too many topics to fit in this subject line, sorry

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 148862

angie gelite67 wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148497 :

<< he also desired to kill Sirius in POA and couldn't do it (never
understood how he would have at that point anyway, b/c he didn't know
about any killing curses then). >>

There are ways to kill other than AK. Harry killed the basilisk in CoS
by sticking a sword through its soft palate into its brain and Harry
in HBP almost killed Draco with Sectumsempra. Harry in PoA didn't know
Sectumsempra yet, but I think he'd learned spells to start fires so
that he could have set Sirius's clothes on fire. 

In PS/SS, Wingardium Leviosa on the troll's club caused it to fly up
and bash the troll's head, which merely knocked out the troll, but
would have killed a human. If Ron hadn't been in the four-poster bed,
the bed would probably have been massive enough that bashing Sirius
with it would have killed him. Or how about levitating Sirius to a
great height and dropping him? 

When I suggested Transfiguring part of his aorta to tissue paper
(which would promptly dampen and burst, causing MASSIVE internal
hemorrhage and death), another listie said 'Accio Heart!' would be easier.

Lealess summarized Chapter 10 in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148506 :

<< 10. This had probably been discussed to death, but: Why can't Ron
read the Prince's instructions? Hermione won't try to read them
because she is opposed to "cheating" with the HBP book – is this the
real reason? >>

I think the HBP's Potions textbook is a magic book. JKR was originally
planning to introduce it in CoS and we heard about magic books in CoS
when Ron warned Harry about the mysterious diary: "You'd be
surprised," said Ron, who was looking apprehensively at the book.
"Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated Dad's told me - there
was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a
Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old
witch in Bath had a book that you could never stop reading! You just
had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything
one-handed. And -" (p 172 of my UK paperback that appears to be
printing 23) 

I think the HBP's book has a slightly less dangerous enchantment -- it
attracts the person it belongs to and repels all others. It attracted
Harry and made him trust the Prince for no logical reason. It repelled
Ron by being illegible to him and repelled Hermione emotionally. Let
me change 'it belongs to' to 'who belongs to it' -- it somehow chose
Harry and may its way to him, perhaps even teleporting itself from
Snape's office or wherever to the cupboard in Slughorn's classroom.
Perhaps if Harry already had an Advanced Potions textbook, it would
have come up with some way to get that one out of the way long enough
to ensnare Harry.

*Why* the book now prefers to own Harry rather than Snape ... maybe
part is that its feelings were hurt by Snape ceasing to teach Potions,
and another part is that the book shared Snape's hypothetical fondness
for Lily's green eyes?

Eric Oppen wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148511 :

<< The House of White and Green >>

I know 'silver and green' doesn't scan, but I think 'grey and green'
would be closer.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148529 :

<< But as to the teaching of moral lessons in the WW, you've hit on a
failing in the system. Hogwarts does nothing to undo the values that
its students learn at home. It only enables them to earn a living and
survive the hardships of existence in the WW. >>

The Dark Side seems well-accepted, even if slightly illegal, in the
Wizarding WOrld. Parents on the Dark Side would be outraged if
Hogwarts tried to teach their children a set of values contrary to
what the parents had taught them. Dumbledore, as leader of the Light
Side rather than as Headmaster, ought to be dong something subtle to
propandize the students towards goodness, but anything more than
subtle would have the Board of Governors firing him.

Phineas Nigellus probably belonged to the Dark Side when he was alive,
and parents who were on the Light Side would have been equally
outraged if his Hogwarts had tried to teach their children Dark values.

Tonks_op wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148548 :

<< Speaking of trophies.  What about the trophy room?  Remember Ron
polishing them? And the room on JKR's site?  There is one there for
Lily.  Now I don't think of Lily as a Quidditch player, so what did
she win a big trophy for? And are any of them a horcrux? >>

Maybe Lily won first place in a Potions Fair (like Science Fair). I've
previously suggested that Bellatrix and Sirius earned their trophies
as Duelling Club Champions (in different years).

Lisa wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148554 :

<< What if the reason Dumbledore trusts Snape is because Snape
has promised (perhaps even made an unbreakable vow?) to protect
Harry. >>

There are listies who say that Dumbledore is too good to allow an
Unbreakable Vow even if Snape insisted. On the other hand, if Snape
made an Unbreakable Vow to Dumbledore and Hagrid was the Bonder, that
would explain why Hagrid completely trusted Professor Snape until he
saw DD's dead body.

<< if Dumbledore did plan to have Snape be his killer, is it possible
that some transfer of power occured there? >>

At one time, someone posted a theory that killing someone by AK
transfers the victim's magic power to the killer, so the Death Eaters
took that name because they gain magic power from their victim's
deaths. I know nothing in canon to support it.

