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[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 42503

I have yet to understand how a bunch of Death Eaters (the ones in 
Azkaban) could have known that Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper who 
led Voldemort to the Potters' secret hide-out WHILE *Snape* the spy 
didn't know.

Gail B:

<< is wondering what butter-beer tastes like: could it be anything 
like butter-scotch? >>

I have always had that impression! But it had better not taste like 
hot buttered rum: I tried that once and it was nasty.

Phyllis erisedstraeh wrote:

<< I'm a new member, but I searched the archives and didn't find 
anything on this, so here goes - JKR said that there is a  
relationship between Godric Hollow and Godric Gryffindor, so I 
decided to investigate who St. Godric was >> 

Actually, someone had the idea once before: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups-Archives/message/4994 but 
that was in September 2000, so it's a good thing to bring the topic 
up again. 

Eloise has:

<< always wondered (snip) how the Dursleys got back to the mainland 
after Hagrid and Harry had taken the boat. >>

I've always assumed that, once the storm ended, they came out of the 
house, and screamed and waved their arms until someone on shore heard 
the ruckus and came and got them.

Amanda wrote:

<< Gryffindor's lion faces sinister, Scotland's faces dexter >>

I think that Gryffindor's lion faces the normal dexter EXCEPT when it 
is quartered into the Hogwarts arms. If the pictured heraldic charges 
are as animated as photos (let alone paintings), the lion would 
REFUSE to turn its back on the treacherous serpent. If not, some 
wizard artist just thought the Hogwarts arms would look prettier with 
the lion facing sinister.

Cliff1515 wrote:

<< In the fourth book the champions had to fight dragons for the 1st 
task. These dragons are the color of the houses when you mix up the 
colors >>

Thank you! I had never noticed that before.

Richelle's aunt said: 

<< Pettigrew "just sounds like a rat." >>

Someone on this list once explained that both his names mean "to 
become smaller", as "to peter out" and "to grow petty". That suits 
him, altho' I think that 'Pettigrew" could also sound like "pedigree" 
if one of his relatives who was a bigtime Purebloodist. However, I 
think your aunt should be careful to rid her mind of these thoughts 
whenever she meets a real-life Muggle named Pettigrew.

Pip!Squeak wrote: 

<< Ron's brother Charlie is doing research ["Charlie's in Romania 
studying dragons" PS/SS p.80 UK paperback) and there is NO mention 
that he's connected to any wizarding university. >>

I often wonder whether he (and the whole wizard team at the Rumanian 
dragon preserve) is more *researching* dragons or *wrangling* dragons 
-- transporting them to Hogwarts for the First Task, with all those 
dragon wranglers Stunning, seems more like using the dragons than 
studying them, and is that preserve also the source of dragonhide for 
boots and gloves, dragon heartstrings for wands, and dragon's blood 
for its twelve uses?

Rebecca wrote: 

<< Are we sure wizarding photographs and wizarding paintings are 
the same? (snip) The paintings seem much more interactive. Any 
opinions? >>

I agree, and I wonder if the AI paintings are unique to Hogwarts and 
possibly other very wealthy magical places like Malfoy Manor and the 
Ministry headquarters. However, what about the pictures on the 
Famous Wizards cards? It seems they all act like photographs, but 
the ancient famous people lived before photography was invented, so 
pictures of them can't be photographs...

Pip!Squeak wrote:

<< "You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you 
might be mistaken in Black..." How does Snape know James *died* 
believing in Black? >>

I've always understood that sentence to mean that James died BECAUSE 
he trusted Black, not that he still trusted Black at the time of his 
death. "Died like" meaning "died for the same reason", not "died with 
the same thought in mind" or "wearing the same clothes".

Jodel wrote:

<< Given the fact that Dumbledore DID make that particular defense 
at Karkaroff's trial, WHY did Karkaroff go running to Snape once the 
Dark Mark started returning? >>

Because they had both betrayed Voldemort (Karkaroff only by turning 
in other Death Eaters to save his own skin) and therefore were 
scheduled to be killed by Voldemort and "the enemy of my enemy is
my friend".

Felinia wrote: 

<< but he did end up saving his life, the same as he would any other 
Hogwarts student who'd wound up in danger, >>

It once occured to me that perhaps James didn't care at all whether 
Severus was killed, but urgently risked his own life to save his 
friend Remus from being sent to Azkaban for homicide.

Hei Lun wrote:

<< And arguably, James saved Snape's life as much to prevent himself 
from being expelled (or worse) as to actually save Snape's life. >>

That's what Snape's statement (that James got cold feet at the last 
minute) indicates that Snape believes, but I don't think James was in 
any danger of being punished: I think James wasn't in on the "prank" 
and didn't knew about it until Sirius told him -- whereupon he ran 
off to fix the problem.

Grey Wolf wrote: 

<< "The night they died I had decided to check on Peter, to know 
whether he was still trustworthy. But when I arrived to his den, he 
had already left. >>

Your Spanish translation has a divergence from the English language 
text: "The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure 
he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone." 
I suppose one *could* argue that Sirius meant 'safe to trust' when he 
said 'safe', but I believe he meant 'safe from being captured and 
tortured by Voldemort".

Boogaloo wrote:  

<< there would be no look of triumph from him- if that knowledge 
contained the certainty or even the possibility of Harry's complete 
destruction being necessary to finally and completely destroy 
Voldemort. >>

IMHO, that's why the look of triumph swiftly departed, and Dumbledore 
looked older and tired than Harry had ever seen before: his initial 
pleasure that Voldemort had made himself vulnerable was followed by 
his realisation that using that vulnerability would kill Harry.

Nicole wrote:

<< Then, in the tradition of many power-hungry beings, he found that 
once he killed his father and grandparents, he hungered for more. The 
more power he got, the more he craved. (snip) I think that when he 
was 11, he may have been just as good a kid as Harry was. >>

I suspect that what you suggest is what JKR intended, in line with 
her preaching about making choices. However, Diary!Tom said: "I 
fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would 
one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in 
the world!" "Fear to speak". *Before* he killed his father, it was 
already his ambition to be feared by all wizarding folk. And he raved 
insanely about "Salazar Slytherin's noble plan". He said it had taken 
him five years to learn how to open the Chamber of Secrets, so he had 
started searching for it already *in his first year* at Hogwarts. So 
he was already a loony when he was a first-year student ... he wanted 
to kill "Mudbloods" and terrorize wizards, not just to kill his 
father.