WEREWOLVES/Prowlng/LEGISLATION/Pets/FAWCETT/HarryDoesntAsk/LifeDebt/NoPrivacy

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 95195

WEREWOLVES

Jen Reese wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94459 :

<< Here's the interview from Barnes & Noble chat in Oct. 2000:

Q: "In Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid is supposed to have raised
werewolf cubs under his bed. Are these the same kind of werewolves
as Professor Lupin?"

JKR: "No. Riddle was telling lies about Hagrid, just slandering him."

The implication is werewolf cubs don't exist. She leaves the *real*
question unanswered, though. >>

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM clearly states "Humans turn
into werewolves only when bitten." Not from drinking water from a
wolf's footprint or wearing a garland of aconite flowers in the
moonlight or killing a wolf and dressing in its pelt (some RL folklore
methods of turning into a werewolf). And I feel *CERTAIN* that Newt
Scamander would have mentioned if the children of a werewolf were born
werewolves.

And Carol added in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94899 :

<< JKR's revelation that Remus Lupin is a half blood. Did JKR mean
that Lupin is 
a) a "half and half" like Seamus?
b) half pureblood, half Muggle-born like Harry?
or c) half witch/wizard, half werewolf like--well, like nobody else we
know in the WW. But option C could account for his having a
werewolflike last name, and, as I postulated elsewhere in a post that
no one responded to, it could have been his father who bit him. >>

When I read JKR's statement that Remus Lupin is a half blood (and I
had always thought he was a fullblood!), I immediately assumed that
his father was a Muggle (option A), because Muggle surnames aren't
destiny, so Muggle John Lupin (JKR said Remus's middle name is John,
and she seems to like giving characters their parent's first name as
their middle name) and his Muggle forebears didn't have to be
werewolves because of the family name. Of course, it could have been
his father who bit him, if his father were a werewolf, but that
doesn't rule out being a Muggle. FB says "Once a month, at the full
moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard or Muggle transforms into a
murderous beast."   

PROWLING

Berit wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPfor
Grownups/message/94351 :

<< An animal on the prowl tends to crouch low, keeping its head down
while it moves stealthily. I for one wouldn't choose the word
"prowling" to describe the movements of an elegant and graceful human
being keeping his body proud and erect. Can you imagine the upper
class Lucius Malfoy or the dignified Dumbledore walking in a
"prowling" manner? Nor can I. >>

I am quite capable of imagining Lucius or Albus "prowling", because
for me, describing a human as "prowling" doesn't involve hunching. It
involves stepping quietly, perhaps slowly, in kind of long steps,
while being intensely alert in all directions, and there's something I
can't verbalise about the posture of the head -- perhaps the
ready-to-attack muscle tension? Snape was prowling because he was
literally hunting for a hidden person; Lucius would be prowling to
look sexy; Albus might prowl to intimidate the opponent he was
approaching for a duel. 

WIZARDING LEGISLATION (British Isles)

Ffred Manawyddan wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94387 :

<< My own feel is that the Minister has a standing authority to
introduce legislation: that's one of his duties and responsibilities.
so the answer to the question is that it's composed of C Fudge. He's
chosen by election, that's said explicitly, but not whether it's any
sort of election that we would recognise as such in our world (was
there more than one candidate, for example, or was it just a vote
formally to approve someone who'd already been nominated: how many
electors were there, how are they chosen, are they susceptible to
bribery (jingle, jingle goes Lucius's moneybag...)) >>

I feel that there is some committee in the Ministry (perhaps the same
Wizengamot that we saw being a court of law) which imitates the role
played by a Parliament (the Wizards' Council or Warlocks' Council) in
some previous more democratic moment of wizarding Britain: the members
of this committee are elected by the wizarding public. Its job is to
vote "Yes" on bills introduced by the Minister and to vote for the
only wizard nominated to be the next Minister. The bills would have
been written by different MoM departments (like Arthur's Muggle
Protection Act) and surely there is exciting backroom deal-making from
the MoM insiders who want the Minister to introduce *their* bill. Some
generally recognized clique of prominent and powerful wizards, both in
and out of the MoM, talk things over (maybe in a smoke-filled room)
until they decide who will be nominated as the next Minister. They
were referred to by Hagrid in PS/SS: "They wanted Dumbledore fer
Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius
Fudge got the job.". 

And by Sirius in GoF: "Crouch used to be Head of the Department of
Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?" (snip) "He was tipped
as the next Minister for Magic," said Sirius. "He's a great wizard,
Barty Crouch, powerfully magical -- and power-hungry." (snip)
"... there were a lot of witches and wizards clamouring for him to
take over as Minister for Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it 
looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But
then something rather unfortunate happened ..." Sirius smiled grimly.
"Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd
managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying
to find Voldemort and return him to power." (snip) "So old Crouch 
lost it all, just when he thought he had it made," he continued,
wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "One moment, a hero,
poised to become Minister for Magic ... next, his son dead, his wife
dead, the family name dishonoured, and, so I've heard since I escaped,
a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started
feeling a bit more sympathetic towards him, and started asking how a
nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The
conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius
Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the
Department of International Magical Cooperation."

HOGWARTS PETS

Steffy wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94412 :

<< If you are going to go by that, then Scabbers is also not allowed.
He isn't an owl or cat or toad. Why was he allowed? Percy had him
before Ron, and we KNOW Percy would not have hidden a pet for 3 or 4
years that was against the rules! >>

And Saitaina replied in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94493 :

<< I rather belive that these are listed as ideas for new students.
They seem to be rather common animal types for the young witches and
wizards to have and that's probably why they're listed. You could
probably bring any animal from home so long as it's not a danger to
other students. >>

I agree with Saity, except I think there's an additional requirement
that except for Owls being kept in the Owlery, the pet must be small
enough to be kept in one's dorm room without seriously inconveniencing
the other students. Tarantulas and pocket rats and bunny rabbits all
qualify, but horses and Great Danes don't. I think everyone in the
wizarding community knows what Hogwarts's real pet rule is, so Percy
has no qualm about bringing Scabbers. However, I figure Lavender,
Muggle-born, took the letter literally and didn't know she could bring
the bunny. My other evidence that Lavender is Muggle-born comes from
PoA, Professor Trelawney told Harry: "You have the Grim." "The what?"
said Harry. He could tell that he wasn't the only one who didn't
understand; Dean Thomas shrugged at him and Lavender Brown looked
puzzled, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths
in horror." The wizard-born kids know about the Grim, but Dean and
Lavender don't.

THE MISSES FAWCETT

Bonny http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94431

<< So far as I can tell, there must be two Fawcett girls (at least)
one in Ravenclaw (who tried to cross Dumbledores age line and came 
out with a beard) and one in Hufflepuff (who was blasted out of a 
rose bush by Snape). I believe I have heard them mentioned before as
well, but I don't have time to re-read the series right now and make
sure. >>

Besides the Duelling Club Miss Fawcett, an S. Fawcett is on the list
that checked out Quidditch Through the Ages.

Carolyn White mentioned the Miss Fawcett in the CoS Duelling Club in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94480 : 

<<"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking
at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan .... Careful
there, Miss Fawcett .... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a
second, Boot.">> 

I choose to interpret the proximity of names to mean that Miss Fawcett
was partnered with Terry Boot and to interpret that to mean that they
were friends in the same House, as we know that Terry Boot is a
Ravenclaw. I like for the Ravenclaw Fawcett to be the Duelling Club
one, because I see her as a girl jock, a reserve on her House
Quidditch team trying to get advanced to the main team, a typical
person to check out QTTA.

