Protego/McGonagall/Ships/Tobias/HarryRelatives/Kreachur/MaterialThings/DH

Sun Feb 4 02:54:26 UTC 2007

No: HPFGUIDX 164577

Dana wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164264>:

<< Of course I am speculating but Snape's surprise about the shield
charm (does anyone know if Harry even knows this shield charm before
this time?) >>

Yes. He learned it from Hermione in GoF chapter 31: "Tired of walking
in on them all over the school, Professor McGonagall had given Harry
permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes.
He had soon mastered the Impediment Jinx, a spell to slow down and
obstruct attackers, the Reductor curse, which would enable him to
blast solid objects out of his way, and the Four-Point Spell, a useful
discovery of Hermione's which would make his wand point due north,
therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right
direction within the maze. He was still having trouble with the [***]
Shield Charm [***], though. This was supposed to cast a temporary,
invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses; Hermione
managed to shatter it with a well placed Jelly-Legs Jinx. Harry
wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterwards before she had
looked up the counter-jinx."
	Then he taught it to Hermione in OoP chapter 25: "...redoubling his
efforts for the DA. Harry was pleased to see that all of them, even
Zacharias Smith, had been spurred on to work harder than ever by the
news that ten more Death Eaters were now on the loose, but in nobody
was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. (snip) when
Harry taught them the [***] Shield Charm [***] — a means of deflecting
minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker — only Hermione
mastered the charm faster than Neville."

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164270>:

<< and [McGonagall] develops an equal fondness for Harry, revealed by
her buying him an expensive racing broom and allowing him on the
Quidditch team in his first year when other first-years aren't even
allowed their own broom >>

I agree that McGonagall is very fond of Harry, but I don't think the
Quidditch stuff is evidence of her fondness for him. It can all be so
well explained by her fondness for Gryffindor winning Quidditch matches.

In addition, IIRC it is not canon that McGonagall bought him the
Nimbus 2000. It may have been paid for out of his Gringotts vault.
Ron's broomstick in OoP at least disproves the theory that Hogwarts
buys one new (good) broomstick for each player accepted to a House
Quidditch team; only replacements must be paid for by the player,
parents, Lucius Malfoy, or Sirius Black.

Blitz wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164338>:

<< My question is what did Minerva do before getting the teaching
position? >>

She may have been involved in the defeat of Grindelwald, but she must
have learned more Transfiguration than she learned at Hogwarts.
Because finishing seventh year with top marks doesn't strike me as
adequate preparation for teaching seventh year and nurturing any
exceptionally advanced students. I don't know if there's a
Transfiguration Guild which takes apprentices.

Claudia wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164278>:  

<< Why were DD, McGonagall, and LV still single after all these yrs?
Well LV was obvious, how can someone so evil ever know love. But for
DD and McGonagall, maybe there was a spark there that no one  
ever noticed. Is it possible? >>

The Dumbledore/McGonagall ship used to be very popular, but I've
*always* preferred the Dumbledore/Pomfrey and McGonagall/Hooch ships.

Dumbledore is 150 years old. That gives him enough time to have
outlived several wives. I like to think his first wife was a Muggle
who died of natural old age. And that his last wife was a powerful and
skilled witch, perhaps a fellow professor at Hogwarts's (perhaps the
DADA professor before Professor Merrythought), who was killed by
Grindelwald before DD defeated Grindelwald. (Btw, the implausibility
of the name Merrythought annoys me. She could have chosen Merriweather
or Merryman, which are real names.) 

I imagine that Poppy is a widow; someone suggested that her husband
was named Herb Pomfrey and I embraced the suggestion.  Herb may also
have been killed in the struggle against Grindelwald. Of course, if
the hypothetical DD/PP ship ("I haven't been so embarrassed since
Madam Pomfrey said she liked my new earmuffs") is fairly new, Herb
might have been killed in the struggle against Voldemort instead.

As for Minerva, if she doesn't have a partner, she may be in a 'her
heart's in the grave' situation. Any high school sweetheart of hers
could have been killed in the struggle against Grindelwald. A theory
also has been floated on this list that handsome, charming Tom Riddle
seduced her into marriage because he thought her talents and her
hypothetical wizarding family connections would be useful to him, and
she turned against him when she found out his real nature, and is
trying to keep the former marriage secret -- it can't be good for
anyone's career to be known as He Who Must Not Be Named's wife.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164292>:

<< (It strikes me as odd that the announcement would identify Tobias
as a Muggle, but, oh, well.) >>

I imagine that the announcement doesn't SAY that Tobias is a Muggle,
but IDENTIFIES him as one by saying what school he attended (not
Hogwarts), what he does for a living. and that kind of thing. 

Danno wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164293>:

<< What if... Voldemort turns out to be a relative of Harrys? Not the
"Luke I am your father" type of thing, but what about Grandfather?  >>

JKR denied it on her website:
<http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/rumours_view.cfm?id=3>
<<Q:Voldemort is Harry's real father/grandfather/close relative of
some description

JKR: No, no, no, no, no. You lot have been watching much too much Star
Wars. James is DEFINITELY Harry's father. Doesn't everybody Harry
meets say 'you look just like your father'? And hasn't Dumbledore
already told Harry that Voldemort is the last surviving descendent of
Salazar Slytherin? Just to clarify - this means that Harry is NOT a
descendent of Salazar Slytherin. >>

Along with <http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/rumours_view.cfm?id=2>:
<<Q: Professor Dumbledore is Harry's real grandfather/close relative
of some description.

JKR: If Dumbledore had been Harry's grandfather, why on earth would he
have been sent to live with the Dursleys? >>

Magpie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164465>:

<< He defends him by saying that Hermione was "quite right" to say
Kreacher should have been treated with respect, and how he warned
Sirius and how Sirius treated him badly and, well, look what happened. >>

The damage done by Sirius's attitude toward Kreachur was not that
Sirius kicked him or called him a filthy toe-rag, but that Sirius
didn't investigate Kreachur's prolonged absence even tho' Harry warned
him: "They can leave the house if they really want to," Harry
contradicted him. "Dobby did, he left the Malfoys' to give me warnings
two years ago. He had to punish himself afterwards, but he still
managed it."

Steve bboyminn wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164483>:

<< H[arry] doesn't value material things because he has seen the
material things don't bring happiness. >>

Harry *does* value (some) material things: the Nimbus 2000 and the
Firebolt spring to mind. Didn't he *cry* over the Nimbus being destroyed? 

Snow wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164575>:

<< my husband ... upon hearing the name of the next book decided that
Dumbledore died to join the Founders who were the sacred order and
protectors of Hogwarts. >>

First thought: Salazar isn't there, as the other Three threw him out.
Second thought: bringing the spirit of Salazar together with the other
Founders so he can help protect the school is highly congruent with
repairing the rift between Slytherin and the other Houses as
recommended by the Sorting Hat. Third thought: I really like this idea!