Krum, Quidditch, NEWTs, Fleur, and More

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49512

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bluesqueak <pipdowns at e...>"
<pipdowns at e...> wrote:

Pip!Squeak
> 
> ...edited... in GoF it's  stated that Champions were exempt from end
> of year tests anyway. In the British WW, this would have meant 
> Cedric didn't have to take his  NEWTS. 
> 
> ... edited... This implies that having been School Champion is more 
> prestigious on your job application forms than even the highest 
> grade NEWTS. 
> -end this part-

bboy_mn:
I never thought about N.E.W.T.s. Thinking about test like this,
qualifications test, in the Muggle world, they are usually give at the
school and by the school, but they are not actually part of the
school. They are a national standard test. I guess to a limited extent
we could compare them to SAT, which here in the US are used as college
entrance test (sort of). I'm not sure how the 'O'-levels and
'A'-levels work in England, but I would suspect that it is similar to
what I described above. It is a national standardized test that is
given by the school but the administration and certification come from
a higher body.

What am I getting at? Well, I don't think you can get out of OWLs and
NEWTs. They are your qualifications and certifications, and they are
administered by a higher authority than the school. So I would guess
the getting out of year end tests meant that you got out of your
various class exams, but not the separate national qualifications
exams. Although, Cedric's might have been postponed until the next year. 

That's just a guess, but it seems reasonable. ...at least to me.
-bboy_mn - end this part-

> 
> > Bboy_mn originally said:
> > Fleur at Hogwarts-
> > I think she will be there but I'm not sure in what capacity. ... 
> > ... ... However, her goal is to improve her English, so she may 
> > take on an unpaid position as a teaching assistant. 

Pip!Squeak added:
> 
> Judging by her selection of spells for the Triwizard Tournament (a 
> sleeping charm or something for the dragon, and a Bubblehead Charm 
> in the Second Task), Fleur's speciality is Charms, not DADA.
> -end this part- 


BBOY_MN: 
I agree, that probably would be her area of talent, although she
didn't do to well against the Grindelows which would have only
required knowledge of a charm. She could have been sufficiently caught
off quard and over powered that she didn't have much of a chance to
defend herself.
-end this part-

> 
> The WW has no universities. This *possibly* means that they might 
> use the Victorian 'pupil teacher' method of teacher training. In 
> this method a student teacher still attends higher level lessons or 
> is given one to one training by the 'trained' teacher, but is 
> expected to take some of the lower level classes themselves (under 
> supervision).
> ...edited...
>-end this part-


bboy_mn comments:
Sounds like you are describing graduate school, or at least the way it
works here in the US. You go back and study that same classes, pay
twice as much for those same classes, and this time you are expect to
actually learn the subject, not just pass the test. Plus most grad
student teach the intro classes. Proof that you know what you are
talking about is being able to teach it to someone else.
-end this part-

> 
> Bboy originally said:
> > Her presents certainly does complicate the Harry/Ron/Hermione/Krum
> > quadrangle. 
> > -end this part-

Pip!Squeak responded:
> 
> How would Fleur come into contact with Harry? 
> ...edited...
> -end this part-

bboy_mn comments:
The geometry of relationships that I see is so complex that it's hard
to describe it as a love triangle or quadrangle. Basically, I see
everyone in infatuated or appearing to be infatuated with the wrong
person and too distracted to see the person who is infatuated with them.

Ron will be jealous of Harry because Hermione pays him too much
attention. Krum will also be jealous of Harry, but Ron will also be
jealous of Krum. Harry on the other hand will continue to pine for
Cho, and Ron despite his affection for Hermione will not be able to
control his teen lust for Fleur. Then there is Ginny who is also
infatuated with Harry, but I suspect someone else is infatuated with
Ginny (perhaps Colin or Neville). Cho will seek solace in someone
else, and that will make Harry jealous. Although, I think at some
point, Harry and Cho will have a reconciliation, and realize that they
are both mourning the samething, and that will bring them to comfort
and understand each other, but a relationship built around comforting
grief is pretty much doomed. 

I think this is how JKR will explore teen relationship; not a though a
lot of snogging in the bushes.

The threat of Voldemort in the next book is going to be overshadowed
by a steaming cauldron of teenage angst. But in the end, it will all
work out and they will part friends, each with the person they belong
with.

But that's just my opinion.
-bboy_mn - end this part-


Pip!Squeak continues:
> 
> So pupil teacher Fleur might also perhaps help out in, say, the 
> French conversation club. Since she's part Veela, and hormones are 
> likely to be rampant in Book 5, I can easily see Harry and Ron 
> developing a sudden desire to learn French.
> 
> Support for this theory comes from the fact that JKR trained to 
> teach French, and would have absolutely no problem writing scenes 
> partly in French...
> 
> Pip!Squeak

bboy_mn:

Don't all teen boy develop a sudden interest in French ;).

Off on a tangent, you are right about clubs and extracurricular
activities. It seems that things do go on in the evening at Hogwarts.
But it is only vaguely mentioned during the time when students were
restricted to the house dorms and common rooms. 

I agree the reason we don't see these is because we see through
Harry's eye and his dominating extracurricular activity is Quidditch.
But there has to be a chess club. Is there any school in the UK that
doesn't have a chess club? Perhaps even more than one? There are
hundreds of private junior, teen, and adult chess clubs in the UK,
certainly there must be wizard's chess clubs and lots of them. 

I keep thinking that, at some point, it will be chess that becomes
Ron's claim to lifetime fame and fortune. McGonagall invites him to
join or start a chess club. He demonstrate that the challenge and
defeat of the McGonagall Philosopher's Stone chess set was no fluke,
and the he really is a brilliant chess player. That leads to playing
Tournement chess. If you read my fiction, although I doubt that you
would, Ron is both the European and World Wizard's Chess Champion.
(For reference, G25,000 for the European prize and G150,000 for the
World prize. x5=£, x7.2=$)

Not sure what that has to do with anything, but when you mentioned it,
it really caught my attension that we don't see much for evening
activities other than homework. There really has to be something to
keep these kids occupied besides homework.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn