Muggleborn/OWLs/War/Fleur/Neville/Rubeus/Draco/Veil/Patronus/Occlumency

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 144914

Pippin wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144069 :

<< Arthur and Molly didn't object to sharing a House with Muggleborns,
and that's all very well. But how are they going to feel when their
son wants to marry one? >>

Very proud of their tolerance in not being shocked about it.

Juli summarized Chapter 5 in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144132 :

<< 5) Which classes did Hermione actually took? And how is it possible
for anyone to get 12 OWLS (like Bill Weasley and Barty Crouch Jr.)?
Did they get Time-Turners? Or did they study the classes on their own
without any professors' assistance? Is this what Hermione did? >>

IIRC, 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 long ago 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 (altho' 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 both got both 2 History OWLs and the Prefect OWL, why didn't she?

MercuryBlue wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144154 :

<< 2) In that same interview, a few lines later, JKR says that she
thinks Muggle and wizarding wars feed each other. So what Muggle wars
could the wizarding wars of 1960ish-1981 and 1995 on correspond to? >>

IRA terrorism.

Sherry wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144197 :

<< 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. >>

The Weasley women perceived Fleur's insistence on marrying Bill
despite his scars as proof that she loved him for himself rather than
just for his looks, and I suppose that is what JKR intended. But it
occurred to me that Fleur would have said and done exactly the same
things if she were marrying Bill for his money rather than for his
looks or himself. I know Bill doesn't have any inherited money,
because the Weasleys are kind of poor, but he seems to have earned
enough money as a Gringotts curse-breaker to wear dragon-hide boots
and other stylish clothes.

Pippin wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144411 :

<< Neville seems to bring out the bully in a lot of wizards besides
Snape. Are they all going to apologize too? >>

After Neville dies heroically destroying Voldemort, they will all cry
and say they wish they hadn't been so harsh on him. (Like McGonagall
said of the Pettigrew who was heroically blown up by the evil Sirius
Black).

Also, if Neville survives and has a successful career which leaves him
with wealth or at least fame he could donate to some institution, any
of his old teachers who now represents an institution that wants his
donation will make some smarmy insincere embarrassed laughing apology
roughly along the lines of 'I remember I was quite critical of your
schoolwork, and said you wouldn't accomplish much. I bet you often
have a laugh over how wrong I was! It is very funny to look back on!"

Irene wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144241 :

<< The students use their own pets as Transfiguration props >>

Only in the movie.

Montavilla wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144610 :

<< I wonder what Neville's boggart would be in HBP, since he didn't
take Transfiguration or Potions. >>

In HBP, the fight with the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries
happened quite recently. Some of the things studied in the Department
of Mysteries -- for example, Space, Time, Death, Love -- are excellent
candidates for being any person's greatest fear. So is a Death Eater
throwing curses at you or someone you care about. To me, Neville is
much more afraid of failing than of dying or being Cruciated. So his
Boggart wouldn't be Bellatrix throwing curses at him, but it might be
Bellatrix throwing curses at someone he'd intended to protect....

Geoff wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144398 :

<< I wonder why Hagrid's parents chose the name Rubeus? He certainly
isn't a Weasley in terms of complexion. >>

Maybe it was an old family name in the Hagrid family (maybe Dad was
Rubeus Hagrid, Sr). Maybe he was named after a witch named Ruby, and
they masculinized the name. Maybe he was named after someone whose
birthstone was ruby (such as JKR). I checked the Lexicon and it says
our Hagrid was born in December, whose birthstone is turquoise, which
doesn't have a fancy Latin name.

Magpie wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144509 :

<< festuco: << Where is the canon that [Draco] has not bought the
[Seeker] position? >>
The canon of all of Draco's Quidditch games where he's a good player
who gives Harry a run for his money. >>

This is a forbidden "I agree"  post. I am convinced that Harry only
was able to snatch the Snitch from Draco's grasp in PoA because Harry
had a Firebolt.

Alora wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144518 :

<< Does anyone have any theories/ideas on how that arch and veil could
be used in the last book? They've got to be in there..... >>

I think ghosts could glide through the arch to their 'next great
adventure'. I want Myrtle to pass on because she's such an unhappy
ghost, and there have been signs that Nick and Binns aren't too happy
either.

Others have suggested that Harry will get rid of Voldemort, or the
Horcruxes, by throwing or carrying him, or them, through the Veil.

Sherry wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144782 :

<< That's like blaming the victim of a terrorist attack. Harry is a
victim of the plans of Voldemort. He had no reason to suspect that
vision of Sirius being tortured. >>

He had all the reasons that Hermione pointed out to him, such as two
wanted men, Voldemort and Sirius, being in the Ministry of Magic
building during the work day, when it should have been full of
employees aka witnesses.

kchuplis wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144910 :

<< Apparently the patronus charm has uses other than just scaring off
dementors, since Tonks uses it to summon someone to let Harry in to
the castle in HBP. It seemed an odd choice to me. I guess it was a
device to let us know that Tonks' problems were deep seated and even
affected the form of her patronus, but do you suppose that there are
even other uses? >>

JKR wrote in http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_poll.cfm that
"Members of the Order use their Patronuses to communicate with each
other. They are the only wizards who know how to use their spirit
guardians in this way and they have been taught to do so by Dumbledore
(he invented this method of communication). The Patronus is an
immensely efficient messenger for several reasons: it is an anti-Dark
Arts device, which makes it highly resilient to interference from Dark
wizards; it is not hindered by physical barriers; each Patronus is
unique and distinctive, so that there is never any doubt which Order
member has sent it; nobody else can conjure another person's Patronus,
so there is no danger of false messages being passed between Order
members; nothing conspicuous needs to be carried by the Order member
to create a Patronus."

kchuplis wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/144911 :

<< One last attempt to get the message to Harry that he HAS to master
occlumency if he has any hope of defeating LV. (It has bothered me
since the occlumency lessons that Harry hasn't worked harder at that.) >>

JKR said in
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm
that "I think Draco would be very gifted in Occlumency, unlike Harry.
Harry�s problem with it was always that his emotions were too near the
surface and that he is in some ways too damaged. But he's also very in
touch with his feelings about what's happened to him. He's not
repressed, he's quite honest about facing them, and he couldn't
suppress them, he couldn't suppress these memories. But I thought of
Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalizing his life
and his emotions, and always has done. So he's shut down his pity,
enabling him to bully effectively. He's shut down compassion � how
else would you become a Death Eater? So he suppresses virtually all of
the good side of himself. But then he's playing with the big boys, as
the phrase has it, and suddenly, having talked the talk he's asked to
walk it for the first time and it is absolutely terrifying. And I
think that that is an accurate depiction of how some people fall into
that kind of way of life and they realize what they're in for. I felt
sorry for Draco. Well, I�ve always known this was coming for Draco,
obviously, however nasty he was."