OotP: Wandless magic, Umbridge, Petunia, Lupin, Neville, and the Author as Major Tease

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 63388

*sacrificial spoiler-free first line*

At 4:19 PM +0000 6/23/03, isabella_080 wrote:
>
>So, it sounds to me like the wand lit up before he "snatched it
>up"...that would mean wandless magic, wouldn't it?

Well - not exactly wandless, as the light still comes from the wand. 
But yes, it does seem to indicate a level of power and/or expertise 
at basic magic that he no longer requires direct contact with the 
wand.

>I know wandless magic has
>been discussed before on the list...but isn't this the first time
>Harry's done it not including before his Hogwarts days?

Nope - he popped Aunt Marge's glass and then inflated her at the 
beginning of PoA without a wand, and he seems to "shock" Vernon at 
the beginning of this book involuntarily, without using his wand. 
Granted, these seem to be unconscious, which the "lumos" is not.



At 3:37 PM +0000 6/23/03, Jennifer wrote:
>I find myself torn between Umbridge as a pompous, slightly sadistic,
>but non-evil beaurocrat and Umbridge as Death Eater.

I think she's a prime example of What Happens When Hufflepuffs Go 
Bad.  She is fiercely loyal to, not Fudge, but the Ministry as an 
abstract.  I suspect she feels that Dumbledore, Harry, and Hogwarts 
are threats to the Ministry.  I don't think she understands that 
Voldemort is a threat, even assuming she knows that he's back.



At 4:38 PM +0000 6/23/03, Elizabeth wrote:
>Also, I just had a thought....what if the reason that Petunia wants
>to "stamp the magic out of Harry" and always wants to pretend that
>magic doesn't exist is precisely BECAUSE of Lily's death?  Lily
>wouldn't have died if she had not been a witch, so perhaps Petunia
>associates "magic" with "danger" ...

To misquote Spider Robinson, "anger is always fear in disguise." 
I've always suspected that Petunia was distasteful of magic because 
it made her sister a "freak," but her hatred of it has grown 
immensely since then because she feared it.  Add to that the fact 
that she may have had some inkling of the whole Voldemort war from 
Lily, and feared for her precious Dudders on its account, and she has 
perfectly understandable reasons for hating the magic in Harry.

It's Vernon I worry about - where did his distate come from?  And, if 
the existence of Harry drags his blood relations into the magical 
worls, even in small ways, will Vernon try to reject them, too?



At 5:43 PM +0000 6/23/03, Elizabeth wrote:
>I think it mentioned once, in passing, that Lupin was living in the
>house with Sirius.

So did he bunk with Buckbeak during the full moon?  Was Snape brewing 
him his wolfsbane potion again, and if so, did Umbridge notice?



At 7:39 PM +0000 6/23/03, ckwmoore wrote:
>Surely the prophecy must refer to Harry since he was able to retrieve it.

It certainly applies to Harry at this point.  I think the question is 
whether is can apply to both Harry and Neville at the same time - or, 
perhaps more accurately, whether both Harry and Neville are (still) 
possible targets for the prophecy (in a wave-or-particle sort of way).



At 9:14 PM +0000 6/23/03, Brigitte wrote:
>DD said that Lily had given Harry lingering protection because she
>died saving Harry.  Then he said, "While you can still call home the
>place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched
>or harmed by Voldemort. ... You need to return there only once a
>year..." (US, Ch. 37, p. 836)

My first thought on reading this in the book was as follows:

1) Voldemort had Harry's blood running in his re-born body, having 
taken it in the graveyard in GoF.

2) That means, by default, that he has Lily's blood running through 
his veins by way of Harry.  We know this worked, because he can touch 
Harry now.

3) So what would happen if Harry called home the place where 
Voldemort now dwells?  Would he be protected there as well as at the 
Dursley's (or, perhaps, instead, assuming that the ancient magic does 
not provide for two homes)?

Not going to happen, I'm sure, but just a thought.



At 9:33 PM +0000 6/23/03, Gabriel wrote:
>3. The "teaser" deaths.  <snip>
>And then Hermione in the "showdown" in the MoM, for an instant I
>wondered: "Could JK do that??"

I had my heart in my throat for Hermione and Neville both all the way 
through this sequence.  (Oddly enough, I wasn't worried about Luna - 
she was too new a character to be it!)

>Does anyone thing she did all that on purpose?

Well, of course!
-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.