Karkaroff/Owl Tracking/Wands/CU at Work/resisting Imperius/Animagi/blackmail

Sat Dec 21 07:17:21 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 48630

Constance Vigilance:

<< In his first power grab, was his goal to start with domination 
over Britain, or did he start with world domination as his first 
step? The cause of my puzzlement is the inclusion of Karkaroff in the 
Death Eaters. Either he happened to be in Britain during the first 
recruiting round, or V-M had already expanded. What does everyone 
think? >>

I have no evidence, but I am convinced that Voldemort started his 
ambitions with Britain and had not yet gotten any further. Therefore, 
I am certain that Karkaroff was already in Britain when recruited.   

Suzanne Chiles:

<< I've always had the belief that Karkaroff was a student at 
Hogwarts as Voldemort was first rising to power and that Karkaroff, 
who I would bet was in Slytherin, eagerly embraced Voldemort. Alas, I 
can't cite any canon to support this belief. >>

It seems to me that you are suggesting that Karkaroff is roughly the 
same age as Snape, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew; they were students 
when Voldemort first got into the headliness. I believe that 
Karkaroff is too old to have been in school with them. Evidence: 
when he appears in GoF, his goatee is white. There was a suggestion 
recently that Karkaroff was a *teacher* at Hogwarts at that time, 
maybe even Head of Slytherin house and using that position to recruit 
young Slytherins to join the Death Eaters.

Ashfae:

<< if owls can track down any wizard, the Ministry doesn't just send 
an owl with a letter to Sirius Black, and then trace the owl. >>

I believe that post owls can track down any addressee, even a Muggle, 
but mere wizards cannot trace post owls. I believe that post owls fly 
up, move to another dimension where non-owls cannot follow, travel 
extra-fast by use of that dimension, come out of it, and fly down to 
the recipient. So someone watching the mountainside behind Hogsmeade 
might notice that owls frequently went to one particular cave, but 
the person who sent the owl wouldn't know where it had gone. 
Unfortunately, the long amount of time that canon says it takes owls 
to carry post to Sirius in his warm island hiding place or even to 
Hermione on holiday in France means that the special owl dimension 
isn't all that fast.

Susanne:

<< if you have two wands, made out of the same kind of wood and with 
the same type of core, are they interchangeable or are they still 
somehow individual? >>

I have a very strong feeling that the resonance of the wand is not 
much affected by the kind of wood. I believe that of two willow and 
unicorn tail hair wands, one of them may resemble a particular maple 
and unicorn tail hair wand much more than it resembles the other 
willow wand. I have no canon for this, and no canon for my other 
opinion that the wands have decorative carving.  

Jazmyn:

<< then there might in fact be some wands that 'get along well' with 
more then one wizard and some 'temperamental' wands that might only 
work well for one or two people. (snip) In fact, some might find more 
then one that feels right and have to pick among them and others might 
have to search a while to find one that is 'right'. >>

This is a forbidden I AGREE post!

<< However, what happens to all those wands whose owners died? Its 
quite posible that another person might find an old, used wand to be 
their 'match'? One wonders about 2nd hand wand shops in Knockturn 
Alley? >>

There are 2nd hand wands for sale in DIAGON Alley; CoS says: "The bag 
of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully in Harry's pocket was 
clamoring to be spent, so he bought three large strawberry-and- 
peanut-butter ice creams, which they slurped happily as they wandered 
up the alley, examining the fascinating shop windows. ... and in a 
tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old 
cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in 
a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power."

I'm not sure if the broken wands being for sale in a junktique shoppe 
contradicts my theory that perhaps wizards and witches who die are 
buried/cremated WITH their wands ... 

Carol Bainbridge:

<< I've never seen any indication that Lucius has a job let alone a 
job at the MOM. >>

I am certain that Lucius would never do anything so vulgar as have a 
*job*. I assumed that "I'll see you at work" meant dropping in at 
*Arthur's* work.

Phyllis:

<< What confuses me is that Harry, the only student who can withstand 
the curse, seems to do so innately. The "voice in the back of his 
brain" tells him not to obey Fake!Moody's commands. Yet Fake!Moody 
talks about "teaching" the students to fight the Imperius curse, and 
he assigns them reading on resisting the curse. >>

So Harry is a 'natural' at resisting Imperius, just as he is a 
'natural' at flying broomstick and catching Snitch, things that 
other people take lessons to learn.

Ani:

<< (I'm of the belief that the form does reflect some aspect of the 
person, whether or not that's supported in canon) >>

That *is* canon, in the form of two JKR interviews. JKR has confirmed 
that the Animagus doesn't get to choose his/her animal form, but 
instead the animal form is a reflection of his/her personality.

http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/October_2000_Live_Chat_Americ
a_Online.htm
Q: Does the animal one turns into as an Animagi reflect your 
personality?
JKR: Very well deduced, Narri! I personally would like to think that 
I would transform into an otter, which is my favorite animal. Imagine 
how horrible it would be if I turned out to be a cockroach! 

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm
Q: If you were Animagus, what kind of animal would you be?
A: I'd like to be an otter -- that's my favourite animal. It would be 
depressing if I turned out to be a slug or something.

I want to know, what happens if a person who has become an Animagus 
goes over the whole training again, from scratch, will heesh get 
another animal form? Can a person who is a werewolf become an 
Animagus? with an animal form other than wolf? Can a werewolf who is 
an Animagus with an animal form other than wolf avoid turning into a 
wolf monster at Full Moon by turning into hiser animal before the 
moment?

Julia McCallum:

<< Maybe she thinks Hermione will let out that her little animagus 
secret if she (Rita) writes anymore stories about Harry and Co? I 
don't see Hermione actually stooping to blackmail, but Rita may not 
realize that. >>

Having seen Hermione first steal the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion 
and then *drug* Crabbe and Goyle unconscious, I *can* see her also 
'stooping' to blackmail. Everyone talks about Hermione being such a 
Ravenclaw; no one mentions that she's also rather much of a Slytherin.