An intro, and a long letter...

[Iggy McSnurd]

No: HPFGUIDX 81514

Greetings from one of the newest member of this group, Ignatious
Pallandramius McSnurd, Esq., Ph.D., Joviality Integration Specialist
Extrodinaire.  (But, you can call my Iggy McSnurd, the Prankster.)

I have actually only started reading the HP books about 3 years ago, but
have become an avid fan since then.  (I read the first 4 books 3 times in a
row within 6 weeks the first time I read them. and read OoP 3 times in the
first week.. Reading it straight through on the first day in less than 10
hours.)

I live in Alabama with my wife (having moved from California to come down
here to be with her, an Internet romance that actually turned out well. And
eventually marry her and have a child.) of 2 years, and have a 13 year old
step son and 2 year old daughter.  (My step son's birthday, incidentally, is
July 31st, he wears glasses, and can never keep his hair neat.)

I'm a fan of comedy, action, and fantasy movies.  I love fantasy literature,
and am an independent student of philosophy, psychology, and religion..
(read as "a student of human nature and thought.")  My taste for music is as
wide and varied as my taste for humor.  My turn ons include.  Oops. Wrong
type of intro.   = )


Well, here's my first letter. Please bear with the length, as I had a lot of
things I wanted to comment on.  (Please also bear with me if I cover
anything that's already been beaten into the ground.  I've tried to read up
all I can so far, but may have missed something.)

**********


There's a question about why Harry couldn't see the Thestrals from his first
visit to Hogwarts if he witnessed the death of his parents.

Hagrid tells them that Thestrals can be seen only by those who have seen
death (seen, not witnessed).

While Harry, technically, witnessed his parent's deaths, it never states in
the books (IIRC), that he SAW them die.  He saw the flash of green light,
and heard their voices and screams.  This qualifies (even in a court of law)
as witnessing the event.  Only in the movie does it show the child actually
looking at the events as they unfold.

It can be assumed that when you SEE someone die, a part of you witnesses
their life force as it departs their body, which "unlocks" that part of your
being which allows you to see things like the Thestrals.

As for why he didn't see the Thestrals on the way to the train station in
the carriages, there are a couple of possibilities as I see them:  As
someone else said, it takes a little time for your mind / soul to register
and understand what it has seen.  Alternately, the Thestrals may have begun
to appear to his vision as ghostly shapes, but he was too preoccupied with
his own feelings to register it.  (I'm sure that we've all experienced that
kind of blindness when something bad has happened to us.)


Arcum:
>Dumbledore has hired, in this order: Trelawney, Snape, Quirrell,
>Lockhart, Hagrid, Lupin, Crouch, and Firenze (Umbridge doesn't count,
>though DD really should have hired someone...). Perhaps interviewing
>and hiring teachers is one of his weaknesses?


IMHO, Lupin and Firenze are not the only competent teachers AD has hired.
Snapes is VERY competent as both a teacher and as a Potions Master. Of
course, as a person, he leaves a bit to be desired.  (Remember that Lupin
states in PoA that his tonic is a very difficult one to make and that Snapes
is the only one at the school with the skills to do so.)

Also, Hagrid got off to a rough start as the CoMC teacher, but what teacher
doesn't?  He knows his stuff probably even better than Grubbly-Plank.  The
only thing working against him is his own sense of what he feels is
interesting and/or dangerous.  (And, as we all know, for him, dangerous IS
interesting.)


"lziner" <lziner at y...> wrote:
> Your post leads me to a question. What powers would he have as a
> werewolf. Do they have any magical powers except biting people?
> Does anyone know?


OK. Even without magical powers, let's list the advantages that a wolf has
over a human:  speed, strength, incredible endurance, 10 times or more acute
sense of smell, acute hearing that you can actively "home in" on things
with, teeth, agility, the natural ability to move more quietly and hide
better than humans, and even just the fear that's been ingrained into people's minds about wolves (however wrongly that's been, but that's a personal
opinion).

Do you think all of this would prove to be enough to be able to even take
down an experienced wizard if you really wanted to?

And if you add in the traditional super abilities for Werewolves, you also
increase all those factors listed above by about 3 times, and add in the
ability to almost instantly heal any damage that's not made by silver, and
you have a veritable engine of destruction.  (I'd shudder to think of what
he'd be if he was able to retain his full intellect in Werewolf form.)


"Granny":
>This brings me back to my initial idea that Ron is a "sleeper"; and is to
accomplish something of real significance. However, as we see in canon,
such an impending change would indeed produce trauma, "scarring" . JKR threw
in Uranus for some reason. >>> 


I like what you researched and the info you gave.  Remember one thing: it
could have just been a silly reference since at one point in Divination,
while they were discussing Astrology, Ron asked Lavender "Hey Lavender, can
we see Uranus?"  (Please forgive if I got who he asked wrong.  I can't seem
to find my copy of PoA at the moment.) As silly a mood as he was in, the
joke may have just come to his mind again.

That's not to say it's not important. It's simply to say that it may only be
a reference to an earlier joke.

(Something HAS just occurred to me, though.  The brains in the tank were
possibly taken from important people from the wizarding world.  Could the
brain possibly been that of a powerful Auror who died in battle with LV or
the DE?  Or, it could also be the brain of a powerful wizard who wasn't an
Auror.  Imagine if the brain was that of one of the original OoP members who
died, or Nostradamus, or Merlin himself.  Off on a bit of a tangent there,
but it would definitely be something interesting to watch out for.)

As for thoughts leaving scars worse than physical injury, I'm sure that
anyone who has been abused, experienced a personally strong tragedy, or
suffers from some form of mental disability (panic attacks, for example),
can tell you that the mental scars left to you can remain LONG after any
physical ones heal.  This is why Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction would be so helpful. It makes you forget the thoughts that left the scars.

RE: Ron as a "sleeper":  IMHO, quite possibly, just as Neville has recently
awakened to a lot of his true potential as part of the DA and in the fight
in the Ministry (OoP).  As for Ron doing something significant, he has
already gotten them past the chessboard, and more importantly, he (perhaps
more than anyone else and less stated than anyone else) has been the rock
that Harry has been able to lean on through everything that's happened.
Ultimately, in Harry's life being as it is, he is doing one of the most
significant thins in the world, being Harry's best friend and truly faithful
compatriot.

Golly:
>Snape has good reason to be ashamed of his mark. Victims of Hitler have no
such reason. >>>

Please forgive if my comments on this offend anyone, but they are relevant.

I would like to point out that in traditional Hebrew law, one does not alter
the body, this includes no tattoos if you're kosher / orthodox.  If you do,
you are going against the will and design of JHVH, and therefore tainting
your own body and soul.

An aspect of Hitler insisting on this being done (as he was actually
knowledgeable of Hebrew law, his grandmother was Jewish if I recall
correctly. Or I may have been informed wrongly..) may have been in order to
not only destroy the Jews bodies, but to endanger their souls as well.  (Of
course, he also didn't seem to realize that, if the tattoo was given by
force, JHVH will understand, and therefore the Jew's souls were not truly
tainted.)

On the other hand, whereas Hitler had the Jews tattooed possibly to taint
their souls, LV insisted on every DE being tattooed / branded in order to
own their souls.  (Taking things a little further, anything done with the
left arm / hand is said to be on the heart side of the body, and therefore
is an action performed with the soul.  Tattooing the left arm would be a
more sure binding of the heart and soul than anywhere on the body other than
directly over the heart, which would be harder to see when the signal was
sent out.)  BTW: If anyone who does a Tarot reading doesn't ask you to cut
the deck with your left hand, or someone tries to read your rich palm, they
don't know what they're talking about.  Just a little bit of trivia there.

Frodo's Mum:
>Several dates are consistent throughout the books, Sept 1 - Arriving
>feast, June 30th - leaving feast, Harry's (and now Neville's)
>Birthday- July 31, Christmas - Dec. 25th, and the Halloween feast.
>Never have I read that the last feast has been anything but a
>celebration. Never does Harry mention that "it is the anniversary of
>his parents death" or reference to "this is the night my parents
>died" or any memoriam regarding that date even in passing.


The first HP book states that they died when Harry was one year old.  It
never gives an exact date, not does it say he died ON his first birthday.  A
child who is 18 months old is still a year old.


D (deemarie1a at y...) wrote:
>I think Fawkes is much older than anyone suspects. I think he was Godric
Griffindor's companion. Fawkes knew the sword was concealed in the sorting
hat. It was Riddle who assumed that DD had sent Fawkes to Harry. But DD
said that Harry's loyalty was what called Fawkes to him. DD never sent
Fawkes. The phoenix is such a magical creature, that like a wizard's wand,
the phoenix chooses who it will be loyal to. >>>


Of course, people may have overlooked 2 other options.

1:  Fawkes gave the feather that's in Harry's wand.  It's entirely possible
that, because of this, he was able to have some sort of empathic view of
what was going on a the time and felt Harry's danger, and extreme loyalty.
This is why Fawkes went to save Harry.

2:  If Fawkes is the constant companion of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, might
him coming to Harry's rescue and helping him on so many other occasions not
be a sign that Harry will become the new Headmaster later in life?  (Might
Fawkes not sense this somehow and treat him accordingly?)


About the Apparating / Disapparating on Hogwart's grounds thing:  There were
comments that if you could Apparate onto the grounds, that people would just
pop into the Gryffindor Tower, go to Harry's room, and kill him in his
sleep.

