Details, and the unreliable narrator

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 124055



> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" 
> > <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> > Does anyone remember details from an 
> > earlier book that seemed wrong at the time but suddenly 
made sense when viewed in the  context of later developments 
and  revelations? Contradictions  resolved over the course of 
several  books? Apparent mistakes that  turned out to be no 
such thing? 

> > Pippin:
> > Oh yes. Scabbers suddenly falling asleep in PS/SS  seemed 
> > very contrived to me at the time  but made sense once I found 
out  he's not only a phony rat but a "sleeper" servant of 
Voldemort. 
> 
> Renee:
> Ah, I like this kind of symbolism; thanks for pointing it out! But  
this is the same book, isn't it?I was rather looking for examples  
of peculiarities or seeming errors in earlier books that are 
 explained in later books.

Pippin:
Um, I think we have our wires crossed. I was referring to  Book 
One ch 6 -- Goyle has just thrown Scabbers off, slamming him 
into the window and  Ron picks up Scabbers by the tail.

"I think he's been knocked out, " Ron said to Harry. He looked 
closer at Scabbers. "No --I don't believe it--he's gone back to 
sleep."

That didn't make any sense to me at all at the time, and I 
remember thinking,'Huh? Oh well, I guess she didn't want 
Scabbers to be hurt, it's a children's book, but she still had to get 
him 'offstage' some how. '   Little did I know. It's not till Book 
Three that we find out Scabbers is a 'sleeper' and not a normal 
rat.

Renee:
> However, the best thing would be something looking like a real 
flint  that turns out to be entirely correct. But I can't think of  
anything.  <


Pippin:
People wondered before OOP  how Dumbledore could have 
known so quickly to send Hagrid to Godric's Hollow  (which 
would indicate he was in on the secret) without knowing who the 
real secret keeper was. That was explained in OOP when we 
learned the secret didn't have to be transmitted directly.

People are still considering the 'toothbrush' problem, ie why did 
Crouch need to use the Tri-wizard cup instead of some more 
accessible object. But that too is explained in OOP, though not 
everyone is happy with the explanation. Voldemort at the 
beginning of GoF discussed two opportunities to abduct Harry. 
One was the QWC, the other, though we didn't know it yet, the 
TWT. What they have in common is that Harry can be made to 
put his hands on an authorized portkey.

What we find out in OOP that makes all this clearer is that 
Voldemort planned to keep his return a secret, and that the 
ministry has ways of detecting unauthorized portkey spells. "It's 
more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey." 
-Lupin, OOP ch 3


Pippin
who will deal with the other half of Renee's post later