A thought about POA

[Tom Wall]

No: HPFGUIDX 83886

Geoff Bannister wrote:
This may have been touched on in the past but a thought crossed my 
mind as I was reading the scene where the group leave the Whomping 
Willow after the goings-on in the Shrieking Shack and Lupin begins 
to transform as the moon comes out.

This would, of course, have affected the plot line of the book, but 
why didn't somebody pull out a wand and either use "Petrificus 
Totalus" or "Stupefy" on Lupin to stop him? OK, it would have ruined 
the next two books but it would seem to have been logical./END

Augustina Peach added:
I've noticed that, too -- in crisis situations people seem to forget 
some of the simplest and most useful spells.

Tom:
Although I agree that our heroes occasionally lose their wits and 
forget what may be the most obvious solutions to the problem at hand, 
I thought that it might be prudent to add another thought: defeating 
a werewolf could be a very difficult business.

For instance, Lockhart claimed to have used the "immensely complex 
Homorphus Charm" (CoS, US paperback, Ch.10, 162) to overcome a 
werewolf. I know that Lockhart's a fraud, but he's not *entirely* so. 
We know that he actually stole his stories from others and then 
Obliviated them after the fact. So it's likely that the Wagga Wagga 
Werewolf was truly defeated with this charm.

I'm also reminded of Hermione's explanation for the spells that 
bounced off of Hagrid in OoP. She said that it had something to do 
with the "thick skin" that giants have. I believe she even likened 
the giants to trolls in that regard. And of course, we know that both 
the Blast-Ended Skrewts and Acromantulas have extraordinarily tough 
hides, capable of deflecting curses and so forth.

So, although I completely agree that the Trio lost its cool when it 
caught the terrifying spectacle of Lupin's transformation, and 
therefore forget to use any of the spells at its disposal - if, 
indeed, "Stupefy" was within their repertoire at the time; I think it 
might not have even been introduced until GoF - I think that even if 
Harry *had* remembered to use Petrificus Totalus or Stupefy, it might 
have been completely ineffective anyways.

-Tom