The Gilding of Gilderoy, Spells: thinking like a Muggle, Robes, Chapter 9 summary - Percy's loyalty

[Herald Talia]

No: HPFGUIDX 24581

Tabouli wrote:
>As for being so worried about looking good that one doesn't want to have
sex, this is >surely a case of the means overtaking the ends!  All the
same, Gilderoy evidently cares a >lot what people think about him,
otherwise why spend so much of his life faking his way >to fame?  "But
enough about me... what do *you* think of me?"


An expert in psychology from St. Mungo's might diagnose Gilderoy with
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (the American Psychological Association
is so omnipresent, they probably have a division of magic. ) In that
case, he'd be unable to find anyone attractive enough (compared to his
wonderful self)  to relate to. No student could possibly come close.
Maybe we can fix him up with a nice mirror...................

Amy Z. wrote: 
>I believe that there are laws governing spells, which one may call 
>physical or not.  It's hard for Muggle minds to comprehend them, but 
>magical folk learn what they are; e.g. Accio might work differently in 
>different circumstances, but it doesn't work in *every* circumstance; 
>maybe it does require an open window.
<snipped some good stuff from Rita>
>Robyn brings up the potential for mayhem.  One of my favorite things 
>about the books (the list has about 500 items on it by now) is the way 
>JKR revels in the mischief-making possibilities of magic.  You get the 
>sense that the first thing she thought up when she was putting 
>together this magical world was a joke shop.

There have to be laws governing spells, otherwise there would be no need
for Hogwarts. All students would have to learn would be will. Also, poor
Wizard Barruffio did not seem to have the intention to have a buffalo on
his chest - so the words must have been somewhat important. 
As far as Accio being blocked by windows, doors, etc. The charm could
have the property of choosing a route by which the object will fly to the
one who is Summoning it. After all, Harry had to wait a while, long
enough for the crowd to grow impatient, before the Firebolt got to him.
Also, who's to say there wasn't a shattered window somewhere in Hogwarts?
(I begin to sympathise with Mr. Filch) If the Firebolt went into a kind
of hyperspace, or *between*, wouldn't it have appeared instantly? We saw
the toffees from George's cuffs zoom directly into Mrs. Weasly's hands. 

frantyk wrote
> I think you've got a point. Hagrid never graduated from Hogwarts, 
> having been expelled (unjustly, as it turns out) and I'm wondering 
> if the robes are the equivalent of 'Dr.' in front of the name of a 
> PhD graduate - only those who've successfully completed their 
> task/doctorate get 'em.
>For someone as large as Hagrid, robes might be a bit of a hindrance, 
>especially since he's a gamekeeper, etc. and has to deal with divers 
>animals. What does Hagrid wear to Hogwarts dinners? (Sorry, my books 
>haven't arrived yet.)

	It seems to me that if Hagrid would want to wear robes, no one would
stop him. It's just he's a non comformist and an outdoorsy sort. He
probably needs to wear dragonhide trousers to protect himself from his
good friends the Skrewts. 
	I have a long, sweeping, old fashioned dress that I wear sometimes, for
special occasions. Occasionally, I have to do one last household chore
while wearing it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sweep the floor
while wearing skirts down to the floor? Do you know what a pain it is to
put things on high shelves (granted, I'm kind of shorter than Hagrid. I'm
shorter than Harry, in fact) You're always stepping on the hems and the
rustling skirt takes up so much space. I'd imagine Hagrid wouldn't have
time for that sort of nonsense. Same with my academic robes - there are
no POCKETS in the blasted things. These would not work for cooking,
gardening, cleaning, or chasing Weasleys from the Forbidden Forest. (And
think how flammable they are! Robes would never stand a chance against
Baby Norbert.)
	On the other hand, they'd be kind of slimming, no? Who cares how much
weight you put on over the winter - the robes are forgiving. 

Zarleycat wrote:
> 5. Is Ron correct that Percy cares more about becoming Head Boy 
than 
> he does about Ginny?

And Catherine answered
>Now this is one of my major gripes about Ron - he does not show much 
>family loyalty.  Percy would never put Head Boy ahead of Ginny, if 
>she were in "mortal danger" etc.  Ron does have a propensity to think 
>the worst of his brothers - not only Percy when he says that he would 
>feed any of his family to the Dementors if it would help his career - 
>but also in thinking that Fred and George would do anything for 
>money, when the blackmail thing comes up.  IMO, if anyone is disloyal 
>to his family, it is Ron, not Percy.

I disagree. Percy has some definite blind spots, especially about being
Head Boy and rules in general. It's not that he'd deliberately put Ginny
in danger, but he'd absolutely refuse to take her seriously, even if the
risk that she is right is very high. He's so patronizing and full of
himself, he can't even concieve that Ginny's news at the end of PoA -
"Harry suddenly realized what Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward
and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was
teetering on the edge of revealing hidden information....." Percy comes
over and interrupts, Ron is furious because Ginny said it was something
important.
"Oh- that- that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said Percy
at once.

Even in a time when the whole school is on edge due to Slytherin's
monster, Percy can't possibly imagine that his younger sister could have
anything important to say. 
Now, in GoF, when Dumbledore starts working against (or at least, not
*with*) the Ministry, whose side will Percy be on? He's a stickler for
rules. Will he give valuable information to Dumbledore against Fudge's
express rules? His dearest dream is to be Minister some day. I'm not so
sure that in OoP, he'll be so forthcoming. 

Ron seems very loyal to his family. Sure, they fight, and he is ashamed
of them in some ways. But he is concerned about Fred and George when they
are planning to blackmail someone,and he is worried about Ginny in CoS. 
I think his family loyalty is so high that Malfoy spots it and uses it as
Ron's weak point - that what he teases him about. 

Hey, after I wrote this, but before I posted it (see, John Walton - I'm
limiting it to one post a day like a good witch should!) I saw jenny from
Ravenclaw wrote a similar thing. See, Jenny - we agree on more than just
Shel Silverstein. :-) :-) ;-)

Robyn
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"It is an extremely bad idea to mix magic and cooking." 
- Morwen, character in Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. (P. 41)
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