WTC-Sorting(Hat)-scar-Krum-Dursleys-Dementors-boring posts

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 26493

A belated note to Rachelle:  loved your post on HP and the devastation 
of this week.   

Genevieve asked (great summaries!):

>1)      While it turns out to be a godsend, why would anyone put a 
>sword in the Sorting Hat in the first place?

I don't think it is stored there, or is even in there in a physical 
sense when Fawkes first brings the hat into the Chamber.  It appears 
by magic after Harry puts the hat on his head and asks for help.  Who 
knows what else the hat can conjure up in the right circumstances?

Peter wrote: <interesting analysis of who would have been in what 
House>

Just a L.O.O.N. comment--Arthur was in Gryffindor.  "Mum and Dad were 
in it too" --Ron, PS/SS 6.  I liked your analysis of why he would have 
been in Hufflepuff, just the same.  I would have thought the same, and 
knowing he's a Gryffindor adds a dimension to his character that we 
haven't yet seen much in his words and actions.

Betty quoted:

> 'Harry was rubbing his forehead.
> "I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily.  "My scar 
keeps
> hurting--it's happened before, but never as often as this."'

and asked:

> What do you think?  Does this just mean that Voldemort has been 
feeling
> particularly hateful from time to time while Harry was at the 
Dursleys? 
> Or that his scar did occasionally hurt in Quirrell's classes, but he
> just didn't mention it?  OR something else?

I've wondered about that line a lot.  We know it hurt him at the 
beginning-of-school feast (PS/SS 7).  My distinct impression from his 
reaction there is that it is the first time in his memory that it has 
hurt him, but it could be interpreted otherwise.

Is this the only time he's referring to (up until the last couple of 
weeks before the comment Betty quotes, starting with his encounter 
with V in the forest)?  It doesn't seem likely.  I think it probably 
has hurt now and then in Quirrell's presence, and that this line is a 
clue to the astute reader (i.e. not me) that V has been close by even 
before the moment when Harry came face-to-face with him in the 
clearing.

BTW (MOVIE), I think this line may be what we're seeing when Hermione, 
Ron and Harry are walking together in trailer #2 and Harry seems to be 
scratching his head--it also looks as if he may be pressing the heel 
of his hand near his scar.

Andrea wrote re: 10.  Will Harry and Voldemort have a confrontation?:

>Yes.  There will be a very tense moment in Quality
>Quidditch Supplies as they both reach for the same
>broom polish, but the moment will be averted by Ludo
>Bagman presenting them both with complimentary jars.

Thanks, Andrea, I LMAO.

Dave wrote, and the thread got moved to OT but this part is meaty 
enough to be on-, so I'll keep it here:

>Krum: Will trasfer to Hogwarts and become Gryffindor's
>       new Quidditch captain.  (And spar with Harry for
>       the Seeker position.)

Spar with?  If Krum is Captain, won't he necessarily be Seeker too?  
So what will happen, do you think?  Harry, youngest Seeker in a 
century, will actually be a mere reserve?

BTW, Krum is 18 at the *beginning* of GoF, so I can't believe he'd 
still be in school the next year.  Unless it's one of those deals 
where a student keeps conveniently flunking a class so that he can 
still play for his high school at age 21.  <g>

Erin wrote:

>Maybe that's why Vernon and Petunia tried to stamp magic out of 
Harry, because they were also afraid of Voldemort's 
>return and they knew who he would be after.

If Vernon and Petunia really took the dangers of the magical world 
seriously, would they have agreed to take Harry in?  The way Petunia 
describes Lily's death suggests to me that she doesn't grasp the 
situation at all; she might not even grasp that Lily was murdered, 
much less murdered by an extremely powerful and dangerous man.  
Vernon, who tries his best not even to believe magic exists, is even 
less likely to see Voldemort as a real threat.

OTOH, we don't know what Dumbledore may have written to 
persuade/coerce them.  It may be that their hatred of Harry stems from 
the fact that deep down, they do know that he is intricately connected 
with a danger far worse than anything they face in the Muggle world, 
but they weren't really given a choice about whether to allow this 
possible time bomb into their home, so they live in a mixture of fury 
at and denial of the wizarding world.

Susan (maidne) wrote:

>This discussion raises a few questions in my mind.  1)  Why would the 
>dementors pay any attention to what the prisoners mutter in their 
>sleep?  2)  Are (were) the dementors aware of Harry at that point, 
>and again, why would they care what a prisoner was thinking about 
>him?  3)  If they were not specifically aware of Harry, why would 
>they take notice of the "He's at Hogwarts" line?  4)  Who would want 
>to communicate telepathically with a dementor?

The Dementors probably don't pay much attention, nor care about Harry. 
 But (in answer to #4) Fudge went to interrogate them after Sirius's 
escape, and no doubt asked them, telepathically or otherwise, if there 
was anything of note in his behavior in the previous weeks.

Cassie wrote:

>I know that I've been on the list a pretty long 
>time, and therefore whenever I see yet another "How many students are 
>there at Hogwarts?" post, I want to throw my computer through the 
>window and cut my wrists on the shards. But it is on topic, and it is 
>*my* problem that I'm not interested, not the list's. So I switch to 
>webview and keep my mouth shut so as to not ruin other people's fun.

LOL and Amen.  I'm putting my Magical Moderator hat on for a moment 
(beatup but stylish black felt, in case you were wondering) to say 
that this is a very high-volume list and there are bound to be posts 
that are fascinating to some, ho-hum to others.  That's why God gave 
us delete buttons (God=Steve Jobs).  If a thread bores you, please 
don't cut your wrists, and please don't attempt to cut the wrists the 
person who started it.  Just skip it and save your valuable time for 
rereading your favorite HP book back to front.

Amy Z
almost caught up <pant pant>

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 All peoples are members of the same body, created
 from one essence.  If fate brings suffering to
 one member, the others cannot stay at rest.
                 -Saadi, 13th-century Persian poet
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