[HPforGrownups] Chicken or Egg/Bucking Broomsticks/Wizard chess

[Taryn Kimel]

No: HPFGUIDX 89553

Sylvia:
I'm sure all of these points have been brought up before, but I am 
currently re-reading from the beginning (how many times will I need 
to do that before Book 6:  Estimate.) and keep discovering things to 
ponder.

<snip>

2.  In the Quidditch chapter(Chapter 11 Page 140 UK edition PS/SS) I 
was struck by Hagrid's words: "Can't nothing interfere with a 
brookstick, except powerful Dark Magic."  Notice he said "any" 
brookstick, not just the Nimbus Two Thousand. So any broomstick 
wouldn't buck unless there was a powerful hex placed on it.Would this 
account for Snape's problem with the brookstick on OOp (Chapter 
26 "Seen and Unforeseen"?) rather than Snape's incompetance.

Taryn:
But remember, there are people we've come across who just don't have that natural ability on a broomstick. The reason it was obvious that there was something seriously wrong with Harry's was because he IS a natural and he's NEVER had trouble with a broomstick before. Snape, on the other hand, might just be a really bad flyer.

Sylvia:
3.  I haven't seen this answered, and I'm probably just mis-reading 
something, but in Chapter Twelve "The Mirror of Erised" (PS/SS) they 
are talking about chess: 

"Ron's set was vry old and battered....However, old chessmen weren't 
a drawback at all.  Ron knew them so well he never had trouble 
getting them to do what he wanted.

Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnegan had lent him and they 
didn't trust him at all."

I am puzzled as to why they were using two different sets of 
chessmen.  Or does it mean they took turns which set to use? I'm sure 
there is some simple explanation, I'm just not getting it.

Taryn:
*ponders this* Maybe in Wizard's chess you only own one side, since your pieces moving how you want depend on you earning their trust. So it would make sense for each side in a game to own their own pieces.

----------
Taryn : http://taryn.shirataki.net

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]