"pecker"/Room of Requirement/Godmother Petunia/Dead Sirius *weep*

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 67743

helopookie wrote in 67728:

<< Even though I'm from Minneapolis, I know that "pecker" does not 
mean what we in the US think. Though I'm not sure how common the use 
of this phrase is, I am reminded of a UK orange juice commercial that 
stated "Keeps your pecker up." >>

I used to read the Martyn Greene annotated edition of Gilbert and 
Sullivan librettos. In TRIAL BY JURY, when the defendent walks into 
the courtroom, the chorus sings "It is the Exchequer" (the chancelery 
court) and the defendent sings: "Be firm, my mortal pecker." Greene 
notes that USA opera companies prefer to change that line to 
repeating back "It is, it is the exchequer" and explained that in UK 
slang, "pecker" meant "heart".

Sarah in TX wrote in 67690:

<< Maybe whatever it is you require can only be used inside the room 
itself. Like using it to get money or material objects, you could 
only possess them inside the room. >>

No, Dobby said Filch uses the room to get more cleaning supplies when 
he runs out. ("Lord" Cassandra quoted the text in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/67739 )

Dorothy zebco606 wrote in 67657:

<< What if (gasp!) Petunia is Harry's godmother?  >>

Not unless she did it secretly from Vernon, because those Dursleys 
would go to a christening together if they went to a christening. 
And the first chapter of PS/SS says that Vernon has never even seen 
Harry: "Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were
lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to 
think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. **He'd 
never even seen the boy.** It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. 
There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset 
at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her -- if he'd had a 
sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks..." 

That quote also shows that Petunia was avoiding all mention of Lily 
BEFORE Lily died.

Marugg wrote in 67706:

<< I wonder why she didn't write a much more melodramatic death, 
including Sirius last words to Harry, something like "I'm very proud 
of you" or " I'll always be with you". That would have made me cry 
like never before. >>

Many people have asked that question and many people have replied 
that the way she wrote it is realistic: when people are killed in 
war, it happens too suddenly and unexpectedly (and they're too busy 
doing their real work) for them to say any great last words. 

(Kipling wrote about this in a short story titled "On the Gate", 
taking place during World War I. The Angel of Civilian Death is 
fussing about heavenly paperwork, last words and proper mourning, 
all being neglected because of the vast crowd of souls of dead 
young soldiers, and even a civilian, an old man who died in his bed, 
saying: "Don't waste your time mourning me: go work for the war 
effort, that's the important thing.")

Someone else replied (I've been searching but I can't find that post) 
that Sirius didn't get to have heroic last words because his death 
was a stupid unneccessary death rather than a heroic death. As you 
can imagine, there were a LOT of replies disagreeing with that post. 

Jenny from Ravenclaw wrote in 67670:

<< In times of war, people need to do what is best in order to 
survive. As much as I understand Sirius coming to Harry's aid, if 
he was told to stay home, there was a reason for it. I don't think 
Sirius earned his death in any way, but it is unfortunate that he 
couldn't just sit tight. He was needed at home, to stay safe and 
alive for the Order, for the fight against Voldemort, and for Harry. 
Now he can be there for no one and nothing. >>

It's true that if Sirius hadn't gone on the rescue mission, he 
wouldn't have been killed. But every member of the order who went on 
the rescue mission -- Lupin, Tonks, Moody -- was also in danger of 
being killed.

The reason Sirius had to stay in hiding was that he was an escaped 
convict with Aurors, Ministry officials, and Dementors looking for 
him in particular. His death was not (directly) caused by him being a 
wanted mad -- it wasn't the Aurors or Dementors who killed him. 

I can't be sure until I re-read again, but I *think* that the reason 
that Sirius was killed instead of Lupin or Tonks or Moody (or more 
than one of the team) is because, in times of violence (war or 
terrrorism or crime spree), it seems (to our mere human reason) 
pretty random whose number comes up when. (There's a lot of 
theology about God having good reasons that our reason knowest not, 
but that's Far Off Topic.)

Other possible reasons that I will be looking for on re-read: It 
*could* be Sirius was killed because he was out of shape because he 
had been stuck in the house so long, which *could* be argued as his 
death was so caused by him being a wanted man. It could also be that 
he was killed because he was bouncing around and presenting an open 
target ...