Put-Outer; Owls;

[lee_hillman at urmc.rochester.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 30303

Hi, all.

It's Gwen, chiming in on threads old and older.

Put-Outer:

I have often wondered about Dumbledore's seeming fondness for gadgets.
The Put-outer, the watch with planets, the mirror, the Philosopher's
Stone, the Pensieve--is there a pattern here?

I think Dumbledore is something of a wizarding tinkerer. It's amusing
to me to believe that the Put-outer and such are trinkets of his own
devising, things he puttered around with until they got to working the
way he wanted.


Owl Tracking:

This is an older thread, but it's the first chance I've had to pick up
on it. The original question, IIRC, was whether owls could be tracked,
thus leading authorities to Sirius. Then it moved on to owl magic and
how they deliver mail. I have a theory of my own, of course. I see you
all groaning now. (;^))

I think there are two types of owls. All owls, I believe, are magical
enough to deliver letters, but most can only do so if there is a
discreet address (Harry Potter, the Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4
Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey). But some owls are trained even
further, and these are the ones who can deliver even if there's just a
name on the parchment. My theory is that these owls are trained to
"imprint" on people as they deliver letters. Once they've found a
person the first time, they can afterward find that individual
wherever they are.

It's also possible that all owls have this "imprinting" power. I like
the two-tiered system, though, because I think in some ways it makes
more sense--Post Owls, for example, would be very expensive if they
were all the imprinting variety. However owls designed to be useful
pets are nearly all trained with the imprint system. And for that
wizard who finds he needs to send a letter, but doesn't have an owl,
and doesn't know the exact address, he can employ the expensive but
worthwhile "Owl Express" service (When it absolutely, positively has
to get there, but you don't know where "there" is.).


What other topics can I bore everyone with? How about Sirius and Remus
in the Shrieking Shack?

Okay. As Susanne pointed out, they need some evidence that Peter
exists (or existed) to prove Sirius's innocence. As for killing him
outright, I believe their vigilantism is born from their compounded
frustration. I think Lupin knew, even if Sirius couldn't think
logically, that Peter was a liability if left alive. I think this is
one of those rare occasions when Lupin allows his dark side a little
play. He doesn't seem happy or relieved or even vindictive about
killing Peter; it's more a resignation and dismay. "You should have
realised, Peter. If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would." He's deadly
serious and behaving as if this is an unfortunate, but necessary,
consequence.

Once Harry intervenes, however, and Sirius and Lupin defer to his
wishes, the situation changes. Harry is still distrustful, though, and
when Lupin asks him to stand aside, he's not sure what Lupin is going
to do. Lupin chooses a lesser course of action--binding Peter instead
of a spell--because he's pretty sure with Harry's state of mind, the
boy will object to any request to perform magic. What if Lupin's
lying? "Okay, Harry, now I'm just going to knock him out....Avada
Kedavra!" Nope.

Not that Lupin would do that, mind, but he is used to not being
trusted. In order to gain Harry's trust, he recommends a method of
restraint that still leaves Peter under his own power.

It's also possible that he's giving Peter the benefit of the doubt out
of habit--they were all friends, and it seems they've reached an
agreement about how to proceed, and so it's natural for Lupin, wanting
to think the best of Peter, to believe Peter will uphold his part of
their bargain.

As for Harry trying to kill Black, I think we're ignoring that
all-important theory of the power behind magic: intention. There's a
good FAQ essay on intention in magic on the Lexicon. But basically
what it means is that it is the wizard's will that powers spells. A
prime example is the "unfocused" magic Harry does with the Dursleys,
and my personal favourite: Ron using "wingardium leviosa" to levitate
not a feather, as the spell seems to indicate, but the Troll's club.
In other words, I believe that Ron's *intention* to hit the Troll with
his own club overrode the fact that the incatation he used actually
contained the wrong object. Presumably, he didn't know the Latin for
"club," but his will carried the same force of what he wanted to
accomplish at that moment.

In a similar way, I think Harry was concentrating on his will to kill
Sirius without a spell. The problem was his own doubts overriding his
rage, his own decency and inability to kill when the enemy wasn't
presenting a clear and immediate threat (sitting there with a cat on
his chest), and of course his lack of true focus because of his
confusion and pain and teeming emotions.

Even without AK, I think, if Harry had really *wanted* something to
happen, it could have happened.

Okay, I think that's enough of my droning on for now. Cheers,

Gwen (who is a self-confessed Potterholic. I admit that I have no
control over my addiction....)