Animagi clothes, Sirius time--line, redeemable Fred, inventing spells

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 36258

Devin wrote: 

>I still 
>think Animagi retain their wands (they certainly seem to retain 
their 
>clothes). Another question, canon is strangely silent on the state 
>of Pettigrew's clothes in PoA...is he naked?

I was re—reading "The Marauder's Map" chapter in PoA lately when I 
came across something that really puzzled me. I'd never noticed it 
before, but this time it really stood out for me. Fudge, reporting 
the Pettigrew/Black confrontation to Mme Rosmerta, says: "And Black 
standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of 
him. . . ** a heap of blood—stained robes** and a few fragments. . ."

So, Peter left his robes behind him when he transformed. * Was* he 
naked in the Shrieking Shack then? Ugh, ugh, shakes self violently 
trying to rid brain of horrible new envisioning of scene. Nope. Won't 
work. Stuck with it. Bother.

Groan. And what's more now I'm suddenly, completely unwillingly mind, 
finding myself actually feeling * sorry* for the poor little bastard. 
It's like Snape facing Moody in his nightshirt only a * thousand* 
times worse.

But what does this tell us about Animagi? Can they really not retain 
their clothes when they transform? Surely this would be most 
impractical. Horror! Sirius wasn't naked when he revealed himself at 
the end of GoF, was he? Hang on, I'll go check.

Phew! GoF, "Padfoot Returns": "Sirius was wearing ragged grey robes. 
The same ones he had been wearing when he had left Azkaban."

OK, so maybe an Animagi can either keep or loose their clothes 
depending on what suites their needs? Pettigrew wanted to leave his 
robes behind as evidence that he'd been blasted to bits, whereas 
Sirius clearly prefers to remain dressed. Or maybe a wizard can 
conjure up clothes and instantly dress himself * while* he's turning 
back into a human, sort of in the same way Dumbledore magics up 
sleeping bags or Black makes heavy manacles appear out of nowhere.

Still, this does present the Ministry wizards rather unfavourably 
intelligence wise. Unless they had an Unrippable Charm on them or 
something surely some flimsy bits of material wouldn't survive when 
the man wearing them was blasted to smithereens for crying out load! 
But I guess dim Ministry officials are less than unusual in the 
Wizarding World.

lainaf77 wondered:
>However, not only does Hagrid 
>arrive in time to rescue Harry from the rubble, Sirius loans him 
>the motorbike to deliver Harry to safety. Also, weren't 
>Dumbledore and McGonagall there?  It just seems to me that no 
>one put 2 and 2 together at the scene based on the info they 
>had. 

Dumbledore did and, really, at the time he was the only one who had 
the information to so. (Don't forget that according to Fudge it was 
not widely known that Sirius was the Potters' Secret Keeper). In the 
very first chapter of PS/SS there's one phrase that –after I knew the 
truth behind Black—always impressed me. After Hagrid tells Dumbledore 
that "young Sirius Black" lent the bike to him, Dumbledore asks 
sharply "No problems, were there?"

If you haven't read PoA this comment can easily be passed by as an 
example of the general uneasiness of those times. Voldemort has just 
fallen, wild rumours are circulating, baby Harry has only just been 
saved from certain death and then rescued from the rubbles of his 
former home. Not unreasonable to want to make sure all went smoothly 
picking him up, right?

Ah, but if you know who Black is, if you know his role in the 
tragedy, in short if you know what D. knows (or thinks he knows at 
least) then this simple question is weighed down with heavy new 
meanings. D. is alarmed that Hagrid should have met the man who he 
believes to be responsible for the nights events and who therefore 
might very probably be feeling quite drastic after his master's 
undoing and could easily have very sinister designs against Harry.

But, when he finds out all went well, he does not voice his 
suspicions right there and then. After all D. is a very fair man. He 
would want to confront Sirius himself and demand explanations, hear 
his side of the story before he went around hurdling out accusations. 
Very wise of him too. Knowing Hagrid's meagre reserves of self—
control I'd bet that if he was told Sirius was to blame he'd throw a 
fit right there in the middle of Privet Drive. Goodbye to any 
attempts at secrecy then! He'd have the whole street on it's feet in 
no time.


By the way, one thing I've always wondered. Why did Sirius tell 
Hagrid he wouldn't be needing the motorcycle any more? The only 
explanation that I can come up with is that, in a blinding rage that 
had possessed him and half unhinged by grief, he really does intend 
to murder Pettigrew. Oh, yeah, actually we know that for a fact, he 
says so at the end of PoA. So, he knew he would be caught and sent to 
Azkaban, but had no problem facing the prospect if it was necessary 
in order to avenge his friends death. He planned his imprisonment and 
of course knew that in gaol a flying motorbike would not be of much 
use to him. Fine. No questions up till now. Except that, well, all 
this doesn't fit in too well with my perception of wizarding justice 
at all. Surely in the post—Voldemort years a man would be honoured 
for bringing in a Death Eater, not hauled off to prison. Moody 
doesn't seem to have been punished for killing Rosier, does he?


