Longbottoms/Lestranges/Bagman/Lockhart (was: Re: JKR's cryptic answer)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 120011


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> wrote:
> 
> Potioncat:
> And what "gets out" of the orb when he casts the spell?  A 
> cockroach. Somehow, although I still don't "get" it, that makes more 
> sense with a prophecy orb than with a moon.

Why a cockroach?
IIRC the Riddikulus! spell changes something fearful just enough  to
turn it into a joke -  Snape remains Snape but is dressed as Gran 
Longbottom; the Mummy's wrappings unravel; the spider loses it's legs;
a Banshee with laryngitis and so on. Following tradition you'd expect the
moon would turn into a smiling moon-faced man or a wheel of green 
cheese. An orb would become - who knows? Depends what's in it.

If a cockroach is the joke, what's the original fear? Logically it should 
be something like a giant preying mantis. Closest thing in canon is a  
Blast-ended Skrewt, but I thought Hagrid developed those experimentally.

Oh, dear. It's time to fire up those grey cells again.

Kneasy