Voldemort's goal / Dursley Gifts / Dumbledore's watch

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 46401

Melody wrote:

<< We know he wants to be immortal and take over the world, but 
obviously, he does not want to rule just over a few still alive 
wizards. >>

Personally, I think Voldemort is loony enough that he DOES want to 
rule over only a few survivors. A few survivors in what Marina called 
"just enough territory to indulge his Evil Overlord tendencies and to 
make sure that nobody else bothers him" sounds about right.

Huzzah, Ani anakinbester! Your post about Voldemort the psychopath 
not even knowing what he wants is perfect!

Maureen Amber Hillcrest wrote:

<< I am wondering how the Dursleys got the gifts to Hogarts in the 
first place. They wouldn't use Owl Post because they don't like magic 
and even if they didn't feel that way, they don't even have an Owl 
with which to send anything. They can't use regular mail because as 
Hermione explained, any Muggle who looks at Hogwarts will just see an 
abandoned house. >>

Some people, as Acire posted, believe that Hedwig goes to the 
Dursleys and pesters them until they give her something to take back 
to Harry.  This is possible: Hedwig is clever, as shown in the scene 
Acire mentioned, where she brings Harry his present from Hermione at 
the beginning of PoA. "She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked 
extremely pleased with herself." Besides the parcel, a note from 
Hermione: "I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know 
how I was going to send this to you -- what if they'd opened it at 
customs? -- but then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make 
sure you got something for your birthday for a change."

~*~*~Oryomai~*~*~ already stated what *I* think: that there is a 
whole system for Muggles (e.g. parents of Hogwarts students) to send 
mail to wizards (e.g. their children at school). I think there is a 
mailing address, possibly the top floor of the book shop next door to 
The Leaky Cauldron, to which they send the mail by regular post. Some 
wizard (maybe Tom the bartender, maybe an Owl Post employee) collects 
that mail daily and brings it to the Owl Post Office on Diagon Alley, 
where the cover envelopes are removed. Inside each cover envelope is 
the real envelope with the real address on it AND some money to pay 
for the Owl Post. The money is Muggle money, but the Owl Post changes 
it to wizard money at Gringotts periodically.

I admit it's hard to believe that the Dursleys would spend more than 
$0.37 to send Harry a present, so I think whoever suggested the 
following is right: the letter from Dumbledore told the Dursleys that 
they had to give Harry birthday and Christmas presents (but didn't
say that the 'present' had to be more than a used kleenex) or else 
Horrible Things would happen. The letter specified presents, along 
with much else, because presents are part of being treated as a 
family member, therefore required to activate the Ancient Magic that 
protects Harry while he is in his relatives' care.

Julie A Strangfeld wrote:

<< Dumbledore looks at his watch and sees that Hagrid is late. A lot 
of us assume that somehow Harry has been added to this mysterious 
watch. So when the MOM was combing the countryside for Harry, did 
Dumbledore know he was on the bus heading for London? Did he send 
Fudge there? Did Dumbledore not see that Harry was being watched by 
Sirius? Perhaps it didn't list Harry in danger because Sirius meant 
no harm? >>

Why do people assume that Dumbledore's watch is like the Weasleys' 
living room clock in having people's names on the hands and 
conditions around the dial? We know that not all wizarding clocks are 
like that: the Weasleys' kitchen clock has IIRC one hand and the 
'numbers' are things like Time For Tea and Time To Feed The Chickens 
(and You're Late, which I admit is a condition).

Canon of Dumbledore's watch (from chapter one, book one): "It was a 
very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little 
planets were moving around the edge." I think it was an astrological 
or astronomical depiction of the skies at the present moment, from 
which any devout amateur astronomer could tell the time. 

And he knew Hagrid was late because he had set a *time* for Hagrid to 
arrive.

If Dumbledore's watch is an astrological watch, with the Earth at the 
center and the planets orbitting it, the twelve hands could represent 
the 12 Houses and move in accordance with the watch's latitude as 
well as the Earth's rotation. Thus the watch could tell him where he 
is as well as what time it is.

If it is an astronomical watch, with the Sun at the center and the 
Earth one of the orbitting planets (presumably with the Moon making 
epicycles arond it), I don't know what the twelve hands represent. At 
first, I thought that the hands were physically carrying the little 
planets on their journey around the edge, but someone showed me how 
that was a wrong assumption, but I don't remember why it was wrong.