Sirius's Bike - Serverus - Homorphus - Draco/Dragon - Map - Loyal Servant - Paintings

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 19909

Susan Hall wrote:
> I've wondered about the motorbike myself (why did it
> escape the attention of Arthur Weasley or his predecessor
> in the office?)

It was Arthur who wrote the law about not using enchanted Muggle
artifacts. Maybe it hadn't been enacted yet in 1981.

Rick wrote:
>  Btw,  has anyone come up with some ideas on what
> position Snape held as a Death Eater?

It has been speculated that Snape was the Dark Team's potion maker --
that perhaps he discovered or perhaps even invented some of the potions
used in Voldemort's quest for immortality. Maybe he invented Potions to
control the will of people who refused to become Death Eaters
voluntarily -- like the Imperius Curse, but not leaving the victim as
fuzzy minded. I suppose that Snape was their potion maker, but I believe
that V had achieved his immortality before he started recruiting Death
Eaters -- that's what he was doing in the years between killing his
father and starting his reign of terror (which lasted 11 years
[Dumbledore said something like: "We haven't had much to celebrate these
last eleven years"], ie started 10 years before Harry was born ie
1969-70).

Barbara Purdom wrote:
> Although Voldemort does not identify all Death Eaters
> present, he does a good job of identifying those who
> are absent:

IIRC there were other gaps in the Death Eater Circle besides the gap of
six whom he identified. I agree with you about coward: Karkaroff, left
forever: Snape, loyal servant: Crouch. But JKR is really good at pulling
a fast one on me; maybe she meant coward: Bagman, left forever
Karkaroff, loyal servant: Snape! Poo, maybe she meant three Death Eaters
we won't meet until Book 5!

Even if dear Severus is now sincerely and permanently loyal to the Light
Side, Voldemort could believe him loyal to V -- Voldemort is not always
right about everything. Perhaps Snape, unbeknownst to us, has already
contacted Voldemort, persuaded him that his naming names was just a ploy
to protect himself, accepted a mission from Voldemort, and done
something to make it seem as if he were indeed carrying out that
mission.

Anyway, I've noticed that those of us who fancy dear Severus imagine
that he would find us intelligent, estimable, and worthy of being
treated the way he treats Draco (student) or McGonagall (colleague)
rather than him finding us dunderheads and treating us like Neville or
Lockhart.

Catherine wrote:
> He says that he is Voldemort's most faithful servant and that
> he, personally, never dreamed of renouncing him.  I think
> that there is some very selective memories going on here.
> IIRC, BCJ, when being sentenced by his father screams and
> pleads with him not to send him back to Azkaban, protests
> his innocence and says that he never had anything to do with
> torturing the Longbottoms. (snip)
> but I also think that he was resentful of the death eaters
> who walked free because they managed to escape the
> experience of Azkaban, unlike himself.

This is a forbidden "I agree" post: I AGREE!!! I TOTALLY AGREE!!! Young
Crouch is a hypocrite!!!!

Rick wrote:
> Lockhart says he uses the immensely complex Homorphus
> Charm to turn the werewolf back into a man.  Was that just
> for the month or was the man cured forever?  If he was cured
> forever why is Lupin still a werewolf?

When I wondered that, I thought maybe the Homorphus Charm includes
wiping out the person's mind (leaving them babbling, having forgotten
their toilet training, and unable to recognize their most beloved
friends) as a side-effect. Then someone suggested that it only turns the
person from wolf to human for one minute, just long enough for the
villagers to recognize him so they could go after him while he was in
human form the next day.

Craig wrote:
> "Drakon" in Greek is suggested etymologically to be
> related to "derkesthai" (also Greek) = "to see, to look at",
> which in turn is related to the Old English, "torht" = "bright".
>  (No relation to  "torch", however, and "dark" is also unrelated.)
>  The concept would have been "monster with the evil eye"
> per Pokorny.

My friend Lee says Drakon at one time meant 'guard' as well as 'big
dangerous reptile" and speculated that the motif of a dragon guarding a
hoard of treasure arose from the idea of the dead man's ghost guarding
the grave-goods buried with him in his tomb. "Dragon" as Watcher would
fit with "dragon" related to "to see, to look".

Emma wrote:
> Is it me, though, or is there hope for Draco yet?  I mean,
> at 14, he's a prat, and we know this.  But a lot can change
> with a few years.  There has to be hope for him yet.  I can't
> see him going totally horrific.

Many of us write Fanfic about how Draco could be brought to the Light
Side. I am sure he could possibly turn to Good -- Severus turned at an
older age than Draco is -- but I also sadly believe that that is not
what JKR is going to do.

Melissa Smith wrote:
> When we see that Ron has Scabbers, it doesn't say that
> he JUST got him- I assumed he had owned him for a
> while. So picture Percy owning the rat, he gives him
> to Ron sometime before Fred and George get to Hogwarts.

When we meet Ron, Ron tells us that Percy has a new owl (Hermes) whom
his parents bought for him because he was made a Prefect, but they
couldn't afford to buy new things for Ron, so Ron has Bill's old robes,
Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat. The implication is that Percy
gave the rat to Ron just recently, when Percy got Hermes. Btw, I think
that Ron having Bill's old robes is because Bill and Ron are the only
tall ones (taking after Arthur) of the Weasley boys, and the others
(Charlie, Percy, the twins) are short and strong (and probably will
become dumpy in later life, as they take after Molly).

Bugg wrote:
> The mermaid, knight, fat lady, and her friend violet
> may only exist within the paintings.

This is another forbidden "I agree post": The mermaid, Sir Cadogan, the
Fat Lady, and Violet are persons made out of paint, and containing less
of the personality of any model who posed for them than a typical person
contains of hiser parents' personalities.

When a painting IS a portrait of someone, does it retain the personality
(and knowledge?) that that person had when painted? If so, can there be
more than one portrait of the same person?

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