Boggarts & the Passage to Honeydukes

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 143040

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "M. Thitathan" <h2so3f at y...> 
wrote:
> 1. Boggarts are shape-shifters (snip)So... had Lupin been correct 
and the first boggart in the staff room turned into LV when it saw 
Harry, would the LV-boggart be able to do magic?

Goddlefrood:

Quite possible. The Snape Boggart that originally approached Neville 
when it was his turn was reaching to his pocket (with the 
implication that he was about to draw his wand). Whether the Boggart 
takes on exactly the same abilities as well as qualities of the 
thing / person impersonated is a moot point. Harry does not appear, 
IMHO, to suffer as badly from the Boggart Dementor as he does from 
the real thing so why not postulate that a Boggart can do magic, but 
without perhaps the same intensity as the real witch / wizard.

Additionally when the *kids* are being taught by Mad-Eye he does say 
that they would be unlikely to give him so much as a nose bleed if 
they all cast AK together. This may also apply to creatures such as 
Boggarts in that their magical power is rather limited and would 
have no real effect on a witch / wizard even if it did cast the 
spell.

The other thing to remember is that the Boggart takes on the 
abilities of the witch / wizard that the person who faces the 
Boggart perceives that witch / wizard to possess, thus leading to 
the possible conclusion that a Boggart could be quite powerful if 
perceived as being so by its viewer. So many points to ponder...

> CH3ed
> 2. What did Moody see when he used his magical eye to check out 
that boggart in the drawing room cupboard at 12GP for Molly?

Goddlefrood:

This is a candidate for being a Flint. The only viable alternative 
is that the Boggart is so sensitive that it knows when it is being 
watched, even if that is through several walls and a piece of wood, 
and thus changes immediately into the viewer's worst fear. That is a 
bit of a stretch, but at the moment I have no reasonable alternative.

> CH3ed
> 3. Why is there a secret passage from Hogwarts to Honeydukes' 
cellar?

Goddlefrood:

Perhaps it was made in Slughorn's time so that he might have easier 
access to crystallised Pineapple. The other passages, and from 
memory there are seven, have no real explanation to them either. 
That is except for the one to the Shrieking Shack. The one that 
collapsed around winter of Harry's second year (as informed by Fred 
and George when handing him the Marauder's Map) may have collapsed 
due to Basilisk activity. No other passages have so far been 
seen...or have they?

> CH3ed
> 4. And how did Ron know to run breathlessly into Snape's office to 
tell Snape that the Marauders' Map was a toy he got from Zonko's and 
bailed Harry out?

Goddlefrood:

Another Flint? Or Ron is brighter than we have been giving him 
credit and put two and two together when he diod not find Harry 
where he expected him to be upon return from Hogsmeade. Oh yeah, Ron 
is brighter than we have been led to believe.