Unresolved issues in HP and the Philosopher's / Sorcerer's Stone

[Beth]

No: HPFGUIDX 70738

Okay, I'm still trying to figure out how to properly post these 
replies in which another person also responded, but here goes:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sueeeyqbong" <sue at s...> wrote:
> Hello everyone. I've started re-reading the Harry Potter series 
> again, to reassess them in the light of OoP. What interested me in 
> particular were the clues and things which, by the end of OoP, 
still weren't explained or resolved... an which might point to 
what's contained in books 6 and 7.  I thought it might be useful to 
make a list of them, and would love it if people would add to it the 
things  I've missed. I know that lists of unresolved issues already 
exist eg  in the lexicon, but mine might be a bit different from 
them since I also wanted to include things which aren't actually 
unresolved  mysteries, but which were just details which haven't 
been  followed  up yet - for example names of people who might 
appear later in time- honoured JKR tradition.  I'll just 'do' one 
book per post, to keep  it simple...hope it's something which will 
interest people. All page  references refer to the british edition, 
so sorry all non-brits...I don't own any other version. Here's the 
list of things for book 1 :

[snip]
> 3)In chapter 1, there are TONS of mentions of all the wizards and 
> witches in the streets around Vernon's place of work, all 
> celebrating something. (Vernon assumes they're collecting for 
> charity...then gets angry because they don't have collecting 
> tins...then hears them discussing Harry and the Potters....then  
in  chapter 2, (p.27) the 11 year old Harry reflects on the peculiar 
> srangers who often bow/shake hands then disappear. This implies 
that there is a sizeable magic community in Little Whinging...yet 
there's never any other mention of them, and in OoP, I'm sure I 
remember Harry being amazed that there was anyone magic living near 
him (on  discovering that Mrs Figg was magic).

[then annemehr wrote] I don't think much will come of this (but see 
comment on #6); perhaps the business district of Little Whinging 
became a gathering place for the wizards who lived in the wider area 
right after V fell. Similarly, Harry seemed to meet them on shopping 
expeditions, on the bus, etc. This does not contradict that he would 
be the only wizard in his own neighborhood. 

[Me, Beth]I don't have an answer for why they were in Little 
Whinging after Voldemort fell, but I used to think (before OoP) that 
these wizards were part of a "protection renewal" plan (more on this 
below). I still wonder if they weren't part of a plan to keep an eye 
on Harry and some of them just couldn't resist "bumping in to him." 
(Did anyone ever see that Star Trek DS9 episode in which the crew 
goes back in time to interact with the "original" crew? You'll know 
what I mean.)

> 4)  p.45, Hagrid says (discussing why Voldemort went after Harry's 
> parents') 'maybe he thought he could persuade them, maybe he 
wanted  them out of the way'.  Evidently Hagrid doesn't know of the 
> prophecy, or any other reason why V targeted the Potters. And yet 
> he was in the order at the time. Do you think Ddore kept everyone 
in the order in the dark (except, presumably, those mentioned in the 
prophecy). If so, this seems like a risky way of conducting a 
> resistance movement. Wouldn't it make the order members' job 
easier, to know who V might target next?

[Me, Beth] Maybe it was just Hagrid, let's-buy-merchandise-from-
cloaked-strangers, that he was sketchy with. Then, too, before the 
attack on Harry, Neville was also a target. Were the members of the 
Order really divided between protecting the two families, or did 
they have their hands full with other tasks and it was hoped that 
the secret-keeper charm would protect them?


> 6)  some names in Harry's first visit to the Leaky Cauldron which 
> may ( or may well not!) appear later... Doris Crockford, Dedalus 
Diggle, 
>
[annemehr]Well, in OoP, Dedalus Diggle turns up at Grimmauld Place! 
He had also introduced himself to Vernon the day V was defeated, by 
the way. I once posited that he was responsible for helping to set 
up Harry's protection with the Dursleys. 
 
[Me, Beth] Since the person who hugged Vernon wasn't named, but was 
just described as tiny, with a squeaky voice (I think, can't find 
where I laid my book down right now), I used to wonder if he wasn't 
Flitwick, establishing that protective charm. 

Btw, since it's been pointed out many times that the characters' 
names often hold a clue, I wanted to remember the myth about 
Daedalus. One site I found, 
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0003502.
html
reminded me that not only did he create the labyrinth, where the 
Minotaur was kept, but that he created wings for himself and his son 
Icarus. Wonder if that will go anywhere....

> 10)   p.75   'mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant but we 
> never mention him' gains extra significance after reading the 
Black family tapestry scenes in OoP

[me, Beth] This is really strange, considering how much Arthur loves 
Muggles. Do you think the accountant pulled a Percy? Or is this just 
another they're dentists--not very interesting moment.

> 
> 12)  p.82  why did Scabbers attack Malfoy and crew when they were  
> attacking the trio on the train? Can't see any reason for 
> this...Pettigrew doesn't seem the type to put himself out for 
anyone  but himself.

>[Anne] I'll just bet Goyle was reaching for something Scabbers 
wanted! 

[me, Beth] I agree. Wasn't Scabbers rather plump back then? Perhaps 
he was just following Ron's lead as far as candy is concerned!


> 13) More names from the sorting list as yet undeveloped... (p.89)
 Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones (mentioned since I know but will she be 
> developed further?), Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Morag 
> McDougall, Moon, Nott, Sally-Anne Perks, Blaise Zabini
> 
[me, Beth] They're still not very developed, but Hannah, Susan and 
Terry were part of the DA *and* defended Harry on the train. And 
didn't Harry think that the "stringy Slytherin boy standing just 
behind Goyle" who could see the Thestrals was Blaise Zabini? (Can't 
seem to find it.....) I wonder who he saw die.
 
> 14)  p.93   Seamus describes how horrified his dad was to discover 
> his mum was a witch. Interesting that Tom Riddle's dad behaved in 
a  similar way. Is this parallel an intentional foreshadowing on 
JKR's part? (especially in light of Seamus' estragement from Harry 
for much of OoP). 

[me, Beth] Maybe, but wouldn't that be ironic in the way that Riddle 
hates mudbloods is ironic? I tend to think she was more like Fudge 
in that she only believes what she wants to--her Quidditch team is 
the best, Voldemort couldn't possibly be back, therefore Harry must 
be lying...
> 
> 20)  p.156   Dumbledore says 'I don't need a cloak to become 
> invisible'. He usually knows what's going on amongst the students, 
> and it's often referred to. I hope we find out just how he knows 
all  this stuff...someone put forward a great theory that he 
travelled  between his portrait on the chocolate frog cards. Any 
other ways of  Ddore being omniscient / omnipresent?
> 
[me, Beth] My husband asked the other day why the portal portraits 
don't report on students sneaking out after hours and such. My 
thought was that it would create too much of a Big Brother 
atmosphere, to totally mix books. Then I was re-reading Dumbledore's 
explanation in Ch. 37 today and came across "and I have watched you 
more closely than you can have imagined" (p. 839, US ed.) and I 
wondered again about those portraits. Could Dumbledore have "set" 
them to keep tabs on Harry (at least in Hogwarts)? He could 
certainly have had a lot of information about what Harry planned to 
do and decide whether to let him try or interfere somehow.


> 21)  p.185  Ronan answers Hagrid's query as to whether he'd seen 
> anything strange with 'always the innocent are the first 
> victims'...probably a reference to Cedric's death and Sirius' 
death.  Ominous.  Plus 'mars is bright tonight' etc etc

[me, Beth] Could be. It could simultaneously be a reference to those 
innocent unicorns who are being slaughtered for Voldemort's half 
life.
> 
> 22)   p.189   Firenze tells Harry that anyone who drinks unicorn's 
> blood (ie Voldemort) will have a half life, a cursed life, from 
the  moment it touches your lips' ....will this have any 
significance in V's further development in books 6 and 7?
> 

Totally OT, but that "half life" makes me think of radioactive 
materials, and Voldemort emanating deadly rays. As deep as he's said 
to have gone into the Dark Arts, how much more cursed could he be? 

> 23)  p.188  Bane tells Ronan that 'we are sworn not to set 
ourselves  against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in 
the movements of the planets?'   So the entaurs are evidently quite 
> clued up as to what will come...why doesn't Voldemort target them 
to  learn of how to vanquish Harry? Where will the centaurs' 
loyalties  lie post OoP?
> 
[me, Beth] Isn't it more they see where things are headed at this 
moment? Prophesy is said to be such a "possible" thing. Going back 
to my Star Trek analogies, I think the majority of the centaurs are 
like the Vulcans--intelligent, passive, and much better than humans 
at following the Prime Directive to not interfere. At the same time, 
fully able to defend themselves when necessary--witness what they 
did to Firenze and Umbridge (clip-clop, clip-clop <veg>). Voldemort 
may not want to mess with them.

> 24)  p.213   'your mother needn't have died'. Well, OK, we now 
know it was Harry V was after all along, not the Potters per se, but 
is there still a reason why he'd have been prepared to spare Lily 
her life? I'd like to think so
> 
[me, Beth] One other thing that bothered me today was "And so I made 
my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he 
knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, 
underestimated" I want to believe that this means that Dumbledore 
just took advantage of the fact that Lily died to save Harry because 
it was his best strategical move, but somehow today it seemed like 
maybe he *planned* that Lily sacrifice herself. 

Here's a possible scenario: Dumbledore tells Lily that if the worst 
happens and Voldemort finds them, Harry's best protection would be 
if she or James dies to save him, providing him with a love shield, 
if you will. (Which brings up another question: Much is made of 
Lily's sacrifice, and as a mother, I can appreciate that, but if the 
prophecy applied to *Harry*, as the son of those who had thrice 
defied V, then wasn't James' death a sacrifice as well?)

Those are my thoughts for now,
Beth