:

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 23226

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amber ?" <inviziblegirl at h...> wrote:
> Questions:
> 
> 1) When Harry thinks that Malfoy might've sent Dobby, did you think 
that as 
> well? Did you think it was a simple joke? Or did you think there 
was 
> something more to Dobby's message?

I have to say that I never bought the theory that it was Malfoy who 
sent Dobby.  My reasoning for this was that it was (IIRC) one of the 
twins who thought of it - they were not there when Dobby was talking 
to Harry - I always thought that Dobby was very serious, and knowing 
the nature of the books, knew that something bad probably was going 
to happen at Hogwarts that year.


> 2) What did you think when first read about Percy acting strange? 
Did you 
> automatically think that it was because of a girl?

I don't remember having much of an opinion on this.  I don't think he 
had a girlfriend though, I thought he was working on something secret.

> 3) How do you think the twins knew how to drive/fly a car? They're 
only 
> about 14 years old at the time and as wizards, would not be 
familiar with 
> it. And they obviously had to use magic to start it up (Ron uses 
his wand to 
> start the ignition in Chapter Five). Why didn't the Ministry send 
them a 
> warning for using magic during holidays?

As to flying the car - they don't fly it as a normal car, do they - I 
mean, it seems clear that the modifications Arthur Weasley made meat 
that, for example, gear changing and use of the clutch was no longer 
necessary.  

Many theories have been posted recently about the twins, and Ron 
using magic at home.  I think I belong in the camp that says that it 
might not be noticed in a wizarding household, and that the people 
who are strictly monitered are those who live in a Muggle 
environment - perhaps the MoM assumes that children born into 
Wizarding families will be properly supervised by their parents, who 
can sort things out if something goes wrong.  This wouldn't be 
possible in a Muggle family.

> 4) Do you think the Weasley twins and Ron really thought they could 
get away 
> with Harry just showing up? The excuse `Mum, look who turned up in 
the 
> night!' is a pretty flimsy explanation. Do they really 
underestimate their 
> mother that much?

I think they were hoping that she'd be so pleased to see him that 
she'd forget to probe too deeply into how exactly he got there.  One 
of them probably knows about the Knight Bus -  maybe they could have 
pretended that that's how he got there.  (Q: would holding out one's 
wand arm in order to summon the Knight Bus count as underage use of 
magic?)

> 5) Do you think the Weasley's always de-gnome the garden by 
swinging the 
> gnomes around in circles? Or do you think it was just because it 
was a 
> punishment?

I thought that the gnomes were swung around so as to disorientate 
them, so they would find it harder to find their way back to the 
Burrow.

> 6) Obligatory Silly Question: do you want a Chudley Cannons poster? 
I sure 
> do...

I wouldn't want a Chudley Cannons poster, particularly, but I would 
like a wizarding poster of certain characters of my choice, so that I 
could watch them move around.  Better still, I would like a group 
portrait - painting - so they could talk to me!  That would be cool.

> ~Amber
> (My first summary! Wasn't that fun?)


Congratulations!  Great summary.