Assorted comments and questions

[adairfletch]

No: HPFGUIDX 134472

darqali wrote:
> It is clear that the characters of HP are under mistaken 
> impressions on several fronts:
> 
> For one, they think that Slythern House is the *only* source of 
> Dark Wizards [this is mentioned several times].  Enter Peter 
> Pettigrew, aka Wormtail, from Gryffindor.

Hiya.  I don't have much time to post a lot this weekend (I have two 
exams Monday - summer semester is almost over!!!), so I've avoided 
commenting on the very complex, opinion-focused threads, but this one I can handle easily enough.  First question: I don't think they think Slytherin to be the only source.  Harry and crew aren't that naive.  But they do (rightly) assume that MOST future Dark Wizards wind up in Slytherin.  I finished reading (like most of us) the third part of the Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview this morning - there is an interesting bit about houses in there.  But I think it wrong to believe Harry, of all people, would forget about Wormtail.  However, I understand the question, in the sense that most of the focus does go to Slytherin, but again, as JKR says in the interview, that's because we typically see inside Slytherin from the POV of Death Eaters' children.

darqali again:
> Then there is the notion the Sorting Hat doesn't make mistakes. [It 
> may *debate*, such as over putting HP in Slythern vs Gryffindor or 
> Herminoe in Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw ...] But the signature trait of 
> Gryffindor is courage.  How did Pettigrew get sorted into 
> Gryffindor?  His cowardace, self-serving nature, and willingness to 
> sell out friends speaks of a Slythern character, not Gryffindor.

Again, this was answered in the same interview.  The Sorting Hat, 
according to JKR, DOES NOT make mistakes.  Peter does have courage, 
just not the kind I think any of us would brag about - he searches 
out and befriends the most powerful.  For protection, yes, but I also believe he enjoys the reflected glory, and it takes a certain amount of bravery to go against the entire Wizarding World and singularly help out a fetal Voldemort.  And Hermione and Harry, though possessing traits of other houses (as I'm sure everyone does), truly belong in Gryffindor.  And I don't think the Hat would ever have sorted Harry according to Harry's own choice had the Hat not also agreed that Harry, at least in part, possessed traits belonging to Gryffindor House.  But either way, Harry couldn't be in Slytherin, because he CHOSE not to be - something I think the Hat also knows, and so sorted accordingly.

darqali again:
> [For that matter, how did half-bloods Tom Riddle, and Snape, get 
> sorted into Slytherin if they are not Purebloods ??? ... since pure 
> blood was a trait house founder S. Slythern demanded; to the point 
> this issue became the source of the disagreement over which he left 
> the school ....  HP would belong in Slytherin over them, for though 
> his mother was Muggle-born *it remains she was a witch*; so Harry's 
> parents were a witch and a wizard, as he told Malfoy at their first 
> meeting .... making him in one sense more 'purebred' than either 
Tom 
> Riddle or Snape, who each had a true Muggle, non-magic parent.]

I don't think the Hat takes physical characterizations into account 
when Sorting.  Because believe me, if anyone has belonged in 
Slytherin it was Tom Riddle as Slytherin's last heir, even though he 
was a half-blood.  And Harry is considered a half-blood by Wizarding 
standards, we've been told that by JKR.  I believe Sorting relies 
entirely upon a person's personality, abilities, proclivities, and 
above all, choices.

darqali again:
> I took the scene on the train where Draco discovers and overcomes 
> Harry as indication that Draco's task was *not* to kill Harry 
[which I had rather assumed *was* the task when Snape discusses the 
> plot with Draco's mother} and think that was why the scene had to 
> be included; but didn't like the way it made Harry look; 
> necessary, tho', to make us wonder what it was Draco was ordered 
> to do [because he could have finished Harry off right there, if 
> *that* had been his task].

Well, I don't think anyone particularly enjoyed that scene, but of 
course, we know by the end that Malfoy was sent to kill DD.

darqali again:
> Questions:  Why does Sybil Trewlawny think students don't know 
about 
> the Room of Requirement?  
> 
> She has been hiding her empty cooking sherry bottles there for some 
> time.  This is the incarnation of the Room that Draco is hiding the 
> damaged Vanishing Cabinet in, when she encounters him there by 
> accident; the same incarnation of the room Harry finds when 
he "needs 
> to find a place to hide his book" [The HBP's Potions Book he needs 
to 
> hide from Snape].  When Harry enters this room it is the size of a 
> cathedral and heaped with things hidden .... including fanged 
> frizbees; who did Sybil T think was hiding all those things, if not 
> students?  Could she be *that* near-sighted ???

This is Trelawney we're talking about.  But seriously, I doubt the 
Room is common knowledge, and it certainly wouldn't be advertised.  
Trelawney also doesn't seem to be the type to be in touch with the 
student body, so I also doubt she really knows if most of the 
students know about the Room.  And those artifacts probably belong to teachers and students, maybe even houseelves, dating back to who 
knows how long, so I'm sure they've amassed over the years.  The Room is like so many other things in Hogwarts - hidden secrets waiting to be discovered by the inquisitive student, but not purposely kept under lock and key.  Otherwise, a headmaster would long ago have gotten rid of the room (unless, like Peeves, you're just stuck with it).

darqali again:
> Another question [perhaps answered in the past, please give me a 
> reference if there is a discussion, as I couldn't find it}
> 
> Why could Harry not initially see Thestrals? [Winged 'horses' which 
> pulled the Hogworts carriages; and visible only to those who have 
> seen death ... or murder?] He was present when LV murdered his 
> parents, after all!  O.K., he probably didn't see his father die; 
as 
> Lily was trying to escape while James held LV off ... but Lily was 
> shielding Harry with her body when she died, so Harry must have 
seen 
> the event.
> 
> If one postulates that one must see death when *old enough to 
> understand it* then I could understand why Harry couldn't see them 
at 
> first.
> 
> But then, after Cedric was killed in Harry's presence, the first 
time 
> the Thestral-drawn carriages enter the story again is when Harry 
> leaves Hogworts at the close of that year [ending of GOF; the 
> carriages take the students back to Hogsmede train station].  Why 
> couldn't Harry see them *then*?  As it is told, he first saw them 
the 
> following fall, when they picked the students from the trains to 
take 
> them to the school .... why the delay?

Ah, this topic again.  Yeah, darqali, you've missed some old 
interviews and numerous threads, but no harm done.  According to 
Rowling: Harry did not see his parents die, he was in a basinet, so 
the first person he ever saw die was Cedric.  Before one can see the 
Threstrals, the death has to 'sink' in, so at the end of Book 4, 
Harry was still coping with what had happened, and wasn't yet able to see the Thestrals, hence their appearance at the beginning of OOTP.  (I think this is just Jo's excuse for not having to introduce them at the end of Book 4, but hey, it works).

Hope that clears stuff up, I'm sure some others will also chip in.

Adair