Debbie pointed out a difference in the levels of mischievousness/ 
maliciousness (depending on your point of view), between Fred and 
George. 

Yeah. I've always been aware of this. Fred seems to be what you might 
call the "dominant" twin. If you look carefully Fred's usually the 
first one to speak whenever the two appear and George then follows up 
with the punch line. He's the leader and George is the follower. 
Hence it is always "Fred and George" and never "George and Fred".

One of my favourite twin moments is the end of GoF. When Harry gives 
them the bag of Galleons they don't know what to say and their 
gratitude is very obvious. Interestingly in this context the leader—
follower roles of the twins are exchanged. When they bid Harry 
goodbye it is George who does the speaking while his brother 
is "nodding fervently at his side."

Nevertheless, I do not believe that this places either one of the 
twins in a better or worse light than the other. I still think we're 
supposed to accept the two as a unit, as a single entity, much more 
than real life twins are (though by no means do I presume to be an 
expert on twin affinity. Is there anyone who actually is a twin and 
could therefore offer an enlightening perspective on F—G 
interaction?) — at the same time however it has to be felt that they 
are nonetheless individuals with separate though strongly connected 
personalities.

I think that in a way the twins have a double act going here, in the 
bounds of which each has his own function to fulfil and one that he 
is perfectly comfortable with. If this pattern were to be broken the 
act would fall apart.

In other words, though I do see differences in their individual 
behaviour I don't think this can justify a different assessment of 
their characters. They truly are, to my mind at least, Gred and 
Forge, so inextricably intertwined with each other and so much `n' 
sync it is pointless to try and say "this is how Fred is and this is 
how George is".

One last topic:

Ron Yu wrote;
>Also, Hagrid told something about wizards' not having
>invented a spell [our] Hermione can do. How do they
>invent spells, and how do they make it universal? The
>actual question is: Are spells invented? Don't all of
>them exist all along, with the latin language already
>present?


In GoF Arthur Weasley at the Quidditch World Cup points out Gilbert 
Wimple, who works for the Committee on Experimental Charms (he's the 
one with the horns). This would indicate that spells are in fact 
invented by wizards. My understanding of this is that it is not the 
word (latin or otherwise) or even the wand that produces the magical 
effect. These are merely are condensing mechanisms, controlling tools 
of sorts that allow the witch or wizard to force the magical energy 
inside them to obey the command of their brain instead of having it 
go haywire and blowing up aunts left, right and centre. 

So it is that Dumbledore can perform magic without the use of a wand. 
He is such a powerful wizard and has such a superb control over his 
magic, it is but a superfluous accessory for him most of the time.

According to this idea, magic is something that presides inside the 
witch or wizard but which they have to learn how to manipulate 
properly. Therefore, not only does magic (as is obvious) really need 
teaching, but the theory of it is necessary as well, (Canon does 
mention this) * and* spells need to be invented. The members of 
Committee are in a way experimenting with * themselves*. Seeing how 
best to work their magic in order to force it to reach the exact 
desired result.

Sorry is this theory has been discussed or is in fact self—evident to 
anyone. I at least have never come across it before.

Charis Julia.

Oh, one more thing!

Jloveus wrote:
>I heard there was something 
>wrong with the order in which the people came out of the 
>wand in the Priori Incantatem sequence - that Harry's dad 
>came out first.  However, in my version (she says after 
>checking) It says Lily comes out first and she says to 
>Harry that his father's coming now (or something to that 
>effect).  Looking at the inside cover, it says I have a 
>second edition, so maybe whatever it was was changed before 
>I got mine.  


I bought my copy in September 2000 and –one sec to make sure—yes, it 
is first edition. In "Priori Incantatem" it says:

". . . knew, because the man appearing from the wand was the one he's 
thought about more than any other tonight. . . 

The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell to the ground as 
Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him. . .and Harry, 
his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his 
father. 

"Your mother's coming. . ." he said quietly. "She wants to see 
you. . . it will be all right. . . hold on . . ."

And then Lily appears.

Yeah, JKR slipped there initially. But, hey, she got the rest of that 
horrendously complicated plot right, so I think I'll let her off this 
one. ;-)

Besides, I like this version more. It somehow * fits* better for