"Occulus Repairo!" charm by Hermione

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89250

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sea Change" <nakedkali at y...> wrote:
> Carol mentioned the "hovering charm was performed" passive voice.
> 
> -----------
> 
> Sea Change replies:
> 
> I have difficulty with this one, too.
> 
> It's possible that House Elves aren't allowed to do magic except at
> behest of their owners.  If they are legally chattel and since they
> are percieved as not readily leaving the house that they serve, then
> their owners could be held responsible.  Dobby is a wierdo, and shows
> up at Privet Dr, and Harry is registered there, so that is where the
> note went.

But my point was that Mafalda Hopkirk, the writer of the note, either
did not know who performed the hover charm or knew that Harry had not
performed it but concealed the identity of "the doer of the action"
(former English teacher speaking) to make it look as if Harry had
performed it. (The passive voice is always vague and too often used as
a means of concealment or evasion, which is why English teachers hate it).

I don't think that Mafalda cares one way or another about Dobby. She's
concerned about "magical activity" by "underage wizards," especially
if it "risks notice by members of the non-magical community"
(presumably the Masons, not the Dursleys, who already know about Harry).

But the question is why she's using the passive voice to write about
it (aside from the fact that it fits the style of this sublimely
bureaucratic memo). The phrase "a Hover Charm was used" enables her to
avoid saying straight out that Harry performed the charm. She knows
that magic "was used" at Harry's "place of residence," and that
Muggles (other than the Dursleys) were present. Is she just *assuming*
that Harry performed the charm and using the passive voice to cover up
her ignorance, or is she using the passive voice to imply that he did
it when in fact she knows otherwise? The first explanation seems more
likely since at this point there's no reason to assume that the MoM
regards Harry as a threat. But if she knew about the Masons, wouldn't
she know that Dobby was there as well? Maybe a House Elf's presence is
undetectable by the MoM's radar?

Which returns me to the general question of how Dumbledore (or someone
else at Hogwarts) knew that Harry had moved from the cupboard under
the stairs to the smallest bedroom, etc. and how they knew about the
shack on the island. I've raised these questions before in an earlier
post, so if you've already responded, I'm not ignoring you. I'm just
several days behind on posting.

Carol, who is about as successful as Iggy at lurking. :-)