[HPforGrownups] Re: Magical Rooms

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 53812

Steve said, in reply to my previous:

<snip>

>The idea of a magical antichamber seems very weak to me since I
>suspect every room of any significant size has auxilialry rooms that
>could be called antechambers. I suspect their could be small
>antichambers off of the common rooms. Although I will admit they
>haven't been mentions, my sense is that this type of
>chamber/antechamber construction is very common in castles and large
>manor/mansions. It seems too common; too many antechambers all over
>the place for this one to have any significants. Although it IS a room
>specifically mentioned in book four, so it definitely belongs on the list.

The "theory" isn't about antechambers as such, but that one particular 
room. I do agree that antechambers are common in castles, but I don't see 
their relevance to this conversation. In any case, the room in question is 
never referred to as an antechamber (I'm not questioning your use of the 
word, it's just that you seem to be reading a lot into that word when it's 
not actually part of the thesis).

Almost every room in Hogwarts could be called a "chamber" or an 
"antechamber", and the room in question has to be one of them. Whether or 
not the room *appears* "normal" or "common" is irrelevant to this 
conversation, the important thing is that it has magical properties which 
we haven't discovered.

>The bathing room as with the antechambers seems too common. If I were 
>going to give a room magical properties, from the perspective of a 
>fictional wizard living in the Potterverse, why would I choose a bathing 
>room? I can't think of any reason. Of course, I may just be a fictional 
>wizard who lacks creative imagination.

Again, though, isn't the idea of giving a room with a mundane usual use 
these infamous "magical properties" more Bangy than giving these properties 
to a room we already know to be magical?

<snip>

>There is no indication that it is a room Harry doesn't know about, it is 
>the magical properties he doesn't know about, and there is no indication 
>that it has to be a room that he has actually visited. It could be 
>Professor Sprout's office, he certainly knows about it, although he's 
>never been there that we know of, and he could discover that it has magic 
>properties that he doesn't know about.

As I said before, the way I (and, it appears, a few other people) read it, 
the "yet" is an indicator that Harry knows about the mundane properties of 
the room, but the magical ones will surprise him (or at the very least, 
they need "discovering"). He wouldn't be surprised by a magical room having 
magical properties.

Incidentally, my use of the word "mundane" is, of course meant to mean 
"mundane" by wizarding standards, not ours. As Finwitch said, any room in 
Hogwarts can have magical properties Harry hasn't discovered yet, and they 
all or most probably do. A room which is inherently magical draws attention 
to itself, and its magical properties don't need "discovering".

>On the other hand, the room mentioned in book four actaully could  be a 
>room Harry doesn't know about.

I disagree. As the books are written from Harry's perspective, he must know 
anything which is "mentioned". He doesn't necessarily see it as important, 
but he *knows* it. Otherwise The Narrator wouldn't have mentioned it. (The 
only exception to this is the beginning of the first book, which is 
narrated reasonably objectively and outside of Harry's consciousness.)

>A good illustration (although a poor example) Snape (character selected 
>randomly) could have mentioned a room to Fudge (character selected 
>randomly). That would qualify as a room that was mentioned in book four 
>that has magical properties Harry  doesn't know about. That meets the 
>qualifications, although I am assuming that it is a room that Harry is at 
>least aware of.

No it doesn't meet the qualifications. Either the room has been mentioned, 
or it hasn't. I don't understand your logic. I do appreciate that you're 
posing a hypothetical situation, but there is no mention of Snape taking 
Fudge into another room, so it can hardly be considered "mentioned in the 
book". It might have been "mentioned in the story", but it most definitely 
wasn't mentioned in the text of the book.  Considering JKR adores playing 
cat-and-mouse with her fanatical readers, she is very deliberate in the way 
she phrases her answers and to date, as far as we know, she has never lied 
(although she has frequently been vague and answered questions very 
obliquely).

If the room wasn't mentioned in the text of the book we all have, she 
wouldn't have used that word. "Mentioned in the book" can mean only that it 
was mentioned explicitly in the text. I do agree that it leaves open the 
question of whether Harry has been to the room or even seen it, but he must 
be aware of its existence.

Otherwise, JKR would simply have said "a room Harry hasn't been in yet".

<snip>

>But I think it has to at least stand out in book 4, it has to somehow 
>catch our eye, otherwise it could literally be any room in the castle;

Err... *why* should it have caught our eye? All we know is that the room 
was "mentioned", nothing more. That leaves a huge variety of options, from 
having been referred to in an apparently irrelevant conversation, to a room 
in which Harry spent a considerable amount of time, and all points in between.

>I also think that since JKR ended her sentence with a big 'YET', that this 
>room will play a significant role in the future story, and equally implies 
>that Harry will discover it's magical properties.

I don't see why it *necessarily* has to play a "significant" role (although 
I think it will, given the circumstances of the question), and isn't the 
fact that Harry discovers its properties the whole point? :-)

>So right or wrong, for now I'm sticking with the Chamber Pot Room. It's a 
>small insignificant mention in the story, but it stands out because of 
>it's oddity.

Which is precisely why I suspect that it's not the one. JKR wouldn't have 
it sticking out so much if it were that important.

>Of course, that's just one man's opinion.

Judging by the replies, it seems that it's *just* one man's. :-)

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who knows that the last comment isn't entirely true, 
but nobody else has spoken up for the Chamber Pot Room this time around. :-)