DDwatch/OWLs/Lily-Sevvy-James/LilyFrogspawn/Filch/Ghost/Scrimgeour/Karkaroff/

Sun Aug 14 22:43:46 UTC 2005

No: HPFGUIDX 137634

Listies have been posting that Neville's new wand is cherry and
unicorn hair. It occured to me that I cannot think of a more virginal
combination.

I deeply admire the threads on Sacrificial Love - Last Judgment Love -
Opposite of a Horcrux (I think those topics are entwined) but have
nothing to add to them.

Claire wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/136995 :

<< Among Ron's birthday presents is a "heavy gold watch with odd
symbols around the edge and tiny moving stars instead of hands." I
thought I was experiencing deja vu until I remembered something from
PS/SS (which I'm also rereading concurrently): "Dumbledore gave a
great sniff as he a took a golden watch from his pocket and examined
it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers.
Instead, little planets were moving around the edge." Given JKR's
penchant for giving us what are seemingly throw-away lines, I had to
wonder if Ron's present is actually Dumbledore's watch. >>

The watches are described differently. DD's in PS/SS "it. It was a
very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little
planets were moving around the edge." Ron's watch in HBP: "a heavy
gold watch with odd symbols around the edge and tiny moving stars
instead of hands."

Ron's watch - no hands. DD's watch - 12 hands.
Ron's watch - odd symbols. DD's watch - no mention of odd symbols.
Ron's watch - moving stars. DD's watch - moving planets.
I also think that 'instead of hands' is a bit closer to the center
than 'around the edge'.

Some suggest that the 12 hands on DD's watch are 12 people over whom
he is watching, but I think that watch is strictly astrological In my
theory, the 12 hands divide the 12 houses. (In the physical world, the
sky turns and the Houses stay in place except for like 1 degree a day,
but the watch face stays in place and the House Hands turn.) The
planets around the edge move in accordance with the planets in the
real sky. DD knows, or there is some marking not specified in JKR's
description, where the constellations are. Such a watch can tell time
AND tell you the moment's astrological influences. I don't think JKR
believes in astrology, but the centaurs do.

Mud69 wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137177 :

<< When the three get their OWL results back (HBP, 102), it is noted
that Hermione got 11 OWL's-- 10 Outstanding, and an E in Defense
Against the Dark Arts. But, when you list all the classes she takes,
the number only adds up to 10. >>

IOW, Hermione received her 11 OWLs in:

1. Astronomy
2. Care Of Magical Creatures
3. Charms
4. DADA
5. Herbology
6. History of Magic
7. Potions
8. Transfiguration
9. Ancient Runes
10. Arithmancy
11. ?????  

I posted something on the other list last week about Divination and
Arithmancy were only half-day exams, so if Ancient RUnes (that
Hermione took while Harry and Ron had Friday off) was also a half-day
exam, she could have taken another half-day exam that same day. Some
listies have suggested that she (and every other Muggle-born) could
ace the Muggle Studies OWL without taking the class (also I think
they'd fail for failing to give the erroneous answers taught in
class). I suggested that the wizarding world is so different from the
Muggle world that there could be an OWL exam that only prefects are
allowed to take (so Harry wouldn't know about it, and Ron doesn't seem
the type to take any more OWL exams than he HAS to), with questions
about leadership and discipline and authority.

I had another idea, that one History of Magic exam tests for 2 OWLs,
one for the BC History of Magic and one for the AD History of Magic. I
don't know if seeing Harry's OWL results blows that out of the water,
or if it can be argued that they don't further depress people who
failed both by telling them that they missed TWO qualifications.

In any case, I don't understand how Hermione only got 11 OWLs when
Bill and Percy got 12. She has been established as an unusually
outstanding student that doesn't come along as often as every 4 years.
If they got both 2 History OWLs and Prefect OWL, why didn't she?

Julia wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137190 :

<< who wants to know wheather Lily helped Severus because she liked
him or because she hated James... >>

OoP Chapter 28, "Snape's Worst Memory"

I don't think Lily could have liked Severus THAT MUCH, because when
James hung him upside down: "Lily, whose furious expression, had
twiched for an instant as if she were going to smile, said: "Let him
down!"" (US page 648) If she was sweet on Sevvy, she wouldn't have
felt like smiling at James's quick reflexes or Severus looking silly
or Severus hoist on his own petard. (literal 'hoist', figurative
'petard' -- the Levicorpus hex that we know from HBP that Severus had
invented. If Lily and Severus had collaborated in Advanced Potions,
she could have known that he was the inventor.)

Lily DID NOT hate James. "Messing up your hair because you think it
looks cool to look like you just got off your broomstick, showing off
with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who
annoys you just because you can --" (same page 648) She's clearly been
observing him closely. My recollection of main reasons for one
teen-ager to make a habit of observing another closely: 1) best
enemies (like Severus and James), 2) hero worship (like Peter and
James), 3) being sweet on him (like Lily and James). JKR gave Ron and
Hermione a similar pattern in HBP: Hermione is sweet on Ron,
apparently has been for several books, but refuses to aquiesce to him
being sweet on her because she disapproves of his behavior.

Cheryl wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137203 :

<< In PS/SS, doesn't Petunia say that Lily came back from Hogwarts
carrying frog spawn in her pockets and changing teacups
into mice or something like that? What about the restrcition of
underage wizardry? You'd think that the MOM would find out since
Lily's family were Muggles. >>

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=77 says:
"In "Philosopher's Stone" Aunt Petunia says that Lily came back from
Hogwarts with frog spawn in her pockets and turned teacups into rats.
If this is true, why wasn't Lily expelled?

Aunt Petunia is exaggerating a little; you have to allow for her state
of mind when she started shrieking these things. However, just like
her son, Lily was not averse to testing the limits of the Statute of
Secrecy, so you can safely assume she will have had a few warning
letters – nothing too serious, though."

Sandy Ms*bead*sley wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137207 :

<< (Yeah, I know this doesn't work because Filch was there
when Arthur and Molly were at school, but still...) >>

I don't know if it works or not, Pringle was the caretaker before
Filch because in GoF, Molly reminisces: "Your father and I had been
for a night-time stroll," she said. "He got caught by Apollyon Pringle
– he was the caretaker in those days – your father's
still got the marks."

Aussie Hagrid wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137513 :

<< If any ghost takes a major role in books 7, I'd keep an eye out for
the Bloody Baron >>

Besides your point of whether the BB is a DE spy (or could he be
Voldemort's *master"?), he is said to be the only person who can
control Peeves, which is because Peeves is afraid of him. I want to
know why.

However, I think Binns ought to play a role in the plot, not just as a
piece of furniture in the setting.

Rniche wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137585 :

<< I am curious about the name Scrimgeour. A scrim is a sort of a
veil. To gore is to pierce. Assuming the "geour" part is pronounced
"gore", you have Rufus Veil piercer. Is he connected to the mysteries
of going beyond the veil? Is he connected to the two characters named
Percival (DD and Percy Weasley?) >>

I read somewhere that Scrimgeour means 'fighter', from the same root
as 'skirmish', 'ecrime', and 'scaramouche'. ('Ecrime' is French for
fencing, so my friend practises at a 'salon d'ecrime'.)

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/137605 :

<< As for Karkaroff's age, his hair is black in the Pensieve scene
when he betrays the other Death Eaters, including Snape. It's as white
as Dumbledore's when he's at Hogwarts with his students. >>

And Dumbledore's hair was auburn in the CoS diary flashback. That was
'50 years ago' so DD was 100. I am led to wonder if white hair is a
sign of Headmastership rather than of age.