Discussion Summary: GoF/Chapter 30 - "The Pensieve"

[coriolan at worldnet.att.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 12094

> 

> (2) "Curiosity is not a sin
but we should exercise caution with our
> curiosity," says message-of-the-day-Dumbledore.  Would Harry find 
something
> he didn't want to know if he dug too deeply?

My thought is that perhaps Dumbledore left it out deliberately for 
Harry to examine - as a way of conveying certain things to Harry that 
he could not come out and say - such as his suspicions of Karkaroff, 
Bagman and Crouch (did Dumbledore already suspect that Barty Crouch 
Jr. might stil be around?), and the nature of the post-Voldemort 
legal process, in which the demands of justice were not adhered to. 
Harry's reaction when he sees Crouch Jr. convicted - his realization 
of the immense tragic cost of Voldemort's ambition - seems to suggest 
that Harry received the message.

> (4) Bagman is described as "muscly".  This is not a word.  Could 
this be
> evidence that JKR did indeed write the infamous wand order 
revision, using
> that non-word "untidy-haired"?

Writers create new words all the time, and I'm tempted to say that 
the better the writer, the more such coinages you will find, since 
good writers have greater creativity.  Just think of Shakespeare and 
Joyce.  And until Rowling came along, Dementor, Quidditch, time-
turners, floo powder, pensieve, etc. were not "real" words, either.

But they are now.


     - CMC