The clock revisited and other musings

[animagi_raven]

No: HPFGUIDX 42949

Animagus_Raven throws off the invisibility cloak and shouts "Ahh, 
Haaaa"
looks confused and somewhat embarrassed
"Sorry, I though you were professors Snape and Quirrel in an animated 
conversation."

Well, as long as I am here I have some additional points for the 
clock:

bboy_mn started a riot by bringing up the clock in message #42797:
> 2.) When you buy a clock like that, at first, it seems pretty cool,
> but if you are Mrs. Weasley sitting at home night after night 
staring
> at the clock, just waiting for one of the hands to move to 'mortal
> peril', I would think it would drive you nuts.

Heather fed fuel to the fire by adding in message #42812:
> In my GoF, it mentions
> "home", "school", "work", "traveling", "lost",
> "hospital", "prison", and, on the number twelve
> position, "mortal peril".

The clock:  maybe it in not a `grandfather' clock but a `mother' 
clock.  Several of the `bad' locations/dispositions on the clock are 
thing that mothers scream at you when you come home late.  "You could 
been in the hospital or arrested or lost (or in mortal danger?)

My wife (who is a mother) wanted to point out that since it is a 
magical clock it could have a large database of potential 
locations/dispositions that it could swap onto the face if needed.  
The one's that Harry see might be the `default' setting.  I relate 
this so that when JKR changes them later on we have something to fall 
back on rather than calling it a FLINT. <smirk>

Notice that there is no `up to no good' on the clock.  Fred and 
George's hands would probably be parked there permanently.  That 
setting was probably removed.  On a related topic, I wonder how fast 
a Sneakoscope would last around Fred and George?  It would probably 
burn itself up rather quickly.

And on other unrelated topics:

Regarding Sirius not wanting to apparate while in hiding: In all 
mentions of Pettigrew leaving the scene of his `murder' all reference 
have been to him changing into a rat and going down a sewer.  (This 
is related, wait until I get to it)  Why does no one suspect that he 
apparated?  Is it because apparating is a powerful spell and would 
have been detected but no such spell was detected?  Therefore, if he 
wasn't there (except for a finger) and he didn't apparate – he must 
be dead (since no one except the Marauders knew that he could 
transform).

On magic creating things `out of thin air'.  I believe everyone has 
missed a point.  The house elves have to prepare all of the meals 
that Dumbledore simply moves from the kitchens tables to the tables 
in the hall above.  If Dumbledore could create meals out of nothing 
all those house elves would be out of jobs.  My theory is that 
powerful wizards keep stores of metals, cloth, provisions, etc. that 
they can summon and shape when the need arises, thereby appearing to 
create them `out of thin air.'  The Hogwort's storage probably were 
the source of the sleeping bags.

Did it strike anyone else that Bill and Charlie's job are pretty 
convenient for later use in the story?  If a large amount of fire 
power is needed a Norwegian Ridgeback comes right to mind.  But it is 
the curse-breaker for Gringotts (and apparently a good one, too) that 
got my attention.  Anyone willing to stick their neck out on 
potentials for that.  I just point out the bumpy roads that lead over 
the cliff, it don't drive down them



Addition questions to amaze and mystify:

1)  Do wizards pay taxes?  Who is footing the bill for the MoM?  Do 
part of our muggles taxes pay for our being kept safe and secure from 
wizards and witches and also in the dark about them?  Is that the 
real reason our (muggle) taxes are so high?

2)  Who teaches Muggle Studies?  How about Arthimancy?  (My vote goes 
to Prof. Flitwick for Arithmancy but no idea for Muggle Studies – 
Bins, perhaps –it seems like a dry subject.)  Has JKR said that we 
have met all the existing professors or are there some we haven't met 
yet?

3)  Could Arabella Figg be Dumbledore's girlfriend?  Take that all 
you Sirius girlfriend theorists.  I'm voting that `old' people are 
old.


P.S.  Grey wolf:  did you take your name from another series of books 
in which a boy grows up to be a wizard – excuse me – sorcerer?  (must 
get the job descriptions correct)

Fyre Wood you scare me.  Not because of you fascination with DEs and 
Riddle (ref: #42828 and #42867) but because you work in a Taco Bell

What is a nice DE hopeful like you doing in a place like that?  Is 
putting too much hot sauce sort of like a Cruciatus curse?  Is that 
the attraction?

Bows to Dave for getting in a Red Dwarf reference (#42850).


Animagus_Raven throws the invisibility cloak back on a slinks 
silently off.