Cedric, Ron on teams - werewolves - mistakes

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 25866

Kelly Hurt wrote:

 > Cedric didn't make the team 'til his 5th year & then was immediately
 > made captain.

Luke wrote:

>If you have made this inference from the sentence in POA (Chapter 9,
>Page 168 U.S. Hardcover) which reads "They've [referring
>to Hufflepuff's Quidditch team] got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric
>Diggory" then it's quite a reasonable one and you may be right, but
>there are two viable alternatives:
>1) The "new" refers only to his being made captain and he was already
>on the team as seeker.
>2) The "new" refers both to his being made captain and seeker, but he
>was previously on the team under a different position.  (He certainly
>isn't quite normal seeker build so perhaps he started out playing a
>heavier position like chaser or keeper and then filled in at the
>loss of the previous seeker.)

The same quote Kelly mentions struck me as odd for the first time on this, 
my <counts on fingers, runs out of fingers> kazillionth reading of PoA.  (2) 
seems like a likely explanation.  Another possibility, less likely, is that 
he was on the reserve team.  We never see the second string of any team, but 
there are implications that it exists (namely Harry's statement in PS/SS 13 
that they don't have a reserve Seeker, worded in such a way to suggest that 
reserves are usual, for some positions anyway).

To return to the original context, Kelly said this IDO Ron, whose failure to 
make the house team was mentioned by Cindy in a list of Ron mediocrities.  I 
would add that we don't know of any openings on the team in Ron's 2nd or 3rd 
year.  There might have been openings on the invisible reserve team, OTOH.

Also, you need money to play Quidditch--unfair, but true.  Fred and George's 
admission to the team must've made Molly and Arthur tear their hair out; 
Ron's broom isn't up to team play (CS 4) and if he did make the team it 
would mean another major expenditure for the Weasleys.  We have no hint that 
this is a deciding factor for Ron, but it would not be a surprise if it came 
up in a later book.

Catherine wrote:

>Are there werewolves in the FF?  Is it a myth, created to scare the
>Hogwarts students?  If so, why don't more of them have more common
>sense about this

Another thing about this is that even if there are werewolves, the students 
should only be afraid at the full moon.  There may or may not be a full moon 
when they go into the FF in PS/SS (it says the moon was bright), but the way 
students mention the werewolf thing seems not to take into account at all 
that werewolves are harmless 27 days out of 28.  It irks me.  The Werewolf 
Anti-Defamation League really needs to do some PR.

>Finally, do werewolf cubs exist?  Is the condition genetic?  Or is it
>only passed on by biting etc.???

As Rita has already said, you wouldn't have a litter of werewolf cubs.  But 
when 5-y-o Remus transforms, I bet he turns into a cub.  Oh my, I'd better 
have a lie down now before I faint of cute.

Cindy says:

>Then there was Harry's failure to
>use a Summoning charm to obtain the Marauder's Map when his leg was
>stuck in the stair.  I would have liked to see him mentally chastise
>himself for not thinking of this faster.

Thanks for the distinction between typo-type things and holes like the above 
or none of the champions' using Accio in the first task, which are real 
judgment calls.  The latter bothers me a bit, but the thing about Harry 
later kicking himself for not thinking of Summoning the Map doesn't.  It 
probably occurs to him at some point (it *would* bother me if it didn't), 
but we don't need to hear about it.  I almost always think JKR's writerly 
instincts about how much of this kind of thing to reveal are exactly right.

I haven't done an exhaustive search of typos and small errors, you'll be 
relieved to hear, so I don't know if GoF has more than its share (adjusted 
for number of pages), but they are not limited to that book.  E.g. there are 
a lot of misplaced modifiers throughout the books, one of my pet peeves and 
something that should make JKR fire her editor <clears throat, prepares 
resume>.  A misplaced modifier is like this:

Ancient and shrivelled, many people said he hadn't noticed he was dead.  
(CoS 9.  "Ancient and shrivelled" describes Binns, not "people.")

Though quite young, his light-brown hair was flecked with gray.  (PoA 5.  
"Though quite young" modifies Lupin, not "light-brown hair."  A correct 
phrasing would be "Though he was quite young, his light-brown hair was 
flecked with gray.")

Steve, who is not going over to the Dark Side, wrote:

>Hufflepuffs are all a bit tubby

I agree with everything else you said but I have to nitpick this one.  
Cedric, we are left in no doubt, is a hunk.

I can understand the thrill and then the letdown with PI for those who were 
along for the ride.  It has meant that whenever I spin an elaborate theory, 
I still have a little voice in my head that adds, "or it could just be a 
mistake."  Entire essays are written about a mistake in a Hemingway story 
that was probably nothing more than an error (I forget which story).  We can 
still enjoy the creativity of coming up with new explanations even if 
Occam's Razor may suggest that we drop it.

Amy Z

----------------------------------------------------
JKR:  Maps are a great source for names . . .
Interviewer:  Really?
JKR:  Yeah.  Dursley and Dudley and Snape are all,
   erm, places I can't visit anymore, obviously.
                           --Blue Peter interview
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