JokeShops/Patronus/Hagrid/SpinnersEnd/SWAKDEAD/Cleverest/RAB/Twins/DADA Prof

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 141046

Katherine F. wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140424 :

<< Do wizards have an above-average affinity for practical jokes,
since the small wizarding community of Great Britain is able to
support *three* functioning joke shops? >>

Maybe it can only support *two* functioning joke shops, since I seem
to recall that Gambol and Japes vanished from Diagon Alley after
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes became successful, and I like to think it
vanished due to losing business to the competition rather than to
having been attacked by LV.

Valky wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140506 :

<< I was working on a theory of Snape sending his Patronus to the Trio
with anonymous messages. >>

Messages via (uniquely personal) Patronus aren't exactly *anonymous*,
just that the kids don't recognize the signature and no doubt come up
with many wrong certainties.

Aussie/norbertsmummy wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140521 :

<< What evidence athat the Marauders and Hagrid weren't close? Mainly
because of the Marauders map itself.(snip) In POA, Peter / Scabbers
knew he could hide in Hagrid's hut because it was not on the map - the
Marauders had not plotted it ... maybe because they had never been
inside >>

I remain convinced that the Marauders and Hagrid WERE close, and
interpret the inside of Hagrid's house not being on their Map as them
respecting his privacy, showing more consideration for him than they
did for most people (doesn't it show the inside of DD's office?).

And I think Hagrid knew where to find the Potters because he had been
told the Secret in a note written by the Secret Keeper. He may have
been informed so that he could come to visit them in hiding, or DD may
have handed him the note when tellling him to fetch baby Harry from
the ruins.

Potioncat wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140524 :

<< Let's assume, since most of us do anyway, that Spinner's End is the
same house where teenaged Severus killed flies.  >>

Usually what most people assume from canon is right and I am wrong
when I assume something else, but STILL I don't understand the reason
for that assumption; it seems to me quite likely that Snape bought
that house from the Muggle world (and repaired, remodelled,
redecorated, furnished, and hid it as a wizarding house) with his
salary from Hogwarts. According to a JKR interview, only Filch (the
House Elves hadn't been introduced yet) stay at Hogwarts over the
summer holiday, so he would have needed somewhere to go then. Where
did Trelawney go, that DD could keep her safe from LV?

<< [Bella]'s surprised that he lives here. Narcissa, on the other
hand, knows just where it is. (snip) Hmm, was there a dish of ACID
POPS on the side table? >>

Just that he hadn't owned that house yet when Bella went to Azkaban.
Can you imagine if Lucius and Narcissa deigned to attend his
housewarming <g>?

Kaylee Lupin-Tonks wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140526 :

<< First Mate of the SWAK DEAD as well as Shipmate of the DRIBBLE
SHADOWS, >>

I couldn't find SWAK DEAD in Inish Alley.

Torinarg wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140565 :

<< One point I have is the view that Lily Evans/Potter was a most
extraordinary witch, perhaps the most extraordinary, however in POA
Lupin tells Hermione that she is the most extraordinary witch of
her age he has ever met, and he knew Lily very well. Any thoughts? >>

He said that Hermione was the 'cleverest' witch of her age ('smartest'
in American), which speaks to her abilities at book learning rather
than to her amount of magical power. Hermione could have a tiny bit
higher IQ while Lily had more magic power and magic intuition.

Vadwe asked in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140667 :

<< Does anyone ever question if RAB isn't necesarily Regulus? >>

I used to suggest that it was Ronald Arthur Bilius Weasley,
hypothetical father of Arthur Weasley & his two brothers, one of 
whom probably was the Uncle Bilius who saw a Grim and died. (It is 
on JKR's website that Arthur Weasley was one of three brothers:
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=7 )

bibphile wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140726 :

<< On a side note, am I the only one who thought it was very stupid of
Harry to just try spells on people when he had no idea what they did.
>>

I thought it was SO stupid that I thought that the book was magically
seducing him, something like the Riddle diary. It didn't have verbal
conversations with him and I don't think it thought for itself, but
it maybe had some charm on it to magnetically attract Harry, make him
trust it and want to try out all its special spells. Maybe Hermione's
intense dislike of it and Ron's inability to read it were also caused
by magic -- if Hermione and Ron had both had the same reaction, it
would be easy to believe that the spell simply included repelling
everyone but the 'owner'. Unfortunately, I don't know how well a mere
spell could tailor the type of repulsion to the repulsee's personality
without 'thinking for itself'. But, y'know, a spell on the book
telling it to belong to Harry could cause it to move itself from
Snape's bookcase to the Potions classroom cabinet.

Irene wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140733 :

<< I have yet to see a suicide note that reads: "My chemistry 
teacher is a mean, unfair, sarcastic bastard; and that's why 
I've had enough". >>

I believe that is because the police hush up all suicide notes that
blame a teacher or parent, out of respect for the authority over the
child that parents and teachers, no matter how unworthy, have been
given by law and custom.

Sister Magpie wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140787 :

<< Tom's childhood was spent in an orphanage, which is a completely
unloving environment. >>

Nitpick: when we saw Tom's orphanage in HBP, it was not as unloving as
I had expected. The children were allowed to have toys; at least one
child was allowed to have a *pet* (the bunny that Tom murdered); the
annual outing was supposed to be Fun for the children...

Valky wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140845 :

<< I think he participated, at least once or twice, in the heinous
cruelties that the DE's are reknowned for, I wouldn't be surprised if
at first he was quite thrilled with it. Its continuity of the
character to assume that he enjoyed being a nasty git when he was a
DE. He enjoys it now, why should he have liked it any less then? >>

I don't agree with that part. Just because a person enjoys hurting
other people's feelings with vicious words or even damaging their
cherished property doesn't mean that person enjoys physical violence.

I'm inclined to think that Snape began to turn against LV and his
friends because witnessing the torture (that he was expected to
participate in, and enjoy it) made him queasy and the first time he
saw a human being DIE turned his stomach. 

Brooding about it (I am certain he is good at brooding!) led him to
realize that the acts of LV and his followers were counter-productive
to the alleged goal of having a safe & prosperous wizarding world
ruled by LV with powerful and luxurious jobs given to loyal followers
and due respect to old pure-blood families.

Elkins wrote once that she saw Snape as the type who would enjoy
physical sadism and that a person who gives up something he enjoys
because he decides that it's ethically wrong is more interesting than
a person who gets squeamish at the sight of blood. Even I must admit
squeamishness is not a sign of virtue; there are good people who are
not squeamish (real!Moody for one). 

Betsy Hp wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140936 :

<< The reader has to assume so much (they didn't really mean for
Dudley to suffocate to death, they would have felt bad if Montague 
had died, they wouldn't have let Katie Bell bleed to death, >>

Well, they WOULDN'T have let Katie bleed to death. Even if neither of
them was dating her, she was a valuable player for their Quidditch
team.

Mira wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/141019 :

<< JKR: Prof Snape said I'd like to be Prof of Defence Against the
Dark Arts please and Prof Dumbledore felt it might bring out the worst
in Snape >>

Since HBP, we now know that that was JKR's little joke -- it's a
perfectly true statement, because the curse on the DADA chair brings
out the worst in each DADA teacher.