[HPforGrownups] Summary - POA Chapters 3 and 4

[Amber]

No: HPFGUIDX 18359


--- Jim Flanagan <jamesf at alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:QUESTIONS
> 1.  Was it a coincidence that the wand gesture that Harry made while 
> looking for the big dog was exactly what was needed to call the 
> Knight Bus?  Could the whole thing have been orchestrated by the MoM,

> or was this just a convenient Deus ex Machina for the author?

I've always found that part a big dodgy. I mean, you just have to stick
out your wand hand in a particular manner? Very vague, you'd think that
the Knight Bus would get TONS of accident summons'. I happen to think
its just a Deus ex Machina for JKR, personally. Maybe it could've been
orchestrated by the MoM, but only if they knew the second when Harry
blew up Aunt Marge and were able to work really, really fast. Somehow,
in this day of bureacracy, I find it unlikely.

> 2.  Is there any significance to the name "Knight Bus?" [In the 
> French edition, it is the Magicobus.]

<grin> I've wondered about this as well. When I first read PoA, I
didn't "read" it. I heard it on tape originally. And I thought that
Knight Bus was spelled "Night" Bus. Imagine my surprise when I read the
book and found out it was spelled "Knight". Well, obviously there has
to be some reason for this, JKR wouldn't just throw a "k" on the front
of night just for the heck of it. However, I'm clueless; any
hypotheses?

> 3.  Did Fudge know that Harry was on his way to Diagon Alley on the 
> Knight Bus?  If so, how?  If not, why was he there waiting on the 
> curb?

Hm, interesting point...PoA is turning out to have more depth then I
thought it was! I find it hard to believe that Fudge would just hang
outside of the Leaky Cauldron for kicks. That seems to argue that Fudge
*knew* that Harry would head straight for Diagon Alley. And why send
the Minister, who probably has more important things to do, when an
lackey could've done just as well. Hmmm...questions, questions!

> 5.  Was Hermione's attitude about Crookshanks realistic and 
> consistent with her other attitudes and actions?  Why does she 
> minimize Ron's feelings about the danger the Crookshanks poses to 
> Scabbers?  Could she be under some kind of spell that caused her to 
> buy the cat?

I've always wondered by Hermione didn't show more compassion about
Scabbers or at least *try* to reign in her cat more. My only answer is
that she was just too darn busy. If Hermione would have had a lighter
courseload, she could've dealt with the situation properly but school
came first. Henceforth, her terrible handling of the situation.

> 7.  Are the adults being overprotective of Harry? [Ebony, if you are 
> reading this: what do real 13-year-olds think about this question?]

Absolutely not. One thing that *shocked* me in the books is that Harry
deliberately goes to Hogsmeade when he *knows* that his life could be
in danger. That was incredibly stupid in my estimation. Granted, Sirius
wasn't going to harm Harry, but that wasn't known at the time. If I had
been in his shoes at his age, I wouldn't have even dreamed about
leaving Hogwarts without any of the teaching staff knowing. For
goodness sakes, he's only 13, he's *maybe* a third trained in magic, he
is not able to judge situations correctly IMHO.

~Amber
 

=====
"toil, toil, toil, toil, toil,
TOIL!
the world is NOT made of money;
it's made of plants, roots, trees,
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