red herrings or hints?

[ebeth0000000000]

No: HPFGUIDX 69641

There are some things that keep popping up in OOP that I can't 
decide if they actually mean something or not.  Have you guys 
noticed:
'bats' are everywhere. . .
all the references to sickness, nausea and vomiting in this book?
And dung, too.
the color purple--it's all over the place
"grim" as a description for people's mood and in the name "grimmauld 
place"--well that's pretty easy to figure, actually.

Some other things that are bothering me:

1)  We learned about the draught of peace, and someone already 
connected that to McGonnagall's cookies, but what about the 
Hotheadedness Potion that Harry drops off reading about for Snape?  
Could someone have slipped it to Harry right before his vision of 
Sirius, in order to make him more impulsive, etc.?  Just throwin' it 
out there.

2)  Someone mentioned a possible connection between cats and 
Umbridge.  Did you notice that it's mentioned that Harry sees Mrs. 
Norris before sending his owl to Sirius, when Filch harrasses him 
about the dungbombs, and Ron, Harry, and McGonagall pass Mrs. Norris 
on the way to Dumbledore's office, right before Umbridge "knows" 
they're out of bed.  Filch knew about the room of requirements--
remember he found cleaning supplies there?  And he's still possibly 
loyal to Umbridge.  What do you think the connection is between 
these three characters of Norris, Filch, and Umbridge?

3)  Harry comes across as more of a bully/instigator to me.  I still 
love him, and I think his character is really delved into in this 
book, but his behavior is more hurtful deliberately to Dudley and 
some others than the role of victim he's played in past books.  I 
wonder if that's mirroring James' behavior before he grew up?  Maybe 
Harry will have to learn, like Spidey, that "with great power comes 
great responsibility?"

4)  Fred and George are shown as now very powerful for their age, 
and possibly dangerous opponents (will they start manufacturing 
weapons?  Create a total invisibility hat?)  But we know about their 
concern with money.  Ron seems to share this concern.  Does anyone 
else think this will become a conflict later?  

5)  On pg. 17, Harry does magic without his wand in his hand.  I 
reckon all wizards can since they show 'natural magic' as children.  
But do you think this is important in any way?  Do you think all 
wizards can say 'lumos' and have their wand ignite when it's not in 
their hands?  I'm just wondering b/c it seems weird that he wouldn't 
say 'accio wand' you know?  

ok, sorry for the novella.
EBeth