DH - unanswered (and irritating) questions

[Cira Arana]

No: HPFGUIDX 174460

 ciraarana:
 > Q: Why didn't Snape know about the Horcurxes? He's a Dark wizard.
 > Voldemort is boasting about his near immortality. Snape is a clever
 > man. Why didn't he know??
 
 Nate:
 What makes you say that he didn't know?  Just because he wasn't 
 actively pursuing them doesn't necessarily mean that he didn't know 
 about them.

Cira:
I inferred that from the memories in which he talks to Dumbledore. To me, none of those sound as though he had the faintest idea of what was going on; like he was wondering why DD had attacked the ring with Gryffindor's sword, etc. Maybe it's just me, but I got the feeling that he didn't know. And he knew that DD wasn't telling him something, and it made him extremely cross.
And I really do wonder why he didn't know. As I said before, finding out other people's secrets is what he does, and he does it well. 

 ciraarana:
 > Q: Where is Snape's portrait?? He was Headmaster of Hogwarts. We 
 > saw how their portraits pop up after their death. And I'm sure 
 > Harry would have noticed Snape's portrait. So, where is it?? 
 
 Nate:
 Again, in the webchat that Rowling had earlier this week, she says 
 that he doesn't have one.  Her reasoning was that Snape had 
 technically left his post as Headmaster before he died (when he flew 
 away) and thus wouldn't have a portrait.  However, she did say that 
 Harry would try and get him one. 

Cira:
Yeah, I know she said that. But when I compiled the questions, she hadn't yet said it, and all I had to go by was an obvious discrepancy of canon facts.

 ciraarana:
 > Q: Snape wasn't yet teaching at Hogwarts when he approached 
 > Dumbledore with the plea to keep Lily safe (otherwise they wouldn't 
 > have met at the hilltop). So, when did that interview take place? 
 > and why did it take Voldemort so long to find the Potters? They 
 > only went into hiding a week before they were murdered. 
 
 Nate:
 Where did you read that it was a week?  I took it to be much longer 
 than that.  After all, the prediction speaks of a someone that WILL 
 BE BORN that has the power to vanquish the dark lord; therefore, 
 Snape will have told Voldemort about the prophecy more than a year 
 before murder.  As soon as Harry was born (still more than a year 
 before James and Lill die) Voldy would think that Harry is his 
 threat, prompting Snape to see Dumbledore.
 
Cira:
Hagrid said the Potters had been killed a week after they had gone into hiding, right back in PS/SS. And I guess the time that elapsed between the making of the prophecy and the murder of the Potters to be something like two years. And the Potters only went into hiding one week before Halloween. What was Voldi doing all the time?

 ciraarana:
 > Q: Snape approached Voldemort with the plea to not kill Lily? And
 > Voldemort agreed? He agreed to not kill a "Mudblood"?? (And he did
 > agree, didn't he, because he gave Lily the choice to step away.)
 > Looking at Voldemort's policy ... Are we supposed to accept that?
 
 Nate:
 Admittedly, this was a little suspect to me as well.  That being 
 said, Voldemort obviously doesn't care too much about the request, 
 as he kills her anyway when he could have easiler stunned / moved / 
 cursed around her.

Cira:
Well, I wouldn't say he doesn't care much about the request. After all, the told her THREE TIMES to get away. And he didn't have to say it even once, if he was going to kill her after all. I think he was doing his "best" to honour the request. Only when Lily stubbornly refused to step aside he lost patience and killed her.
However, about Snape making the request in the first place, someone else - I forgot her name, sorry - suggested that Snape might have told Voldemort he wanted to revenge himself on James by raping his wife. And surely Voldemort would have understood that.

 Nate:
 Agreed, this was strange.  I only have two possible answers.
 1.) We aren't ever told for sure that it was longer than hour (I 
 don't think), though some of them seem unlikely to be that short, 
 mainly trying to get the locket.
 2.) At one point, something is mentioned about taking a large amount 
 of potion, maybe taking more than one does has a longer effect? 

Cira
1) There was one time when it was mentioned to be longer than an hour. I think the trip to Godric's Hollow. And, I mean, looking at it rationally: Harry and Hermione Apparate there, stroll through the village, search the graveyard, walk to the Potters' house, meet Bathilda and walk back to her house, and then the snake keeps Harry occupied - that should take more than one hour!
2) Yep, that's the explanation I came up with as well. The only problem I have with it: why weren't we told before? Or why aren't we told at all? I mean, it wouldn't have been all that difficult to have Hermione (for example) say that she not only nicked Moody's batch but improved on it to make it last longer (whether that be possible or not is another question).

 ciraarana:
 > Q: Harry peering in on Voldemort. Excuse me, but Voldemort is the 
 > one who is in control of the connection. During HBP, he kept it 
 > shut. And now, suddenly, Harry can creep in again? Without 
 > Voldemort noticing? <snip> And Voldemort didn't even once use the 
 > connection to try something like he did with Sirius? He never used 
 > it to look in on Harry and see where the boy was? <snip>
 
 Nate:
 Remember, the only reason he knew about the connection in OotP was 
 because Harry knew about Mr. Weasley, meaning he didn't feel Harry 
 entering his mind, but knew because of the knowledge Harry gained 
 from it.  In that same webchat with Rowling, she said that LV was 
 still implementing Occlumency, but was losing control.  

