The Big V, Percy, ghosts, article, teaching vs knowledge

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 24605

katzefan:

> Allyse: could've been worse - remember what Disney did to Mary Poppins? Try to envision a *singing* Voldemort.

I am, and very amusing it is too.  If I knew any of the twee songs in Mary Poppins well enough, I'd attempt a filk (Just a tune full of magic makes Lord Voldemort go down, tralala...)

Speaking of Voldemort, I can never quite cope with him being called "Voldie" in fandom... the sound doesn't roll off my tongue,  for one thing, and for another, my sense of irony, well-developed in other areas, finds a cute pet name being applied to the Snake-Man Lord of Darkness a bit of a stretch  (but those of you who like it, don't mind me!).  OTOH, I rather like him being called "The Big V": much more my style.

>You're forgetting something. That spell is *famous*  in magical 
>history...what else could have moved Birnam wood to 
>Dunsinane hill?  

Errr... could someone enlighten me on this famous event??  Off list or OT is fine, but I'm getting curious here.

> I think if *any* member of (Percy's) family were in serious trouble, he would find his 
priorities being re-ordered fairly fast ... 

Remember that Percy looked suddenly young and frightened and rushed to Ron when Harry rescued him from the lake.  His heart seems to be in the right place, just well locked away in a vault of ambition and arrogance.

Robyn:

> Maybe we can fix (Lockhart) up with a nice mirror...................

Now what would Lockhart see in the Mirror of Erised?  Himself being awarded an Order of Merlin first class and Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile of the Century?  Better still, what would his Boggart turn into??

Ali:
> Also, it'd be very difficult for Professor Binns to teach if he was 
completely without substance.  How could he pass out an exam, for example, 
if he was unable to pick up the papers?  How could he grade them, without 
the use of a quill?<

Once a wizard has died and become a ghost, can s/he still do magic, aside from the usual ghost stuff (passing through solid objects, etc.)?  Nick had a ghost letter: are there ghost wands?

Regarding the article on HP in China I mentioned, I don't know if this link still works (it was dated 21st September 2000), but this is where I found it.  If this doesn't work, I can send the article to the list if the moderators don't mind, or to interested parties off list if they do.  Hey, I can even send *really* interested parties a copy with my annotations included!

http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/09/21/china.peddling.potter.ap/

Rita:
> May I nitpick? Even if Binns is the most competent historian ever, he
isn't a competent TEACHER if none of his students except Hermione ever
learn anything<

Hear hear.  It's amazing how people assume that having lots of knowledge means someone will necessarily be good at passing that knowledge on to others.  Universities are particularly susceptible to this problem.  "Hey, he's great at writing articles and doing research locked away like a hermit in his ivory tower all day, therefore he's bound to be great at lecturing to 500 first year students about it!  Let's get him to turn a whole generation off his pet subject..."




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