under their robes / treating House Elves like vermin / Harry's priorities

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 74970

Snape's mate wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/74605 :

<< I still say if you are going flying on a broom, you need something 
under those robes or it would get mighty breezey! Also, you would 
have very little "mystery" left about you... LOL! I noticed the 
Quidditch teams had the good sense to wear trousers with their 
uniforms! >>

The trousers, jumpers, knee pads, etc of the Quidditch uniforms were 
invented by the movie. In Quidditch Through the Ages, there is a
crude drawing from JKR's own hand (she can draw better than that!) of 
a Quidditch Keeper doing the Stick and Starfish manuver. The player 
is wearing ONLY A ROBE. The robe in the drawing appears to be slit at 
the sides, but to me that doesn't make sense: they should be slit in 
the front and back, to make way for the broomstick. 

I get concerned about playing Quidditch in robes (regardless of 
what's under the robes or where they're slit) for fear that the robe 
would fly over the player's face during a dive or such manuver, and 
temporarily blind him/her. I have been supposing that the robes stay 
down because a Charm has been cast on them, but I just now got the 
idea that the Quidditch robes have a hole rather than a slit for the 
broomstick, so the broomstick itself is holding the robes down ... 
that wouldn't apply to people who are flying around in their ordinary 
robes ... 

Allyson wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/74615 :

<< On the other hand, maybe wizard have their own underwear styles?! 
>>

Old Archie liked a healthy breeze around his privates, so his 
underwear style was either nothing, or robes under robes under robes, 
for warmth. I fantasize that that style was in effect long enough to 
include Dumbledore, McGonagall, Arthur and Molly. And I fantasize 
that the style for Our Heroes and as old as Tonks is Muggle-style 
undies. Before the Pensieve scene's implication that Severus (and 
presumably his age-mates) wore Muggle-style drawers, I had fantasized 
that MWPP's generation wore a different style of underwear, with 
knee-length drawers tied at each knee, and chemises instead of 
t-shirts (woven fabric instead of knitted, and gathered at the 
neckline like "peasant blouse") (except I keep imagining the girls in 
camisoles). 

I had an elaborate fantasy that this unique style was started by a 
smash hit wizarding play in which a superstar witch actress appeared 
wearing such garments (the script called for an intruder in her 
bedroom while she was dressing, and the costume designer invented 
something for her to wear in a state of undress so the play wouldn't 
have a scandalous nude scene).

Steve bboy_mn wrote:

<< Remember what Dobby said, that in the heyday of Voldemort's first 
reign, house-elves were treated like vermin. Have you really stopped 
and tried to understand the full impact of that statement. Let me 
give you a hint. When we were young we used to go out to the city 
dump, and shoot rats for the fun of it. In that vein, I can see 
wizards elf hunting or for target practice while they learn spells or 
torturing them just for the sport of it. That's what it means to be 
treated like vermin. >>

I've had a problem with that statement from Dobby for years. It 
seems to me that wizards who aren't sadists and/or don't have extra 
House Elves compared to the amount of work that needs doing wouldn't 
torture and kill their House Elves just because it was 'legal' 'or 
'socially accepted' or 'fashionable' -- LV was never so DEEP IN POWER 
that he passed a law making it COMPULSORY to torture and kill House 
Elves ... And it seems to me that people like Malfoys, who like to 
abuse their House Elves, wouldn't stop just because LV was OUT OF 
POWER: even with LV OUT OF POWER, no one did anything to stop the 
abuse. Of course, the question here is whether the Ministry would 
have done something if the abuser had been an ordinary wizard (to the 
extent that an ORDINARY WIZARD could have a House Elf) rather than a 
Malfoy....

Jen AccioSirius (great name!) wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/74867 :

<< In Chapter 2, pg.35 (U.S.), I believe it's Vernon who says, "--a 
peck, I mean, pack of owls shooting in and out of my house and I 
won't have it, boy, I won't--". OK, why would he switch from saying 
the right phrase for a group of owls to the wrong phrase? >>

Is a "peck" the right word for a group of owls? I looked up 'peck' on 
One-Look Dictionary and didn't found any mention of a group word for 
owls (and don't have a personal copy of An Exultation of Larks to 
look up "owl" in), only a unit of dry measure and a colloquial word 
for a large quantity of (e.g. a peck of trouble), and the verb "to 
peck". The verb seems relevant, as Hedwig (example owl) pecks Harry 
affectionately when she's pleased with him, and pecked Ron and 
Hermione quite hard when Harry directed her to MAKE THEM WRITE better 
letters.

Lee dee dolly wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/74920 :

<< (I love Harry by the way, but Hermione is right about him needing 
to put his studies first.) >>

Should he put his studies before defeating Lord Voldemort? I agree 
that he doesn't much care for school and procrastinates with no 
excuse, but his DA club and his Occulumancy lessons are valid parts 
of the struggle against LV, and Quidditch may be a better preparation 
for his future career than schoolwork is. I know that not all the 
Muggle boys who are sports stars in high school get into the big 
leagues, but Oliver Wood did, and canon strongly hints that Harry is 
a better player (different position) than Oliver.