[HPforGrownups] Re: Ghosts and Inferi ("Ghosts are transparent")

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 167604


> Career Advisor:
> > > In HBP Snape asks Harry to explain the difference between Ghosts and
> > Inferi. And Harry's infamous answer is that: "Ghosts are transparent."
> > >
> > >   But why does JKR have Snape ask this seemingly bizarre question?

> Pippin:
> It echoes Snape's question in PoA about how to tell the werewolf
> from the true wolf. Presumably the reason it's important to be able
> to tell the difference quickly is that one is far more dangerous to
> wizards than the other. Ghosts in the Potterverse are generally
> friendly and mostly harmless, as far as we've seen. If you allowed
> the Inferius of a newly dead acquaintance to approach you,
> mistaking  (or hoping) that it was a ghost, it would probably
> be the last mistake you ever made.

Shelley:
I really agree with Pippin: it's meant to be a teaching question. One to
make the children think, and possibly think about how they will know if they
ever run into one. It's the same type of question as seeing a snake, and
having someone ask you if you know if it's poisonous. The answer "I don't
know" becomes synonmous with "but I'd better find out!"