Forbidden Forest/Hermione's Age

[Bernadette M. Crumb]

No: HPFGUIDX 39747


----- Original Message -----
From: "datalaur" <datalaur at yahoo.com>


> Even given that Harry is allowed to do risky things, isn't it
pretty
> odd about that night detention in HPSS?  I mean, they *know*
unicorns
> are being killed and wouldn't they guess the blood's being
drunk due
> to some portion of it being missing?

Well, did they do an autopsy on the beast to determine how much
blood was taken?  I doubt it.  And I doubt that Hagrid knows
about the darker uses of unicorn blood... after all, he only got
into his Third year...

>What with the Stone at
> Hogwarts... Isn't it very odd that Hagrid splits them up,
sending off
> Harry and Malfoy?  Harry was in real danger of being killed...
or was
> he?  (Surely Malfoy was in no danger from his father's Master.)
Was
> the centaur's appearance fortuitous, or was he "on guard"?

I kind of like the idea that the Firenze was on guard, but I
think the splitting up thing comes from a misjudgement by
Hagrid... I don't think that Hagrid can be a good judge of a
level of danger to the kids... Hagrid made a mistake by splitting
them up like that, assuming that all would be okay as long as
there were at least two of them together.  Frankly, I think that
Malfoy's cutting and running was the smartest thing he does in
the entire book.  I kept thinking, "For God's sake, Harry, get to
your feet and MOVE!" during that whole sequence.

>This
> whole scene is very confusing because we are to believe in
either
> deliberate risk-taking by Dumbledore (to what end?) or that no
one
> could figure out why someone would be killing unicorns.  Even
so the
> Forest is very dangerous... why make 2 first years to go off on
their
> own, in the dark, without even Hagrid's protection?  Suppose
they had
> run into Aragog or something similar?

Again, Hagrid feels safe with Aragog, and his size and bulk make
creatures less of a threat to him... he's just not able to really
see that others aren't so "fortunate."  (see the recent posts
about Hagrid trusting too much and his innate lack of common
sense and caution.)

> What if any is the significance of Voldemort's spirit passing
thru
> Harry and knocking him out, in HPSS?  Or was that just the
movie?
> Sorry don't have a book handy to check.

Hmmm. I don't recall it being in the book, although it was a cool
scene... My impression was that it was a last ditch attempt by
Voldie to try to kill Harry... the implication of the shot of
Harry holding the Philosopher's stone is that if he hadn't been
holding it, he probably would have died from Voldie passing
through him... Since Harry fainted in the book as Quirrell pulled
away from him, we don't actually know what the spirit Voldie may
or may not have done to him.  It would be interesting to see if
the idea for that bit in the film was a director's/scriptwriter's
idea, or something given to them by JKR herself...

> There was some discussion about the kids' age the other day.  I
> couldn't read it all, but doesn't Hermione have to be
significantly
> older than Harry, since he got his Hogwarts letter on his 11th
> birthday, which was not too long before he actually left for
school?

Actually, his first letter arrived at least a week before he
turned 11.  For all we know, all the letters were sent out at
that time to all the children scheduled to attend that fall.
Just because he didn't actually get to hang onto the letter until
Hagrid delivered that last one to him directly on his birthday,
doesn't mean that it proves that Hermione got her notification
the day she turned eleven.

> For Hermione to know all she knew, didn't she have to have a
lot more
> time to 1) deal with the news that she was a witch and that
there was
> a school and 2) do all that studying / learn to do spells?  To
me,
> assuming she also got her letter on her 11th birthday, she had
to be
> at least 6 months older than Harry, if not nearly a year, to
learn
> all that stuff.

According to books, Hermione's birthday is in September, and
specifically, September 19th according to an interview by JKR...
but she didn't give the year.  (See the HP Lexicon).  I,
personally, feel that Hermione is nearly 12 by the time she
actually attends Hogwarts, but there are as many arguments
against it as for it.  See the Lexicon for an interesting essay
on the subject... I don't necessarily agree with its conclusions,
but it's a well written piece.

I can't fairly compare her emotional/mental/physical maturity
with mine at that age because I was a horribly late bloomer... I
had Hermione-like brains, but no emotional control and people
assumed I was two or three years younger than I really was
because of my physical development at the time.  Going by what
I'm seeing of my daughter's classmates, that was well outside the
norm (and may have contributed to many of my Hermione-like
behaviors during my teens!)  Emma Watson was younger than the
other child actors and Hermione in the film appears younger than
the others, but that isn't the proof we need.  The books just
don't say and all I have to go with is my gut feeling.

><(I thought students aren't allowed to do magic
> outside Hogwarts... how did Hermione the Muggleborn learn to do
> spells - like the repair of Harry's glasses, on the train -
before
> she came to Hogwarts?

Well, I'm of the opinion that she headed to Diagon Alley for her
books the moment she got her letter and read them thoroughly.
Perhaps she asked permission to "practice" in private, away from
other Muggle eyes. Maybe the Underage magic rule doesn't actually
affect the Muggleborns until they've attended school... any
practicing might have been registered with the MOM as
"accidental" magic... We really don't know, though, since we
don't know the procedures that the Wizard world has for
introducing the Muggleborns into their new heritage.

I'm sure all of this has been covered in the past on this list,
but it's nice to look at them again to see if there are any new
fresh perspectives brought in by the newer members of the list.

Bernadette

"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved."
- Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, 1862