Hermione/House/pet rat/cover illo/love potion/SalemWitchesInstitute/Sir Nick

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 125994


Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125627 :

<< It couldn't have been because she was a Muggleborn (how could
he have known that?). >>

Presumably the professors were given in advance a list of all entering
students, so that Severus would have plenty of time to stew about
Harry's arrival. For all we know, that list has detailed information
on the children's backgrounds. Magic being what it is, it *could* be
more information than the child him/herself knows, like it might
explain about Dean not knowing that his biological father, insert name
here, was a wizard.

Steve bboyminn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125671 :

<< Keep in mind that while there are still living members of the Black
family, the 'House of Black' died with Sirius; the House of Tonks,
LeStrange, and Malfoy continue on. >>

The high amount of gender equality in the wizarding world sits
uncomfortably with the patriarchal traditions inherited from the
pre-Statute of Secrecy Muggle world. The wizarding folk do make a big
deal about the family by surname, and they do have wives adopting
their husbands' surname --- but maybe not in all cases. Maybe a witch
of the family can pass on the family surname and The House Of whoever
if there is no male heir left. Like, if Sirius and Regulus had hurried
up and died before Bellatrix married, Rodolphus could have taken her
surname, Black, instead of she his, and they could have had a child
who would be heir of the House of Black. Even tho' Bellatrix,
Narcissa, and Andromeda all took their husbands' surnames, maybe a
child of one of them could become the Heir of Black by adopting the
surname Black to go along with the blood.

I have a bad fanfic in which the House of Lovegood sprang from the
marriage of the last Loving and the last Goodknight (inspired by the
wonderful name of an Old West cattle trail).

a_svirn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125687 :

<< What has me in puzzle though is why a rat-pet was allowed in
Hogwarts at all. It was clearly said in the letter of admission: "a
cat OR a toad OR an owl". Why there were special allowances made for
Weasleys? >>

It seems to me that a rat is the kind of small pet (didn't Ron
sometimes keep Scabbers in his pocket?) that a kid can keep secretly
even in a school that doesn't allow pets at all. In addition, Hogwarts
under Dumbledore doesn't seem very picky about rules; a student can
probably have any pet (e.g. a hippogriff) if Filch doesn't catch
him/her with it and the other students living in the same dorm don't
complain. I personally think Lavender is Muggle-born, partly because
she looked ignorant when the Grim was mentioned, but partly because
she left her bunny at home; if she were from a wizarding family, she
would have known that 'a cat OR a toad OR an owl' didn't mean 'no
bunnies'. OTOH she has a perfectly wizarding name.

Eggplant wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125785 :

<< Is that really Dumbledore on the cover of HBP?
It could be Dumbledore, but it could also be the new character
described in the only known quote from the new book:
"He looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in
his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish
eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy,
loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp." >>

The bloke on the cover has white hair, not tawny with grey streaks.

Brodeur wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125936 :

<< Whilst I was reading the POA it stated that "Mrs. Weasley was
telling Ginny and Hermione, about a love potion that she had once
made". Now I was under the assumption that those are illegal. Back in
the past Hermione was once confronted about making a love potion but
then somebody stated, that they are of course illegal at Hogwarts. >>

For something to be against the rules at Hogwarts doesn't mean it's
illegal outside of Hogwarts. Like however-many hundred perfectly legal
products which Filch has banned from Hogwarts, e.g. Dungbombs.

a_swirn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125970 :

<< From GoF we learned about the renown "Salem Witch Academy". >>

In GoF, it was the Salem Witches' Institute, not Academy. I am
convinced it is a joke on a UK thing called the Women's Institute;
it's kind of a club for housewives in rural areas, with website
http://www.womens-institute.co.uk/

Alla wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/125985 :

<< If you have not seen it yet, Leaky Caudron mentions that JKR
updated her website (Extra stuff section, characters). There is a poem
which Nearly headless Nick was supposed to recite in CoS to tell about
his beheading. JKR's editor did not like the song that much at that
time. :) >>

But that poem has been on her website for a long time! It is not a
very good poem, but answers some of our curiosity about Sir Nick, why
he was sentenced to be beheaded, altho' not why he's a Gryffindor
(WHAT courage?). In OoP, Nick seemed not very happy about his decision
to stay a ghost instead of proceeding into the unknown, and I kind of
hope he gets a chance to resume that journey, altho' nowhere near as
much as I hope someone can put Myrtle out of her (and our) misery! 
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=11