Thank You (Re: Dumbledore in book 7)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164908

Maria wrote:
> <snip> But I have to remember that Harry may not be going back to
> Hogwarts in book 7 and with this thought we have to remember as well
> that the pensieve is also in Hogwarts. How would the portrait of DD
> be of help to him if he isn't going back to Hogwarts? Where is he
> going to find another portrait? Also, how is he going to use the
> pensieve if he isn't going to Hogwarts, unless of course somebody
> will give or bring it to him?
> 
> I am thinking and hoping that there would be more than just the
portrait and the pensieve for DD to appear in book 7 to be able to
help or give advice to Harry, one that would not include going back to
Hogwarts just to talk to the portrait or use the pensieve, though I
don't know what it is. There, I finally said it out loud, this has
been in my mind far to long now.

Carol responds:

I would bet money that Harry is going back to Hogwarts even if he
doesn't attend as a student. Why have McGonagall discuss the question
of whether Hogwarts will stay open in front of Harry if Hogwarts has
no more role in the books?

We have, first, that quotation from an old interview that I posted the
other day:

"He [Harry]'s going to be at Hogwarts for seven years. In the seventh
book he'll turn 17. In my wizarding world, you come of age at 17. So
in book seven he'll be allowed to use magic outside school."

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:9483

Harry is "going to be at Hogwarts for seven years." How much clearer
than that can you get? Moreover, Harry's predictions frequently turn
out to be untrue. How many times has he thought he was going to die on
the spot? And if "He would never forgive Snape. Never!" (admittedly
the narrator's paraphrase but still Harry's own thought) turns out to
be true, I'll eat Buckbeak.

Reasons to go back, aside from the portraits and the Pensieve? He left
his Invisibility Cloak on the Astronomy Tower and the HBP's Potions
book (which he may decide that he wants again, if only to find out
more about the supposedly evil Snape) in the RoR. The RoR itself could
prove useful (that tiara was mentioned for a reason, IMO--in fact, two
tiaras are mentioned in HBP. Why?). So could the Mirror of Erised.
Hagrid is at Hogwarts, and Harry will surely want to visit him.
Aberforth is in Hogsmeade, and we're almost certain to learn more
about and from him (JKR has promised to tell us more about the Order
member we don't really know yet and about DD's family). Slughorn, too,
could prove useful since he knows about the Horcruxes and knew Tom
Riddle as a boy. McGonagall will probably prove useful to the story in
some way. (I hope her cat Animagus form finally comes in handy. Or
maybe she'll talk HRH into returning to school?) Trelawney is still
there (where else can she go?) and if Prophecies come in threes, she's
due to give us (via Harry) a third real Prophecy. JKR mentioned a
scene involving house-elves, and the only house-elves we know are at
Hogwarts. (I suppose Harry could summon Kreacher to and from Hogwarts,
but surely he won't want Kreacher to live with him at 12 GP. I think
he'll stay at Hogwarts with Dobby, and all those other Hogwarts
house-elves are there, too. Imagine them suddenly unemployed because
DD is gone and the school isn't open!) I think that Ginny will attend
Hogwarts, even if HRH don't, and be their intermediary via the mirror,
along with Phineas, who has portraits in both Hogwarts and 12 GP. And
the Hogwarts ghosts have a role to play, too, probably. (They have an
advantage over the DEs in that they can't be killed. So does Peeves,
for that matter. Surely, he's in the books to do more than drop water
balloons at the students and unscrew light fixtures to annoy Umbridge?)

Hogwarts has been the primary setting for six books, to the extent
that it's almost a character in its own right. I can't imagine JKR
abandoning it and all its colorful cast of characters. Sad enough to
lose Potions Master/DADA Professor Snape.

Carol, trying and failing to imagine a Harry Potter book without Hogwarts