Thank you Lilac; Lupin the Brave; Who's Older; Pettigrew's debt

[katzefan]

No: HPFGUIDX 42067

Lilac: Us Canucks in the (currently) Great Sweltering North would 
like to thank you for that parody. It's GREAT!

*************
From: "lupinesque" <lupinesque at y...> 
Date:  Tue Jul 30, 2002  12:06 pm
Subject:  Lupin the brave, Lupin the mentor

*large snip*
>It is my considered opinion that Lupin is indeed Harry's Mentor, 
>one might even say Harry's Anti-De- Mentor or even, in the 
>butterbeer- sharing scene, Harry's Fur Mentor.

Aaaaarrrgghh!!! (That ... was ... priceless!)

*larger snip* 
>I don't know who's going to die, but if we're going by the 
>intensity of their relationship with Harry, Lupin has to be up 
>there with Dumbledore (and Sirius and Hagrid).

>Amy Z

Oh, dear, you do make an excellent case there, but I really, really 
*really* hope you're wrong....

********************
From:  "greg_a126" <grega126 at a...> 
Date:  Wed Jul 31, 2002  2:19 pm
Subject:  Lily & Petunia, who's older?
 
>Based on the fan fiction out there, it seems to me that a great 
>majority of people think that Petunia is the oldest. I'm 
>wondering if there's any evidence from canon about that. B/c if 
>not, then I think it's much more likely that Lily is a few years 
>older. Think about it. Lily gets her letter when she's 11. The 
>whole family goes off to Diagon Alley, and everyone, including 
>Petunia, falls in  love with the magical world. For the next two or 
>3 years until Petunia turned 11, all her parents talked about 
>was the day that  she'd get her own letter. Then, the whole 
>summer of her 11th year goes by & no letter for Petunia. Rather 
>than admit that the magical world rejected her, she decides to 
>reject the magical world by hating all things magical, including 
>her nephew who even at a young age showed he had the gift 
>she never did. I think that scenario makes more sense than the 
>jealous older sister bit, but maybe that's just me.

>Thoughts?
>Greg

From:  "frankielee242" <speedygonzo242 at h...> 
Date:  Wed Jul 31, 2002  5:22 pm
Subject:  Re: Lily & Petunia, who's older?

 <*large snip*>
>All in all, Petunia's behavior seems consistent with a jealous 
>and neglected older sister (whether or not she was actually 
>overlooked is beside the point, she sure feels that way-- think of 
>her tirade at the beginning of SS/PS. Can you say *baggage*?).  
*snip* 
>Strikes me that everything was fine in Petunia's world until the 
>day little Lily came home from the hospital... and stole the 
>show.

>Frankie 

I see the lexicon suggests Petunia *is* older, which was 
definitely my impression (although Greg makes some good 
points, including Petunia's anticipation of her own invitation to 
Hogwarts, cruelly dashed - on her birthday, no less). 
I would have guessed they were much less than 10 years apart, 
though, because my first thought was that such intense jealousy 
is usually more prevalent in siblings born closely together. A 14-
year-old is less likely to be jealous than, say, a four-year-old that 
a two-year-old sister is getting more attention. 

BUT this is not exactly a normal case. 

Imagine the horrible shock of the elder sister when the younger 
gets a letter which she did not, and which she now realizes 
never will arrive ... particularly if said younger sister has always 
been the prettier one (or the one with the more sparkling 
personality), the one who drew friends like a magnet, and then 
on top of it all the one who has the strange talent -- and who 
used it who-knew-how-many-times to 'get'  - or get back at - her 
older sister? (Remember Harry turning his teacher's wig blue?) 
As an infant, I would imagine Lily's talent  wasn't really under any 
control (a la the little girl in Stephen King's Firestarter - can't 
recall her name). She probably blasted Petunia more than a few 
times strictly by accident, and any attempt by Petunia to get even 
would have been quickly squashed by parental authority ("You're 
older than she is!")

And as Lily got older, she would have become more conscious 
of her abilities, and more able to direct them deliberately 
(although still, often,  with unforeseen results, I would imagine, 
since her control would still have been very imperfect). But I can 
see little Lily realizing pretty smartly that, somehow, she can 
really wreak retribution (and not a little humiliation) on Petunia, 
with an increasingly angry and bitter Petunia coming to 
understand that she will pretty much always come off the loser in 
any scuffle between herself and her younger sister - there will 
never be an 'even-steven'.

***************
From:  "dembeldei" <ajl at h...> 
Date:  Wed Jul 31, 2002  10:58 pm
Subject:  Re: Pettigrew's debt to Harry

>Monica said: "I was wondering if anyone else has wondered 
>>about how Pettigrew will pay Harry back for Harry not letting 
>>Sirius and Lupin kill him.
*snip*

>I've always surmised that it might be key that Voldemort was 
>resurrected from the combination of Harry's blood and Peter's 
>flesh, not realizing that Peter was in debt to Harry! 
>I am interested in seeing how this plays out (will V. or his magic 
>self combust when it hits this paradox, etc.?)

>Dembeldei

There was some discussion, quite some time ago, about the 
paragraph in GoF in which Harry tells Dumbledore about 
Voldemort's using his blood in the resurrection ceremony.
Harry says, 'He said the protection my - mother left in me - he'd 
have it, too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting 
himself, he touched my face.' For a fleeting instant, Harry thought 
he saw a gleam of  something like triumph in Dumbledore's 
eyes."

That 'gleam' was interpreted by some as triumph, all right, 
because Dumbeldore realizes Voldemort has made himself  
*more* vulnerable because of his use of Harry's blood (I don't 
recall the explanation as to why this would be).

But I like Dembeldei's theory that it may be the combination of 
Harry's blood *and* Peter's flesh that does the trick, although it 
doesn't really sound like 'payback' on Peter's part unless he's 
aware that this could cause trouble for Voldie down the road and 
opts not to say anything (Not that Voldemort sounds like the type 
to entertain discussion and debate anyway. And I really wouldn't 
mind seeing him self-combust....)

Katzefan