Just Carol http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94589

<< I like your reasoning and agree that we'll be seeing Miss Fawcett
in Book 6, but I think there's only one of her. The girl in the
rosebushes in GoF is a Ravenclaw (adventurously kissing a Hufflepuff
boy):

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past
him. "And ten points from Hufflepuff, too, Stebbins!" (GoF 426). >>

That's another one of those things that JKR 'corrected' in later
printings. My GoF was put in the mail to me by amazon.co.uk on GoF
release day in the year 2000, and its page 371 has: "Ten points from
Hufflepuff, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. "And ten
points from Ravenclaw, too, Stebbins!"

I am deeply annoyed at that particular change, because between GoF and
QTTA, I wrote a fanfic with the Fawcett sisters, sixth-year Hufflepuff
Ellie (Electra Elizabeth) Cho's roommate and best friend fifth-year
Ravenclaw Mary, in which, Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw and Mr Summers of
Hufflepuff had crossed the Age Line together because they were
boyfriend and girlfriend. It was bad enough that I had already had to
make up an excuse why "Mary" starts with an "S". (My excuse is that
she uses her middle name because she hates her first name, which could
be Salacia or Sexagunda or something else that classmates would mock.)
  
HARRY DOESN'T ASK FOR HELP 

Joe in SoFla http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/94828

<< What I meant by my question was: Why do you (and other HPfGUers)
suppose he is hesitant (or worse, adamant not) to reach out for that
counsel? >>

Harry's childhood with the Dursleys did a great job of teaching him to
be independent. That is, of giving him a deeply-rooted habit of
believing that asking anyone for help would be at best useless.
Suppose, when he was too young for elementary school, he had trouble
tying his shoelaces. Asking Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon or Cousin
Dudley for help (or even letting them notice that he was having
trouble) would get him punished, not helped. It appears that asking a
teacher at his loathsome elementary school for any kind of help only
got "Stop pestering me!" as a reply. Perhaps some of the classmates
were *subtle* enough bullies that they pretended they would help him,
only to get him into a position where they could easily and amusingly
abuse him. I think that last would be most damaging to his ability to
trust people.

LIFE DEBT

Just Carol http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/95023

<< Carol, who wonders what the consequences are for not repaying a
life debt and wants to know what other people think they might be >>

I think life debts enforce themselves, by that incomprehensible
Ancient Magic, so "personal honor" doesn't matter. Snape is eager to
get his life-debt paid off (maybe it already is paid off: according to
me, there is no way to check) because otherwise, the self-enforcing
magic aka fate will pay it off at some inconvenient time in some
expensive way. For example, Peter has that life-debt to Harry -- Peter
wants only to live as a rat in some warm house with adequate rat food
-- Peter is going to save Harry's life at some thrilling moment by
tripping over the hem of his robe and landing headfirst in a vat of
deadly acid that Harry, thinking it was water, had been going to walk
through. 

HIDING FROM DUMBLEDORE

Steve bboy_mn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/95073

<< I seriously doubt that there is any place in the
castle where a student could truly get any privacy. Even if you found
a room, like Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, that didn't have any
portraits, portraits would still see you coming and going from the
bathroom. >>

I think the protraits wouldn't see you coming and going IF you were
under an Invisibility Cloak. 

There seem to be no portraits in the dorm rooms nor even the House
common rooms, but I imagine that the House Elves who clean them would
report to Dumbledore on which books stolen from the Restricted Section
were in the students' bookcases and so on. 

Do you think the House Elves clean Moaning Myrtle's bathroom? They
surely would have reported to DD that Polyjuice Potion was being
brewed there.

Trying to think how WPP could have become Animagi without DD knowing,
I figure they must have done *all* their study and practise in the
Shrieking Shack, which seems to have no portraits, no ghosts, and no
House Elves to report to DD. They must have bought or shoplifted the
how-to books and any ingredients or equipment in Diagon Alley or
brought them from parental home, and not unwrapped them until safely
in Shrieking Shack.