Why are they on the Second Floor?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 116584


I want to touch on one of many complex inconsistencies related to the
petrifying of Mrs. Norris the cat and the location of that event.

First inconsistencies is that Myrtle haunts the bathroom on the first
floor, to you Americans, that's the floor right above the Ground
Floor. However, in the events leading up to H/R/H finding the cat,
Harry runs out of the dungeons, up the marble staircase (1st floor)
then up one more staircase to the second floor.

(Am Ed HB pg 138)

"[Harry] ...run, up the [dungeon] stairs, into the entrance hall."
{now on the ground floor]

"Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor."

"...he [Harry] ran up the next flight of steps three at a time..."
{now on the 2nd floor}

"Harry hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione
panting behind him,..." {second floor is confirmed}


However, on page 132, "She [Myrtle] haunts one of the toilets ...on
the first floor," said Hermione.


I'm sure someone has spotted that before, and indeed that is not even
my point; just laying some background.

Now they've found the writing on the wall and the cat, and are trying
to decide what to do.


- Page 139 -

"... A rumble, ..., told them that the feast had just ended. From
either end of the corridor ... came the sound of hundreds of feet
climbing the stairs, and the loud happy talk of well fed people; next
moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends."

They are on the second floor (3rd floor to Americans), dorms and house
common rooms are in the Dungeon (Slytherin), at the end of the
underground/cellar/basement hallway that passes the kitchens
(Hufflepuff), on the 7th floor in the tower at the opposite end of the
school (assumed Ravenclaw), and on the 7th floor in the Gryffindor tower. 

Question- Why would any student be in the second floor corridor after
the feast? 

Not one of the dormitories is reached by the 2nd floor corridor.
(note: we only have vague information about Ravenclaw, but hints are
that it is in a tower similar to Gryffindor, but on the other side of
the castle.) Slytherins and Hufflepuffs go down from the entrance hall
to the lower levels. Ravenclaw (assumed) and Gryffindor go up to the
seventh floor and the towers.

On the first point, the error in the floors, there is no way around
that, a pure and simple mistake.

On the second point we have more /wiggle/ room. Ultimately, the answer
is artistic license; JKR playing fast and loose with the truth in
order to make the story work. Harry/Ron/Hermione need to get caught,
and JKR devises a way for that to happen.

However, if we are to immerse ourselves in this world rather than view
it from the outside as readers, there must be an explanation for why
everyone, students and teachers, ran/walked up to that unlikely corridor. 

The best I can come up with, is that someone (ghost, student, teacher,
Ginny, whatever) found the scene before Harry/Ron/Hermione did, and
ran back to the Great Hall to warn Dumbledore, and that caused
everyone to come running.

So, why did Dumbledore get there last, or at least, late? The best I
can come up with is that he was fartherest from the exit doors of the
Great Hall.

The key to resolving this is to come up with a reason that is
sufficient to draw nearly the whole school to that location, but to do
so in a way that is not panicked. If the situation is presented as a
dire emergency, the teacher would likely /not/ have allowed the
students to come. Order of arrival after the attack; Mystery Being
(tbd), H/R/H, students, Flich, Dumbledore & teachers, then Lockhart. 

Anyone else care to venture an explanation?

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)