Various, inc. other uses for the Sorting Hat

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 24282

Dave:
> Did you notice that bit when they talked about the boa that escaped from its master's 
> house USING THE PIPES and showed up in someone else's bathroom toilet?!

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that reptiles in the plumbing is common in the tropics!  Even in Singapore the concrete jungle you get cute little lizards on the walls.  What worries me is what happened to the basilisk when there was water in the pipes: didn't it drown, or were the pipes big enough for it to breathe and still slither about?  And don't most snakes hibernate in winter?  Surely around Christmastime in Scotland any self-respecting snake would be curled up by the hearth in the Chamber of Secrets...

Kelly:
> This fits the theory that the place the Trio will go that they've not been yet is St. Mungo's

What a creepy place that would be: all those people who lost their minds through the Cruciatus curse.  I also wonder if that's where they put people who've been kissed by Dementors (assuming such people don't become Dementors themselves).  Perhaps the trio will go there to check out Barty Junior and Lockhart and the Longbottoms.

Catherine:
> How does Sirius communicate with Crookshanks?  We know that Crookshanks is part Kneazle - does this enable him to understand humans?

You know, the creature that really intrigues me is Mrs Norris.  JKR has mentioned that the cats in the book are very important, and I'm sure there's something fishy going on there (plus Warner have made her a ginger tabby!  Ghh.  Didn't they read that she's meant to be dust-coloured?).  How does she summon Filch, and why is he so devoted to her?  His only friend in a cruel Squib world, or something else?  I still suspect that she's his accidentally stuck in cat form beloved myself, but that's just me...

Ah yes, and something I've been meaning to ask for ages: what do people think the story is with Peeves?  I am perishing with curiosity about what he is and why he's afraid of the Bloody Baron.  Someone once said that poltergeists are manifestations of nervous energy or something, hence likely to flourish around teenagers.  How is a poltergeist different from a ghost?  Is Peeves just a special category of ghost?  He did attend the deathday party, after all.

little Alex:
> But there *are* universities in medieval times.  The nobility didn't use
> them, yes, but they still existed, no?  (for scribes and some such, iirc)
> So, I assume that Malfoys wouldn't deign to attend a university, but I have
> no doubt that the Weasleys would do so if given the opportunity.

I'm still convinced that the Weasleys *are* nobility, albeit impoverished and struggling nobility.  They're an old wizarding family, after all.  I'm open to correction from British listmembers and other people who know more about this than me, but I've always thought that in Britain your "class" is based much more on your bloodline and land ownership than on how much actual money you have.  In fact, those of noble blood would be greatly insulted to be lumped with those vulgar nouveaux riches (sp?  I never know with these French borrowings) peasants who've earned money through something as common as work.  My idea was that the Weasleys, after generations of dividing up the family estate among dozens of red-haired children and selling off property to support them, ended up reduced to the plot of land where The Burrow stands and having to work for a living.  OTOH, the Malfoys, through scrupulous years of one child families, still have a sweeping family estate and fortune.

The other thing I've been musing on in none other than that ol' Sorting Hat.  "There's nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can't see", eh?  Does this mean that you could get a complete rundown on a person's thoughts and intentions simply by slapping the Hat on them?  Is the Hat bound to a code of secrecy, or is it prepared to talk about what it sees in people's heads to other people, e.g. Dumbledore?  Hey, why bother with Veritaserum when he could just try the hat on every new DADA teacher that walks through the door?

"You may look just like Moody,
But the Sorting Hat's no slouch:
I see from what's inside your head    
That you are Barty Crouch!

You're planning to kill Harry    
Raise Lord Voldemort, and more,    
Bad luck, my friend, I've caught you out    
I'm telling Dumbledore!"

And so on.  Hey, sure beats the Myer-Briggs for sorting out job candidates...

Tabouli.

etc....!


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