[HPforGrownups] Harry and the riddle of Riddle/Apparate or Die Trying

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 39450

Ali:
> The recent thread about Voldemort being Harry's grandfather has made 
> me wonder about some of the half hints / foreshaowings, red herrings 
> or simple narrative that JKR has slotted into the text:
> 
> "Whilst Harry was sure he had never heard the name T.M.Riddle before, 
> it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was 
> a friend he'd had when he was very small, and half-forgotten" p174 
> 

I have interpeted this as being to do with the connection between Harry and 
Voldemort. As there is a bit of Voldemort inside him, so there is a bit of 
Riddle. 
although it's interesting that Riddle's name meant something to him, when 
Voldemort's (and it's highly likely he heard his name, isn't it?) didn't.

> 
> Could Harry be remembering a friend or relative - from either his 
> babyhood, or maybe a realtive of Harry AND the Dursleys. But this 
> pasage is surely not insignificant? To keep resemblances consistent, 
> the relation should be  on James' side, so maybe Voldemort coould be 
> Harry's grandfather, Great-Uncle - or perhaps there is yet anoher 
> unexplained significance. I have read a theory that Voldie had a 
> sister, because of Dobby's reaction to Harry asking if Voldie had a 
> brother:
> "Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever" p 18 COS.
> It was argued that the eyes widening were hinting to Harry that he 
> close ie a sister not a brother. Whatever the truth on this though, 
> 

That would be entirely consistent with Dobby's method of communicating. Yes, 
the connection should be on his father's side. I am convinced he cannot be 
Voldemort's grandson, as that directly contradicts what Dumbledore says about 
Voldemort being Slytherin's last remaining descendent. Assuming that he 
knows. After all, he isn't *really* omniscient. How can he possibly know?

If Dumbledore is correct, then a (full) sister poses the same problems. She 
would also be a descendent of Slytherin and so couldn't be Harry's 
grandmother.

The connection would have to be with the Muggle, Riddle side of Tom's family, 
who, not unlike the Dursleys, seem to have some problems with the wizardry 
thing, don't they ?

> 
> Another excerpt that I still wonder about is when Tom Riddle says 
> that he and Harry are:
> 
> "Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the 
> great Slytherin himself"
> 
> I've heard of recessive genes, but has it really taken 1,000 years to 
> resurface? Perhaps it's because Britain only has adders and grass 
> snakes, so that until the advent of zoos, many potential 
> parselmouths  would never come across a snake to discover their 
> skill. And yet, the way Ron says "it's not a very common gift" p 146 
> COS, seems to imply that it is not as rare as once in every 1,000 
> years would imply. Hmnn, what does this mean though? Perhaps it's an 
> example of fans examining the Potterverse too closely. I however 
> wonder if it points to some sort of time-turning between the "demise" 
> (if he did die) of Slytherin and Voldemort's birth. Alternatively, 
> perhaps this could be explained by Voldie being an ancestor not a 
> 

Ron could just be indulging in classic British understatement! :-)
Riddle does say *probably*. Given the negative connotations of being a 
Parselmouth, it's quite likely that children who knew in advance that they 
were (coming from wizarding families) kept quiet about it.
Is it also possible that if it *is* associated with the Dark Arts, families 
with Parselmouth children favoured other schools - Durmstrang, for instance?
OTOH, perhaps Parseltongue is a very rare gift indeed and has been passed 
down exclusively through the line of which Tom's mother was a descendent. 
Dumbledore explains Harry's ability as something acquired from Voldemort, 
after all.

> 
> Dumbledore plays back Harry's statement when Harry mentions Riddle 
> saying there were "strange likenesses" between Harry and Riddle - he 
> doesn't rule out a relationship here (although he does seem to rule 
> out Harry being a descendant of Slytherin by saying Voldie is the 
> 

This is very true. But I do wonder if the likenesses are emphasised to bring 
out the contrast between what Harry and Voldemort choose to do with their 
similarities.

I have a niggle of my own here. I find it very hard to believe that Slytherin 
can have only one living descendent. Surely the whole thing with genetics and 
inheritance and stuff is that your descendents increase with every passing 
generation? That's why so many people can trace themselves back to royalty. 
The only way I can see it happening (barring ruthless culling of relatives) 
is that Slytherin and his descendents operated a strict one-child policy for 
the last thousand years, which seems a bit unlikely.

Although perhaps the ruthless culling of relatives isn't so unlikely! We do 
seem to see a bit of it ! (But you can't do it too early, as you need to 
ensure an heir.)

.................................................................
On apparition

Cindy:
> So why doesn't Bertha apparate away?  

She's forgotten how? ;-)
I doubt she realised the need until it was too late

> of a tight spot before he is captured by 
> Crouch Jr. and Wormtail?  

I think Pippin's covered this with her anti-apparition charm or whatever.

> How about Crouch Jr. apparates out of the top box to freedom?  

There *must* have been some measures in place there, I think, for Sr to have 
risked letting him out. In addition his powers seem weakened by the Imperius.

> Wormtail's chances of survival are probably better if he just 
> apparates away when Sirius corners him instead of this elaborate 
> self-mutilation scheme, right?  That Wormtail *still* hasn't sorted 
> out the ins and outs of apparition when he doesn't apparate out of 
> the Shrieking Shack, preferring to sweat profusely and glance at the 
> 

Pettigrew isn't a wizard of the same order as the other Marauders. He needed 
*lots* of help to become an animagus. so perhaps he just can't. It *is* the 
obvious thing for him to do, though.

 Sirius doesn't apparate out of the Shack when Harry 
> is about to blast him either.  And Lupin and Sirius fail to apparate 
> out of Snape's clutches, preferring to take their chances with the 
> dementors, apparently.  

Sirius never *does* seem to do what would be best for him. :-)

I don't think it would occur to him in the Shack, as he had business he 
wanted to attend to and I think he was prepared to die trying (that was 
grudging admiration, BTW, Cindy, just in case you missed it). But why let 
Snape take the advantage?
> 
> Good grief!  Why did JKR even add the concept of apparating to HP if 
> she wasn't going to set up some reasonable rules governing it?  
> Yeah, we know that you can't apparate off of the Hogwarts grounds.  
> Yeah, yeah, yeah.  But what about everything else that happens away 
> 

It opens up some very big loopholes, if you ask me!

> I hope she fixes this soon, 'cause wizards aren't doing *nearly* 
> 

Do you think wizards Bang when they apparate? House elves 'pop', don't they?

Eloise
(who originally read the title of this post as 'tie dying', which confused 
her somewhat!)


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