POV in GoF, Lupin, Chairs v. benches, Elf magic, Mrs. N

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27371

Amy wrote:
> Well, for a start, it's not fair for the "chairs" team to use the 
head 
> table as an example.  The teachers could easily have chairs; it's 
more 
> dignified, it's easier on elderly bodies, and there are only a 
couple 
> dozen at most at the Head Table <coughsmallHogwartscough>.  I 
> personally like the Sunday magical floating cushions theory best.
> 

Just between you and me, Amy, I am not sure that the "chairs" team is 
playing fair with us.  They are claiming ownership to all references 
to "seat," they argue that "budge up" and make room could refer to 
chairs instead of benches, and they cling to the questionable 
assumption that benches cannot scrape the floor because they must be 
tethered to the tables like an elementary school cafeteria.

I think it is high time the "bench" team took a stand.  In GoF, Harry 
looks at the staff table and notices empty seats and speculates about 
who should be sitting there.  That shows that the staff table must 
always have chairs, because it isn't likely that Harry would notice 
an empty piece of bench.  

But throughout the books, Harry doesn't take note of empty seats at 
the house tables and wonder where other students are, which suggests 
that the students always sit on benches.  Indeed, if you tally the 
number of times Harry does NOT take note of empty seats at the house 
tables and score each one as a point for the "bench" team, 
the "bench" team wins in a rout.

Game, set, match.  <bg>

Cindy