Arithmancy/OotP/Evil Draco

[mellienel2 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25218

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., blpurdom at y... wrote:
> There are about five topics I'm addressing total at this time 
> (unusual for me) so I'm randomly putting three in this post and 
two 
> in the next one.
> 
> 1. Arithmancy
> 
> I read the earlier post cited in another mail.  Theories people 
may 
> have about what this is aside, a definition for this DOES exist.  I 
> stand by my opinion that JKR didn't know what it was, thought it 
> sounded like Wizard Mathematics and didn't do a whole lot of 
research 
> on it. Call it a Flint, if you like, that she has Hermione being so 
> crazy about a form of Divination.  Or else we need a word other 
than 
> Flint for a mere oversight, rather than an actual error (like the 
> wand-order thing).
> 

I havae to disagree on this one -- if JKR truly took 5 years 
planning the series, I doubt Hermione's supposed favorite 
subject would be a mere oversight. She hasn't sadi ANYthing 
about it, which really makes me think it's going to be important 
later on (based on JKR's tendency to slight the clues that crop 
up as important later on -- there was one line in PoA about 
animagi; they were studying in class "animagi -- wizards that can 
become animals" or somethign similar. That was it. Yet all of 
PoA was based on the animagus, or at least it was a huge 
chunk of the pie. We did know it was possible, but it was barely 
mentioned -- Mcgonagall turned into a cat, and that was the end 
of it.).

 Hermione is nothing if not logical, and Arithmancy is divination 
BASED on logic. When she talks about disliking divination, 
Hermione makes a point to show how much she likes 
Arithmancy -- which means she appreciates that they have 
similar qualities. Divination is based on being able to see, 
Arithmancy based on being mathematically skilled. Hermione 
may not have the natural talent for it, but I'd be extremely 
surprised if she wasn't a wiz at something that took all that logic 
-- and if that logic wasn't a big help to Harry et al later on.

m.