Observations and Questions

[Patrick Dawson]

No: HPFGUIDX 25479

Hi everyone, I've been subscribed for a few weeks now and I've read pretty
much all the interesting material on HP fansites, so I think I have a good
idea of what has been discussed before and what hasn't. Anyway, here are
some of the notes I made on my last re-read of the series, and my analysis.

SS/PS Ch.5
Hagrid says "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in
Slytherin".
Rephrased, that's "Every witch/wizard who became evil was in Slytherin."
But we know that's simply not true. Whether you take it from Hagrid's
perspective or from the truth, there's at least one evil wizard from
Gryffindor (Sirius Black or Peter Pettigrew). So why did Hagrid say that?
I'm guessing that JKR didn't have the plot of Book 3 planned out at this
point.

SS/PS Ch.12
It's been mentioned very recently, but here's a scene where Dumbledore may
be able to see through Harry's invisibility cloak (it's not clear if he took
it off). Upon further reflection, I don't think Dumbledore does see through
the cloak. He has seen Harry in this room before, Harry was making a great
deal of noise, and Dumbledore obviously knows that Harry has an invisibility
cloak.

SS/PS Ch.15
Firenze says, about drinking unicorn blood: "You have slain something pure
and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a
cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips." But then he
implies that the Elixir of Life will negate this effect. So is Voldemort in
his new body still cursed from drinking the unicorn blood?

CoS (General)
The only note I made about this book is "Why is Snape so friendly with Draco
Malfoy, and vice versa?"
Lucius must hate Snape for betraying Voldemort, and he's on that board that
controls the school, so there's a very good chance that he knows Snape
teaches there. Perhaps Lucius hasn't told his son about Snape.
But that still doesn't explain why Snape likes Draco and is so lenient with
him.

PoA Ch.3
Dementors seem to literally suck the happiness out of an area. Silly
question, but what's their range, anyway?

PoA Ch.10
"Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with
them too long" -Lupin
This implies that Voldemort's supporters, who have been in Azkaban for quite
a while, may not be very useful when Voldemort frees them.

PoA Ch.10
I know, it's been mentioned before, but how *did* Filch get the Marauder's
Map?

PoA Ch.10
Dumbledore "had a number of useful spies" on Voldemort. But we can be fairly
certain that none of these spies except Snape were Death Eaters, because
they're all accounted for in GoF. So what relationship did they have with
Voldie?

PoA Ch.11
The Sneakoscope goes off when Crookshanks is chasing Scabbers. It's probably
safe to assume that Scabbers/Wormtail is the untrustworthy one.

GoF Ch.25
This isn't the first time that someone has waited outside the Gryffindor
common room to let Harry out at night. So if the portrait can't be opened
from the inside, how the heck do they get out in the morning?

GoF Ch.36
"Snape made a sudden movement" after Harry starts enumerating the Death
Eaters he saw, starting with Lucius Malfoy. What could this possibly mean?

Okay, I'm done :-)
Please feel free to comment on anything I've mentioned!