Prince/Hans/Salazar/Apparation/Christmas/Hermione/Wand/MuggleClothes/Abuse

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 126346


Fitzov wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125996 :

<< The biggest issue I have with the identity of the Half Blood
Prince, relates to the use of the title "Prince". JKR has give no
hints whatsoever that there is any equivalent of Wizard Monarchy, and
her books actually strike me as out-and-out republican. There are no
Kings and Queens, and therefore no Princes and Princesses. >>

According to the Lexicon,
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/wizards-l-n.html#Merlin Merlin's
Famous Wizard card says: "Sometimes known as the Prince of
Enchanters." I thought he was called that because his magic was so
powerful, but I can't find that in the Lexicon.

Hans Andrea wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126008 :

<< Yesterday I mentioned that Lucius is a special part of the physical
body. Let's work it out. His son is pale and has a long, pointed face.
Lucius is also pale. In Draco's case the longevity points to the
length of the spinal cord and the paleness is the colour of the spinal
cord. Ergo: Lucius is the brain with its consciousness. The spinal
cord is a kind of "son" of the brain. It comes out of the brain,
doesn't it? >>

I admire your deduction, but am disappointed that it didn't end up
that Lucius is the prick.

Ffred Manawydan wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126010 :

<< faced with the situation he was faced with, how many of us today
would end up with Helga and how many with Salazar? >> 

Me, I'd pick the same way as Rowena. Btw, how did she figure out which
children were the 'cleverest' if she didn't speak their language?

Snow wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/126017 :

<< her reasons for not sending him to Durmstrang, as far as her son
and husband are concerned, were that it was too far. What is too far
away for a witch who can apparate or use floo powder, sounds like a
lame excuse if I ever heard one >>

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES says that Apparation is more dangerous the
longer the distance covered and only the most talented mages try to
Apparate across entire continents. It says that wizards used ships to
cross oceans until a broomstick capable of flying so long a distance
was invented. I think JKR views Apparation and Floo as a great deal
more limited than us readers do, and never thought of Steve bboyminn's
plan of Apparating across the continent by a series of short
Apparations from city to city.

Karen the Unicorn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126041 :

<< I personally would rather debate the reason why they celebrate
Christmas in the Potter universe? They don't show images of Santa
Claus at the Christmas feast..neither do they show images of baby
Jesus...so..what is their equivalent of having Christmas..and Easter
for that matter. >>

Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox were celebrated in many cultures
before Christianity. We see that the wizarding folk live a long time
and resist change (they still wear Medieval clothing in the twentieth
century), so I assume that their pre-Christian religions (in Britain,
primarily Druidism and religio Roma) were never rooted out, so that
there are now two main religions at Hogwarts (plus as many other
religions as Muggleborn and half-blood students were raised with by
their Muggle families): one would be about half-way between Roman
Catholic and Anglican, and the other would be The Old Religion,
consisting of all local pre-Christian religions mushed together. So
that even tho' I think Hogwarts was probably more religious in past
centuries, the holiday feasts would always have been somewhat secular
because of 'lowest common denominator'.

imamommy wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126173 :

<< And what about Hermione: she wasn't there when the boys got a peek
in [the Mirror of Erised] first year. But what would she want most
now? >>

I think her vision first year would have been a heap of books
containing all the knowledge in the world, altho' her crying in the
restroom because everyone hated her and her gloating over 112% on the
Charms exam suggest the possibility that her vision would have been
all the people at Hogwarts cheering her and asking for her autograph.

