PA 4, Prefects, Dreams, Eagle Owls, Animagi, Malfoys, 36-hour days

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 18456

Catherine wrote:

>Do they assume that Harry knows that Sirius is 
>believed to be responsible for James' and Lily's deaths?  Mr Weasley 
>asks him not to go after Sirius, so it seems so.

           * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
"Listen, I want you to give me your word--"
  "--that I'll be a good boy and stay in the castle?" said Harry 
gloomily.
  "Not entirely," said Mr. Weasley, who looked more serious than Harry 
had ever seen him.  "Harry, swear to me you won't go =looking= for 
Black."
  Harry stared.  "What?"
  There was a loud whistle.  Guards were walking along the train, 
slamming all the doors shut.
  "Promise me, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, talking more quickly still, 
"that whatever happens--"
  "Why would I go looking for someone I know wants to kill me?" said 
Harry blankly.
  "Swear to me that whatever you might hear--"  (PA 5)
           * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
  
It seems to me from this exchange that AW probably assumes Harry 
=doesn't= know.  Hence the "whatever you might hear"--he's afraid of 
what Harry will do if he does hear about it.

Devika wrote:

>Do you know for sure that there has to be both a boy and a girl 
prefect from 
each house? 

Darreder wrote:

>James and Lily was Head Boy and Girl in their 7 year.
>
>I am basing my idea on that.

There's one of each (Head Boy and Girl) in PA too (ch 5).

If prefects were like RAs (residence assistants--they go by various 
titles) in US colleges, I'd say you need at least one boy and girl in 
each house.  That's because RAs actually live on the hall with the 
students, and most halls are all men or all women.  Prefects don't 
seem to have the same kind of tasks as RAs, but if the girls and boys 
are in separate wings (the Gryffs seem to be in separate towers off 
the common room, boys up one, girls up another), it would seem that 
among the ~six prefects there ought to be at least one of each sex so 
they can sleep close to the students they're supposed to be keeping 
from having 3 a.m. pajama parties.

I'm afraid the odds are very high on Draco being a prefect, just 
because he's the only 5th year Slytherin boy we know by name who isn't 
a total moron.  This will either give Ron a chance to be insanely 
jealous (if he himself isn't a prefect) or insulted that he and Draco 
are alike in any way (if he is).

Andrea wrote:

>The dream Harry had about Quirrel's turban, though, I
>had interpreted as Voldemort purposely contacting
>Harry, trying to turn him without a direct
>confrontation.  I hadn't thought about it as Harry
>being a possible Seer...are there any other
>"prescient" dreams of Harry's you can name?

Interesting thought on the turban dream coming from V himself.  I had 
thought it might be less prescience than intuition--some unconscious 
part of Harry's mind senses that Voldemort is nearby and expresses 
itself in dreams.

I think that the dream he has in PA 13 (the one where he's following a 
silvery-white hoofed thing) seems prescient.  But again, depending on 
your views of intuition and dreams, this may be less prediction than 
an expression of deeply buried knowledge about his father and himself.

Or maybe we're being lulled into thinking we now know what that dream 
was about, and in fact it is a further clue and it will develop in 5, 
6, or 7 that he needs to track down a unicorn or a silvery white 
Centaur (Firenze?  he's a palomino, so his body is light brown and his 
hair is white-blond) or a flying horse...

Would the wizarding world think it odd for your average witch or 
wizard to have prophetic dreams?  I.e. if Harry's dreams are 
prescient, does that make him unusual?

Buccy wrote:

>Is there any significance to Eagle Owls. Malfoy owns one and the 
>message delivered to Voldemort was delivered by one. Did Moody/Crouch 
>use Malfoy's? Is this just insignificant fluff? 

Harry also sees an eagle owl coming toward the castle in GF when 
Hagrid's burying the bone ("The Madness of Mr. Crouch"?  don't have my 
book).  Rereading, I haven't been able to tie it in with an exact time 
Crouch Jr. and Voldemort would have been corresponding, but given the 
connotations JKR has laid on eagle owls (associations with Bad Dark 
Wizards), it gives that scene an appropriate sense of foreboding.  
Even if there doesn't turn out to be a plot point as specific as "the 
owl that took the message about Crouch's murder was Draco's," we'll 
know to prick up our ears whenever we see an eagle owl in future.

Florence wrote:

> (Who else had that Oh no! not another unregistered animagus feeling 
>when that was revealed?)

I didn't, but Rita is my limit.  Sirius/Peter/James was the first 
time, which established that there's such a thing as unregistered 
Animagi (much as CS established that there's such a thing as 
Polyjuice).  Then it was used as a major plot device with Rita (as PP 
was with Crouch Jr.).  If JKR used it again I'd be disappointed.

I know I'm already cutting her a bit of slack because we knew about 
Animagi, though not about the registration rule, before the S/P/J 
revelation--in fact from the very first chapter of the books.  So it's 
true, JKR had already pulled that rabbit out of a hat once, in PA, and 
I can see why it seemed overdone to you when she used it again with 
Rita.

Steve wrote:

> Just to set the record straight, Lucious and Narcissa were both in 
> Slytherin, according to Draco in SS, and therefore yes, they went to 
> Hogwarts.

In Madam Malkin's he says "I know I'll be in Slytherin, =all our 
family= have been" (emphasis added), which leaves open the possibility 
that various family members didn't go to Hogwarts.  Narcissa sounds 
like a Greek name, don't you think?  <g>

>--Ebony (who wants to picket heaven for a 36-hour day... 24 just 
isn't 
>enough to get everything done!)

=Zap= Your wish is granted.  All days are henceforth 36 hours long.  
However, in order not to disrupt the current planetary arrangements, 
days will alternate between beginning at midnight and beginning at 
noon, and the average US lifespan will be approximately 50 years 
(18,250 days) rather than 75 (27,375 days).  Sorry about that.

;-)
Amy Z

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 "I'm =not= going to be murdered," Harry said out loud.
 "That's the spirit, dear," said his mirror sleepily.
                       -HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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