Cockroach cluster

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 126534


Geoff wrote
snip
"...Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging 
> in the air in front of Lupin who said "Riddikulus!" almos lazily. 
> Crack!
> "Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the Boggart 
> landed on the floor as a cockroach.'
> 
> (POA "The Boggart in the Wardrobe" pp.104-105 UK edition)
> 
> Interesting thought there is: Whose fears provoked the appearance 
of 
> the cockroach?

Potioncat:
I absolutely do not believe it!
I cannot count the number of time this scene has been 
discussed/debated/argued.  I don't remember anyone pointing this out. 
Lupin isn't turning the Boggart Orb into a cockroach. The "crack" is 
the counter-spelled Boggart turning into someone else's fear. We 
aren't told in PoA or in OoP what Lupin's counter-spelled Boggart 
becomes. (Although Pippin has said that Lupin doesn't really dispell 
the Boggart.)

I'll have to give this some thought, but I still think there is a 
literary reason for Orb to cockroach to Boggart!Snape AND blood 
flavored candy near cockroach clusters AND Lupin's orb to 
cockroach/Snape's exploding jar of cockroaches.

BTW, how common are cockroaches in England? I think of them as warm 
climate pests.

Potioncat