SS's cruelty-SB's sanity-Mundungus-Ghostly Potters

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 13722

Rebecca wrote:

>The stakes for which Snape is playing are so high, I think, that he's
>prepared to be ruthless in smaller matters, to make sure his 
reputation as
>an evil git is airtight. 

Wow, you've convinced me.  I'd still put my money on most of Snape's 
nastiness being the genuine article, but I can accept that it could be 
an act.   

I wrote re: the Dementors:

> they also force you to relive terrible memories.  JKR has a scarily
> sharp imagination; this latter is one of the worst tortures I can
> imagine.

Monika wrote:

>Yes, but she hasn't exactly invented this: PTSD does the same thing
>in flashbacks and nightmares.

Oh yeah.  And I don't suffer from PTSD, but I still know the feeling 
enough to know it's torture.  We all have those memories that we'd 
like to put into a Pensieve (and never look at again).

Monika wrote:

>He had lost
>this immunity when the Dementors encircled him near the lake at
>Hogwarts at the end of PoA, remember that he was affected in the
>same way as Harry was, he lost consciousness. This isn't surprising,
>because for the first time in 13 years he had new hope. He thought
>that his name would probably be cleared soon and that he could start
>a normal life with Harry.

This is a really fascinating idea.  Next time I read PoA, I'll be 
thinking about this!  

I wrote:

>he is so tortured by
> guilt about their deaths.  This is one thing the Dementors seemed to
> be able to inflict on him that he found impossible to shake.

Monika wrote:

>I have to disagree another time. I don't believe that the Dementors
>inflicted the guilt on him

You are right, of course--I didn't mean they inflicted the original 
guilt, but that it was the piece of his own past (amplified by the 
Dementors) that he found hardest to cope with.

Kimberly, I love your take on Mundungus.  That is exactly the way I 
thought of him, though I hadn't pictured Jack Klugman (that really 
works, though!  How about Leo McKern for a British equivalent?).

Joywitch recalled JKR saying:

>(1) Happy people do not become ghosts; and
>  (2) James and Lily ARE not ghosts.

I recall (and Doreen supplied the quote for) #1, but not #2.  Now, it 
seems J&L were happy, but then they also died tragically and with a 
lot of unfinished business (namely, a baby son).  That would qualify 
as unhappiness, I'd say.

Milz wrote:

>Even the photo album Hagrid gave him in SS/PS, Harry didn't
>pick it up again until PoA.

I don't think this is the case.  Like SML, I wonder about Harry's lack 
of curiosity about his parents, but I don't think it extends as far as 
not looking at their photos.  We just don't see him do it more than a 
couple of times.  IIRC, when we do see him look at them in PoA (b/c 
he's looking for a picture of Sirius), it says something like "he'd 
never noticed him before," which implies that he's looked at the 
pictures many times.

Amy Z
still too keyed up from writing Lord V's unauthorized biography to 
sleep, and hey, we'll be snowed in tomorrow anyway

------------------------------------------------------------------
"Blimey," said the other twin.  "Are you--?"
"He *is*," said the first twin.  "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.
"What?" said Harry.
"*Harry Potter*," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry.  "I mean, yes, I am."
                                 --HP and the Philosopher's Stone
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