OOP Why are some poor... (and some burning questions)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 66711

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sladjanast" <sladjanast at y...>
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ccm50_2000" <ccm at t...> wrote:
> >
> > Why couldn't he conjure himself a new robe? ...edited
> 
> This has been bothering me from book one. 
> 


bboy_mn replies:

Well, conjuring has been explained. To make something real, it has to
be made OUT OF something real. Mrs. Weasley's sweaters are probably
knit by magic as seen in the movie and as seen in the latest book, but
they are knit from real yarn. Now they guy who makes the yarn probably
uses magic to make it, but he makes it out of real wool, and the
farmer who raises the sheep that provide the wool probably uses a lot
of magic in farming. But in the end, everything real must be made from
real raw material.

You can create something from nothing, but it eventually returns to
nothing. Think how cool it would be to eat all the conjured ice cream
you wanted. You could eat gallons and accumulate next to ZERO
calories. (Yummy!) Could you conjure new robes? Yes, but an hour or
two after creating them, they would disappear. When that happens,
hopefully, you will be wearing real underwear, or find yourself
rapidly approaching a nudist camp.

> 1  no explanation of the triumphant gleam from GoF! 
> 

If it's there, I missed it too, but that seems like a mystery for the
end of the book. When Voldemort is resolved, the mystery of the gleam
will be resolved.



> 2 How come Dumbledor does not do something to stop the horrible, 
> most evil, truly terrifying Bellatrix? 

Yes, Mrs. Lestange is a truly horrible woman, and I think setting her
up as this hideously evil person, is the set up for something later in
the story. I sure eventually somebody will do something about her, but
for now, she is there for the sole purpose of us hating her.


> 
> 3 The Death Eaters on the whole are a bit confusing. First of all, 
> not all of them even think of using Avada Kedavra... 

I'm usually pretty good about speculating on things like this, but I
have to wonder too about some of the curses used in the 'fire fight'
in the Department of Mysteries. One possible explanation is that for a
less than powerful wizard, the heat of battle doesn't allow for
sufficient concentration to allow them to throw death curses right and
left. 

An illustration: we already know that Harry can throw a serious
Patronus charm, and that he can do it with ease. But in the alley in
Little Whinging, he makes two marginal attempt before he is able to
sufficiently focus and create the necessary state of mind to do it
right. The Death Curse has to be a lot harder than the Petronus charm.
So I speculate that in a period of calm, with lack of distraction,
and/or with sufficient time to focus and concentrate, lots of wizards
can cast a Death Curse. But in the heat of the moment, when it's curse
or be cursed, it's frequently easier and much FASTER to cast a simple
disabling curse than it is to cast a powerful focused Death Curse.

> 
> 4 What would be the proper way to finish off the opponent who is 
> about to kill you without using an illegal curse? 
> 

Reductor curse will blast through solid object; that should do it. A
Stunning curse at close range would probably have a lethal impact if
the wizard has sufficient emotion behind it. Many of these curse, like
the Stunning Curse are modulated by the wizard's emotions and intent.
Ron lets Harry stun him several times, and he just falls over. In GoF,
Dumbledore stuns fake!Moody through a solid door. The stunner blast a
locked door open and still has sufficient power not just to render
fake!Moody unconcious but throw him backwards.

- Quote GoF - (My emphasis added)
"Stupefy!" There was a blinding flash of red light, and with a great
SPLINTERING and CRASHING, the door of Moody's office was BLASTED APART--

Moody was thrown backwards onto the office floor.
- end quote - 

If Harry had been using THAT Stunning Curse on Ron, then Ron would
have been seriously injured, and potentially dead. If it could
splinter, crash, and blast apart a door, just think what it would do
to your chest.

So I think the point is that with many generally powerful curses, if a
powerful wizard puts a powerful effort and powerful intent behind it,
they can become dangerous and potentially deadly.


> 5 Finally, I am absolutelly impressed with some of the predictions 
> on this list. ...edited..
> 
> Sladjana

Well, I will agree that we did have some amazingly accurate prediction
as well as many that were at least in the vicinity. But on the other
hand, we predicted every possible event under the sun, we were bound
to get a few right.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn