Researching slowed down

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 74319

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scooting2win"
<scooting2win at y...> wrote:
> ... Who knew they (house-elves) could disappear anywhere including 
> Hogwarts. ... If Harry called for help who would come running? 
> ...edited... I am thinking that Dobby would hear Harry and that if 
> Dumbledore really wanted to keep an eye on Harry Dobby should have 
> been his choice. House-elves have very powerful magic and would be 
> able to save Harry from most things, except maybe LV himself.
...edited... Is my thinking gone on the fritz or am I on the right path? 
> Lori

bboy_mn:

Well, you do have a point. But I want to point out something else,
when Harry, Ron & Hermione go down to the kitchens and Dobby offers
them tea or food, how is the food brought to them? The elves
physically carry it over to them. Why carry it? If they are magical
creatures, why not levitate it, why not transfer it the way they
transfer the food to the Great Hall house tables above? Because while
house-elves may have powerful magic, they never use that magic unless
they are give specific expressed permission by their master. 

Dobby is a free elf, so technically he could do as he pleased, but I
also think that his elfish mentality and the in-grained need to serve
puts Dumbledore in the roll of Dobby's master. So, unless Dumbledore
names off a list of specific things that Dobby is allowed to do, I
don't see Dobby doing any spontaneous magic.

Think about all the times we have seen house-elves in the story. Of
all those times, how many times have we seen an elf perform magic?
Other than CoS, when Dobby appears and disappears, apparation-like, I
can't recall much. Well,... I just recalled more; Dobby levitated the
pudding in Petunia's kitchen and the enchanted bludger, but that only
proves how easy it would be for the elves to levitate food over to the
table for Harry, Ron, and Hermione when they visit the kitchens. 

On occassion, I've thought it would be a good idea for Dumbledore to
give Dobby universal permission to use any and all magic at his
disposal to protect Harry. But, on the other hand, Dobby hasn't always
displayed the best judgement, and I don't think he has much of a sense
of how the human wizard world works, much less, a sense of how the
muggle world works. A basic understanding of the workings of the
muggle world would seem essential if Dobby were to act as Harry's body
guard.

So, while Dobby certainly has the magic, it's somewhat constricted by
technicallities and interpretations of technicallities, that combined
with Dobby's slight skewed sense of judgement, might make putting
Harry safety in Dobby's hands an unwise choice.

While we are on the subject of Dobby, I have,... well, not a theory,
but a thought regarding Dobby and the final out come of the book. We
have been arguing recently about whether Harry or Neville is 'the
one', the one to defeat Voldemort. In the past, I have picture a
scenario in which it is Dobby who finally kills Voldemort. Sort of,
'the least of us defeating the worst of us'. Can't fit that into the
latest Prophecy though.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn