Spectral speculations, the IQ myth, & romantic ruminations...

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 26726

Maria (maryblue?):
> If the Fat Friar was a religious person, then i doubt that he was a Magical Person. He must
have been a Muggle. Then you have the Bloody Baron and Nearly Headless Nick, who seem to have been Muggles too (or at least, don't seem to have had the life a Wizard would - one being a noble person, and the other one... well, it
doesn't strike me as a wizard)

Maybe.  Then again, the nobility and priesthood, being havens of eccentricity both, might have been a good way to conceal wizardous activity safely in the confines of church or manor a few centuries ago, only to be discovered, persecuted (hence unhappiness) and then executed for witchcraft.

Neil:
> I recall reading somewhere that JKR said something significant would 
be revealed in future books about the ghosts at Hogwarts.  (...) (Trelawney's) apparent ability to 
act as a medium is completely at odds with the fact that everyone 
else chews the fat with the Hogwarts ghosts as if they were flesh and blood.<

There is no doubt in my mind that the ghosts' stories will end up being Highly Significant.  Why else spend so much text describing them, when so far they have played a relatively peripheral part in the action (with the possible exception of the Deathday Party)?  JKR has also left a *lot* of tantalising loose ends dangling for the sewing up, such as why Peeves is scared of the Bloody Baron, why the BB is bloodstained, why Nearly Headless Nick was beheaded (and so inexpertly), who the Grey Lady is, why some people become ghosts and others don't, etc.etc.

Joywitch:
> I completely disagree with this.  There is NO evidence that Stan or 
Ernie or anyone else (except Hagrid and that's different) flunked out 
of Hogwarts, nor have we been presented with any evidence that some 
wizards and witches are not intelligent enough to go to Hogwarts.<

There is one piece of evidence that suggests that entry into Hogwarts is predicated on ability, and that is Neville's relatives being worried that he was "all muggle for ages" and wouldn't be magic enough to get into Hogwarts.

More Joywitch:
> Lots of smart people drive buses and conduct buses and work as 
waitresses.  I've waitressed myself, and I now I am working on my 
PhD.  Does that mean I used to be stupid and now I'm smart?<

Indeed.  I know someone who joined MENSA, and complained that it was full of taxi drivers (not the beautiful, brilliant young professional women he was hoping to meet :D)!  The relationship between job status and "intelligence" is becoming more and more tenuous in Anglophone societies, as the ol' individualist "enjoying life on my own terms" factor overtakes the money and prestige factor as the main driving force in life.

I think academic success, and IQ scores (the latter in particular) are greatly overrated.  Without flexibility, resourcefulness and application they often confer very few benefits, and less and less after leaving formal education.  Which might be why many people who get lots of academic success stay in formal education as long as they can and do PhDs...  As for PhDs, the mystique they seem to command is ludicrous when you know what is actually involved in doing one.  I think I might start quoting a joke I heard once which goes as follows: "Journalists learn more and more about less and less, until eventually they know everything about nothing.  Academics learn more and more about less and less, until eventually they know everything about nothing."

> Joywitch, who is going to go make little badges that say "WOWWW" -- 
>World Organization of Working Wizards and Witches.  (1 sickle to join)

Hey, this is a cut-price organisation --  I thought the standard membership fee was 2 sickles!  Perhaps we've reached saturation point, and desperate club presidents are out offering discounts and accosting passers-by...

Rowena:
> Moral indignation and self righteousness may be very satisfying emotions but
unless allied with *thought* and *knowledge* achieve nothing.    

As I have correctly learned to say on the OT list (thanks David!)... hear, hear!

dittany/custodienne:
> A very intriguing notion.  Postulate:  a young, very handsome (& 
he knows it,) Snape, truly in love with Lily

Jeremy:
> Absolutely!  This is a theory that my wife and I postulate.  We add 
the following: Severus found out that Voldemort wanted Lily dead and 
his devotion to her was stronger than that to the Dark Lord.  
Therefore, he turns back and becomes a spy for Dumbledore.  He hates 
Harry additionally because if it were not for Harry, Lily would still be alive.

Ha!  Yes, yes, see, see?  For those of you who weren't around for the great Snape/Lily debate, there's been an underground movement supporting this theory for months.  So there, vampire brigade -- two more members for L.O.L.L.I.P.O.P.S. (Love Of Lily Left Ire Polluting Our Poor Severus), for which I might hereby nominate myself founding member and president.  Now for the marketing spiel... er... every new member who pays their one sickle joining fee before the end of September gets free membership of... of...

Mary Ann:
> One question, though:  is *Mrs. Norris* magical in any way?

...F.L.I.R.T.I.A.C!  (Filch's Lover Is Regretting Transformation Into A Cat).  Well, you never know, I always thought Filch's devotion to Mrs Norris was a bit suspect, and we're about due for some romantic plot twists.  Let's just say that Mr Norris was a Menacing Muggle Man who ill-treated his flirtatious, yet sensitive wife.  Enter Argus, then young and dashing, who falls desperately in love with her and vows to rescue her from her husband's oily clutches.  Unfortunately, just as they are plotting their getaway, Mr Norris returns unexpectedly and charges them, bellowing violence and vengeance.  Under the extreme pressure of the situation, Argus manages to gather what pitiful powers he possesses, and hurls a Permanent Transformation spell at him, which misses, hits his beloved and turns her irreversibly into a cat.  In the confusion that follows, he manages to snatch her up and escape to Hogwarts, where kind, compassionate Dumbledore can only offer the devastated duo demeaning but lucrative jobs as caretakers.  Forced daily to witness blithe students more blessed than they with the magical talent which could have saved them, he and Mrs Norris grow old, embittered and nasty as they pace the humiliating corridors of their tragedy...

Tabouli.


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