TBAY: DRIBBLE SHADOWS (long)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 128861

Neri wrote:
> > 
> > TURBAN! Tying Unguent 'Round Baby 'Arry's Noggin.   
> 
> "Cool acronym", grinned Neri. "However, if it were Snape and Hagrid
> that did everything, it would be a bit pretentious of DD to say that
> he placed the charm on Harry, and this would hardly be in 
character".
> 

Potioncat retrieves the can(n)ball tossed aside by Jen and reads it 
aloud again: 
> GoF, Ch. 33:
> "But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has been better protected 
than
> I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long
> ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. Dumbledore
> invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as 
he
> is in his relations' care. Not even I can touch him there. ...Then, 
of
> course, there was the Quidditch World Cup. ...I thought his 
protection
> might be weaker there, away from his relations and Dumbledore, but I
> was not yet strong enough to attempt kidnap in the midst of a horde 
of
> Ministry wizards. And then, the boy would return to Hogwarts, where 
he
> is under the crooked nose of that Muggle-loving fool from morning
> until night. So how could I take him?"

Potioncat begins to explain:
"See, if we're going to take LV's word at this, he says '...in ways 
devised by DD...' More than one way! There's the ancient magic that 
works at the Dursleys. And it could have been set up by DD without 
Harry actually being there. The idea of a letter is a very good one, 
and..."

Just then another owl flew down and dropped a letter on Potioncat's 
head addressed: "Dreamer, on the Beach, Theory Bay"

written by stickbook (Post # 128858)
A few years ago there was a similar idea that was bandied about, but I
don't know that it ever got it's own proper acronym. The theory was
that Petunia kept the letter and that ever since it's been hidden
under the first stair. Or maybe it was the second stair, I can't
remember. Anyway, that's why that stair creaks. There was never any
real canon to go on, other than the fact that it seems to be mentioned
an awful lot for a single stair. Does anyone else remember this
discussion?

Potioncat looks up from the letter, "So, letters get a lot of votes. 
You know it would be even funnier if HBP opens with Dudley's 
announcement that he's fixed the step by finding and tossing out an 
old piece of paper stuck under the wood."

But back to SHADOW and TURBAN. We know DD wasn't at Hogwarts: 
McGonagall was looking for him. So he did his magic somewhere else. 
It could still have been a letter. He doesn't seem to have talked to 
Hagrid, or seen Harry because he asks about the trip. So, DD performs 
or prepares his magic at an undisclosed site. That was one way of 
protecting Harry.

Hagrid talks to McGonagall, so he must have been at Hogwarts late 
enough in the day to run into her; but she doesn't see Harry either, 
or even know for sure about James and Lily. We don't know what Hagrid 
told her. 

Hagrid and Snape apply Dragon blood protection or Dragon blood remedy 
to Harry. Hagrid takes Harry to the Dursleys. The Feast Night dream 
now serves both to paint Snape as "The Bad Guy" which is what 
everyone thought it was supposed to for most of SS/PS, but now it 
also works to tie the events of GH to Harry's later experiences.

It's still appropriate that DD say he performed a charm. A charm is 
not a potion and there are some who might not think potion-making is 
magic anyway...and we have good old Tom telling us that DD devised 
several ways of protecting Harry." 

Potioncat looks around. Everyone is thinking. But what, she wonders, 
are they thinking? The slight breeze is growing stronger and cooler. 
Comfortable now, but threatening a real storm. Potioncat looks out at 
the vessels in the bay. Even the most seaworthy ones look a bit 
battered.

"Does anyone know which boats are still manned? And which ones still 
have some power to them?" she asks.