fanletters - Lucius' age - #students - Remus Middle Name - Snape - Weird Names

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 11980

Anake neptune wrote:
> Has anyone here written to Jo Rowling? I'm currently thinking
> about a letter but not sure what to write.

Tell her that you're an adult who loves her books, and thank her for
writing them. Ask her when Ron's birthday is. Possibly ask her whether
Draco's birthday is June 24 (depending on whether I can stand to be
proved wrong by the Author herself).

Kimberly Moon wrote:
> And as for Draco being Harry's age, I don't have a problem with
> that.  Lucius and Narcissa are fairly selfish and vain.  I kinda think

> they put off having a child until it occurred to them that they'd
better
> get around to producing an heir to carry on the family name.

(I strongly agree about Lucius being older.)  Maybe Lucius and Narcissa
would have put off carrying on the family name even longer except the
Dark Lord ordered them to make a baby for the sake of some spell or
something.

Katarzyna nykteris wrote:
> born on 24 th Dec. because it's disturbing the peace of the holly
night.

I don't mean to be rude about your generally excellent typing, but that
error ('holly' for 'holy') is incredibly perfect because of the
association of Holly with the Xmas holiday.

John Walton wrote:
> this topic would go great on the new HPFGU-OTChatter list! ::subtle
hint::

There are too many HPfGU offshoot lists -- I can't join so many lists --
I'm already, what, a month?, behind on reading fanfic! HPfGU wouldn't be
quite so high-traffic if there weren't so many Netiquette reminders and
Logo Contest reminders from the Mod Squad.

Karen Weise wrote:
> that still only leaves you with 560 kids.  Am I missing something?
> Most schools for this range of ages are a lot bigger.

I know that there is going to be a FAQ about the number of students,
because that is a hotly debated topic on this list. Most people believe
either that there are around 300 students (approximately ten per House
per school, five boys and five girls, with maybe usually fewer in
Gryffindor and Slytherin and more in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw) or that
there are around 1000 students. I think there is one person who argues
for around 560 students.

The 300 students advocates say that seating 1000 students at only four
long tables would be impossibly long for tables, that there are only
twenty broomsticks waiting for the first Gryffindor - Slytherin joint
flying lessons and twenty cauldrons waiting for the first Gryffindor -
Slytherin joint Potions lesson, that it would hard enough to fit 70
Gryffindors into one common room and impossible to fit 250, etc.

The 1000 students advocates, such as me, were cheered when JKR in an
on-line chat answered '1000' to the question "How many students at
Hogwarts?". I had already decided that there are 1000 students based on
the number of children who have to be born per year to have a population
of wizarding folk large enough to support all the wizarding businesses
and economy that we have seen (15,000 to 20,000 on the island of Britain
and associated isles, and that is cutting it fine) and argued that JKR
left a lot of unnecessary details out of her book, such as there are
several first-year Gryffindor boys's dormitory rooms with up to six
students each, not just one dorm room with Harry and his roommates,
there are a lot of teaching assistants to help Professors manage such
large classes and grade so much homework, the 'common room' is actually
a suite of several rooms, etc.

Some people compromise between the book's description of Hogwarts with
300 students and the number of children that must be in the wizarding
community by assuming that only the top 25% or 30% of wizarding children
go to Hogwarts and the rest go to other schools. That contradicts JKR's
statements that Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in Britain.
However, any answer contradicts JKR in some way: either about how many
wizarding schools there are in Britain or what she said in chat about
how many students or what she wrote in the books about twenty
broomsticks....

She said in another interview that American children write to her
asking  how they can apply to go to Hogwarts and she writes back that
only children from the UK and the Republic of Ireland (i.e. where
Bloomsbury is her publisher) can go to Hogwarts. I CANNOT believe that
the wizarding folk allow themselves to be divided by Muggle political
boundaries, which are subject to change every time the Muggles have a
war; therefore, the wizarding folk don't know from UK and Republic;
instead, they think in terms of the Island of Britain and its isles and
the Island of Ireland and its isles. Further, I MUST believe that
Hogwarts is the school for Britain and the Irish have a school of their
own, because if Irish wizarding folk went to Hogwarts, all the members
of that great Irish World Cup team would have been Hogwarts Old Boys and
Old Girls, and that would have been mentioned by students or teachers.

