OoP: Inheritance, Snape's garments, Dementors, Pensieves, and Silver

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 66705

*sacrificial spoiler-free line*

At 1:30 PM +0000 7/1/03, phoenixmum wrote:
>Given that the house has been the headquarters of the Order,
>and that Kreacher knows too much for it to be safe for him to go into
>service for these relations, I wondered if, as a safeguard, Sirius
>would have willed the property to either Harry, as the one he cares
>most about, someone in the Order like Lupin (who could use the
>money/living accomadations, and also a "brother" of sorts), or to
>someone like Tonks, if it would need to be a blood relation, albeit a
>distant one, for Kreacher to transfer loyalty. Sirius could have made
>a will a long time before, when the Harry was a baby and Voldemort
>was not yet defeated,  or more recently.  The time frame could affect
>who he selected to inherit.

If we discover that Sirius has never made a will, I'm going to be 
highly disappointed in him, although that sort of overconfidence 
isn't entirely out of character.  I would have hoped that everyone 
who was in the first incarnation of the Order of the Phoenix would 
have made out their wills, just in case - after all, if there's any 
possibility that how have in your possession something important to 
the Order when the Death Eaters get the drop on you, you want it to 
go to safe hands.

If Sirius did make out a will then, and hasn't changed it since 
leaving Azkaban, I would imagine it names the other Magical 
Mischief-Makers - James, Lupin, and Peter - as heirs, as he wouldn't 
want it to return to his family and his brother might well still have 
been living when he wrote it.  As Peter is still legally dead, Lupin 
would likely inhert the property.

If Sirius made out a will more recently, it probably names Harry as 
his heir, although Lupin is still a possibility, as is Tonks (or 
possibly her mother, Andromeda).  If Harry were to inherit the 
property, though, we would then have him faced with the moral dilemma 
of owning a house-elf.  Hermione might well not speak to him for days.


At 5:39 AM +0000 7/1/03, phoebesophia wrote:
>In GoF -- the chapter in which Harry is caught in the
>disappearing step and drops the egg -- Severus appears wearing a grey
>nightshirt.  Suddenly I am struck that the two times dear Severus's,
>um . . . lingerie, is mentioned we discover it is grey.  Perhaps he
>simply won't wear light colors?

Perhaps he does his own laundry - doesn't trust the house-elves to 
get the potion-stains out - and doesn't separate his whites from 
everything else.  White underwear washed with, say, black jeans will 
turn grey after one washing.

Or perhaps he's in mourning for someone.  Granted, it's difficult to 
stay in mourning for over 20 years, but people have done it.

Also, in reference to the greasy hair - those of you blessed with 
good hair will perhaps never understand this, but it is possible to 
have hair so naturally oily that even if it is carefully washed in 
the morning, it's still greasy-looking by evening.  Humidity (such as 
a damp dungeon) and wet heat (such as a room full of simmering 
potions cauldrons) will exacerbate the problem.  Assuming that Snape 
is not vain enough to spend every spare minute combing Artemis's 
Anti-Oil Elixir through his hair, greasy locks may be the best he can 
manage.  We've never heard Harry complain about him smelling rank, 
and Harry takes every opportunity to complain about Snape that he 
can, so I doubt the issue is that he doesn't wash it.


At 7:56 PM +0200 7/1/03, Carolin Mönkemeyer wrote, concerning Dementors:
>But even created creatures , or those which seem likely to be created, are
>mentioned in "Fantastic beasts", e.g. the Quintapeds or the Acrumatula....
>
>There must be a more "dark" reason why they are not mentioned....

None of the "beings" have entries in FBaWTFT - house elves, goblins, 
giants, hags, and vampires are not listed, for instance.  So, either 
the Muggle version is highly edited, or creatures who are listed as 
Beings are not in the book, it being a compendium only of Beasts.  I 
tend to prefer the latter explanation (although both may well be 
true).  That would indicate that Dementors, whether created or not, 
are Beings rather than Beasts.  This, in turn, implies that they are 
intelligent, at least as intelligent as giants.


At 9:55 PM +0000 7/1/03, Jeremy wrote:
>Also remember that the point of the pensive is to store
>memories, which are not always accurate.  It is entirely possible
>that Snape didn't remember the events EXACTLY as they played out in
>reality.

Why is everyone so big on doubting the Pensieve?

OoP, Ch. 37, p. 840 US hardback - Dumbledore explaining to Harry why 
the prophecy-ball's shattering isn't that important:  "The thing that 
smashed was merely the record of the prophecy kept by the Department 
of Mysteries.  But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person 
has the means of recalling it perfectly."

Dumbledore then puts the memory in the Pensieve and "plays" it for Harry.

It certainly sounds like a Pensieve plays back a memory "perfectly" - 
either it records what actually happened, or it records one's sensory 
perceptions of what happened without the distortion of 
interpretation.  I don't see Dumbledore's statement allowing for it 
to show a distorted version; it either showed exactly what she said, 
or exactly what he heard - not a version colored by his feelings 
about Sibyll and divination in general, or by his feelings about 
Harry and (possibly) Neville.  I don't see why it would work 
differently for Snape.


At 6:26 PM -0400 7/1/03, rayheuer3 at aol.com wrote:
>Generally, silver is poisonous to the werewolf no matter which form he/she is
>in.  Sometimes the effect is greater on the wolf form.  This is definitely
>one of those things that JKR can write any way she likes, so we'll 
>have to wait for canon on it.

Well, the Black goblets are solid silver, at least according to 
Sirius, and Lupin drinks out of one of them in Ch. 5.


At 2:21 PM -0700 7/1/03, Wendy St John wrote:
>Who tried making an smiley/emoticon with fangs

>:-[

-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.