Hopes for Book 5

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 59050

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Chuck" <chuck_richie_99 at y...>
wrote:

bboy_mn: 
Generally, I'm in agreement, but I'll still toss in a few comments.

> Things I hope to see and not see in book 5
> 
> Enough with the Animagi.
>

Amen to that. We have all had fun speculating on various future
animagi possibilities and generated some great discussions, but this
trick pony has had his time on the stage and it's time for him to
exist stage left. 

I could see the subject coming up again in the book in someway, but if
one more object, animal, whatever is suddenly discovered to really be
an animagus it will be too much. (Trevor=NO, Figg=NO, Hedwig=NO,
Crookshanks=NO, Fawkes=really NO, Snape=NO, Dumbledore=maybe but not
in a big way, etc...)

JKR wove that thread into the story nicely and caught us all by
suprise twice (Scabbers and Rita), but any more similar surprises
would seem to be 'easy' writing; writing that solves mysteries just a
little too easily and a little too lazily.

The same is true with Polyjuice. It's fun to speculate about, but as
far as future story lines that trick pony should have also left the
stage. It might come up again, but if it takes a major or even
significant part in any future plot I will be disappointed.



> 
> No time travel.
>

Again, very obviously in agreement. Been there, done that. The subject
of time travel could come up. And as fun as they might be to think
about, I don't think Harry is his own time travel father, I don't
think Dumbledore is really time travled Ron Weasley, I don't think
Harry is Voldemort's time travel father, son, or whatever. 

Those we all very fun ideas, but any unusual theme like this that
get's over used is just lazy writing. 



> 
> Tighter writing.
> Book 4 was a real downer for me when I got to the end due to the 
> whole Portkey / specific activation time issue.  Not because the 
> whole "Catch an early portkey" line was ignored, rather because it 
> didn't need a lot of effort to make it work. ...edited...


Here, I have to disagree, I thought the writing in GoF was very good.
I was emotionally moved by many parts. When Harry and Ron were mad at
each other, everyone seemed to be against Harry, and everything seemed
to be going wrong, I swear it nearly broke my heart.

JKR has full knowledge of the workings of Portkeys, knowledge that
goes beyond what she has written about i nthe books. We don't know
that Portkeys can't be activated by a variety of different means. I
don't see activation by time of day, or by touch as a contradiction or
lazy writing. 

If I wanted to really rationalize it, I could see a way to twist event
activation into the same thing as time activation. The TIME at which a
portkey is activated is the time of day that has been preprogrammed,
or the time of the occurance of an event. In Harry's case in the third
task, the event was some one touching the cup. At the TIME of that
touch, the key was activated. (Well, I did tell you that this was very
rationalized.)

More likely than my slightly twisted logic above, I just think there
are a variety of way to program a portkey. In the after analysis, we
can see possible inconsistencies in the use of the Portkey, but in the
spontaneous reading of the book, I have no problem with it, and in the
after the fact analysis, I can see reasonable explanations for it. So,
I'm content.


> Additionally, all that was needed was a line from Voldemort that 
> Harry's blood was no good to him unless he had a certain level of 
> skill as a wizard for his rebirth spell to work and the purpose of 
> having Harry in the Tournament is validated.
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Back to my lurking ways.
> 
> Chuck

I assume in the paragraph above you are referring to the 'toothbrush'
issue; why didn't Moody just enchant Harry toothbrush and send him to
Voldemort rather than waiting the whole year and using the
Tri-Wizard's Cup. 

Or perhaps you are referring to the need to use Harry's blood instead
of any wizard who would qualify as a enemy of Voldemort's.  Also, I'm
unclear what you mean by, "Harry's blood was no good to him unless HE
had a certain level of skill...". Does Harry's skill need to increase
to a certain level or does Voldemort skill need to increase to a
certain level. Either way, it would justify the delay.

There has been a lot of discussion as to why Moody didn't enchant
Harry's toothbrush or a quill. The problem with that are stealth,
opportunity, and reliability. As far as reliability, if he uses time
activation, how can he be sure Harry will be in contact with the
object at that set time. If he uses touch activation, what happens if
Harry says, 'Ron, hand me my toothbrush'. 

Then there is the opportunity to enchant a portkey spell on some
object belonging to Harry. We have yet to see a teacher other than
head of house in the dorms or commons room. It would have been very
suspicious for Moody to be wandering around the Gryffindor tower. That
plus students on different class schedules coming and going all day
long wouod make it difficult to do undetected. Until he was sure the
Dark Lord was back, Fake!Moody had to maintain his cover, so I don't
see that he could risk taking Harry in person, or by enchanting one of
Harry's personal objects. 

By eliminating all the competition in the third task, Moody could be
reasonably sure that only Harry would touch the Cup. Also, there is a
psychological factor. Moody/Voldemort snatches Dumbledore's champion
right at the moment of triumph. What more spectacular way to come
back. He steals the champion a the moment of triumph, kills the person
who is responsible for his downfall, and sends that body back as a
sign that the Dark Lord has returned. A classic spectacular dramatic
evil overlord plan. And like most evil overlord plans, hopely doomed
by excess ego and short sightedness.

Noce talking to you. Don't be a stranger.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn