[HPforGrownups] Harry's watch

[Morgan D.]

No: HPFGUIDX 52747

JenD noted:

> Hey, this may throw a monkey wrench into all this watch debate but 
> Mrs. Weasley has a watch in GoF!!! Wonder what kind that was.... 
> Hermione has one too but shouldn't that be a Muggle watch? It seems 
> to work alright enough at Hogwarts!!! 

I never thought much about anyone's watches until Hermione presented us
the "no Muggle substitutes for magic in Hogwarts" concept (GoF ch 28).
Molly, Fudge, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, all of them are mentioned to
have watches at some point. I first had assumed the wizards would have
magical watches, muggles would have muggle watches, and only the gods
would know what kind of watches the muggle-borns would have. But after
GoF ch 28, I got very confused about the whole thing. 

It's probably unimportant. OTOH, with JKR, we never know.

Then JenD wondered:

> But more to the point, what is 
> the point of Harry's watch in GoF? After his trip to the bottom of 
> the lake, this non-working watch is mentioned at least two more 
> times. That always struck me as odd. Any ideas? 

I was puzzled about it as well. Especially because of the timing.
GoF ch 26 - Harry's watch stops working
GoF ch 27 - Harry wears his broken watch to go meet Sirius
GoF ch 28 - Hermione reveals electronics and such don't work at
Hogwarts

I kept wondering if there was some connection, couldn't find anything
logical.

Couldn't find any reason why Harry would keep wearing a broken watch
either, unless it had some sentimental value. It doesn't seem to be the
case though.

I found intriguing how Harry never checked the time during the second
task -- a task when time was crucial. "He swam on for what felt like at
least twenty minutes." (GoF ch 26) Why didn't he check the watch? He'll
only look at it much later, after rescuing Ron, and THEN he finds out
it's not working. I couldn't figure why JKR would include a watch in
two scenes (the second task and the meeting with Sirius) just to tell
us it was broken. Maybe one time was okay, but twice? What was the
point? 

Does all this sound too much like I'm into Conspiracy-Theory mode?
Well, I probably am. ^__^ I've even wondered if the judges didn't lie
about the time, or if Barty Jr didn't manipulated the results somehow
-- if Harry doesn't know the time for sure, it means we don't either.
Maybe Cedric did manage to go back within an hour? Maybe he should have
granted more points than he was? Maybe Cedric should have entered the
maze first, alone?

However, I have no effective theory to present. And I can't think of a
reason why we wouldn't have heard of all the manipulations over the
Tournament's results already. Can you?

Morgan D.
Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

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