Riddikulus and Expecto Patrono - De-Aging - Apparation and Animagery - Who is Doomed? - Good/Evil - Wand

[blpurdom at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24825

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Rita Winston <catlady at w...> wrote:
> Cindy wrote:
> 
> >  In GoF, Fred and George just went to the 
> > hospital wing to be de-aged.  So you probably
> > only have to take an antidote, which Mrs. Figg 
> > could take to make herself younger.
> 
> Kelly Hurt already said that the twins just went to be de-bearded, 
> but I was thinking that if there IS a de-ageing potion, if it works 
> on age acquired by travelling forward in time at the rate of one 
> second per second, that might explain why wizards live longer than 
> Muggles.

I don't think the aging thing is likely that simple.  One gets the 
impression from Snape's Potions classes that there are antidotes to 
many potions that specifically reverse the effects of the other 
potion (aging and anti-aging potions cancelling each other).
 
> Cindy wrote:
> 
> > I wonder which spell is more difficult:  apparating
> > or animagus transformation? (snip) But the MoM has 
> > a special squad to fix flawed apparations, so it must 
> > be harder to do correctly.  
> 
> More people Apparate than become Animagi: it seems that almost all 
> adult wizards Apparate, but there were only seven registered 
> Animagi in one hundred years. I'm tempted to say that having so 
> many more Apparators than Animages shows that Apparation is easier, 
> but it might just be so much more useful that people are willing to 
> put in the effort to learn it. 
 
Or it may be that the Animagus transformation is particularly 
attractive to those who might flout the law, and the reason why there 
are only seven REGISTERED Animagi is that there are only seven HONEST 
Animagi.  Does Rita Skeeter strike anyone as being particularly 
bright?  Or honest?  It took James, Sirius and Peter several years to 
master it, but they were still schoolboys.  Adult wizards who have 
completed their education might find it considerably easier.
 
> In Harry's compartment, three people were badly affected by the
> Dementor: Harry, Ginny, AND Neville. "Ginny and Neville looked back 
> at him, both very pale." "It was horrible," said Neville, in a 
> higher voice than usual. "Did YOU feel how cold it got when it came 
> in?" We learn in GoF what horrors Neville has in his past (even if 
> he was not present when his parents were captured and tortured, he 
> has to go visit them at each holiday).

Plus Ginny experienced being used by Tom Riddle and was in the 
Chamber of Secrets when she was only eleven-going-on-twelve.  She 
might be reliving that when a dementor gets near her.

> We also know one person who was badly affected OUTSIDE Harry's
> compartment: Draco Malfoy. The twins tell Harry:  "That little git,"
> [George] said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the 
> dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our 
> compartment, didn't he, Fred?" "Nearly wet himself," said Fred, 
> with a contemptuous glance at Malfoy.

Malfoy shows again why he isn't a brave Gryffindor (besides the fact 
that he's only confident when his big goons are with him).  He might 
very well have witnessed some intense Dark Magic, with Lucius for a 
dad.  It would be interesting to know whether boggarts and dementors 
are related in some way, since they both connect somehow with a 
person's mind to draw out, and in the boggart's case, manifest the 
person's deepest fears.  Of course, in Harry's case, the connection 
is that his boggart turns into a dementor.
   
--Barb