Boggarts & the Passage to Honeydukes

[darqali]

No: HPFGUIDX 143062

CH3ed wrote:
> I'm re-reading PoA and just got curious about boggarts and wonder 
> if others can clear things up for me. :O) 
> 1. <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?

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Darqali's answer: The Boggart affects the mind of the person who views it.  It is not so much what the Boggart can actually *do*, but what the subject person *thinks is going to happen*.  The Boggart affects *perception*, not *reality*.

Harry feared Dementors the most, so when he viewed the Boggart, it 
sensed Harry's deepest fear and *appeared to be* a Dementor to 
Harry.  The Dementors act on the mind, as well, forcing people to re-
live their life's worst moments, so, Harry's mind replayed the 
childhood scene he *expected* to see when he was confronted by the 
Dementor Shaped Boggart {because that is what happened in the 
presence of *real* Dementors}.  Had Harry never had a real Dementor 
encounter, the Boggart would not have had that affect on him; or, if 
Harry's real Dementor encounter resulted in the surfacing of another 
horrible memory, *that* memory would be what surfaced when Harry 
faced the Dementor Shaped Boggart.

The Boggart can never really be LV, and no, had someone {such as 
Harry} seen the Boggart and had LV as "their worst fear", the LV-
Shaped Boggart would *not* have LV's powers .... anymore than the 
Prof. McGonagall-Shaped Boggart would have the *power* to fail 
Hermione on all her exams!

[Question:  If someone viewing a Boggart feared LV the most but had 
never *seen* LV, what shape would the Boggart take ?????  Most in the WW have never *seen * LV, in the flesh, after all .... my guess would be, the resulting Boggart would be what that person *imagined* LV to look like, not LV's *actual appearance*; presuming the Boggart gets its information from the subject's mind.]

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? 

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Darqali's answer: We cannot know for certain, because JKR doesn't tell us.

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CH3ed:
> In PoA Lupin taught that no one knows what a boggart looks like 
> when he is locked up in isolation...He is shapeless until he is 
> seen....or is it until he sees someone? So would Moody had seen an 
> empty cupboard that was shaking? What if you lock up a boggart in 
> a box made of one way mirror so you can see in, but the boggart 
> can't see out? Would that boggart have a shape? 

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Darqali's answer: While we cannot know for certain, it seems that the best guess would be that the Boggart is a creature that performs some kind of Legilimency  on the person viewing it ... for it can *read* that person's deepest fear.  Remember, Prof. Snape told Harry that eye contact was {usually} necesssary in performing Legilimency; so it is the *Boggart* who must view *the Person* {to perform Legilimency, *reading* the person's deepest fear}, so as to decide what shape to assume to frighten *that* person}.

If the Boggart could not see the person, it could not perform 
Legilimency, and would not know what shape to assume to frighten that person {even if the person, using a one-way mirror, could see the space the Boggart occupied}.

But as for *what shape* the viewed Boggart would appear .... from 
canon we must state "No One Knows" .... because no one has ever done 
that.

Unless Moody did, with his eye which appearantly can see through the 
back of his head, school desks, and other solid objects such as desk 
in the corner of the drawing room at #12, Grimauld Place.

Now, would Moody recognize an *unformed Boggart*?  Well, maybe; he is a very experienced Auror, after all.  But if so, then Hermione's 
answer in Lupin's class ["No one knows"] was incorrect, after all.

Rather, my *guess* would be that Moody knew what other nasty hidden 
creatures might occupy such a space {and behave in such a manner as 
to make the desk shake}, and when he looked and didn't see any of 
*them*, by default he confirmed what *was* there had to be a 
Boggart.  [When you have eliminated all the possibilities you go with what remains, even if you can't see it.  The Unformed Boggart would be the *one thing*  Moody couldn't actually see.]

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

********

Darqali's answer:  We are indeed unlikely ever to know.  "Smuggling" or "Theft" are the answers which comes most readily to mind.  "Safety in dangerous times" is another.

*********
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? Harry was caught by Snape just after he 
> cleared the hidden passage. Ron shouldn't have known where Harry 
> went, ay? 

*********

Darqali's answer:

Ron *didn't* actually *know* Harry had a problem with Snape.  He 
*did* know Harry had headed back to school by a slower route than 
Draco & Co were able to take, and he *guessed* that Draco would go 
directly to Snape, and that Snape was *likely* to catch Harry before 
he was able to get back to his Dorm and unload his pockets ....

It probably wasn't the M's Map that Ron was concerned about helping 
Harry explain.  Harry had purchased things in Hogsmead, and had them 
in his pockets.  Ron knew if Harry was caught by Snape, he'd have to 
explain them, and he headed to Snape's office to provide Harry with 
an excuse, *presuming* that Draco had beat Harry back to Hogwarts and that Snape would be ready to *pounce* on Harry ... it was a *guess* on Ron's part, that Draco would run straight to Snape, and he was right.

As for the M's Map, Snape had spotted it among the things Harry had 
on his person.  Lupin was there and knew perfectly well what the map 
was, being among its makers, and it was *Lupin* who suggested to 
Snape that the Map was a prank object from Zonkos' joke shop.  Ron's 
timely arrival appeared to confirm this.  

Though darqali does not think Prof. Snape was convinced ....not one 
little bit.


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