Snape / Bowman Wright / Ron / Molly / Gred&Forge /

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 35957

Dogberry wrote:

> I belive part of Snape's problem is that no one really respects
> him, no really looks up to him,

It seems to me that McGonagall and the other permanent teachers 
respect him as a colleague and Dumbledore respects him as a fighter 
for the Good side, and I imagine that his Slytherins idolise him.

Beth jillily3g wrote:

> Bowman Wright ("a skilled metal-charmer"), who invented the Golden
> Snitch, also lived in Godric's Hollow.

It has been speculated (this is a long chain of what-ifs) that 1) 
James and Lily hid out in Godric's Hollow because it was the Potter 
ancestral village (but the famed 'additional scene' in the movie 
showed them living in a MUGGLE HOUSE in Godric's Hollow), 2) and 
therefore the Potters could be descended from someone who lived in 
Godric's Hollow 600 years earlier, and 3) so maybe the Potter fortune 
was inherited from Bowman Wright, and 4) and maybe Harry's excessive 
ability as Seeker was an inherited relationship to the Snitch 
that Bowman Wright had invented.

(I used http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/ to find a citation 
for the JKR quote: 
http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/October_2000_Live_Chat_Americ
a_Online.htm says "Q:What did James and Lily Potter do when they were 
alive? A: Well, I can't go into too much detail, because you're going 
to find out in future books. But James inherited plenty of money, so 
he didn't need a well-paid profession. You'll find out more about 
both Harry's parents later.")

Elkins wrote:

> JKR, in spite of her apparent distaste for divination, nonetheless
> seems to enjoy giving her characters apt sun signs (Hermione the 
> Virgo, Harry the Leo, Ron the Taurus, and so forth).   

Ron seems like an Taurus to me, but JKR stated that his birthday is 
March 1, which is Pisces. If it were March *31*, he would be an Aries, 
which I could believe: he has a temper.

(http://www.comicrelief.com/harrysbooks/pages/transcript3.shtml "Q: 
When is Ron's Birthday? A: First of March, in case you're thinking of 
sending him a card and Hermione is the nineteenth of September.")

Debbie elfundeb wrote:

> I sense that in the Weasley family, the squeaky wheel gets the oil,
> with the result that Percy draws attention to himself by his 
> accomplishments, the twins draw (negative) attention to themselves 
> through their mischief, and Ginny is a natural attention getter as 
> the youngest and only girl. Ron is lost in the chaos.  

Yes! There are certain things in Book 1 that troubled me the first 
time I read it and every time since.  "She always forgets I don't 
like corned beef." "Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding 
up a pasty. "Go on --" "You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. 
"She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of 
us." Ron is very loyally making excuses for his mother but IMHO she 
needs excuses. It seems to me that JKR intends to portray Molly as a 
very lovable good person and her relationship with Ron as warm and 
loving, but she does these things that just seem like she doesn't 
care much about Ron, and like she doesn't do her homemaker job very 
well... She's only making *four* to-go lunches, even if they all have 
to be the same kind of sandwiches, even if they have to be whatever 
was on sale cheap or leftover whether or not the kids like it, how 
could she not have enough time to put an anti-dessication charm (or 
Saran Wrap Spell) on the sannies? 

> Debbie wrote:
> the dress robes (has Molly really not figured out that Ron hates 
> maroon?),  

As for the dress robes, I feel confident that Ron would have rather 
had new and severely-styled maroon dress robes than quaint antique 
dress robes with lace in his choice of color. Molly *did* explain to 
Ron that she didn't have a lot of second-hand dress robes in his size 
to choose among, and she couldn't afford to buy new... we didn't hear 
about what kind of second-hand dress robes Percy, the twins, and 
Ginny ended up with... 

Adrienne goddessa replied to Debbie: 

> With seven kids... I'm not too surprised. Can you imagine keeping 
> track of all the different favorite colors, favorite foods, 
> favorite whatevers?

Why not? I don't have children, but I can recite off the favorite 
colors of a long list of my friends, and remember who's allergic to 
mushrooms. Those kids are her JOB, she should know them as well as I 
know the databases of the system that I support at MY job. 

Leon adatole wrote:

> Despite their reputation for being troublemakers, they have avoided 
> being expelled or even reprimanded (except from their mother). 

They haven't been expelled, but they have been caught by Filch on 
occasion, and I assume they were reprimanded and probably given 
detentions on those occasions. 

PoA: "Well... when we were in our first year, Harry -- young, 
carefree, and innocent --" Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and 
George had ever been innocent. "Well, more innocent than we are now 
-- we got into a spot of bother with Filch." "We let off a Dungbomb
in the corridor and it upset him for some reason --" "So he hauled us 
off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -- 
detention, disembowelment, and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in 
one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. 
"Don't tell me --" said Harry, starting to grin." 

CoS: "Harry had never been inside Filch's office before; it was a 
place most students avoided. The room was dingy and windowless, lit
by a single oil lamp dangling from the low ceiling. A faint smell of 
fried fish lingered about the place. Wooden filing cabinets stood 
around the walls; from their labels, Harry could see that they 
contained details of every pupil Filch had ever punished. Fred and 
George Weasley had an entire drawer to themselves."