replies to Two Weeks of Posts, not even half the subjects will fit in this title

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 119773


Sharon Azriona wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118773 :

<< Not only that, but who paid [Tom Riddle's] school fees? We know
that it's not exactly cheap to attend Hogwarts - I believe one of the
Weasley kids mentions it in passing before or during a trip to Diagon
Alley, and Molly hushes him quick. But Tom, being an orphan and not
having much of his own - how does he pay for schooling? (Does Hogwarts
have a scholarship program, maybe?) >> 

I think the scene to which you refer is in CoS, where the kids look at
their assigned book list and see what appears to be the entire
Lockhart ouevre and one of the Twins said, with concern: "This lot
isn't going to come cheap." I believe that Hogwarts doesn't charge any
school fees, as its Endowment has had a thousand years to grow and
make the institution self-sustaining, but books and uniforms and
school supplies still cost money. 

There *must* be some kind of scholarship or charity program for kids
who can't afford those necessities, to which I imagine the Weasleys
are too proud to apply. It might be supplying the very low income kids
with thoroughly used uniforms and books and cauldrons and vials and
wands and stuff that had been left behind by departing students who
didn't need that old stuff anymore as they were going to get better
ones. 
 
Maybe they are even supplied with leaky half (or less) full ink
bottles, containers with just scraps of the required herb, and used
parchment from which they must scrape the writing themselves ... it's
such fun to imagine Tommy undergoing the humiliation of shaking dried
nettles from the bottom of jars and boxes and bags into one container
... but they may have given him parchments whose old text was quite
*educational*, about Dark Arts or such.

Potioncat wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118780 :

<< I'm still betting on a Scorpio birthday for Snape. Particularly
with his sarcastic touch. >>

Oh, I'm SURE that Snape is a Scorpio like me, but JKR doesn't believe
in astrology and therefore the birthdays she has made up for the
characters might be all wrong.

Sharon Azriona wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118801 :

<< (And for that matter - if Peter was the Secret Keeper - how'd
Sirius know where to find James and Lily anyway? Are we assuming that
the moment the spell was cast, Peter told Sirius where to find them?)
>>

Since the demonstration in OoP of how the Fidelius Charm works, I feel
certain that Peter told The Secret to Sirius, so that maybe Sirius was
even able to visit the Potters in hiding. Furthermore, I believe that
he also told Dumbledore and Hagrid, which is how DD was able to tell
Hagrid to go to the Potters' hiding place. Some people question how DD
could have thought SB was the SK when PP told him, but OoP showed that
The Secret can be 'told' in writing.

Del wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGr
ownups/message/118838 :

<< If he didn't trust DD enough to tell him about the SK switch, why
would he trust him now ? And why didn't they trust DD to start with ?
>>

I never thought it was a matter of not trusting DD, but rather some
combination of not wanting to put another burden on him and of the
childish insistence on being independent: "I'd rather do it myself!"

Del wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGr
ownups/message/118922 :

<< Tell me : what *can* the Muggleborn wizards do in the Muggle world?
I'm not talking holidays or shopping trips, I'm talking living in the
MW, contributing to it. >>

I don't know that it is required to *contribute* to the Muggle World
in order to live in it -- I mean, *I* live in the Muggle World, and
I'm not certain that I contribute anything to it.

kjirstem wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118924 :

<< I don't think the magic folk are confined to the WW precisely, but
they are effectively cut off from the Muggle world. First, as Jim
points out downthread, there is the requirement that the WW be kept
secret from Muggles. Then, there is the very different education.
Third, the WW uses a different monetary system. All three of these
things are part of canon and all work to keep wizards and Muggles
separate. (snip) For education, we have the Hogwarts curriculum. I
don't think too many Muggle employers or universities would find it
adequate. >>

It is my perception that most people, most jobs, use NOTHING of what
they learned in high school, college, and university. Me, for example,
I make my living as a COBOL pgmmer. I learned no programming in
school, dropped out of university, and have forgotten everything I
learned in classes like French, Hebrew, Maths, History ...  

