Godric'sHollow/Pettigrew/a bunch of stuff/original GoF/Portkeys/Weasley Cloc

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 42871

Elfun Debby wrote:

<< Godric's Hollow, which I imagine to be a wizarding village west of 
Bristol in South Wales >>

So do I, but canon unfortunately says that Hogsmeade is the only 
wizarding village in Britain.

Elfun Debby wrote:

<< While Dumbledore may have had a magical detection device that 
would have told him the Fidelius Charm had been broken, it would not 
have told him (or anyone else) that Voldemort had turned into a 
noxious vapor and disappeared. >>

and Marcus replied:

<< so he arranges for a discreet watch to be placed on the Potter 
home. It might be magical like a crystal ball. >>

I was about to suggest a crystal ball, but you beat me to it. 
However, I was going to suggest that, at least once the Fidelius 
Charm was broken, Dumbledore's crystal ball showed him everything 
going on, like a television, like the evil witch's crystal ball in 
the movie of The Wizard of Oz, so that Dumbledore would have seen 
Voldemort being knocked into a vapor and drifting away.

Marina wrote:

<< After Voldemort disappears, this back-up DE (Mrs. LeStrange, 
maybe?) ends up in Azkaban, and bitches to the other inmates about 
how that little traitor Wormtail ruined everything. So that's how 
they all know. Snape, never having been in Azkaban, doesn't know. >>

Yes, that is probably what happened. But it doesn't explain why Peter 
would feel any need to hide from the surviving Death Eaters. First, 
as he wasn't in Azkaban, he doesn't even know that they're speaking 
his name. Second, the ones who are in Azkaban are not well-positioned 
to harm him. What was he hiding from?

bboy_mn wrote:

<< what happens if a werewolf mates with a regular wolf or a werewolf 
mates with another female werewolf? >>

and Primrose replied:

<< their kids are just normal little wizards and witches. You get to 
be a werewolf by being bitten by one, not by  having a parent who's 
one. >>

I have no canon on the matter, but I am convinced that a female 
werewolf cannot carry a pregnancy longer than two or three months 
(regardless whether conceived in human or wolf form) because the 
monthly werewolf transformation is just too hard on the fetus. I am 
equally convinced that one of the many ways in which the Animagus 
transformation is better than the werewolf transformation is that 
the Animagus transformation doesn't harm the fetus (which transforms 
along with its mother).

Rebecca Stephens wrote:

<< Maybe it was a spell put on Harry under Dumbledore's orders. That 
would explain why he, rather than the minster of magic, decided where 
Harry would live. >>

It seems to me that even tho' the UK wizarding folk have a large 
Ministry of Magic which passes a great many laws, they mostly live 
their lives as if there were no government. Perhaps the care of 
orphaned children is left to volunteers and chance (as the care of 
'stray' cats is in my Muggle world).
Corinth wrote:

<< Gringotts wouldn't care what name was on the letter (although they 
would have notified the MoM had it been Siuris' own) >>

I'm not sure they would have notified MoM -- I don't get much 
impression that the goblins think they are ruled by the wizard 
government.

Clareysage wrote:

<< as we start to consider who Madame's Hooch's husband could be. >>

I can't see how there can be any question about it: Hooch and 
McGonagallo have obviously been a couple since forever. ('Madam' is 
just a term of respect for a woman of adult years, not a sign of 
being married.)

Frankie wrote:

<< Neville reminds me of a seed. He's round and small. Soon he's 
going to sprout... >>

Is that a reference to his favorite professor, Madam Sprout?

Ginny Merrimom wrote:

<< What Harry sees is what he desires -- a large family. Maybe his 
mom and dad look like themselves due to some latent memory, but
the rest of the crowd is just wishful thinking, IMHO, not secret 
relatives only the mirror knows about. >>

Thank you! That's what I think, too, but I thought I was the only 
one, surrounded as I am by people who use those apparitions in the 
Mirror to argue e.g. that Voldemort is not Harry's grandfather (*I* 
believe that Voldemort is not Harry's grandfather) because he didn't 
show in the Mirror.

Barb wrote:

<< Why might he do that? Because HIS mind was already poisoned 
against Hagrid by Tom Riddle. >>

Surely the general opinion of giants and half-giants is enough to 
poison Lucius's mind against Hagrid ... By the way, I have never 
understood WHY Malfoys share the common prejudice against giants and 
werewolves. Why would people who adore the Dark Lord despise Dark 
Creatures who are alleged to also serve the Dark Lord?

JOdel wrote:

<<Lucius must have been discussing this with someone in order for 
Dobby to have overheard.>>

Maybe with Narcissa? Maybe, as already suggested by others, with 
Diary!Tom himself?

<<  Isn't it just a bit overly fortuitious that Dobby was given 
instructions to scare Harry Potter away from Hogwarts as well? >>

I thought Dobby had come up with the idea of scaring Harry away from 
Hogwarts all on his own?

