[HPforGrownups] CHAPDISC: HBP5, An Excess of Phlegm

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 144197

Excellent summary and questions Julie!  Thanks for such a great chapter.   
   
  Discussion Questions
   
  3)     Arthur's greatest ambition is to discover how planes stay on the
air. Don't wizards and witches learn any physics at all? Don't they -Arthur
& Co- know that there are muggle books that can easily explain the basic
concepts of aerodynamics? 


Sherry:

Ok, i don't have any idea how a plane flies either!  i didn't take physics
and have never read up on the subject or tried to understand it.  I don't
even understand how a telephone works, except that somehow i pick up this
thing on my desk, push a few buttons and my voice is heard by someone clear
across the world, if I want.  So, no, except for a comical running gag
throughout the series, I don't find anything wrong with Arthur's lack of
understanding of the muggle technology that fascinates him so much.  i doubt
he'd even understand the science behind it, if he tried to study it, because
he's never been taught our kind of science.
   
  4)     What's with Fleur's comment of Gabrielle? (The one when she
mentions Gabrielle has been talking non stop about Harry). Is it a sign of
what we may see in book 7, a possible relationship between her and Harry?
Maybe Gabrielle as a young Ginny?

Sherry:

Gabrielle was 8 in the second task, which would make her 11 now.  i hardly
think Harry is going to have a relationship with an 11-year-old at this
point in his life.  I think Ginny is safe, especially since JKR thinks she's
the perfect match for him.  
   
  
  6)     We all know Tonks is seriously depressed. Is her depression because
she has lost a dear cousin, or because Remus won't marry her? Or perhaps a
bit of both. What do you think?

Sherry:

I think it could be a combination of grief for Sirius and rejection by
Lupin.  The two things coming so close together could really have sent her
into an emotional tail spin.  
   
8)     Do you think that Molly's clock with all its hands pointing towards
mortal peril is a sign of what may happen in book 7? Will we be seeing more
than one Weasley death? Who do you think it will be? When reading this
chapter I got flash-backs to Molly's bogart in Grimmauld Place. Will all her
worst fears come true?

Sherry:

I hope not.  i don't want to lose any Weasley, not even Percy.  Besides, I
can't imagine how it will hit Harry.  Shudder.
   
   
  10)                        Didn't Bill ask for his parents' permission
before he took Fleur to live with them? Or are the Weasleys so polite that
they keep their feeling about Fleur bottled up to protect Bill?


sherry:

I'm sure bill asked.  Neither the females at the Burrow nor Fleur come out
looking very good in this chapter.  I'm just glad fleur shows her true
strength of character and the probably true reasons bill loves her in the
hospital wing at the end.  They all have enough to worry about right now
without a family feud, even one simmering under the surface.

Again, great questions, Julie!

Sherry