OoP - Jenny's Big Questions and others - Spoilers!

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 61420

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jenny_ravenclaw" 
<meboriqua at a...> wrote:
> Hey!  Wow - we made it!  I am still digesting it all and am 
currently 
> on my second read.  I have some burning questions, though and 
wonder 
> what you all think.
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> 1. What do you all think of House Elves now, especially with the 
awful 
> Kreacher being introduced?  Do they really choose their lot or are 
> they completely "trained" by their owners (as Dumbledore implied)?
>

I don't think they chose their lot.  I would like to know how the 
relationship between wizards and elves started.  And I think their 
environment has a lot to do with how they are.  For instance, the 
Hogwarts house elves in the kitchen scene in GoF don't seem like a 
miserable lot.  I'm not saying they're all thrilled to death, but 
there is none of the malevolence of Kreacher.  

> 3. Why do you think JKR chose for Sirius to be the one to die?  Was 
> she taking it too far for Harry?

I don't know.  I'm still having trouble with this.  I don't buy the 
hero-comes-of-age-so-important-figure-in -his-life-dies.  I've got a 
number of questions about the death in general.

   What curse killed him?
   If it was AK, why didn't we see a green light?
   Was Sirius actually dead when he went through the veil?
   What's behind that veil, anyway?
   Is it significant that the veiled area is in the Dept of Mysteries?

I have others, but I'll try putting them into a Sirius post.


> 6. Why did Percy turn his back on his family, especially his 
mother?  
> What will become of him now?

I was never in the Percy will turn Evil camp, but he does seem to be 
completely blinded by ambition.

> 7. Are we supposed to dislike James Potter now?

I'm sure some will jump and say "Aha!  I always knew James and Sirius 
were bullies!"

And, they certainly were in that scene.  I do have trouble 
reconciling that with other info we have of Snape - that he hung 
around with a group of Slyths, that he came in knowing a lot of 
advanced hexes.  Is Sirius' memory of Snape completely off-base, or
did Snape get his own back on other occasions?


And here are some questions of my own:

1. When/how did Harry get the Map back?
2. Why did Harry not unwrap that present from Sirius (mirror)?
3.  Why did Sirius have to stay virtually locked up in that awful 
house?  Could he not occasionally have gone out Polyjuiced as someone 
else?  And, perhaps not have been stir-crazy to the point that 
knowing Harry was in danger led him out?
4. How could Sirius, with no disguise, waltz into the MoM?
5. Does wizard society not have funerals?  Granted, a public memorial 
for Sirius was out of the question, and there was no body to bury, 
but is anyone else disturbed that there was not even a mention of a 
private service for those who knew him?  Wouldn't Harry have 
benefitted from something like that rather than grieving by himself 
at the edge of the lake?

Marianne