UnderageMagic/GoodGuys/AdultWizards/Histrionic /Muggleborn/TheDoor/Hooch/Cho

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 127640


Dysis wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127388 :

<< However, I'm most interested in how the Ministry didn't send [young
Snape] a letter for Underage Wizardry. 
The Ministry uses special magic to detect when an underage wizard
has done magic. Yet, we see a teenager doing magic in his own
bedroom without any qualms. Does he know some sort of spell that
shields him from the special magic that the Ministry uses to detect
underage magic? But what bothers me even more is that the Ministry
doesn't have a special detector of the Unforgivable Curses <I>in
general</I>, and not just by underage wizards. Why can the Ministry
detect Underage Wizardry, which isn't more than a felony, when it
can't detect Unforgivable Curses? Magic is magic, isn't it? >>

My theory is that the Ministry has detectors that show where magic is
being done. Not what the magic, not if it's Dark or even
Unforgiveable. Not by whom it's done. So the home of a wizarding
family would constantly show on the detectors -- not only magic done
by the adults even to wash the dinners, but also all the magic devices
like the famous Weasley clock. So no child of a wizarding family would
ever get a letter of admonishment for underage wizarding: the ministry
wouldn't know that it was an underage person who did the magic. When
Harry first got a letter about underage magic, the magic had actually
been done by Dobby; it was not only not underage magic, it wasn't even
*human* magic, but the Ministry couldn't tell what kind of magic it
was and just ASSUMED Harry had done it because they had no record of
any other magic person living there.

Incidentally, that also explains how Hermione could try a few spells
from her new textbooks before she went to Hogwarts: supposing that the
spells showed on the Ministry's detectors, the Ministry had no record
of any magic person living in that neighborhood, so they had no name
of a person to whom to send an admonishment, as well as no age of a
person to know if he/she was underage. I guess the Ministry only finds
out who is a Muggle-born witch or wizard after they ARRIVE at
Hogwarts.

(The above written before I read the posts by Imamommy, Deeble, Ann
Crutchley, Carol, and others.)  

Magda wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127397 :

<< I don't think it's that philosophical a question. At the end of the
day a good guy is someone who's on the side of right, not someone
who's just pleasant or nice or "not a git" or "people like us". >>

Suppose some not yet very well known member of the Order of the
Phoenix makes his debut as a major character by *raping* Hermione at
HQ. And we see Hermione crying on Tonks's shoulder; Tonks is very
shocked and wants to arrest the bloke to be tried for rape by the
Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Hermione says NO! Order
secrets might be revealed during the investigation and trial! so Tonks
says, at least tell Dumbledore and ask DD to punish the perpetrator.
And eventually Hermione tells DD and DD tells her he will have a word
with the bloke, but asks her if she can bring herself to keep this
event completely secret, because the bloke is too useful in the fight
against Voldemort to expel him from the Order ... is this bloke a good
guy? Some listies think that Snape's daily behavior is closer, on the
scale of badness, to rape than to being unpleasant.

<< it's still rather scary how [Harry] handed over the map to
Fake!Moody in GOF largely on the basis of an apparent mutual distaste
for Snape. >>

Fake!Moody was a *professor*. Harry handed over the map because he was
*obeying the authority*. Poor Harry, people are always dumping on him
for being disobedient, and then when he does obey, he gets dumped on
again (j/k).

Deborah wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127451 :

<< What do adult wizards and witches do to qualify for employment? >>

Canon indicates that it has a lot to do with getting OWLs and NEWTs,
followed by on-the-job training. I personally think there are both
apprenticeships and vocational schools as well as independent study.

<< How do they enjoy themselves in their spare time? Do they read for
pleasure? If all they get are the newspapers we know about, they must
be very slow readers ... and the wireless doesn't seem too appealing
either. >>

There appear to be a huge number of periodicals in the British
wizarding world, and a tremendous number of books -- Flourish and
Blotts is not a small shop. I don't know if they have fiction other
than celebrity memoirs. I don't know if they have plays. 

They have live music (A Celestina Warbeck concert is advertised on the
Rumors section of JKR's website, and DD's and Flamel's Famous Wizard
Cards in PS/SS describe one as an opera-lover and the other as adoring
IIRC string quartets.) They have recorded music -- QTTA mentions that
Celestina Warbeck recorded some Quidditch team's fight song as a
fund-raiser for St Mungo's. 

Oh, and passionately following Quidditch is another thing they can do
with their leisure time. Even playing amateur Quidditch. And one of
those Famous Wizards cards mention playing lawn bowling, while
Fabulous Beasts mentions Gobstones Tournaments for adults.

<< I really do feel sorry for them! And this is Britain, remember -
land of the evening course, the Women's Institute, the harvest
festival vegetable competition, the choir practice and the charity
fundraising tea. Their lives are surely not empty ... but I'd love to
know how they are filled. >>

They have the Witches' Institute (I can't imagine that the Brits don't
when the Yanks do, as shown by middle-aged witches on lawn chairs
under banner 'Salem Witches' Institute' at Quidditch World Cup,
considering that the Muggle Women's Institute is so unknown to
USAmerican readers that listies are always assuming that those ladies
at the QWC are from a girl's school or women's college.)

OoP US edition page 568: << Rita looked disparagingly at Luna. "I'm
guesssing that your father runs some stupid little viallage
newsletter?" she said. "'Twenty-five Ways to Mingle with Muggles' and
the dates of the next Bring-and-Fly Sale?" >> 

While all that *proves* is Bring-and-Fly Sales, to me it sounds like
they have all those things you mentioned.

Kemper wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127496 :

<< Umbridge. She wears a lot of rings. For me, this is almost always a
sign of a Borderline or a Histrionic. >>

For almost two decades, I always wore a lot of rings. Then I suddenly
stopped. Does that mean my diagnosis suddenly changed? (I stopped
because my fingers started itching to drive me crazy. I gave up all
jewelry that touches my skin, eventually even wristwatch.)

Demetra wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127533 :

<< Histrionic Personality Disorder
Personality disorder characterized by at least 3 of the following:
y. self-dramatization, theatricality, exaggerated expression of
emotions;
z. suggestibility, easily influenced by others or by circumstances;
aa. shallow and labile affectivity;
bb. continual seeking for excitement, appreciation by others, and
activities in which the patient is the center of attention;
cc. inappropriate seductiveness in appearance or behavior;
dd. over-concern with physical attractiveness.
Associated features may include egocentricity, self-indulgence,
continuous longing for appreciation, feelings that are easily hurt,
and persistent manipulative behavior to achieve own needs. >>

Umbridge? Elfundeb covered CC and DD in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127606 and
"egocentricity, self-indulgence, continuous longing for appreciation,
feelings that are easily hurt,
and persistent manipulative behavior to achieve own needs" are
displayed in every scene where she appears. 

Ffred manawydan wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127561 :

<< But an alternative view might be that because Harry is wizard-born,
the automated routine that sends out the booklists would have recorded
him that way and just assumed that he had a parent who would have long
since put him wise to the ways of living in a world that runs on
magic. That's one of the reasons that Hagrid had to go and guide him
over the threshold >>

That's what I think, but your post nudged me to wonder which Hogwarts
Letter was sent to Dean Thomas -- JKR's website mentioned that his
late father was, unbeknownst to both Dean and his mother, a wizard.

Mallrat42g wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127576 :

<< What was behind that door?
Every time this topic comes up, people all say it is love. 
(snip)
"It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more
terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature.
It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for
study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that
you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all.
That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved
you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to
reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it
mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart
that saved you."
(snip)
What is behind that door? Truth? Wisdom? Love? Does anyone have a
logical answer? >>

Neither Truth nor Wisdom took Harry to 'save Sirius' that night.

Thursday morning asked in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127577 :

<< What all does Madam Hooch do at Hogwarts? I know she teaches flying
and coaches quidditch but is this really all she does? Surely flying
lessons are only first year. Two double classes and coaching doesn't
add up to a full teaching load. (snip) I just can't see her being kept
at Hogwarts as a part-time teacher. >>

Well, I am absolutely certain that McGonagall and Hooch have been a
couple for a very long time and live in the same quarters in Hogwarts
Castle, so it's not like she costs too much to work part-time. (My
canonical evidence for this ship: "Isn't it OBVIOUS??!")

I personally believe, even tho' it is not stated in canon, that Hooch
coaches everyone who wants to play Quidditch, not just the House Team
members. She could have as full a teaching load as any Muggle PE
teacher or coach. Ron could have been practising Quidditch for four
years instead of waiting until there was a vacancy on the team --
presumably he didn't because he was scared of the twins poking fun at
him. 

Lupinlore wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/127604 :

<< CHO CHANG - falling. Does anyone have anything good to say about
the girl? >>

I like Cho. I still think Harry/Cho would have been a good ship with a
future if they weren't both so immature. She was a nice kid in GoF
when she didn't wear a 'Harry Potter Stinks' badge even tho' Harry was
her boyfriend's rival, and she was a nice kid in OoP when she verbally
defended Marietta. But getting her attraction to Harry and her concern
to learn about Cedric's last moments mixed up together, topped off
with expecting Harry to understand her feelings (that she didn't
entirely understand herself!) even tho' he was a year younger than she
and even more traumatised ... well, all I can say is that when I was
16, I made just as big a mess of my love life, and I didn't have her
excuse.