I think her vision during GoF and into OoP would have been seeing all
the House Elves happy in their clothes and freedom, but events in OoP
may have changed it to seeing Harry in a better mood or seeing LV
defeated. The bit about writing a letter to tell her parents she'd
been made prefect because 'prefect is something they can understand'
suggests the possibility that she has a greater desire for closeness
with her Muggle family than she lets on, possibly represented by a
vision of them as happy guests at Hogwarts.

a_svirn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126184 :

<< I think [knitting and hiding the elf hats] as well as ones with
centaurs and sneak-jinx shows that she should have been in Slytherin
if it wasn't for her muggle provenance. Any means to achieve the end
an all that. >>

I noticed that in CoS when she so calmly arranged to drug Crabbe and
Goyle with sleeping potion, then realised that the whole plan for
accessing the Restricted Section, stealing the ingredients, etc, was
pretty Slytherin.

Angie asked in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126203 :

<< Who else besides DD and Harry do we know for certain knows that
Voldemort is Tom Riddle? >>

Ollivander knew that he had sold the wand that LV was using. Either he
sold it to Tom Riddle and knew that Tom Riddle was LV, or he had sold
a wand to a red-eyed noseless scaley snake-man LV.

Tonks_op wrote
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126207 :

<< It has bothered me that [Ron] wears Muggle clothes and he doesn't
live in the Muggle world. It doesn't make sense. >>

I assume that wearing Muggle clothes became a fad among young wizards
and witches soon after the first fall of LV. It may have started with
older kids trying to show that they were on the anti-LV pro-Muggleborn
winning side by dressing like their Muggleborn classmates, but soon
became 'these styles are cool/hot, not like that old fuddyduddy stuff
my parents wear', and now maybe Ron doesn't even *know* that those are
Muggle styles. I suppose it is generally known that the reason kids
wear jeans that sag to show their boxer shorts (spray-painted on
hiphuggers that show their thongs is quite another thing) to look like
'gangstas', but how widely known is it that gangstas' jeans sag
because CYA (California Youth AUthority, juvenile prison) doesn't
allow belts, which could be used as weapons? And the CYA clothes are
all too big because CYA has better things to do with its time than try
to find well-fitting clothing for a bunch of convicted growing
children.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126209 :

<< The one problem I have is the pureblood parents having no clue what
Muggle clothes look like. Surely they had Muggleborn friends when they
were in school, and also they and their children have to pass as
Muggles when they take the kids to Platform 9 3/4 and pick them up at
the end of the year, so they must have *some* idea what those clothes
look like. >>

>From memory, at the beginning of GoF, when Ron writes to Harry that
the Weasleys will pick him up to take him to see Quidditch World Cup,
Uncle Vernon says something rude about the way those people dress, and
Harry reflects that he has never seen Mr and Mrs Weasley wearing
Muggle clothing. I wondered at the time how large numbers of people in
wizarding robes going to King's Cross twice a year could go unnoticed
by us Muggles....

Steve bboyminn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126326 :

<< Harry treatment is only out of order by today's very liberal
standards. (snip)
In addition, it was not that long ago that while the Dursley's
treatment of Harry might have been considered harsh, it would not have
been considered criminal. It would have fell within the scope of
allowable methods for parents and guardians to raise and discipline
their kids. >>

Think about fairy tales which were published during the Victorian
period. Many of them starred mis-treated step-children. Much of the
mis-treatment was similar to Dursley treatment of Harry: sleep on the
floor or a very bad bed, wear rags, limited food, forced to do mass
quantities of housework while the evil step-mother's own children wore
fine clothes and went to parties all the time... To me, the context of
the stories shows that the Victorian readers found that degree of
favoritism between the children in a family to be Out Of Order despite
being legal.

Tonks_op wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/126337 :

<< Anyway how can a person be strong, unyielding, cruel and loving it
one minute, and the next be a sniveling, whimpering being groveling
at the feet of LV? I just don't get it. Can someone help me
understand what is in Bella head? Thanks. >>

It seems it is not uncommon among S&M people for a person to play
'bottom' to one person and 'top' to another person, so I don't see any
contradiction in Bella's behavior. What I find harder is to explain
that s&m people, playing consensual games that both partners enjoy,
are not at all like Bella's true viciousness...