Debbie Owen wrote:

<< In the first chapter of GoF, Voldemort clearly says, "one more 
death and our path to Harry Potter is clear." What death is he 
referring to? >>

and Heather replied:

<< Barty Crouch Sr. makes sense, except that Voldy says that the 
Ministry doesn't have to know, and I think someone would notice the 
death of such an important official. >>

and JOdel replied:

<< I sugggest that the original plan may have been that Winky 
would be delegated to caring for Voldemort in the Crouch home while 
Wormtail impersonated Crouch Sr often enough to keep people from 
realizing that he was dead, >>

As others have mentioned, JKR said in interviews that she had almost 
finished GoF when she realised that she had 'a huge plot hole' and 
had to rewrite much of it, and during the rewrite, a character (Ron's 
cousin) vanished. My theory is that the 'only one more curse' (or 
murder, or obstacle) is left over from the original plot. I have 
speculated about what could the original plot have been. 

I think that the original purpose of the World Quidditch Cup was 
not so that Crouch Jr could escape there, but so that our Weasley 
kids could meet their cousin (Icicle, for want of a better name) -- 
perhaps she was a Beauxbatons student and part of the student group 
with Madame Maxime. Percy was clearly having an uncomfortable 
relationship with his siblings at that time and perhaps found Icicle 
a more pleasant associate. They became pen pals, but Percy asked her 
to send post to him at the office rather than at home, because of his 
brothers' teasing him about corresponding with a girl. 

I think that in the original plot, EvilBaby!Voldemort and Wormtail 
showed up on Crouch Sr's doorstep and killed him (which was the one 
more murder or curse or obstacle), thus rescuing Crouch Jr (who had 
not rescued himself). Moody was not attacked nor impersonated -- JKR 
originally wrote Real!Moody as the DADA teacher.  

Then Crouch Jr used Polyjuice to impersonate Crouch Sr and went to 
the office regularly. At the office, he surreptitiously read Icicle's 
letters to Percy -- if Icicle were one of the Beauxbatons students 
who went to Hogwarts, that would explain why JKR said that her 
purpose in the story was as a conduit of information from Hogwarts to 
the outside world. 

Polyjuice!Crouch went to Hogwarts on occasions connected with the 
Triwizard Tournament (the drawing of names and each of the three 
Tasks). He put Harry's name into the Goblet. He (not Moody) arranged 
the hints to Harry for First and Second Tasks. He was one of the 
guards around the Third Task (perhaps originally the judges, of which 
he was one, roamed the perimeter instead of guards doing so) and 
cleared the monsters out of Harry's way. He made the Cup into a 
Portkey to the graveyard (as a Tournament judge, he was better 
placed to do so than Moody) and he grabbed Harry when Harry returned 
with Cedric's corpse. This explains the often asked question WHY 
Fake!Moody went to all the trouble of rigging the Tournament instead 
of just turning Harry's toothbrush or something into a Portkey much 
earlier in the year: Polyjuice!Crouch didn't have the run of the 
castle, wasn't there at all except at Tournament times, and had very 
limited contact with Harry even then. (Altho' I am very fond of the 
other answer, that Portkeys don't work at Hogwarts anymore than 
Apparation, but the Triwizard Cup was an exception, being rigged to 
Portkey the Champion from the maze to the judges' stand, and all 
Voldemort's accomplice did was to insert an extra stop into its 
programming.)

There is the question of how Polyjuice!Crouch gave hints to Harry, 
when he wasn't at Hogwarts. I suggest it was through Percy. The First 
is easy: he could lecture Percy, right there in the office and in the 
line of business, about a Triwizard Champion in 1623 who used Seeker 
technques to grab a dragon's egg. The Second would be harder; perhaps 
he praised that MAGICAL WATERPLANTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN so highly 
that hero-worshipping Percy bought two copies, one to memorize 
himself and one for pen-pal Icicle? or sister Ginny? 

Vera Selkie wrote:

<< so the portkey magic would, of necessity, have to be a "lowest 
common denominator" sort -- if you have any magical ability at all, 
you can invoke it; if you're a muggle, you can't. >>

I thought that Portkeys would work even on Muggles... Canon says: 
"Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up 
and playing with them..." which doesn't make it clear whether the 
Muggle who picked one up would suddenly find himself elsewhere, or 
merely make life inconvenient for the wizard who wanted to use that 
Portkey.

Mike Zitzmann wrote:

<< They are 8 positions for the hands of the clock to be in. 7 
positions make some kinda of sense except one. Home, School, Work, 
Traveling, Lost, Hospital, Prison, Mortal Peril. >>

I've wondered about those positions ... not about why Prison? or why 
Mortal Peril? Instead, I wonder where Bill's clock hand is when he is 
in his own flat in Egypt: Home? Then where is it when he visits The 
Burrow, Travelling? And where is it when he's out clubbing (in his 
'cool' clothes)? And shopping? And just hanging out?