People are missing something important that would allow them to do that
anyhow.  The fireplaces are connected with the Floo network.  How else would
Harry have been able to talk with Sirius in the fireplace?  (Of course, this
also makes one wonder why Sirius needed the passwords in the first place in
PoA.  He could have snuck into someone else's house, stolen some Floo
Powder, and just used the network to get in.)


A little set of comments about the Gringott's Goblins as the bankers and
such:

  1:  It may be that JKR used Goblins instead of Dwarves because using the
latter would have begun turning into a more clich, Dungeons and Dragons
type of thing.  (Dwarves hoarding the money and being good with the
machines, Elves running through the woods instead of Centaurs, etc.)

  2:  Goblins, much like Dwarves, were noted in many types of folklore as
being good with their hands, exceedingly clever, and have the ability to
construct amazing things.  In fact, in some forms of folklore, the term
"goblin" and "dwarf" are used almost interchangeably.

  3:  It may be that the Goblins are so miserly simply because it's a trait
that's just so common in their race.  It could also be that the ones who are
naturally so tend to gravitate to the jobs at Gringott's.  (Remember,
Ebineezer Scrooge was a miser and a moneylender.. but he wasn't
representative of the human race.  It simply tends to be a job that people
with this traits lean to.)  After all, the only Goblins we've seen so far
are associated with Gringott's.  Could there not be a town somewhere with a
Goblin known for making weapons?  Or complex toys?

  4:  The Goblins who work for Gringott's may seem miserly, greedy, and
hard-core on the rules regarding money, security, and collections because 
it's their job.  There are many people out in the world who take their
occupations VERY seriously. And if Goblins are a serious and industrious
race in general, then I can easily see them behaving as they do in the
books.


Regarding the look of triumph in AD's eyes when he learns that Harry's blood
had been used in raising LV back to the living:

  I have a little theory here - The blood was not necessarily used to form
the blood in LV's body.  It was used as part of the ritual of life.  The
essence, and therefore the protection, from Harry became part of LV.  I
think we can all agree on this.

Now, taking a little something from the Muggle world, it becomes a little
more important:  Genetics.  Harry's DNA is in the blood that went into
making LV's body.  Therefore, part of Harry's DNA is in LV's new body from
the birthing process, thus making Harry (at least, genetically) the father
of LV's new body.  Since AD's spell of protection effect is based on family,
LV is now a member of Harry's family. In a way.

Since we never find out exactly how the spell works, it can be something as
simple as "lucky coincidences" siding with Harry and deflecting LV's actions
against him.  This seems to be supported in the fact that, while LV can now
safely touch and interact with Harry, our hero still gets saved by the most
miraculous of events.


OK, a bit about the death of Sirius.

>From what I have managed to read so far in the group, a number of people
feel that Sirius' death was a plot flub, a general mistake, or some other
reason that doesn't make any real sense.

To me, it makes perfect sense.  Remember, in OotP, it was Harry witnessing
the death of Sirius that ultimately saved him.  When LV was in control of
Harry, and was trying to kill him, it was Harry's immense love of Sirius,
and the bond that had formed, which had allowed Harry to throw off LV's
control.  In essence, JKR sacrificed Sirius so that Harry would find the
strength to survive.


>Geoff:
>That has just raised a question in my mind. I checked Tanya's
>reference and it is in GOF, the chapter "The Egg and the Eye". The
>thought then occurred to me - perhaps someone can indicate chapter
>and verse - how does Snape know that Harry has an Invisibility Cloak?

Well, for one thing, he wore it to sneak up on Harry, Sirius, and the others
in PoA.  When the cloak flew off of Harry and Hermione in their rush to the
willow, Snapes later found it and picked it up on his own way to the tree.
(IIRC, it actually states that Snapes saw the cloak blow off them, so he
knew where to find it.  This is all revealed when Harry and Hermione use the
Time Turner and they witness the events from hiding.)


On the Missing Death Eaters

Missy:
>I believe the cowardly and left forever are referring to Karkaroff
>(cowardly), and at the time, I thought Snape was the left forever.
>But now I wonder. My bets are on Fudge. (Just because I've worked
>in gov't and want the symbol of corrupt gov't to be evil.)


It's my suspicion that LV knows, somehow, that Snape is the one who is lost
to him forever and will possibly use him to unknowingly feed false
information to AD and the OoP.  This can not only be used to help trap Harry
or AD, but can gradually discredit Snape and throw a strong amount of
suspicion that Snape has gone back to the DE, by choice, and is acting as a
triple agent.  (With AD and the Oop thinking that Snape is acting as a
double agent for them against LV, and later thinking that he's actually
really working for LV.)

Just a theory.  = )



Your friend in Humor,

Iggy McSnurd,
the Prankster


"Blessed are the easily amused. for they shall be."