Some Questions; Draco; Dursleys; Madam Pince; Veritaserum; D-dore; Ron; etc

[Ashfae]

No: HPFGUIDX 47578

From: evenflow200214
>>6) How do the Paintings exist? Were they people who chose to become 
>>paintings? Are the in the control of the artist that drew them?

I very much doubt that people "become" paintings. Someone who's
photographed in the wizarding world does not lose part of his
soul/personality to the photograph. A painting is a reflection of the
original model, but nothing more. 

>>7) Will Harry and Cho get together, in your opinions?
I highly doubt it. Harry feels no small amount of guilt over Cedric's
death; even if Cho never blames him for it, he's sure to blame himself.

>>10) Is Fudge merely corrupt, a good man at heart, or evil? And to 
>>what degree?
Weak and bedazzled by his own power. He might be quite a good minister
for quiet, uneventful times, but he's a very dangerous sort of man to
have in charge now. Easily swayed by words and prone to accept the
easiest, short-term solutions to problems.


From: Jessica
>>In GoF, when the Death Eaters conjure the Dark
>>Mark and Harry, Ron, and Hermione run into Draco while
>>fleeing to the Forest, Draco is fairly hateful to
>>Hermione, but he nonetheless keeps urging her to get
>>away from the DE chaos. And Heidi's right. Draco's
>>quite nasty to her, but for someone who supposedly
>>hates her and hates Mudbloods, it's surprising that
>>he's *not* goading her into the center of the danger.
>>Instead, he's warning her (granted, in a verrrrry
>>roundabout manner) against it.

We have completely different interpretations of this scene, methinks.
I didn't see Draco's words as being a warning at all; to me, they
sounded like a threat. Also it struck me as yet another attempt to
humiliate Hermione with words, as Draco sometimes does.

The idea that Draco secretly wants to be part of the Trio is
interesting; I've heard it before, but rarely seen it argued so well.
Still, it doesn't strike me as probable. It's always seemed to me that
what Draco wants is to <i>beat</i> the Trio (and most particularly
Harry) or at least to see them beaten. He can't do it on his own; the
Malfoys as a family seem inclined to act indirectly rather than to
attack themselves. Lucius acts through the diary and by manipulating
political ties; Draco uses Crabbe & Goyle as threats/bodyguards, and
uses tricks such as the duel that doesn't happen in PS/SS rather than
hexing Harry outright. The closest Draco comes to directly attacking
the Trio is duking it out with Harry on the Quidditch pitch. But
Voldemort can possibly defeat Harry, and thus bring down the Trio
entire; I wouldn't be surprised if that alone tempted Draco towards
the dark side. 

Also, I've never gotten the impression that Lucius doesn't feel love
towards Draco. Difficult to judge that by what we've seen, but Draco
doesn't act like an unloved child. He acts like a spoiled brat, yes,
but that's not necessarily the same. The way Lucius shows affection
might not be the best for Draco, but he does display concern for his
son's welfare and takes measure to keep him protected. I'm not denying
that Lucius also feels Draco is a represenative of the Malfoy name;
absolutely this is so. But it doesn't follow that because Draco has a
duty to his family name he is unloved.

Really, I think we need more information before we can make up our
minds one way or the other about Draco.


From: Meira
>>But... sending Harry to a very far away place should be (for the 
>>Dursleys) as if 10 years worth of Christmass's, Hannuka's, Birthdays  
>>have been cramped into a single day. So, why would they want to
>>prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts?

You forget, it was a given that Harry was going to go away to school.
They want him gone, yes, but to a normal school. They don't want him
encouraged to use magic in any way, shape, or form. It Harry's
expelled from Hogwarts, he'll have no choice but to go to a Muggle
school and learn to live as Muggle (or at least, so I imagine Vernon
thinks; Hagrid is proof that there are other options). 

And on a related note:

From: Cassie 
>>I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but what about them
>>saying Harry went to St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal
Boys? >>With their need to be 'normal' why would they pretend Harry
was 'an >>incurably criminal boy'? In this day and age one would
probably come >>to the conclusion that Harry had been influenced by
his environment >>if they believed he went to St. Brutus's. Though I
suppose in >>comparison to him being a wizard it's not as disgraceful
to the >>Dursleys. 

Ah, but being a criminal is normal. It's wrong and disgraceful, but
still a normal thing; it's something that happens for logical reasons
to ordinary people. Being a wizard is, to their minds, insane and
incomprehensible. It shouldn't be possible, and therefore shouldn't be
allowed. A criminal can be dealt with in the Dursley's world; a wizard
cannot.


From: Grey Wolf
>>Now, how does Pince find the information herself? We should ask
>>Lexicon Steve this (he should know, if anyone), but I have the
>>feeling that a librarian's job is to know where everything is. And
>>there could be spells for searching books by content, only they
don't >>come in the reglamentary school books, and are relatively
>>unimportant, and thus Hermione has not heard of them yet.

I've worked in libraries for years, and I'm not even a technically
trained librarian. At the moment I work in a bookstore with barely any
organizational system whatsoever. But believe me, it's amazing what
you pick up; I can lay my hand on nearly any book we own when asked,
even if there's no order to where they're hidden. You just get a feel
for where the books are. There may well be an organizational system at
the Hogwarts Library that we've not been aware of; but regardless of
that, I'm quite sure that Madam Pince knows the location of every
single book in the library. And even if she doesn't, I'm sure she
knows the spells to find them. As for searching for spells by content,
I'd imagine there is at least a rudimentary organizational system set
up; Hermione at least never has any difficulty finding anything. In
the case of the gillyweed, they were looking for something pretty
specific and obscure; something that would show up as a footnote in a
book rather than in a book on its own merit. Not the sort of thing
easily found in a list of what types of books are where. They didn't
even know if what they wanted was a charm, a potion, an herb, or for
that matter even something possible. (and why the devil didn't Harry
just ask Madam Pince for advice on how to breathe underwater? It
wouldn't have been illegal in that instance! Bah! Librarians are your
friends, I swear! Just don't hurt our books and we're perfectly
friendly!) 


From: Strix
>>Whydidn't the Ministry of Magic administer Veritaserum to the
accused >>Death Eaters, and get around the whole problem of trying to
figure >>out whether they had acted of their own free will?

I believe Snape said that the use of Veritaserum is strictly
controlled; I imagine that it might even be considered dangerous, and
is thus only used in the most extreme situations. (before anyone asks,
I'd bet that Dumbledore had no business administering it to Barty and
would get into serious trouble if he weren't the great Dumbledore)

I've noticed several people refer to Sirius as being sent to Azkaban
on "very little evidence." To which I respond thusly: Dumbledore
testified that Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper, he was found at
the scene of the crime, and most telling of all, there's no evidence
whatsoever that Sirius made any attempt to defend himself. Granted,
his story would have sounded wildly improbable, but he could have at
least spawned some doubt; as part of the proof, well, he's an Animagus
himself, which would at least demonstrate that more was going on than
was immediatley obvious. Dumbledore at least would have listened. But
no one suspects that Peter or Sirius could be Animagi; therefore I
think it unlikely that Sirius offered up any defense. What could the
Ministry do but condemn him? All the appearances were against Sirius,
and he didn't deny any of it.


From: Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)
>>If Dumbledore knew just how badly the Dursleys would treat Harry, it 
>>was foolish or desperate of him to leave Harry there, or wizards' 
>>psychology is different from that of Muggles, dogs, and cats. The 
>>kinds of beings that I know about, bring them up in constant abuse 
>>and no example of goodness, and they grow up either broken terrified 
>>cowards who'll do anything to (something like Pettigrew in GoF) or 
>>cynical tough guys who'll do anything to triumph (something like Tom 
>>Riddle). Neither is good preparation for being a hero to rescue the 
>>wizarding world.

No? If we want to view Dumbledore's actions in an incredibly
coldblooded manner, the Durlseys was the ideal place to send Harry. He
grew up unloved, unknown, and completely alone. But now he has a home
at Hogwarts and with the Wizarding World, and what he dreads more than
anything else is being banished from it. He'll fight tooth and nail to
defend his new home. If he'd grown up in the WW and was less desperate
for a place to belong, he might not fight so wholeheartedly to protect
it from Voldemort. At age eleven, alone and hopelessly outclassed, he
does everything he can to stop Lord Voldemort's return. If he's that
determined at age eleven, what will he be like at seventeen? (dang,
book seven is bound to be interesting!) 


From: vincentjh
>>BTW, isn't it a bit unusual for a 12-year-old to memorize something 
>>like that? This isn't the only time Ron recalls a decree or a case, 
>>but IIRC he's not particularly good at history. Odd.
I would imagine he just picked it up around the house; his father
works for the Ministry, and I'm sure other Ministry members come to
visit, and Percy's been destined for the Ministry since forever. It's
not unusual to pick up such knowledge secondhand. For example, my
mother is a doctor, as are all my aunts and uncles. I have all the
scientific knowhow of an average brick and studied English, but I've
picked up all sorts of bizarre and often quite specific knowledge
about medicine just from listening to them. I imagine something
similar happened to Ron. Plus, he's smarter than he lets on. the fact
that he dislikes homework isn't indicative of his intelligence; no
young boy likes homework, with a few notable exceptions such as Percy.


Ashfae
(who really needs to post more often, as these gigantic posts are just
ridiculous and it's impossible to describe their contents in the
subject heading when so much is being covered! *sheepish gryn*)