Chapter Summary - PoA 10 & 11

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19813

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
>
> Chapter 10 The Marauder's Map
> 
> Chapter 11 The Firebolt
> 
> Questions:
> 
> 4. Fudge says that Black's part in the Potters' deaths "isn't
> widely known."  Is there any significance to the reason why
> not, i.e., is it deliberately being kept secret, and if so,
> why?

Perhaps it _is_ widely "known", and Fudge is just exaggerating
his own importance, as one of the Few who know the Sordid
Secret of Sirius Black.

> 6. How does the Fidelius Charm work?  Does it hide you from
> everybody, from one person only, from a selected list . . . ?

>From everybody except the Secret-Keeper, I think - _until_ the
Secret-Keeper releases the secret.  At that point, I conjecture
that the spell's broken, and anyone can find you.  Perhaps the
final proof for Sirius that Peter had caved in to Voldemort was
that Sirius _was_ able to go straight to Godric's Hollow to look
for the Potters.

On the other hand, an after-effect of the Charm could account
for the circumstances of the Potters' deaths not being widely
known.

> 9. Is Snape's vulture-topped-hat cracker favor (a) a plant
> by Dumbledore, (b) evidence that wizard crackers magically
> respond to the psyche of whoever pulls them, (c ) a coincidence,
> or (d) something else?

Coincidence, in that real-life Christmas cracker hats are supposed
to  be absurd, and vulture hats are perhaps comically out-of-date
chic in certain wizarding circles.  I'll claim support, having
checked the first Hogwarts Christmas we see, in PS, from the
top hat that Professor McGonnagall gets.

OTOH, everyone knows about Neville and the Boggart, so it could
be a plant - or psychic sensitivity on the part of the crackers -
reading Dumbledore's mind, or the children's.  A charm of that
sort would probably be designed for children?

Robert Carnegie
Glasgow, Scotland

"I read them all when I was seven and I hated them" - unnamed American
office worker on the Harry Potter books (www.dilbert.com, List of
Stupid Things Overheard)