :)

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