OOP: Magical Mysteries

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 61662

I was going to write a first impressions of OP post,
but I think Ill just give my first impressions in one
quick paragraph and then get to some meaty stuff.  I
liked it; I imagine Ill grow to love it with
rereadings; I dont love it yet, but I *think* thats
because of the sort of depression that comes on me
from reading about Harry and Co. in unfamiliar
settings, doing new things.  I know, its weird,
because thats exactly what weve been waiting to do
for lo these many months, but still, it takes getting
used to.  Ive never had that experience with HP
before because Ive never *waited* for one before; I
read them all in one great gulp.

Oh, and Id better get on record with the only Flint
Ive noticed.  (Anthony Goldsteins name wasnt in the
PS/SS Sorting, James was Head Boy without being a
prefect, and one could say Harry had seen death before
Cedric died and should therefore have seen the
thestrals in previous years, but I think all of those
are easy to explain.)  My candidate for Flint is: how
did Harry get the Map?  Now, you can explain that,
too, but I think JKR *does* need to explain it.  In
her defense, she did give its appearance some emphasis
(a certain piece of aged parchment, 18) rather than
just having him casually pull the map out of his
trunk, but I still want to know how he got it.  Has
Dumbledore seen it?  Did Moody find it in his trunk
and hand it on?  What happened between Crouchs
Kissing and Harry getting it back?

And when is Jo going to learn that she needs LOONs
like us to do her editing for her?  Those idjits at
Bloomsbury just dont catch stuff like this.  Ive
sent my resume to her 14 times (Hobbies:  counting
the numbers of monkeys and hats in Caps for Sale to
make sure they exactly fit the numbers and
descriptions given in the text), but no go.

OK, Magical Mysteries.

Magic in the HP world is *mostly* quite ordinary.  By
that I mean that it is a kind of super-technology
rather than a delving into the nature of existence. 
Much of JKRs humor and inventiveness comes from the
similarities between the magic the kids learn and the
Muggle technology with which were all familiarthe
wizarding world has forms of transportation and
communication that parallel (and of course outstrip)
ours, and spells focus mostly on amplifying things in
our world (Strengthening potions), or circumventing
inconveniences of Muggle life, such as locked doors
(Alohomora), being visible to those one would rather
couldnt see one (Invisibility Cloaks), dishonesty
(anti-Cheating spells), and gravity (Wingardium
Leviosa, broomsticks).  All very interesting, and they
do imply that time and matter and space are not quite
the way Muggle physics has described them. 
Nevertheless, one does not get the sense that students
come to Hogwarts in order to explore the deep
mysteries of life, unlike, say, the wizards of
Earthsea; they are there to master a very particular
technology: a fantastic, delightful, mind-bending
technology, but nonetheless one that is firmly
grounded in practical matters of everyday life.

There are crucial exceptionswe've heard about the
magical power of love, for example, since PS/SSbut we
have known little about those, and most students may
never hear a thing about them.

Insofar as Ive ever given the Department of Mysteries
any thought, I figured it fit in with that general
scheme.  I imagined it would be some kind of R & D
perhaps, like Experimental Charms; maybe I only
thought that because we discover those two departments
in quick succession in GF 7, and because Arthur calls
their work top-secret, conjuring images of a magical
Q (James Bond Q, not Star Trek Q) dreaming up new
weapons.  In OP, Harrys preoccupation with the
Ministrys secret weapon bore out my half-formed idea
that the Department of Mysteries was about more of the
same magical technology.  But now that weve been
inside, it proves to be much deeper than that.  The
Mysteries are the profound mysteries of life, the ones
that bedazzle and befuddle the wizarding world as much
as they do us.

What are they, according to the rooms we enter?

Death: the Death Chamber, the room with the veil.  The
living (or those among the living who have seen
someone pass through the archway, so to speakHarry
and Luna yes, Hermione no [34]) can hear whispers from
the other side, but no one can return.

Mind/Thought: the brains room.  Thoughts [can] leave
deeper scarring than almost anything else (38)too
trueand heaven knows we havent the slightest idea
how they really work.

Fate/The future: the room of prophecies.  

The universe/forces of nature? (37): the room of
planets.  Ive always found space itself one of the
most profound mysteriesall I have to do to stun
myself is to try to imagine its infinite breadth.  And
then there are all the other mysteries of the physical
world: magnetism, gravitation, the transition from
lifelessness to life . . . 

Time: the room with the clocks and the bell jar that
turns an egg into a bird into an egg into a bird (and,
later, an adult man into a baby and back).

Love: that is what seems to be in the locked room. 
It contains a force that is at once more wonderful
and more terrible than death, than human intelligence,
than forces of nature.  It is also, perhaps, the most
mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside
there. (37)

All of these things are mysteries beyond anything even
the greatest of wizards can comprehend, even as the
wizarding world invents ways to kill (well, those have
always been easy, even for Mugglesits bringing
people back to life thats so tricky), engender at
least some kind of love (Love Potions), defy the
limitations of space (Apparition), and manipulate time
(Time-Turners).  Its revealing that Dumbledore calls
them subjects for study.  Perhaps even the Ministry
of Magic is awestruck enough by them to regard them
more as wonders to be studied than technologies to be
exploited.  In any case, it is very moving that for
all its bustling bureaucracy, political intrigue, and
preoccupation with the wheres, whens and hows of
everyday wizarding life, the MoM has not forgotten
that there is an unfathomable, beautiful, terrible,
mysterious magic beyond all of itand neither has JKR.
 Of course, we knew that from the dedication.

Amy Z
who has compiled funny lines from OP for new sigs, but
isn't in the mood to use them yet


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