Scholomance/LuciusKnew?/Nick/SnapeLoved?/MWPPnitwit/persecution/teacher/psyc

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 168053

Eric Oppen wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167866>:

<< the "Scholomance." Wikipedia says that it's a legendary school of
dark magic, near Sibiu in Romania, attended by ten scholars at a time,
and that when nine of them are released on the world, the Devil takes
the tenth scholar as his due to serve as his adjutant.>>

School o' Mancy?

A friend recently told me what she insists is a real medieval legend
of the Black School of Paris, which took 12 students a year for a 6
year course of study. At the end of their studies, the 12 students ran
away very fast, as 'the Devil took the hindmost'. To eat, not as an
servant.

To bring this back on topic -- I understand how Muggles could assume
that even the Lightest of magic schools was a Dark Arts school
personally associated with the Devil, and that its students were
kidnapped, or sold by their parents, rather than being invited and
offered scholarships, but why is the motif of the Devil taking one
student a year so common? To my mind, it should be specified as either
the best or the worst student in the year, not the slowest runner. 

Death or some other unpleasant punishment for the worst student might
be viewed by wizards as a motivational technique to encourage all
students to try their best. And to cheat, and to sabotage their
classmates, so I don't think it's a very good idea.

There wasn't a Ministry of Magic yet in those days, and I doubt its
precursor, the wizards' Council (according to QTTA), employed many
bureaucrats, or we could suggest a guaranteed job at the Ministry for
the best student in each class as explanation for his/her
disappearance. (The stories have all the students being boys, but
surely that is another erroneous Muggle assumption.) It would even
agree with Eric's version, that the student is taken to be the Devil's
adjutant, not his dinner.

I'm left with suggesting that the best student in each class is
guaranteed further education, and none ever refused it. Even if one
year's best student is not as good as some other year's fifth-best
student...

Jen wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167878>:

<< I wonder if the information won't come from Lucius (snip) he
figured out Riddle's origins after the diary was left in his care.
The fact that it came from a Muggle shop would the clue he built on
to have something against the Dark Lord should LV ever return. >>

I like to think that Lucius always knew that LV was Tom Marvolo
Riddle, a half-blood, from his father (pesumably Abraxas Malfoy, known
as Draco's grandfather from HBP), who surely must have been one of
Riddle's useful 'friends' from school who became the first Death
Eaters, even tho' 'Malfoy' is not in the list of Death Eaters waiting
for LV at the Hog's Head while he applied for the DADA Professorship:
"Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov".

Or, if wizards have those loooong lives which appear in canon only for
Dumbledore and Professor Marchbanks, the OWL examiner, maybe the
Malfoy at school with Riddle was Lucius's much older brother rather
than his father. There are all kinds of ways an older brother of
Lucius could have died childless -- it isn't necessary that Lucius
murdered him for the inheritance.

Goddlefrood wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167899>:

<< Why had Nick upset Henry VII or some other powerful leader and
why did he choose to become a ghost, >>

According to JKR in
<http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=11>, 
Sir Nicholas explained in song why he was executed. The first two 
verses of many:

<<It was a mistake any wizard could make
Who was tired and caught on the hop
One piffling error, and then, to my terror,
I found myself facing the chop.

Alas for the eve when I met Lady Grieve
A-strolling the park in the dusk!
She was of the belief I could straighten her teeth
Next moment she'd sprouted a tusk.>>

I gather elsewhere that her mental image of Sir Nicholas is wearing an
Elizabethan ruff, which would work better with a 1592 than a 1492
death date.

Juli wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167921>:

<< If the person Snape loved wasn't Lily, then perhaps it was
Remus--okay, kidding (probably!). >>

That *would* work for explaining *why* Severus followed Sirius's
advice to go down the tunnel under the Whomping Willow -- if he were
secretly in love with the quiet, studious boy who hung out with the
evil bullies James and Sirius, he might well form an impression that
the evil bullies were doing something terrible to poor Remus, from
which he could rescue him, thus gaining his 'friendship'. 

But then we'd need an explanation for Snape's current intense dislike
of Lupin -- could it be only that he rejected Severus's affections and
remained friends with Severus's enemies? Love that turns to hate when
not reciprocated is a cliche, but is not the kind of love that Rowling
goes on about. Maybe Severus has an entrenched prejudice against
werewolves strong enough to turn love to hate when he found out that
Remus is a werewolf.

Goddlefrood wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167931>:

<< Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak. 
Messrs. Moony, Worntail, Padfoot and Prongs?
Curious :-?
I'm not about to get into that further, but it was a preliminary
thought I had about the Marauders. This makes Lupin the nitwit. >>

Dumbledore didn't know then about the Map, so if "nitwit, blubber,
oddment, tweak" referred to the Marauders, it could have been in any
sequence. Some listies used to suggest that Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment,
Tweak were the nicknames of Albus's own boyhood Marauders-like group,
but how that information would connect to winning the war against
Voldemort, I can't imagine. 

Another theory was that those words are parts of a spell that Harry
will need in a crisis. It occurs to me that if it were a spell for the
protection of Hogwarts, that would be relevant for a Welcoming Feast
and for a Battle of Hogwarts. And further occurs to me that such a
spell might use the childhood nicknames of the Founders... I suppose
Nitwit wouod be Albus or Rowena depending on which century it was,
Blubber would be Godric, and Tweak would be Helga, leaving Oddment as
Salazar...

Ann wrote in <>:

<< I don't think the foundation of Hogwarts had anything to do with
persecution from outside. >>

I don't know if it had anything to do with their decision to found a
school together instead of taking apprentices separately, but it DID
influence the LOCATION of the school. As Professor Binns said in CoS,
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand
years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest
witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after
them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and
Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying
Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people,
and witches and wizards suffered much persecution." Let me repeat:
"witches and wizards suffered much persecution." 

Alla wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167990>:

<< I think it is a safe guess Pippin that none of her teachers serve
evil overlord or even killed anybody, but I can be wrong <g> >>

If any of the teachers had formerly been a combat soldier or a police
officer, he (usually he) might have killed someone in the line of
duty. My friend once killed someone -- she was driving legally on a
main artery at 45 mph when an old woman ran into the street right in
front of her. My friend slammed on the brakes, but still hit the old
woman, who died. Then there are hunting accidents...

Bart wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/167999>:

<< Psychopaths tend to be inconsistent, and often unable to see a plan
through to the end. Voldemort, on the other hand, is capable of
spending years in planning and executing  >>

As some listie once pointed out long ago, Diary!Tom shows typical
sociopathic inconsistency: he begins with the intention of finish[ing]
Salazar Slytherin's noble work" but "Haven't I already told you," said
Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore?
For many months now, my new target has been -- you."