TR's training - historical notes on AD, CF, LM - Latin

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 18718

Gwendolyn Grace wrote:

>However, I am of the opinion that for the
>most part, Tom Riddle was fascinated by dark arts and read all he 
could
>about them from the first day of his first year.

I just read the bit where TR says "it took =me= five whole years to 
find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover 
the secret entrance" (CS 17).  He seems to have arrived at Hogwarts 
already determined to practice the Dark Arts.  Did his dear mum leave 
him a letter saying "never be ashamed of who you are--you're the Heir 
of Salazar Slytherin"?

Gwen also wrote <various things suggesting Fudge is older rather than 
younger>.  I wrote recently that the only clues I got were from 
knowing approximately when he became Minister (and I agree with Gwen 
that it's unlikely that he did so when he was only around 30).  But he 
also has gray hair when we meet him in CS (ch 14), further suggesting 
that he is not the early-40's he would be if he'd become Minister at 
30.  That is, plenty of people are gray at 40, but it would probably 
get a comment, as Lupin's hair does, if Fudge were otherwise more 
youthful than his hair would imply.  We also know that wizards gray 
much later than Muggles, as one would expect given their longer 
lifespans (Dumbledore and McGonagall still have their original hair 
color at the ages of 100 and 70, respectively--or do they dye it? 
<g>).

I'm inclined to think that if Fudge doesn't know Malfoy from school, 
it's because he is older than Malfoy, not younger.

Gwen again:

>Dumbledore became headmaster the year the Marauders and
>Snape began at Hogwarts. Lupin alludes to the fact that it was only 
because
>Dumbledore had been promoted that he was allowed to attend the 
school.

Do we know the exact year AD became Headmaster?  It must have been 
between Lupin's bite and the time he began school, because he and his 
family had time to think that he'd never be able to attend Hogwarts.  
But that gives us a window several years wide--say between Lupin's age 
3 ("I was a very small boy when I received the bite") and 11 (c. 
1963-1971).  All we know about it, IIRC, comes from PA 18, and it 
leaves this window open.

>I believe Lucius either completed his schooling well before 
Dumbledore became headmaster (though he
>was still Transfiguration teacher), or was present for a year or two 
of the
>transition (depending on how close in ages LM is with the Marauders). 
I
>think it makes a better story if he went to school under a completely
>different regime, with a different style and a different emphasis on
>teaching methods (as above, with Dippet/Riddle relations), and his
>objections to Dumbledore stem from his interaction with him as a 
colleague,
>not an authority figure.

So that would put Lucius at school sometime from the late 50's to 
early 70's (I'm adding my own assumption that he must've been at 
Hogwarts at least several years after Riddle in order for Draco's 
"before his time, of course" to make sense), making him about 37-47 in 
PS/SS.

Craig wrote:

>But it's probably too poetic to transform "expecto patronum" into
>"I yearn for a father", unless we wish to believe that all "patronus"
>spells cast are psychologically bound to such a yearning or lack.

My take on Lumen Dei's interpretation was that it =was= poetic.  The 
idea is not that everyone who cast the Patronus spell is literally 
longing for a father, but that JKR's choice of words beautifully 
bridges the everyday meaning of the spell (the meaning that would 
apply to everyone who uses it, that of needing and hoping for a 
protector) and the thematic reverberations for Harry.  The poetic 
overlay has an impact on the readers, and tells us what it might not 
tell someone in the wizarding world, to whom "Expecto Patronum" is 
just a spell:  Harry does yearn for a father and finds him, in a 
sense, through his use of these words.

Amy Z

------------------------------------------------
 [The Crup] closely resembles a Jack Russell 
 terrier except for the forked tail.
      -Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
------------------------------------------------