Summaries: PS chapters 4 and 5

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27599

> Questions:
> 1. Vernon had the foresight to purchase a rifle before
> going to the hut. Was he expecting a wizard to show
> and how did he think a rifle would defend them against
> magic?

Yes, Vernon thought something or someone would show up, if only 
because of the way the letters to Harry kept appearing.  Vernon would 
have purchased a grenade-launcher if he could have - the rifle was 
probably the most lethal thing he could get his hands on quickly.  
And don't you suppose that a rifle could injure or kill a wizard if 
they were ambushed or taken by surprise and didn't have time to 
protect themselves with a spell or charm?


> 2. Petunia considered Lily a freak. If there had been
> other wizards in the family somewhere, why would
> Petunia consider Lily's magic such an aberration?
> Wouldn't she have heard of/been familiar with other
> wizarding members of the family?


Maybe there were others in the extended Evans family and Petunia 
consisdered them freaks, too.  Or, perhaps there is a latent jealousy 
in her feelings towards Lily because Lily had these extra abilities 
that Petunia didn't have. 


> 3. Who do you suppose addresses the Hogwarts letters
> and how did they continue to be able to know exactly
> where Harry was?

I'm sure there is some sort of magical letter addressing quill that 
can work tirelessly day and night to produce these letters.  And, 
since Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived and under some sort of not-quite-
explained protection at the Dursleys, I'm sure that Dumbledore is 
able to keep tabs on Harry's whereabouts.

 
> 4. Vernon says that Harry needs all kinds of supplies,
> implying that he is not willing to provide them. Why
> didn't Hagrid say that Lily and James had money and
> that Harry could get his own things?

I think Hagrid sized up the Dursleys pretty quickly and decided that 
it was a waste of breath to try to explain anything about the 
wizarding world to them, including wizard money.  
 
> 5. Why was Hagrid not willing to tell Harry why he had
> been expelled?

Don't know - it was not the right time to get into all that?  Hagrid 
was embarrassed about it?  Or Hagrid knew he'd probably use some 
magic sometime in his brief trip with Harry, and wanted to minimize 
his rule-breaking?

 

> Questions:
> 1. Hagrid says he flew to the hut on the rock. How?

Perhaps he used his umbrella to conjure up a broom to get out there.

> 2. I know this has been discussed before, but perhaps
> there are some new ideas out there. How did the
> Dursleys manage to get home from the hut on the rock?

They were able to attract the attention of a passing fishing boat.  
And the unwritten law of mariners is that you help anyone you find in 
trouble.  The Dursleys could say that their leaky old boat sank in 
the storm and boy, weren't they lucky that they were able to make it 
to this little island?  That way they'd just look like incompetent 
sailors rather than crazy people.  



> 4. Harry seems to have been very quick to decide that
> the boy at Madam Malkin's reminds him of Dudley, why
> do you think that is?

I think JKR tells us in the following passage:

' "My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street 
looking at wands"..."Then I'm going to drag them off to look at 
racing brooms.  I don't see why first years can't have their own.  I 
think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in 
somehow."

Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.'

Dudley always got what he wanted from his parents and was not above 
kicking and screaming to do so.  Draco is not that infantile, but 
certainly sees himself as controlling his parents and being able to 
use them to satisfy his whims.  Very Dudley-like.  


> 5.  Draco had been there longer than Harry, why wasn't he
> finished getting his robes?

I suspect Draco is a bit of a clothes-horse and is accustomed to 
dressing in the height of fashion.  No hand-me-downs for that boy. He 
has the money to purchase more than what is considered necessary by 
the school and I'm sure, with his parents' approval, sees clothing as 
a way to put the Malfoy wealth and position on display.  
  

Marianne