24 hours again

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 105354

vmonte wrote:
> 
Speaking of the Hog's Head, the Lexicon has some interesting thoughts 
about Aberforth.  Is he really the guy that runs the bar at the HH?
Harry recognizes the bartender.  Is it because of Moody's Order 
photograph? <snip>

Carol responds:
There's no question in my mind that the bartender is Aberforth. The
goat connection is a giveaway. I don't think it's the Order photo so
much as a vague resemblance to Dumbledore that makes Harry think the
bartender looks familiar.

vmonte wrote:
MM & DD were/are both Transiguration teachers but have yet to use 
those skills. Or have they?  Could Aberforth be DD? <snip>

Carol:
Unless DD is lying to us, he has a brother named Aberforth. I don't
think that Aberforth is DD. As for Transfiguration skills, we've seen
McGonagall turn herself into a cat, a skill that will surely come in
handy at some point. And Dumbledore can somehow make himself invisible
without an invisibility cloak. That's more likely to involve
Transfiguration than time manipulation, in my view. I agree that we've
by no means seen all that these two can do and it's about time that
JKR showed us more.

vmonte wrote:
<snip> Was the 
> night of the OWLS exam the night of Sirius's prank?  Harry recalls 
> that Lupin was looking strange in the penseive memory, and wondered 
> if the full moon was approaching--was he right?
> 
Carol responds:
It wasn't a full moon. Sirius (rather thoughtlessly) says that he
wishes it were. Remus clearly doesn't.

"'I'm bored,' said Sirius. 'Wish it was full moon.'
"'You might,'" said Lupin darkly from behind his book."

("You" ought to be in italics for emphasis. BTW, it's interesting that
the narrator refers to Lupin by his last name (and less surprisingly,
Snape), but James and Sirius by their first names. Interesting how
Harry's POV colors even the names of the characters.

As for when the Prank took place, Snape says that Sirius was sixteen
at the time. Since Snape isn't likely to know the exact date of
Sirius's birthday, the Prank probably occurred in their sixth year,
the year associated with age sixteen. Also the Pensieve scene takes
place during O.W.L.s, very near the end of the fifth year. They
haven't yet taken their Transfiguration exam (which Remus is studying
for), but otherwise, they appear to be nearly done with their fifth
year. It seems probable that the Prank occurs after they've returned
the next year. Just when is impossible to say on the basis of our
limited evidence.

vmonte wrote:
<snip>
> Ron is also going to have new memories to explore in the next book.
> The brain has to be someone important to be kept at the DoM. <snip>
Will Ron put these memories in a penseive for Harry and 
> Hermione to look at?

Carol responds:
There's no evidence (yet) that Ron has anyone else's memories from the
brain attack. Madam Pomfrey has done her best to cure any mental
injuries he may have received, as well as the welts on Ron's arm. But
even if he does have memories that aren't his (rather like Harry--in
fact, too much like Harry for it to be likely), Ron doesn't have the
skill to remove memories from his head and put them in a Pensieve. So
far as we've seen, only two highly skilled wizards, both adults, have
done so--Snape and Dumbledore. As I said in an earlier post, you
almost certainly need to know occlumency to remove your own thoughts
and memories. And you'd probably need to be a Legilmens to remove them
from someone else's mind. Maybe you couldn't even then.

Carol