numbers again

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 13035

Steve wrote:
> 
> I have been reading lately with an eye out for all the exaggerations 
> in the books and it's really amazing how many times we're told 
things 
> which are simply not true. JKR paints the entire story in 
> intentionally larger-than-life terms, all of which contributes to 
the 
> sense of wonder and other-worldliness in the books. Here are a 
couple 
> off the top of my head:
> 
> the number of turkeys at Christmas dinner
> (a hundred! too many for the number of kids who stay behind at 
> Christmas, no matter how many students there are!)
> the number of second Snape's robes are on fire before he notices
> (thirty! That's a LONG time to be on fire, and Harry would have been 
> thrown off his broom by then if you read the sequence through 
> carefully - !)

I'm in the smaller-student-population pool too (dons bathing suit, 
dives in with glee) and I agree completely that we shouldn't take many 
of these numbers too literally, including the 30 seconds Snape's robe 
is on fire.  I don't follow you on the broom problem, though.  IIRC, 
Hermione knocks into Quirrell on the way to set Snape's robe on fire, 
so the curse is broken at the beginning of the 30 seconds, isn't it?

Amy Z

-------------------------------------------------------------
"And on Wednesday, I think I'll come off worst in a fight."
"Aaah, I was going to have a fight.  Okay, I'll lose a bet."
"Yeah, you'll be betting I'll win my fight. . . ."
                               --HP and the Goblet of Fire
-------------------------------------------------------------