Ginny/Girl Harry - Ghosts - Draco's grades - genealogy - more

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 15125

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., aprilgc at i... wrote:
> If Harry were a girl, would Ginny have gotten much story space at
> all? In PS/SS, we first learn that Ginny is a "fan" of Harry.  In
> CoS, Riddle learns all about Harry's exploits because Ginny writes
> about him.  If Ginny were not in the throes of a crush - if Harry
> were "just" a famous girl instead of a "heroic" boy (using the
> viewpoint of an 11 year old girl, here, not making any political
> statements), would Ginny have filled the pages of her diary with
> information about she-Harry?

An 11 year old girl can hero-worship a female hero (there is such a
thing as an asexual "crush", altho' I am leaping to the conclusion that
JKR wouldn't have made her a lesbian). Just like a heterosexual boy can
hero-worship a male hero: I do not consider Ron's desire to get Krumm to
sit at their table to have anything to do with sexual orientation.
Probably straight Ginny wouldn't have sent a singing Valentine to
girl-Harry is all.

> Preceding that line of thought... If Harry were a girl, would
> Lucius have given the diary to Ginny?  I mean, why not deliver
> "Riddle's" enemy right to Riddle?

You appear to be assuming that Lucius was determined to give the diary
to a girl. I believe that Lucius's first plan was to put the diary into
a text book on the shelf so that any random student, of any sex, would
be its victim, as the goal was to get the basilisk released and the
diary's victim was just a means to an end. I believe that Lucius got the
idea of giving the diary to Ginny when he saw the opportunity right
after his fight with Arthur, and his thought was to kill two birds with
one stone by 1) getting the book into the school as planned and 2)
hurting Arthur by harming Arthur's child. I believe he would have given
it to one of Arthur's sons just the same if that was the opportunity
that had presented itself. Admittedly, Ginny's youth may have made her
seem a more gullible target, but Ron is only one year older and surely
would have suited Lucius just as well.

> Question about Riddle:
> He says that he and Harry are both "halfbloods" (CoS chapter 17).
> How? Both Harry's parents are magic.  If this has already been
> answered, please point me to the answer/thread.

This has already been discussed but I don't remember when or where.
Apparently the bigots call a Muggle-born witch or wizard a Muggle. In
GoF during the riot at the World Cup, didn't Draco tell Hermione to get
out of the way because she's a Muggle and Ron said indignantly "Hermione
is a witch!"?

MMMfanfic wrote:
> What if Voldemort become a *gasp* ghost? (snip)
> Ghosts are immortal (be careful what you wish for);

Are ghosts immortal? Here in the Muggle world, people who believe that
ghosts are persons (as distinguished from some kind of video projected
on the astral ether) usually believe that there are ways to 'lay'
ghosts; that is, to politely inform them that they are dead or to
satisfy the need for which they are hanging around (e.g. vengeance on
their murderer) or otherwise to let them leave this life and proceed to
whatever one believes in in the way of an afterlife. Which sounds a lot
like 'die'. I often wonder whether there is a way to lay ghosts in the
Potterverse because Moaning Myrtle is *so* unhappy that I wish to put
her out of her misery. JKR did say that one clue as to why SOME witches
and wizards become ghosts was 'ghosts aren't the happiest people
obviously'. What might be the stories of the House ghosts, such as
Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron?

Celeste Chang wrote:

> I think Draco can still be second in their class, or equally high up
> there, however. Lucius may have been referring to the fact that Draco
> isn't number one-

Yes! "I would have thought you'd be ashamed that a girl of no wizard
family beat you in every exam," snapped Mr. Malfoy." If Draco came in
second only to Hermione, that is pretty good marks. (Altho' it could be
argued that Draco's marks were very average and Lucius was not upset
about his son being surpassed by purebloods.) Also, in a previous
discussion, some people said that if Draco came in second to Hermione in
Potions, then Snape must be fairer at grading than he is at most
everything else.

Little Alex wrote:
> Just wondering, though, how many generations would it take
> for someone to become a 'pure' blood?  I mean, *Lily* is the
> one with Muggle parents; both of Harry parents are wizard/witch.
> But if Harry is still 'impure' by the DE's standards...

Some previous time, someone asserted that it takes nine generations of
ancestry to be considered pureblood, based on the fact that in CoS,
Ernie Macmillan (?) says he isn't a target because he can trace his
ancestry for nine generations of witches and warlocks (raising the OTHER
question, is 'warlock' merely a synonym for 'wizard'?) and someone else
asserted that having even one great-grandparent who was Muggle makes you
'impure'. The latter correlates with the Nazi law on Jews. *counts on
fingers* that would make Harry's grand-son still Halfblood but his
great-grandson Pureblood (assigning all the spouses were Pureblood).

Doreen wrote:
> The paragraphs under Dumbledore's signature are different too.

Do you mean the paragraphs OVER Dumbledore's signature, ie that he
wrote? If yes, probably someone needs to post the US and UK versions in
our Files section so people can get clues by comparing them.

> Lockhart's photographic selves hike down to the Fat Lady's portrait
and borrow them [the hair rollers].

LOL funny, but I think factually wrong: I think the moving photographs
are almost like videos, except with more freedom of movement (like the
Catz! running around in one window on my desktop), but the people in the
paintings at Hogwarts appear to be real persons with minds of their own.

Susan wrote:
> Why are all the people who are in positions of leadership men?
> (snip) After all, this is fiction.
> Why can't we envision a world in which some of the leaders
> and actors are WOMEN? (snip)
> NO ONE has answered the question -- where are the men who
> stay home with the children?
> where are the men who are basically the supporters of the
> women who act?

This is fiction, but it is not a utopia. There are bad things about the
depicted wizarding society. The whole wizarding society takes it for
granted that House Elves like being bond-servants (with the exception of
heroic figures like Sirius who allow as how owners should not abuse
their dogs, I mean Elves) but Hermione questions it. Even good guys in
the wizarding society seem to look down on Muggles -- Arthur loves
Muggles (how de-personalizing! not distinguishing between a Muggle who
is lovable and a Nazi Muggle) but speaks of them in a patronizing way.
We have speculated that that will change because of the role of Muggles
as well as Muggle-borns in the future defeat of V. Maybe the 1950ish
roles of witches are another defect which Hermione will take up arms
against.

Nitpick: SOME of the leaders and actors ARE women. Hermione, McGonagall,
Molly, Madame Maxime --Headmistress IS an OFFICIAL  leadership position.
For that matter, so is Head of House. Your complaint is that so few of
the leaders and actors are women that it amounts to tokenism. I'm old
enough to be grateful that there is AT LEAST tokenism, and I think I've
noticed that the fanfic writers, almost all younger than me, take it for
granted that witches will have exciting careers.
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