Bits and pieces

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 142542

Sydney wrote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/142512
> As Betsy points out as well, Snape spent his summers in a muggle
neighbourhood (probably: of course he could have been raised by the
Pinces or something, but it's the working theory).  He couldn't have
avoided the boom boxes. 

Carol responds:
I do think he lived with the Princes, actually, but supposing that he
did live in Tobias's Muggle neighborhood, he would not have needed to
wait till the era of boom boxes to hear the Muggle teenagers' music.
Doesn't anyone besides me remember transistor radios? They were around
throughout the 60s (Snape's childhood) and well into the 70s and were
a lot more portable than boom boxes. (I'm imagining little Severus at
about age nine listening to Simon and Garfunkes: "Hello Darkness, my
old friend. . . .")

Marianne wrote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/142537
> >I'm already perturbed at JKR's management of dead Sirius. Speaking
as someone who was a young teen when I lost my mother, the idea that
there was no memorial service for Sirius struck me as heartless for
the lack of support that sort service could have given to Harry, as
well as a sign of respect for the deceased.

Teresa responded:
> I've always wanted to believe that since their was no service,
Sirius isn't dead. Not likely, mind you but it help me. :)
Teresa-who is most unhappy with Sirius' death.

Carol notes:
I think the fact that Kreacher has to do what Harry orders indicates
not only that Sirius's will is valid but that he is truly dead. (But
see our possession thread for ideas on how Harry could see Sirius
beyond the Veil and bring his body back for a proper burial and
memorial service--rather like what he did for Cedric. More people
would attend the service now that Sirius's name has been cleared, if
that's any comfort. It wouldn't have to be a hasty, secret affair, as
it probably would have been while he was still thought to be a murderer.

Saraquel wrote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/142536
<snip> Somewhere, I can't even remember which book it's in, DD says to
Harry, that the fight to destroy evil is only ever temporary, that we
hold it at bay, but it always returns. (If someone could provide canon
that would be very helpful.) I find it interesting that the word
vanquished is used and not destroyed. <snip>

Carol responds:
I don't remember Dumbledore making that remark, but Snape says
something similar in HBP, although he's speaking specifically about
the Dark Arts rather than evil in general: "The Dark Arts are many,
varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a
many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a
head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that
which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible" (177 Am. ed.). (The Hydra,
Valky?) This may not be the passage you're thinking of since it
doesn't contain the word "vanquished," but it certainly indicates that
evil, at least in this specific form, can't be permanently defeated. I
have a vague recollection of *Gandalf* saying something about evil
never being completely vanquished--something about the Shadow always
taking another form and returning, but I don't recall DD saying
anything of the sort.

Carol, with apologies for combining unrelated messages, but I didn't
want to use up all my posts for the evening quite yet!