RatSpy/Ch7summary/VeelaGrandma/Crystallized/BlaiseMum/HagridPals/ViktorSnape

Mon Jan 9 03:39:51 UTC 2006

No: HPFGUIDX 146129

PJ midnightowl wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145750 :

<< Well, since Peter was the first to find Voldermort after escaping
the Shrieking Shack, I believe he was able to give LV much more than
even Bertha Jorgenson on a wide range of things that had happened
since GH. He'd have been present for family discussions and possibly
even Order meetings! Who watches what they say in front of their pets?
Oddly enough though, none of the adults in the WW so much as mention
this potential disaster. >>

Which Order members have grasped what/who Scabbers was?

Not Molly: when she proclaims that she must give Ron a reward for
being chosen Prefect, she suggests various things including "or a new
rat, you always liked Scabbers". Maybe all the Weasleys thought that
Ron's tail tale that Scabbers had been Pettigrew in disguise all along
was some kind of hysterical delusion, and have since then forgotten
about it.

Sirius and Remus knew that Scabbers was Wormtail was Peter, and Remus
knew that Scabbers had been Ron's pet, but maybe it didn't occur to
either of them that Scabbers would have overheard anything important
in the Weasley household. He wouldn't have overheard Order meetings,
as the Order didn't reconstitute until a whole year (book) after Peter
escaped. 

Dumbledore was told about Scabbers/Wormtail/Peter at the end of PoA,
and he should have known that Arthur is the type to bring excellent
classified gossip home from the office. But he also is famous for not
telling anyone any information.

Anita akh summarized chapter 7 in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145765 including:

<< Luna presumes heï¿½s been attacked by a Wrackspurt, an invisible
creature that floats through oneï¿½s ear into oneï¿½s brain, making it 
all fuzzy. As Luna bats off imagined Wrackspurts,Harry and Neville
exchange a look and hastily change the subject. >>

I dunno why Luna is given the line about Wrackspurts, when they are
quite obviously real, at least based on my experience.

<< As Slughorn chats with each student, Harryï¿½s suspicions are
confirmed: each has a famous or well-connected relative, except for
Harry and Ginny. >>

Harry ALSO has famous parents; it's just that they're dead.

<< [Ginny] explains that she hexed Zacharias Smith after he irritated
her by badgering her with questions about the Ministry of Magic
incident. >>

Just as Pensieve!Lily said to/of Pensieve!James: "walking down
corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can".
3rdTwin!Ginny seems to be more like James than like Lily.

<< [Draco] assures Harry he didnï¿½t hear anything important, but still
takes the opportunity to stomp in Harryï¿½s face and cover him again
with the cloak, thus making Harry both immobile and invisible. >>

It struck me on first reading that this is Harry's come-up-ance for
the six against three (DA versus Draco and Crabbengoyle) on the
Hogwarts Express at the end of OoP, especially the DA leaving them on
the floor of the train struck down by all those curses versus Draco
leaving Harry on the floor of the train.

<< 8. As we learn about each studentï¿½s connections during Slughornï¿½s
luncheon party, whose story, if any, do you suppose will prove to be
important in book 7? >>

Damocles Belby's. There must have been a reason he invented the
Wolfsbane Potion.

Allie wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145849 :

<< Fleur's grandmother is/was a Veela, that means her mother is half
Veela >>

Unless the Veela grandmother is her father's mother instead of her
mother's mother. Harry say Fleur's at the event before the Third Task,
when the families came to greet the Champions: "On the other side of
the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleurï¿½s
little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her motherï¿½s hand." The
description doesn't sound as if the mother had even middle-aged
remnants of Veela beauty.

Meri wondered in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145875 :

<< what in the world crystalized pinneapple is... >>

I've been assuming it is dried pineapple chunks coated in sugar, like
crystallized ginger. I believe that 'crystallized' is a reference to
the sugar, like the way sugar forms rock candy.

Carol wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145938 :

<< And Blaise, whose mother appears to be a "black widow" in the sense
of a spider who kills her mates (no connection with her race), >>

We don't know which of Blaise's parents, mother or father, was black.
Maybe both were, but it seems unlikely that all *seven* rich and
gullible wizards who married the beautiful widow were black... For all
I know, Blaise might the child from an eighth husband whom she married
for love.

Valky wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145987 :

<< Hagrid is a lonely outcast, how does his emotional needs for
companionship become some ploy of extra privilege. It's not like other
students were likely to take him up on his offer of tea. >>

Remember in GoF, when Rita Skeeter outed Hagrid as half-giant and he
hid in his house and Dumbledore tried to talk him out of it? "I have
shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from
their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that, if I
sacked you, they would have something to say about it ï¿½" That sound
like a person who always has many friends about the students, rather
than like a lonely outcast.

skatinglibrarian wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/146116 :

<< JKR tends to have family groups bear a striking resemblence to one
another... the Weasley, the Potters, the Blacks, the RIddles etc. Who
looks like Snape ? so far the only one I've spotted that even comes
close is Victor Krum. Round shouldered, sallow, large nose, a grumpy
git. >>

The scene in GoF from which I have already quoted a reference to
Fleur's mother also provides Viktor with a father who looks like him,
possibly as a deliberate attempt to quash 'Viktor Snape' theories:
"Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired
mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his fatherï¿½s
hooked nose."

<< About the right age for what I have in mind. >>

In this case, 'about' isn't good enough. Snape was in the same year as
James and Lily. James and Lily were 20 according to the Lexicon (or 22
according to me) when Harry was born. Viktor is 18 at the beginning of
GoF (per Ron) when Harry has just turned 14, so Viktor is 4 to 5 years
older than Harry. Snape became a father when he was 15 or 16 years old?