a lot of things, scroll for your name, Shrieking Shack at the end

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 100216

Here is a nomination for the added thing in PoA movie that's a Clue:
when Harry took the crystal ball back to Trelawney's classroom, there
was a either a sleeping grey cat or a grey cushion on the chair. I
asked Tim and he said it was a cat who looked exactly like a grey
version of orange Crookshanks. Perhaps book 6 or 7 will have a plot
point about anothar half-Kneazle or another cat animagus?

Marianne wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99190 :

<< Am the only one to think that Lily's cataloging of James' faults as
a possible indication that she's spent a whole lot of time keeping an
eye on him? Knowing that she eventually ended up with James, I
couldn't help read that as the passionate outburst of someone who is
denying to herself on some level that she is attracted to James, and
she fights against that by trying to concentrate on his faults. >>

You're NOT the only one. It seemed to me that her rant about James's
fault indicates that she had been observing him closely because she
was attracted to him, and that she ranted about his faults rather than
praising them indicates that she wanted to make him 'worthy' of her
instead of 'lowering' herself to his level.

Mandy wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPfor
Grownups/message/99289 :

<< What about those muggle kids who want to learn magic? And before
you say if can't be learned, it can. Otherwise why would Filtch bother
to send away for  a magical correspondence course? A squib had no
magical powers right? He must have felt there was hope to even
bother. >> 

Filch bothered to send away for a magical correspondence course
because he was being ripped off. 

Okay, that's a little harsh. To me, the Kwik-Spel people aren't as
crooked as the Muggles who sell a bottle of water with a drop of food
coloring and tell you that if you take a tablespoon a day, you'll lose
weight no matter how much you eat and how little you exercise: none of
the Kwik-Spel customer testimonials that Harry read were about Squibs;
all were from wizards and witches whose magic was weak or sloppy, so
it helped them to practise techniques. But Filch was engaged in some
kind of wishful thinking, maybe that he wasn't really a Squib but
merely needed training, or else that such a well-advertised training
program could turn a Squib magical.

Susan wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPfor
Grownups/message/99533 :

<< Hi, all...just found out that Rosmerta is a Celtic and Roman
goddess..Celtic goddess of plenty and fertility..... >>

And her name means 'Great Provider', very appropriate for a
tavern-keeper.

Steve bboy_mn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99581 :

<< Gets to torture Harry and die a hero's death; banner day for
Snape. >> 

To which, Alla replied in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99673 :

<< Who is seeing the theory someone posted about Snape sacrificing
himself - solely for the glory involved - as a lot more possible
after reflecting this afternoon. >>

Not *solely* for the glory involved. I see Snape's happiest moment
being when he gets to force Harry to accept for Snape to die a hero's
death saving Harry by saying very vicious things to Harry. Thus, he
gets:

1) to die -- release from his mental/emotional sufferings
2) glory
3) the certain knowledge that Harry will suffer guilt about it for the
rest of his life
4) and a last indulgence in witty repartee.

To me, Snape enjoys hurting people's feelings MUCH more than hurting
their flesh ... I'm not sure he enjoys hurting their flesh at all.

Melody wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99837 :

<< The unfairness of it all sank in when they learned that Crabbe only
got lines for his misconduct.>>

Were those lines with Umbridge's evil quill? Did she make him write:
"I must not get caught"?

Catherine McK wrote ini
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/100007 :

<< A possibility for Sirius [having won a trophy] could be involvement
in one of those moments of defying Voldemort that James and Lily had
before leaving school. I certainly don't see him as the Quidditch team
type. >>

I don't see Sirius as a team player either, but he might have won a
trophy in an individual sport. Was there a Duelling Club Champion when
there was a Duelling Club? Were there intramural broomstick races?

Alla wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/99609 :

<< I also read somewhere, maybe even on this lists that for many Brits
ambition is not considered to be a virtue. Is it true? >>

Oh, that is an old thing, from the British class system. In the 18th
and 19th centuries, some (not all) people said it was very important
to 'know your place'; some people would criticise working class people
who went to school or made inventions for trying to 'get above their
upbringing' and some people would criticize upper class people who
seemed to actually try hard at something for lowering themselves to
the behavior of 'bourgeois strivers'. JKR is modern and liberal and
never would sit still for that old nonsense.

What about class systems in other European countries?

Marianne Zarleycat wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99614 :

<< The tunnel to the Shrieking Shack extends from the
Shack to the Whomping Willow. It doesn't go into the castle. So,
whether or not Dumbledore knew or suspected that Sirius knew about
that tunnel, it wouldn't necessarily mean that Sirius knew of other
tunnels that actually did lead into the castle. >>

I have never understood why Dumbledore's plan to protect the other
students' lives and healths and Remus's secret involved putting the
entrance to his hidey-hole out in the open where just anyone could
happen to see Madam Pomfrey leading him there. Why didn't he make a
tunnel from the Infirmary *to* the Whomping Willow? Couldn't he at
least lend Pomfrey an Invisibility Cloak for those excursions?

Jo Ann wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/99589 :

<< The only thing I can think of that would account for the Life Debt,
therefore, is that James must have managed to get between the two of
them, shoved Snape back toward the far end of the tunnel, and then
probably transformed into Prongs. James would be in real danger while
in human form, and possibly afterward, as I doubt Werewolf!Remus would
be happy to find his friend the stag cutting him off from his intended
prey. But one way or another, he bought Snape the time to get out of
the tunnel, without getting torn to shreds himself.

I also consider it very likely that James was thinking of both Remus'
and Snape's welfare when he went in, and for that matter, Sirius' too.
He wouldn't have wanted Snape to get killed, Remus injured by any
werewolf-affecting magic Snape might have up his sleeve, or either of
his good friends charged with accessory to/attempted/murder, or ... um
... unlawfully inflicting lycanthropy? >>

I agree with your visualization of James as human chasing after Snape,
and 'persuading' Snape to turn around and run back, and staying
in-between them and turning into Prongs to hold off the werewolf. I
agree that James was risking death, even if not lycanthropy, by
tangling with a werewolf drive mad with blood-lust by scenting a
human. 

I agree that James was motivated by protecting Remus and Sirius from
this consequences of Sirius's stupid act, consequences that would
probably be worse for Remus, such as execution instead of mere
expulsion. I sadly think that James' attitude about saving Snape's
life/health might have been regret rather than compassion... he might
have thought how nice it would be if Snape were killed, but NOT at
Remus's expense...