Cira:
That explaines why Harry was able to look into Voldemort's mind. But I still don't know why Voldemort didn't ONCE TRY to look into Harry's. 

 Nate:
>Snip<   He never used it back because I don't know that he was 
 aware of it, and because it was already seen that going into Harry 
 caused Voldy great pain.

Cira:
But as far as I remember, it was only the actual, physical *possession* of Harry's body that was painful to Voldemort. I mean, he crept into Harry's mind all through the second half of OotP and even planted the false vision there. And there were no signs that *that* hurt Voldemort at all.

 ciraarana: 
 > Q: The Trace. Rubbish. Excuse me, but it is. I mean, in CoS Harry 
 > is accused of having used the Hover Charm. The Ministry didn't know 
 > it wasn't him. Somewhere, I think at the end of HBP, Dumbledore 
 > even told Harry that the Ministry can only detect that magic is 
 > performed, but not by whom. And now we are introduced to the Trace, 
 > which allows the Ministry to tell exactly who performed which 
 > spell?? No. Doesn't make sense. Or is it a new ministry policy and 
 > I simply missed that bit?
 
 Nate:
 I intrepreted the Trace differently.  I didn't think that it showed 
 Ministry exactly who could perform the spell.  I think that what 
 Harry was experiencing in CoS was finally given a name.  In DH, when 
 the worried that the Trace might still be on Harry, he tells Ron and 
 Hermione that it's no good if he can't use magic, and they can't use 
 magic around him, showing that the Trace is no different than it was 
 described before, that is simply showing when there is magic 
 performed around someone with it on them.
 
Cira:
Nope, it doesn't show the Ministry exactly who performs the magic, only *that* magic is performed. I was mislead by Harry's surprise about the fact that he hasn't been called to a hearing again for the improper use of magic. 

(Which, in itself, is a bit stupid. After all, there were 30 DEs and, what, 14 Order memebers, firing hexes and curses. Not even Harry can think that the Ministry interpreted that as coming from one person. In other words: the Ministry knew magic was being performed, but they couldn't tell by whom. So why in the world would they call Harry for anyother hearing? But never mind.)

However, the whole thing is still a mess. In OotP, Moody uses a Disillusionment Charm on Harry - right in the kitchen of 4 Privet Drive. Days after Harry had been reprimanded for using magic to repel the Dementors. Why didn't the Ministry note that? At the time, they would have LOVED the chance to expell Harry and break his wand without a hearing! Why didn't they know? Plus, in DH, the Order members arrived Disillusioned in the garden of 4 Privet Drive, and Moody lifted that enchantment. Why didn't the Ministry note that?

 ciraarana:
 > Q: If Expelliarmus changes the wand's allegiance 
 then nobody from
 > the DA is still using their own wand. No wizard or witch who has 
 > ever been taught that spell at Hogwarts would be using their own 
 > wand (although considering the DADA teacher problem 
) But wouldn't 
 > Harry have won Voldemort's wand in the graveyard scene in GoF?
 
 Nate:
 Ollivander says that they are subtle laws governing wand allegiance, 
 so I don't think that disarming automatically and definitely changes 
 a wands allegiance.  "The wand chooses the wizard."  This to me 
 almost sounds as if the wand can "decide" to change its allegiance 
 if someone is disarmed.  I think that the reason the Elder Wand was 
 switched to Harry was because it was "aware" that he was the only 
 one worthy and capable of becoming the Master of Death, and 
 therefore was trying to join him.

Cira:
That explains the Elder Wand. But not Draco's wand. You know, the hawthorn wand Harry won from him in Malfoy Manor. And that wand definitely changed allegiance. 
But yes, the "subtle laws" would explain a lot. In fact, the would explain everything. And as such, they annoy me, because, you know: oh, something happened that can't be explained! Well, let's blame it on the subtle laws of wand allegiance. That's a deus ex machina-like explanation, and that simply reads to me more like bad plotting. *shrugs*

Anyway, thanks a lot, Nate, for taking your time to answer my questions. ^-^ 

Cira

       
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