Jen Faulkner wrote:
> Now, as for Remus' middle name...  the warped theory first.  *g*
> The J stands for James, as in James Potter, Remus' twin from
> whom he was separated at birth.  They both have black hair
> and they're the same age, right?  Voila, the long lost twin!  *g*

NO. Remus has brown hair (now graying), not black. When they first see
him on the Hogwarts express, it says: "The stranger was wearing an
extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several
places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown
hair was flecked with gray."

"What does the J stand for in Remus J Lupin? What is Harry's middle
name? What was James' middle name?" are more questions to ask JKR. I
suspect she hasn't decided yet herself.

She tells us the characters's hair color but hardly ever their eye
color. "What color are Remus's eyes? And Sirius's?" are two more
questions to ask JKR, except I don't want to be deprived of my vision of
Remus with startling blue eyes and Sirius with warm amber eyes.

Amanda Lewanski wrote:
> It is probably part of the tragedy of Snape's character (snip)
> that he, for whatever reason, must teach and doesn't like it,

When it comes to speculating WHY he must teach, one possible theory is
that he must stay at Hogwarts (do we ever see him even go to Hogsmeade?)
to be safe from vengeance by free-walking Death Eaters who know he was
the spy, and the only way he can stay at Hogwarts is as an employee.

A more misanthropic theory of why Snape must stay at Hogwarts (which, as
above, he can do only by holding a teaching position there) is if
Snuffles Storm is right about Severus and Albus being a couple. I said
'misanthropic' because it would not speak well of the much-admired
Dumbledore to stick the kids with a bad teacher just to give his nepot a
job.

Naama wrote:
> I have to disagree here. This line of reasoning would explain
> (although never justify) his behavior to Neville. But, if it were
> true, then Snape would have ADORED Hermione, who is a wonderful
> student - talented, knowledgeable, interested. Instead of which he
> actively represses, ignores and insults her.

I CANNOT understand why Snape hates Hermione: she started her first
Potions class respecting him and eager to make a good impression on him;
she listens to what he says in class (e.g. Polyjuice Potion). Even for
Snape, it seems a little extreme to hate her forever just because she
interfered that one first time with his attack on Harry.

ebyneezy at n...wrote:
> I usually don't put must weight into rumors, but the idea that
> Snape may have been in love with Lily makes some sense.

I think there'll also be a FAQ about the Snape/Lily theory, as it has
also been must discussed here. I agree that that theory can tie up very
many loose ends very neatly -- as you said, why adult Snape still hates
the Marauders and Harry (Harry as not only the sign of James' success
with Lily, but the cause of Lily's death), and why he turned against the
Dark Side, and who was the 'useful spy', and so on. I have even
suggested the possibility (which I am SURE JKR is NOT going to write)
that Snape and Lily were happily engaged to be married and James and
some other girl were happily engaged to be married, and they broke their
engagements and married each other, not for love, but because of the
prophecy that it was their son who would destroy Voldemort (which would
also be why Voldemort was determined to kill the Potter family), and
THAT is what caused Severus to join the Death Eaters out of
resentment.

But  it seems Sirius and Severus hated each other from the time they
were 11, and the Snape/Lily doesn't explain THAT.

Andrea  andeinmn at a... wrote:
> My own worst name contribution, from seven years in pediatrics ....
> "Orangejello"  (pronounced Or-AHN-zhello) and his twin "Yellowjello"
> (Yel-LOW-zhello)

A few years ago, there was an athlete in the news whose name was
pronounced "Lemon Jello".  I was always amazed to hear that name on the
radio. But I gather that it was really spelled something like
Limangiello.

A social worker friend of mine told of a client whose given name was
'Carnie'. Asked the origin of her unusual name, she explained that her
mother meant to name her 'Connie' but her Midwestern accent was so
strong that the Southern nurse filling out the birth certificate heard
it wrong.
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