Steve quoted in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148563 :

<< "...or, to put it another way, the status of their secret will
remain as it was at the moment of their death. Everybody in whom they
confided will continue to know the hidden information, but nobody
else." >>

I'm wondering if she really meant that written notes lose their power
to transmit the information.

PJ wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148582 :

<< IMO, Harry is the dark young man. (snip) The questioner is always
whoever the cards are laid out for - the person with the question.   I
think she did the reading for herself but decided it had to be wrong
because she couldn't believe that anyone could possibly dislike her. 
:) >>

This is a forbidden 'I agree' post.

<< My money is on it being Lily's school book because Slughorn has
never raved about Snape being a great potions maker but goes into
total rapture over Lily's abilities in class... >>

Slughorn *had* noticed that his student Severus was a great potions
maker. P.299 of my UK adult cover hardcover HBP: "You should have seen
what he gave me, first lesson, the Draught of Living Death -- never
had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even
you, Severus --"  Surely that was "I don't think even you, Severus,
did it better" and even a flatterer wouldn't have said that without
*some* basis in reality.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148585 :

<< And I don't understand why he didn't have the marriage annulled and
marry his beloved Cecilia >>

Someone suggested that when Tom eloped with a girl that Cecilia didn't
even know, Cecilia married her nextest suitor in a snit. So even if
Tom had the marriage annulled, Cecilia was no longer available to
marry. Let us hope that Cecilia didn't have a miserable married life
with her second choice.

houyhnhnm wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148616 :

<< Therefore what he did was right action.  Hence he did not tear his
soul. >>

I don't think it follows that just because one chooses what is right
over what is easy, one's soul is not torn. (If Severus killed Albus
against his own desire and for only the highest motives, I expect it
tore his soul anyway.) This is the cost of participating in the world
rather than being a hermit -- even right action is sinful. The torn
soul is part of what makes it Not Easy.

hpotter284 asked in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148648 :

<< If we take Dumbledore and Marchbanks as a guideline for wizard
lifespans, then the average wizard life should last about 200 years.
Yet none of the Blacks in the family tree lived anywhere close to that
long (the oldest seem to have lived for about 80 years or so, which is
barely above half of Dumbledore's age).  >>

Same for all the Famous Witches and Wizards on the Famous Wizards
cards (Wizard of the month on JKR's website). I think some listies
have theorized that JKR's interview statement that wizards live longer
than Muggles is generally false, except that a few wizards including
Dumbledore live very long by magical means -- in Dumbledore's case,
Elixir of Life from Flamel's Philosopher's Stone rather than Horcruxes.

Alla wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148714 :

<< You are proceeding on the Dungrollin assumption that Snape knew
about the task, right? Then I see so MANY things that are wrong with
agreeing to take UV to protect Draco. First one is what I said in my
earlier post - to me it strikes VERY close to being an accessory to
the murder. Snape does NOT just takes UV to protect Draco. He takes
UV to protect and help him while Draco tries to carry out the
assasination of the Headmaster. >>

The first and second parts of the UV: "Will you, Severus, watch over
my son Draco as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?" "And
will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?" (p41) 

The first is cheap and easy -- watching doesn't specify to which side
he reports what he observes. The second is less easy, but does not
equal promising to be an accessory to whatever crime Draco commits --
If Snape is DDM, he believes harm to one's soul is worse than harm to
one's body, and would want primarily to protect Draco (of whom I
remain convinced he is fond) from harming his soul by murder, only
secondarily to protect Draco's life by hiding him from the Dark Lord.

Pippin wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148821 :

<< But if Draco were a real child, surely you wouldn't call him foul
names in Yiddish and suggest that because his gangster family had
involved him in a murder plot, he didn't deserve the help and
protection of his teachers. >>

You probably could say 'surely' if Draco was 12, but in HBP he's 16
and as far as I know it isn't even controversial nowadays that 16 year
old wrongdoers are tried as adults and sent to adult prison.

Jen R. wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148856 :

<< Still, what do people think about JKR's own explanation to Stephen
Fry, that Dumbledore is worried the DADA position will 'bring out
the worst' in Snape? Why would she say something so directly she
doesn't mean? >>

I think it was a clever little JKR joke. The ways we've seen the curse
get rid of DADA professors has involved 'outing' their worst secrets.
That Quirrel had LV on the back of his head, that Lockhart was a
fraud, that Lupin was a werewolf, that Moody was Crouch with
Polyjuice... I think Snape being the killer of Dumbledore could be
'the worst' in Snape, and it was brought out by the curse.