[HPforGrownups] Re: Boggart powers (wee little TBAY reference)

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 39385

Elkins wrote:

> > Hmmm?  What's that you say?  You want to know about the dimming of
> > the lights?
> >
> > Er.  Yes.  Well.  I think *that* is probably a ::coughFLINTcough::
> > manifestation of Harry's spontaneous magic.  He's dimming the
> > lights himself through unconscious magic, in precisely the same way
> > that Neville is always melting all of those cauldron bottoms in
> > Snape's Potions Class.

Pip wrote:

>I'm not sure Harry is actually dimming the lights himself; or indeed
>that the lights are dimming at all. Following on from
>the 'psychosomatic' thought...
>
>  The Boggart seems to have the ability to reach into people's minds
>and tap into their darkest fears, taking on the appearance of those
>fears. In which case the dimming of the lights and the cold are all
>part of the Boggart's powers of illusion.
>
>Harry 'thinks' they rekindle after each Boggart attack; suppose the
>reason they are alight after each attack is that they never really
>went out? The cold would also be a power of illusion - the Boggart
>senses that Harry associates Dementors with cold, so you get
>a 'sense' of cold.

Hm.  It all sounds pretty fishy to me.  He has the illusion of a memory of 
his father he's never heard before?  That's a pretty thorough illusion.  If 
it can do that, why can't it affect a werewolf?

How did we get into such a twist when the obvious answer, the one my sister 
Faith is whispering into my ear, is that the Boggart really does do all 
those things a Dementor does?  Because we were trying to explain why Lupin 
didn't transform when the Boggart turned into the moon.

I think the Boggart really does a very impressive Dementor imitation, 
complete with doused lights and genuine cold for the classroom and 
nightmarish memories for Lupin (allowing those of us who particularly want 
to wrap our arms around him and murmur "there, there" to get our sadistic 
little jollies imagining what they might be) as well as ill effects for 
Harry.  Here are a few, simpler explanations for why Lupin doesn't 
transform:

-The Boggart doesn't have quite as much power as the real thing.  You think 
Harry's suffering now, but it would be even worse if it were a real 
Dementor.  This fits with the stumbling "Dementor" at the Third Task, and 
suggests that Lupin may have a bit of time to counteract the Boggart-moon 
before it works its magic on him.

-Same idea, slight variation:  Lycanthropy is like the tides.  There's a 
moon in here trying to pull all werewolves into their wolf state, but 
outside the real moon is powerfully counteracting it with "not full moon" 
gravitational, as it were, vibes.  Again, he would transform anyway if he 
didn't fight the Boggart off quickly.

-Same idea, variation three:  Lupin is a stronger wizard than Harry and can 
resist the power of a Boggart longer.

Amy Z

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