According to me, employers require the diplomas and degrees and
transcripts showing 3.5 gpa merely to reduce the number of
applications they have to wade through. I'm convinced that wizarding
folk make better forgeries than us Muggles do, and can back up forged
documents with a Confundus Spell cast on the university's computer as
well as on people.

Or, as others have suggested, they can get jobs that don't require
degrees. Heidi Tandy has in the past asserted that many Muggle pop
music 'one hit wonders' are wizards and witches who were trying out
life in the Muggle World. 

And one possibility not available to most Muggles: an import/export
business importing Muggle goods (like jeans and trainers) to the
wizarding world.

<< They can exchange their money at Gringotts, but there is that
barrier to easy commerce. >>

Having to exchange dollars to ren den bi (yuan) to dollars doesn't
seem to bother most of the (tiny, storefront) import/export businesses
that my bus passes on Spring Street.

Snow wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/118932 :

<< Why do the 3rd year students need a permission form signed by
their guardians to visit Hogsmeade but the children who were underage
participants of the 2nd task in Goblet, i.e. Hermione, Gabrielle, Ron,
did not need to inform their parents or have permission, wouldn't this
task be more dangerous than Hogsmeade? >>

As Meriaugust pointed out in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118965 , we don't
know that the four hostages DIDN'T have permission slips from their
parents. It also occurs to me that the permission slips were required
to leave campus, but the hostages didn't leave campus: the lake they
were under is part of the campus.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119037 :

<< He was Karkaroff's favorite boy, and we know what Karkaroff is or
was. Is it safe to have Viktor on the good side? >>

Surely Karkaroff liked Viktor only for his prospects of wealth and
fame, not for his values or his personality. I mean, considering how
much Viktor showed his dislike of Karkaroff.

Juli wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/119050 :

<< Phineas may not have been the best Headmaster (snip), but does it
mean he was evil? No, why would the WW allow a evil dark lord to teach
their offspring? >>

For the same reason that the WW respected Lucius Malfoy so much until
he was actually CAUGHT rioting in the Department of Mysteries. Many of
the wizarding folk don't object to evil, only to getting caught.

Finwitch wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119058 :

<< Oh, and James' attack wasn't unwarned. That 'All right,
Snivellus?' - I'd say it's a bit like: 'Is it all right with you that
we fight so Sirius/Black/Padfoot won't be so bored? Practice for the
practical DADA test, OK?' As SS went for his wand, he *accepted* the
call for the fight/practice --- and er - if this was *practice* for
DADA, well... >>

Except that some Brits on list have assured us that "All right,
soandso?" is a greeting, not a question. Here's a citation agreeing
with them: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/a.htm "alright!  	 Exclam.
Hello. A greeting. No answer is expected to what is inherently a
question. Northern dialect has created the phonetic corruption
awreet." 

Oliver wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119062 :

<< Lupin emotionally comforting the other characters. He's doing it
with (snip) the werewolf in Arthur's cell >>

I agree with all your other examples of dear Remus comforting people
(when his own problems are as bad or worse and no one comforts him),
but look at the context of this one (UK ed p 448): "Mrs Weasley did
not seem entirely satisfied with Mr Weasley's answer. (snip) Mrs
Weasley let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a
snarl. Lupin strolled away from the bed and over to the werewolf, who
had no visitors and was looking rather wistfully at the crowd around
Mr Weasley. Bill muttered something about getting  himself a cup of
tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him grinning."

Lupin was taking an excuse to get out of the way before the fight,
same as Bill and the twins.

The Trio did the same once the fight had started: "'It sounds as
though you've been trying to sew you skin back togher,' said Mrs
Weasley with a snort of mirthless laughter, 'but even you, Arthur,
wouldn't be *that* stupid --' 'I fancy a cup of tea, too,' said Harry,
jumping to his feet. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny almost sprinted to the
door with him." And that is how they accidentally found Lockhart.   

