Marcus FLINTs

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 39682

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Disclaimer: These answers are not necessarily built on canon. I declaim 
all responsability over those who decide not to read this disclaimer
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SlytherinPrefectMarcus wrote:
> 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.)

We can asume, as with Harry's vault key, that it *is* there (possibly 
comes included in the letter anouncing the school year with the books, 
etc.), but that JKR is already packed too many things into the books as 
it is and, since it is a pretty minor detail, she just skipped it.
 
Strangely enough, I don't remember this ever having been discussed.

> #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?

(Going at this the wrong way). Yes, there must be some form of "train 
elf" (although not necessarily elves), since the trunks unload 
themselves and take themselves to the correct bedroom. Ginny could've 
had needed help to get his trunk up, but the twins were around to heklp 
her, aren't they? (like they helped Harry in the first book). I don't 
understand what the difficulty in getting to the compartment is.
 
> #3 Side question.  Why does Harry almost invariably arrive at the 
> last minute and has to take the very last compartment?

There always seems to be a series of circumstances that make it be so. 
By experience, however, I know that people tend to look for familiarity 
so, even if they arrived early, they would gravitate to that 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?

Some trains have compartments and rows of seats. Since we're talking 
about a (modified) steam-train here, it is almost sure it is this way 
(I know three or four steam trains and they all had compartments and 
rows of seats). Since I'd imagine that people would tend to select 
conpartments, those rows of seats would be empy and they would be a 
great place to run around
 
> #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?

Why is still a mystery that everyone knows Harry's name? Is not as if 
he was *famous* or anything, is he?
 
<snip 6: abundant thread on the topic>

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

a) It's created by a special magic that Dementors cannot extinghuish. 
b) Lupin is feeding it magic continously
c) Once the Dementor has made a grand entrance, he has to go out and 
back in before he can extinguish all lights again
d)...
 
> #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.

It's a conceptualization of Lupin's fears. If he thinks abut a vaguely 
circular shining orb in the sky as the moon, that's exactly what he 
gets. I doubt the Bogart knows astronomy well enough to get it right. 
Oh, and the "crystal ball" was enough: I gussed Lupin was a werewolof 
with that clue... but than again, I'm always looking for werewolves, 
being the wolf I am :-)
 
> Cheers!  :)
> 
> Marcus

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf