Housing and HP female talent, wands, acronym definitions

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 28632

Eric:
> If I were the right age...I'd definitely go for Hermione in a big way.
Watch out, Ron!  Hermie and I have a lot in common, being both bookish as
all-get-out, although I was never as idealistic as she was (childhoods from
hell, albeit not as bad as Harry's, tend to do that) and I'm frankly rather
lazy about studying.  Never really _needed_ to study to get acceptable
grades, so why worry?<

> David, who agrees with Jen about the shortage of decent female talent 
> in HP.  Well, OK, I'd love to have Hermione as a friend but she's not 
> my type.

(Tabouli is a bit disappointed, as she has long cherished David's comment that he found Moaning Myrtle (!) sexy, and has been intrigued by what this says about his tastes in women (and wife!).  This, she feels, takes an impressive amount of imagination.  She's also long hoped that he will one day explain why he fancies this glum ghost, as the answer is sure to be entertaining...)

Parts of my personality are a lot like Hermione, and were even more so at her age.  All the same, I suspect that much as I identify with her as a fictional character, we'd get on each others' nerves in real life.  Similar and different in the wrong places.  Like Eric, I'm the slack lazy messy student from hell who manages to pull good marks out of the hat by virtue of having perfected the last minute all-night rush.  I'd use my brains to track down someone to ask about what I wanted to know rather than trudge through a billion books.  I have my idealistic moments, but in most areas I'm a ruthless pragmatist.  And I would never have the courage to make a fool of myself hawking SPEW badges.

Not sure what house the Hat would try to put me in.  The only one that's definitely out is Hufflepuff.  I am allergic to work, it makes me ill.  I can only tolerate it in short, intense bursts, and I take days afterward to recover.  My intellectualising, analysing ways might push me towards Ravenclaw, and my extreme pragmatism and belief in resourcefulness (end justifies the means and get there as craftily as possible) are Slytherin-ish.  Nonetheless, if (as I've long believed) the Hat chooses on the basis of your values, not your actual personality, it might put me in Gryffindor, because the quality I admire most in others and desperately want more of myself is the courage to stand up for myself, and be assertive and strong and independent.  I can do it in writing, but in my personal life?  Ha!  I might be a Neville/Hermione case, where people can't understand what I'm doing in Gryffindor...

More Eric:
> Cho Chang would be high on my target-list, were I of her age.
She's Asian by ancestry (a big plus for me, I adore East Asian women; my
current GF's Chinese-American) smart (another plus) and nice<

Ahh, fine tastes you do have, Eric (says the half-Chinese Tabouli).  I think this perennial fashion for tall, thin, leggy, busty blondes has definitely got to go.  Actually, it does seem on the wane at the moment, led by Penelope Cruz and Catherine Zeta-Jones and co, and not a moment too soon.

(aside to Eric: I hear rumours that you've been submitting Harry Potter limericks to a certain Bujold list...)

More David:
> somebody else also described Bill as a rebel.  Surely not:

Not a rebel, exactly.  An independent spirit.  It's not so much *what* he does, but the calm, confident, unself-conscious way he does exactly what he wants (just like I'd like to - I told you I value this sort of thing), while simultaneously being kind and family-oriented.

Cindy:
> Agreed, otherwise Sirius couldn't transform in Azkaban, because he 
tells us that he didn't have his wand in prison.

What happens to the wands of wizards sent to Azkaban?  If Hagrid's got snapped for being expelled from Hogwarts, surely they destroy the wand of those with life sentences.  Does Sirius have a wand now, and if so, is it his old one (which surely it can't be given his stint in Azkaban) or a new one, perhaps bought from Diagon Alley via Crookshanks?  (but then how would he know it was the right one?)

Now that raises a thought - if each wizard has one "right" wand that recognises him or her instantly with sparks and so on, how does this work if the wand is destroyed?  Does another wand magically become The One, or is there a second best then beecomes The One kind of arrangement?  It's all a bit like the soulmate theory of partner selection: it requires faith in destiny.  (If there's one perfect person for me in the entire world, how do I find him?)  I suppose if Ron's perfectly suited wand was sold in Bulgaria by Gregorovitch, fate would somehow have found a way of getting him there.

> Cindy (who might need to talk to Tabouli about an honorary membership 
to S.I.N.I.S.T.E.R, and who wonders what on earth Tom Bombadil, 
Silver, and L.O.L.L.I.P.O.P.S. might be)<

Tabouli

(who doesn't have strong feelings about Sirius one way or the other and therefore feels joining S.I.N.I.S.T.E.R. would be against the true spirit of Sirius fandom, and recalls, to her horror, that she forgot to list L.I.G.H.T.R.E.L.I.E.F. and F.L.I.R.T.I.A.C.!!  For the edification of Cindy and any other acronym-baffled members, here are the definitions:

Tom Bombadil: Jolly fellow with predilection for brightly coloured garments, silly songs and rescuing hobbits from willow trees in the first volume of the Lord of the Rings.  Outrageously omitted from the forthcoming film by Peter Jackson, and unjustly maligned by OT-Chatter listmembers who shall remain nameless.

S.I.L.V.E.R.: Silver Ionised Verisimulated Electronic Robot.  The male lead in Tanith Lee's "The Silver Metal Lover", a charming sci-fi romance for teenage girls which I had cause to defend on OT-Chatter.

L.O.L.L.I.P.O.P.S.: Love Of Lily Left Ire Polluting Our Poor Severus.  I think the simplest and more logical explanation for Snape's antagonism towards Harry is that as a greasy teenager he had a monster crush on Lily, fuelling his hatred for James, causing him to leave the Death Eaters when she was killed, and making Harry, image of James with Lily's eyes, a constant reminder of his bitter, broken heart.  The Trio are in their mid-teens - I think a romantic twist must be due.

F.O.L.D.E.R.O.L.: Fleur's Our Lady: Discerning, Exceptional, Reserved, Ornamental and Loving.  I'm not a member, but I coined the acronym out of respect for jenny from ravenclaw's defence of Fleur.

L.I.G.H.T.R.E.L.I.E.F.: Lockhart Is Genuinely Amusing Territory: Really Entertaining Loser, If Evil Fellow.  The Gilderoy defenders support group!

F.L.I.R.T.I.A.C.: Filch's Lover Is Regretting Transformation Into A Cat.  I've long though Filch's devotion to Mrs Norris was suspicious...)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]