Del wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGr
ownups/message/119169 :

<< Ron showed anti-Giant discrimination >>

I think Hagrid's description of his visit to the Giants and our sight
of Grawp indicate that Ron's anti-Giant discrimination is simply
accuracy. *sigh* It is unfair discrimination to say 'let's hire a boy
to do math because girls are no good at math" but it is accuracy to
say "let's hire a cat to climb trees because dogs are no good at
climbing trees".

Marianne wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119238 :

<< "Coward" seems to be a hot-button word between Snape and Sirius, as
evidenced by their confrontation in the kitchen in OoP. That scene
struck me as laden with echoes of past battles between the two, where
either or both accused the other of being a chicken. And, that
tendency is still with them as the adults they supposedly are. >>

Or maybe "coward" is just one of the WORST insults in the wizarding
world. Long ago there were posts about the wizarding world being a
"warrior society", compared to Livian Rome and to Iceland of the
sagas, where courage, strength, and revenge are highly admired and
weakness, even of a traumatized infant like young Neville, is despised
rather than 'coddled'.

Charme wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119244 :

<< but also history around the creature classification denoted to
elves, goblins, and centaurs >> << Add this to why statues of supposed
*creatures* would appear in the MoM along with wizards who believe
their races to be beneath them >>

Humans and wizards are creatures, like other Beings, Beasts, Ghosts,
and possibly autonomous gadgets (like the car freely roaming the
Forbidden Forest).

House Elves, Goblins, Giants, and Veelas are Beings, not Beasts, which
is why they aren't in FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (one of
the charity books). Page xii explains the definition adopted in 1811:
"a being [is] any creature that has sufficient intelligence to
understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the
responsibility in shaping those laws." FB (page 6 and supra) says
"Being intelligent and capable of speech, [the Centaur] should not
strictly speaking be termed a beast, but by its own request it has
been classified as such by the Ministry of Magic".

Part of the responsibility in shaping those laws? Where are the House
Elf and Giant representatives to the legislature, whatever part of the
Ministry of Magic acts as legislature?

Juli wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/119314 :

<< it would be extermely funny to see a werewolf rat. Say Scrabbers
(before we knew he was Pete), then BANG on a full moon night he turns
into a full grown werewolf. >>

I've always wondered, if a person was both werewolf and Animagus, if
he/she took animal form before the moonrise, would being in Animagus
form prevent the werewolf transformation, especially the mental
effects? There may never have been a person who was both werewolf and
Animagus to try it out.

Kim wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGr
ownups/message/119387 :

<< Remember too that there are wizards and witches that don't hold
such negative attitudes towards Muggles -- I mean, how do you account
for the enlightened attitudes of the pureblood Weasleys? >>

Arthur Weasley has a good heart; he has good intentions. But he has
racist attitudes toward Muggles (altho' apparently not to Muggleborns)
by being so patronizing about them. I recall him saying something
about "Bless their hearts, it's amazing the things Muggles come up
with to survive without magic." 

Mari wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/119407 :

<< My interpretation is that a Wizard is general a good person, a
warlock is someone who is a little suspect. Same with Witch and Hag.
>>

In the Potterverse, witches are female magical humans while Hags are
non-human magical Beings. FB, introduction, footnote 3: "The centaurs
objected to some of the creatures with whom they were asked to share
'being' status, such as hags and vampires".  

If you remember Dumbledore's official Headmaster letterhead in PS/SS
(hi, Vivamus!), his name was followed by "Order of Merlin, First
Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International
Confed. of Wizards". Chief Warlock was his title as chairman of the
Wizengamot (hi, Sherrie!) There's a bit in OoP where Lupin says:
"Dumbledore's 'been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International
Confederation of Wizards... they've demoted him from *chief Warlock on
the Wizengamot*... and they're talking about taking away his Order of
Merlin, First Class, too.' (my emphasis)

I long held that 'warlock'  was a title meaning an elective
representative to wizarding legislature council (so that the medieval
Wizards' Council, precursor to the Ministry of Magic as we were told
in the schoolbooks, could perfectly well be called the Warlocks'
Council). I said, the Saxon meaning of "warlock = oath breaker" (hi,
Valky!) would apply quite well to the wizarding equivalent of a
Congressman or M.P. 

