PoA 1-2 - Muggle Places -one more Scot

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 17964


Andrew wrote: 

>(Man, it's scary going "first.")

Thanks for taking the plunge, Andrew--nice summary!

> 1)    Shouldn't most wizards be more self-disciplined than to let 
somebody get    
>   under them and then blow them up?

I think self-discipline =is= a part of the Hogwarts training; so much 
of the magic is inseparable from discipined habits of mind 
(concentration, will power).  You can see in this scene, though, one 
reason why the wizarding world lives in secret.  Magic is very 
frightening to Muggles, and for good reason, since a 13-year-old with 
two years' training can do something this powerful.  In hostile or 
uncontrolled hands, it's a dangerous weapon, as we see at the World 
Cup riot.  If Muggles knew that some of their neighbors could levitate 
them, drop them from 50 feet, etc. with the wave of a wand, there 
would be all-out war.

>7)    What's up with the telephone sequence? Couldn't Ron have asked 
>somebody, or was he just not thinking?

It often happens to me that I think I know how to use something 
without instructions, get somewhere without a map, etc. and don't 
discover until I try it that I am missing some crucial piece of 
information.  The charitable way to describe it is experiential 
learning; some of us prefer to dive in and try something, while others 
read through the instructions and work it all out in their heads 
first.  The uncharitable way to refer to Ron's/my way of doing these 
things is pigheadedness.
 
Scott wrote:

>--At first I thought that perhaps in his fascination for Muggles 
>Arthur might have gotten a telephone for the Burrow, but on second 
>thought I'm not sure that this is possible.

I bet it would work (Hogwarts is a special case; also, think of all 
the mixed Muggle/wizard households), but it would involve all sorts of 
things Arthur doesn't remotely know about--calling up the phone 
company, using credit cards, having Muggle post, etc.  As of GF they 
don't have one, 'cause Molly uses the village phone to order the 
taxis.

Steve wrote:

>So where does that word "Eeylops" come from? Anyone have an idea? 

No idea, but the associations for me are Eeyore and Cyclops.  What 
purveyors of owls would have to do with gloomy one-eyed donkeys is 
anybody's guess.

Joywitch wrote:

>I am sure the Dursley's house has one of 
>those carefully-manicured lawns with every blade of grass the same 
>height, some very carefully trimmed bushes near the front door, and 
>neat little rows of (what else) petunias on either side of the front 
>walk.

I don't think this ever got said during the 
significance-of-the-names-Lily-and-Petunia discussion, though I 
thought it many times and meant to say it:  the chief difference for 
me is that lilies are rather exotic, rare, and lovely, while petunias 
are the plain Janes of the flower world:  suburban, easy to grow, 
ubiquitous.  I like 'em, personally, but they are definitely very 
ordinary.  (They are also unpleasantly sticky and don't smell very 
nice, but that doesn't really apply; whatever you might say about 
Petunia, she is well-groomed.)

Morag wrote (well, Jo wrote the first bit!):

>"Two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department were 
dispatched to 
>Privet Drive a few hours ago.  Miss Dursley has been punctured and 
her 
>memory has been modified." Fudge, PoA, p38 (Brit)
>
>I love that "punctured" - do you suppose she flew round the room, 
making a 
>rude noise, like an old balloon?

I certainly hope so.

While we're on Muggle places, I have a question for anyone familiar 
with King's Cross:  would platform 9 3/4 be outdoors or in?  I always 
pictured it as the underground, but finally noticed that there are a 
lot of owls hooting through the mist in GF 11.  So part of it at least 
is 
aboveground.

None of this is relevant to the plot so far, but I like to have these 
images straight in my head.

Amanda wrote:

>Scrooge McDuck. Considering him with Scotty, I'm amazed you guys get 
any
>credibility at all.....

Oh, man, I'd forgotten about him.  The accent aside, he is a very 
nasty stereotype--the cheap, rich Scot.  Someone please tell me Disney 
has retired him.

Amy Z

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 "No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian
 warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves.  
 He'd look dreadful on the front cover.  No dress sense 
 at all."
                         -HP and the Chamber of Secrets
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