Homorphus

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20165

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> dasienko at e... wrote:
> 
> > [I speculate that] the [Homorphus anti-werewolf-curse] spell
> > didn't work on Remus because he is NOT HOMO-Sapiens, he is
> > WIZARD SAPIENS.

Homo eerier?

> Wizards are not a different species. They aren't even, biologically
> speaking, a different race. Not even our "races" are different
> races. An example of different races would be (in one interpretation
> of the human family tree) Homo sapiens sapiens (us) and Homo sapiens
> neanderthalensis (them other guys with the funny lookin' heads). But
> it's not even agreed whether *they* were a race of our species or a
> species of their own.
> Point being, such truly different hominids may not be different 
> enough to be considered another species. So wizards certainly
> aren't.
>
> Wizarding ability is just that--an ability--that apparently usually
> breeds true to at least some degree, since Squibs are rare, and
> which is apparently very recessive in Muggles but which can appear
> as a trait.  Any charm, spell, hex, potion, etc., that works on a
> wizard should work on a Muggle. Or so I think.

I agree with most of that - I frankly suspect that "species" is more
a concept of human science than a law of nature, but I don't want
to apply that idea to wizards.  Species diverge, but the point at
which two branches of a species become two separate species is, I
propose, an arbitrarily drawn line.  I don't want to offend anyone,
but I hear that it's a fact that most individual conjunctions between
sets of human genes aren't successful.  In case you're wondering, this
isn't my race theory either - I don't have one of those.

But I still like the can't-cure-wizards idea, but not for the
semantic "homorphus / homo sapiens" argument.  Wizards are different
from Muggles in some physical ways - notably, you can drop a young
wizard out of a window, or off a Quidditch broom, and it seems to me
they'll be much less badly hurt than a Muggle in a similar situation.
I think they're physically tougher, more resistant.  And I don't think
I've seen any of them get sick (up to POA) - including Remus Lupin, of
course, if you _don't_ count the werewolf curse.

Now, is anyone familiar with a comicbook character named Lobo?
Not particularly attractive, at least in his original form, he
has an innate ability to resist, become immune to - actually,
almost anything.  Recently, he was subjected to a magical spell that
also turned Superman, Batman, and the rest of the Super Friends
into children and teenagers - and Lobo became immune to the magic
that was used, so he couldn't be turned back into an adult.
Actually, this is about the first time I saw the guy, so I may
have misunderstood his special thing.

Where I'm going with this is to suggest that when a wizard gets a
chronic curse like werewolfism, it's liable to affect his wizardly
immune system so that the curse becomes natural to him, and his
body will resist attempts to undo it.

Another possible explanation - not necessarily separate from this
one - is that perhaps the Homorphus Charm is another recent invention,
and also only works on recent werewolves.  So it might not have been
available as a cure for Remus Lupin when he was bitten, and now it's
too late.

Now all I need is a way to mention Lobo's favourite T.V. show, which
is apparently an adventure drama called _Wendy the Werewolf Stalker_.
Okay, done.

Robert Carnegie
Meretricious!