Now 'warlock' might more specially mean a member of the Wizengamot (or
of the wizarding parliament, if they aren't the same thing). I assume
that the word acquired additional meaning: as being chosen by your
neighbors to represent them is something of an honor, 'warlock' came
to mean a respected person, thus Quidditch being called 'the noble
sport of warlocks' (in QTTA); but public opinion of politicians being
what it is, 'warlock' also came to mean a person full of hot air,
which might explain why the narratorial voice refers to noisy groups
at bars as 'warlocks'.

While I was at it, I also proposed that the Wizards' Council was
earlier named the Witchingameet, based on the name 'Witangamot' of the
Saxon parliament before the Norman Conquest. Wizengamot clearly is
named from the same source, so I patted myself on the back for an
"almost right" prediction. 

(hey, Vivamus!) I think all the following names have appeared in
canon, and I think they all mean the same organization.) 

International Federation of Wizards, pages 90 and 120 of UK OoP 

International Federation of Warlocks, pages 30 and 128 of UK OoP 
Fudge has been criticized by some members of the *International
Federation of Warlocks* for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the
crisis. PoA

International Confederation of Wizards, on DD's letterhead in SS and
GoF ch.17

International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy in Mafalda
Hopkirk's letter in CoS

International Warlock Convention of 1289, also in CoS

Steve51445 wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119512 :

<< But what about the references to other otter related animals around
the Burrow? >>

to which Carol replied in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119580 :

<< It's interesting that the Weasley (Weasel-ly) family would live
near Otter-y St. Catchpole. There must be some sort of connection.
Possibly JKR wants to partially vindicate weasels, which she sees as
having an undeserved bad reputation? >> <<Carol, who finally realized,
thanks to this thread, why the Weasels', erm, Weasleys', house is
called the Burrow >>

to which Steve51445 replied in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119588 :

<< I did do a bit more searching online, and I found a Burrow Hill
Farm a couple of Km's to the SE of Ottery St. Mary. >>

JKR went to university at U of Exeter, which as Steve (neither Lexicon
nor bboyminn) has discovered, is near places named Otterton, Ottery St
Mary, Burrow Farm, Venn Ottery, Chudleigh (as in "Chudley Cannons"?),
and Stokeshead Hill ... I seem to recall that there was another place
named Ottery, back when this Y!group was new (and not yet a Y!group)
...

http://www.jkrowling.co.uk/textonly/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=7 says "Ron
was the only one of three major characters whose surname never
changed; he has been 'Weasley' from start to finish. In Britain and
Ireland the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even
malevolent, animal. However, since childhood I have had a great
fondness for the family mustelidae; not so much malignant as maligned,
in my opinion."

Shouldn't the family who lives in The Burrow be named the Bunnies
rather than the Weasels? 

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119527 :

<< Also, the suspicion was in place as early as Harry's baptism,
fifteen months before Godric's Hollow, at which Lupin was
conspicuously not present, even as a witness. >>

I don't think Remus was *excluded* from the christening. My impression
was that the Potters were either already in hiding, or else in a very
big hurry, and therefore summoned only one person to be a godparent
... to me, JKR's comment that if Sirius had had a wife, then Harry
could have had a godmother meant because Sirius and wife would have
been at the same place when summoned and come together ... to me,
Remus, Peter, and Lily's hypothetical friends weren't there only
because the Potters didn't want to take any extra TIME summoning and
waiting for the arrival of another person.

<< Carol, noting that she mistyped Voldemort as "Voledmort" >>

All those weasels and otters and ferrets are VERY GOOD at hunting and
eating voles.