Reactions to various posts.

[Bruce Alan Wilson]

No: HPFGUIDX 143991

Andie Wrote: <snip> 
> Could there really be no record of her because that is not who she 
> is? Can Regulas be in hiding in the form of Mrs. Figg?  

Marianne S.:
> While I kinda like this theory, I don't think Kreacher (and 12 
> Grimmauld Place) would have passed into Harry's possession if 
> Regulus was alive in any shape or form.


MercuryBlue:
Last I checked, Harry got the house because that's what Sirius's will 
said to do with the place. Wills override 'everything goes to next-of-
kin' laws."

Bruce:
Not necessarily.  If the property is entailed it goes to the next in line,
anything in will notwithstanding.  The question is if 12 Grimmauld Place was
Sirius' in fee simple or in fee tail, and if entailed how.  Some entailments can
pass on in the female line in default of a direct male heir, but some will go to
the next male her--in a collatral line if there is no direct one; it depends on
how the original grant was written.  And we should also consider if house-elves
are more like serfs than like slaves; there is a difference.

Potioncat:
"I never could decide "who" assigned that detention. I'm starting to 
wonder if Hagrid wasn't being punished as well."

Bruce:
Reminds me of a comic strip I saw once.  A teenaged girl is babysitting a
toddler, whose mother says, "Oh, by the way, dear, Katie has been a very naughty
girl, and she's not to watch any videos as her punishment."  The babysitter
says, "HER punishment?"  

I agree--being saddled with Draco would be punishment enough.  There are few
flies on Prof. McG (who, IIRC, assigned the detention.) 


bboymin:
"Next, JKR has a very terse compact writing style."

Bruce:
*cough* Order of the Phoenix *cough* 870 pages *cough*


You obviously have a very different definition of 'terse' or 'compact' than I
do.  When I think 'terse and compact style,' I think first of Hemmingway; I
can't think of any 20th or 21st C. author more UNlike Hemmingway than Rowling.

festuco
"I don't believe he passes potions. I remember one comment made about
his potions grade, being that his high mark in herbology compensates
his abysmal mark in potions, exam results in PS. For the rest of the
years I cannot remember any comment given on him passing the subject,
but I assume he does not."

Bruce:
I don't think that is says that he FAILED potions--just that he didn't do very
well.

Geoff:
"There are lots of other little plays on words and in-jokes which have 
been used by JKR:
Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Malfoy, Grimmauld Place, Professor 
Unbridge, Dumbledore to mention but a handful."

Bruce:
'Delores' means 'sorrows'; Umbridge is from 'umbra', Latin for 'shadow.'
'Malfoy' means 'bad faith.'
'Bellatrix' means 'female warrior'.
'Hedwig', Harry's owl, is the German form of St. Edvigia, the patron saint of
orphans. (In Ibsen's 'The Wild Duck', the girl Hedwig isn't really an orphan,
but for all the attention her parents paid to her she might as well have been.)

Sometimes I wonder how people who don't have much knowledge of Romance
languages, Classical mythology, and related subjects can really appreciate the
HP books

nrenka:
"Courage puts oneself on the line, facing difficulty and danger, quite 
often not only for one's sole benefit.  One can be courageous for 
oneself, but it's more often in the service of a group endeavour."

Bruce:
C.S. Lewis says that courage is the highest virtue because all others are
useless without it; you can have any or all of the others in abundance, but
unless you have the courage to act it/them when it is difficult or dangerous to
do so, what good is/are it/them?  As an example, he says that Pilate was
inclined to be merciful until it looked risky.



Bruce Wilson