Marcus FLINTs

[prefectmarcus]

No: HPFGUIDX 39660

I am starting PoA again.  I ran into a whole bunch of questions just 
in chapter #5, "The Dementor," that bother me.

#1 What is the deal with the Hogwart's Express ticket?  Harry only 
needs one in the first book.  Do only first years need them?  If so, 
what purpose do they serve.  (I am sure this has been asked before.  
I am curious as to the concensus, if any.)

#2 Trunks.  Harry and Ron drop off their trunks at the mostly empty 
last carriage, then hang around on the platform.  They then board the 
train and search for a compartment.  They finally find the very last 
compartment empty except for Lupin.  No mention is made of trunks 
between dropping them off at the carriage and the sneakoscope going 
off.  How did they get to the compartment?  Would they have just left 
little Ginny to manhandle her trunk by herself?  Are there Train-
elves?

#3 Side question.  Why does Harry almost invariably arrive at the 
last minute and has to take the very last compartment?

#4 The compartment is specifically mentioned as the last one in the 
carriage of the very last carriage of the train, yet later we see 
that "People were chasing backward and forward past the door of their 
compartment."  How is that possible if it is the last compartment on 
the train?

#5 When Harry comes to, he finds Ron and Herminone kneeling next to 
him and somebody is calling "Harry!  Harry!  Are you all right?"  The 
other people in the compartment are Ginny, Neville, and Prof. Lupin.  
Yet later it seems a big mystery that Lupin knows Harry's name.  Why?

#6 The peeling letters of "Professor" R. J. Lupin.  No definitive 
answer, but it is possible that only "R. J. Lupin" is 
peeling.  "Professor" has been added just recently and not very well.

#7 Why doesn't the Dementor extinguish Lupin's hand-flame?

#8 (Later in the book) Why is Lupin's Boggart a silvery-white orb?  
The moon is a sphere that is lit on one side and is in shadow on the 
other.  That is why it waxes and wanes.  If Lupin was truly afraid of 
the full moon, wouldn't the boggart take the form of an orb that is 
half-lit, and half-dark?  If that be the case, it would be difficult 
for the students to mistake it as a crystal ball.

Things so far which are not FLINTs or don't require TOUCHEs:

Anything relying upon somebody saying something.

Mr. Weasley mentions to Molly that Ron and Harry have ended up in the 
forest twice before.  He is having an argument with his wife about a 
very emotional topic.  You can't expect him to be dead-on precise 
under those circumstances.

Ron and Hermione not being able to bring Harry some butter-beer but 
Lupin has it available in bottle form.  R&H could have had a number 
of reasons for not being able to bring any to Harry.  A few 
suggestions:  They were already overloaded.  The store closed before 
they could get some.  The bottled-beer was out of stock.  They ran 
out of money.  They could have meant to, forgot to, remembered too 
late, and then "improved" the truth by telling Harry they couldn't 
bring any. 

Feedback anybody?

Cheers!  :)

Marcus