Patronus issues (was CHAPDISC: HBP8, Snape Victorious)

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 146607

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Wink45zes at a... wrote:

Chap. Disc. question:
9.  
> this true?  Do you think Snape intercepted the patronus message 
before it
> could reach its intended recipient?  How long do Patronuses take 
to arrive
> with a message?  Did it arrive when Hagrid was not there? Did Snape
> intercept the message because he was supposed to protect Harry, or 
just to
> have another golden opportunity to give him a bad time?
> 
> Wink:
> Oh dear, I must admit this is one thing that jerked me right out 
of the story 
> and irritates me to no end.  Back in GoF and OotP we were 
introduced to this 
> idea of using a Patronus to communicate between members of the 
Order.  How 
> exactly?  Do these forms now talk; do they carry the form of a 
parchment roll in 
> their mouths? what?  Then, there is the whole problem of 
security.  A Patronus 
> is invisible to Muggles, but perfectly visible to all wizards. A 
bunch of 
> recognizable patroni flying, waddling, swimming, galloping across 
England and in 
> and out of an invisible house on Grimauld place . . . well, why 
not put up a 
> big sign for all wizarding eyes to see?  And now we learn that a 
patronus is 
> apparently sent, not to an individual, but to the place where the 
sender expects 
> the  other person to be, and that it can be intercepted by another 
wizard at 
> that!  And this is the Ultra Secure method of communication used 
by the Order, 
> devised by Dumbledore?  Oh please!
> 
> So, do you think this is just a rather poorly thought out devise 
on JKR's 
> part, or is it a devise full of weaknesses on purpose?  Did 
Dumbledore design 
> this type of talking patronus deliberately so that they could be 
intercepted and 
> understood by any other member of the Order, perhaps to avoid 
hidden secrets 
> such as the one the resulted in the death of Harry's parents and 
the following 
> misplaced blame?  Or is this a foreshadowing of an obvious but 
unthought-of 
> security weakness to be seen later? I would really like to make 
this 'talking 
> patronus' thing work, but so far it's as solid as sending a secret 
broomstick in 
> the breakfast owl post. 

Marianne:
There certainly do seem to be some questionable areas in this whole 
Patronus-as-messenger thing.  On the one hand, the idea that OoP 
members would immediately know the sender of a message is helpful 
because, if the message was in some sort of code, the recipient(s) 
would be able to better figure out what's going on because they know 
who the sender is. If a Patronus changes, due to emotional upheaval, 
which we now know they can do, then I'd assume the caster will tell 
the other recipients of this change. 

I wonder if there is some sort of additional spell on the OoP 
Patronuses to protect these messages from being told to someone not 
in the Order, sort of a magical encryption.  That way, if Bellatrix 
intercepts a message from Arthur Weasley, it is too hopelessly 
garbled for her to understand.  At least, I hope some sort of 
protection is built into this!

The question of how the Patronus finds the person to whom the 
message is directed is still open, I think.  Tonks sent her Patronus 
to Hagrid. Does that mean she sent it to the Great Hall, assuming 
that's where Hagrid was most likely to be and Snape saw it and 
called it over?  Does it mean the Patronus will only go to one 
location? If that's the case, how did anyone send messages to 
Dumbledore once he left Hogwarts in OoP?  Was he always in one 
location, known to all the other members of the Order?  

Or does the Patronus act more like an owl, and somehow find the 
recipient, no matter where they are, unless, of course, the Patronus 
is intercepted on the way? If the Patronus automatically seeks out 
the person to whom the message is being sent, then Tonks's Patronus 
message would have been traveling on a bee-line to Hagrid.  Which 
then opens up a question as to just why Snape felt it necessary to 
intercept the message. 

And, can a person send more than one Patronus message at a time, 
should two people need to be informed of something, and the caster 
knows they are in two different places? 

Marianne, with more questions than answers