Housism & Werewolf Theories (WAS Sappy happy endings, Eddings)

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 32644

Tabouli wrote:
> 
> Yes, yes and absolutely.  A few months ago a lot of us came out as 
anti-housism protesters.  JKR implies that it's because she herself 
values bravery most highly of all the qualities embodied by the 
houses, but it starts to bother me when she crams absolutely everyone 
who's anyone (or at least, everyone who's anyone good) into 
Gryffindor. Dumbledore, the Marauders, the Trio, Hagrid, Lily, 
McGonagall... I mean, come on!  It's worse than Enid Blyton and North 
Tower in Malory Towers!  (and we all know what genre *that* series 
falls into, chuckle chuckle...)
> 

Oh, I don't know.  Housism doesn't bother me much.  I think of the 
books to date as being Gryffindor-centric.  We see Harry and everyone 
related to Harry.  If it doesn't concern Harry, we don't see much of 
it.  Consequently, I feel safe operating on the assumption that the 
people in the other three houses (or Ravensclaw and Hufflepuff, at 
least) are also charming, smart and brave.  We just haven't met them 
yet.

*******

Please forgive the length of this next part, but it's hard to snip a 
great deal and have the thread make sense.  Here goes:

Slon wrote (backstopping Elizabeth's theory that Lupin's urge to see 
the moon would be irresistable, despite Lupin's transformation in the 
boarded-up Shrieking Shack):

> Now, I can see why we might think that no light could come through, 
> boarded up windows, BUT unless they were SEALED (have you ever seen 
> a 'haunted house' with 'sealed' windows?), there's no way they 
> could completely keep the moonlight out.  

<snip PoA quote establishing it was dark when Hermione and Harry 
entered the Shrieking Shack>

>[Quote from PoA] 'And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later 
>it twisted, and 
> Crookshanks had gone.  Instead, Harry could see a dim patch of 
>light 
> through a small opening...[description of the room] The windows 
>were 
> all boarded up....
> The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, 
>leading 
> to a shadowy hallway...' (pg 337 US)
> 


> Okay, so the windows are boarded up, but there is still a dim bit 
of 
> light to see around.  As there is no mention of candles burning, 
and 
> I doubt Sirius would take the time to light some anyway, this is 
most 
> likely moonlight (though indirect as the clouds are covering the 
> moon) that has slipped through the boards.  It seems that Lupin 
does 
> indeed have to be touched by moonlight to transform, and it is 
> possible that this little bit of moonlight that slips through the 
> cracks could work when he's in the Shreiking Shack (perhaps he can 
> even see it through the cracks, though no one can really see in-we 
> also know that people avoid it, so they wouldn't be lookign in 
> anyway).  When he first come is to confront Black and Pettigrew, 
the 
> moon is covered by clouds, so he wouldn't transform in this light, 
or 
> perhaps, knowing he has serious work to do, he studiously avoids 
the 
> light, even though the werewolf in him might be drawn to it.  

Let's pause right here.  At one point, I wrote a post about the 
questionable lighting in the Shrieking Shack scene, but decided not 
to post it.  But it looks like I need it now, so here goes.  :-)  

There is undoubtedly light throughout the Shrieking Shack scene, 
although JKR doesn't explicitly say so.  Light initially comes from 
Harry and Hermione's lit wands, but they extinguish their wands 
before Harry kicks in the door and confronts Black.  But somehow 
thereafter everyone can see everything in the Shrieking Shack scene, 
despite all of the Disarming and wands flying around.  Yet we are 
never told what the source of light is.  How can anyone see anything?

So we have to make something up.  :-)  I think the most logical 
conclusion is that Sirius drags Ron to the Shrieking Shack as a man.  
He has confiscated Ron's wand and lit it to see where he is going.  
When he reaches the Shrieking Shack, he probably lights the lamps 
with his wand.  Indeed, I would think Sirius would *want* the 
Shrieking Shack lit so that he can see if Pettigrew tries to escape.  
I suspect that there are not many lights in the Shrieking Shack 
(Lupin having broken many of them ages earlier), but Sirius lights 
the few that are still there.

Why can't it be that the light Harry sees is moonlight coming through 
the boarded-up windows?  Well, first of all, you'd have to assume 
that "all boarded up" really means boards with holes or cracks in 
them.  Second, I think sunlight would be strong enough to flicker 
through boarded-up windows, but I think moonlight (even from a full 
moon) would be too dim for Harry to notice, especially since we are 
told it was dark outside, not bathed in moonlight.  

Equally important is that Harry can't see moonlight streaming through 
the boarded up windows because the timeline wouldn't work.  For him 
to seem moonlight would mean the full moon was up and visible with no 
clouds.  That can't be right because Lupin is able to run out of his 
office to the Shrieking Shack without transforming, suggesting that 
the full moon just wasn't up yet.  (Remember that Harry and Hermione 
have a big head start on Lupin; Snape sees Lupin entering the tunnel 
but does not see Harry, which means that Harry is in the Shrieking 
Shack before Lupin is on his way down the tunnel).  I think it is 
more likely that Harry is seeing light in the Shrieking Shack from a 
lamp Sirius has lit.

Slon again:

<snip book exerpts regarding Lupin's transformation>

> Now, from all this, we can clearly see that Lupin was outside when 
> the moon was up, but didn't transform because the moon was hidden 
> behind clouds.  It is only when the clouds shift and he is touched 
by 
> moonlight that he transforms.  

Hmmm, I know there has been a lot of discussion about this in the 
past.  I think the upshot is that the way JKR wrote these 
transformation scenes is somewhat illogical because if Lupin has to 
be touched by the moon to transform, then all he'd have to do is park 
himself in a dark closet to avoid the problem altogether.  
Elizabeth's theory solves that problem because he can't hide in a 
closet because he is drawn to the moon, of course.  But that requires 
me to believe that moonlight is streaming into the Shrieking Shack, 
which I'm not buying just yet.

Slon again:

 
> We need to start a group to suport the 'transforms only in direct 
> moonlight' theory.  Tabouli, can I call on your service one more 
> time?  We need a name.  Just please be sure to include L.I.D.S. 
> somewhere in it (Lupin Is Dead Sexy).
> 

Wait!  I object!  You can't have a group until you have members, can 
you?  :-)  I could get on board for the Lupin Is Dead Sexy part, but 
we don't have a basis in canon -- yet.

> Slon (back to the sofa, feeling miserable, and eating Jello as it's 
> the only thing I can hold down)

Hope you feel better soon, and I hope this post didn't make you even 
more sick.  :-)

Cindy (founder of M.A.T.C.H.I.N.G.A.R.M.C.H.A.I.R.S)