DH - unanswered (and irritating) questions

[anne_t_squires]

No: HPFGUIDX 173248

"ciraarana" <ciraarana at ...> wrote:
>
> Kia ora!


<snip>
> 
> The following questions are from the list I made after the first
> reading of DH. If anybody can answer them, I'd be grateful. (I
> excluded most of the unanswerable questions, like What happened to the
> Dursleys?)
> 


Anne SquiresL

I thought I'd try some of your excellent questions.  Just my take on
things, of course. I know I could be misinterpreting things. 

> 
> Q: Did the Sorting Hat burn completely? What or who is Sorting now?

Anne:  I thought the hat did not burn up.  It's a magical object and I
think it withstood LV's attempt to destroy it.
> 
> 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??

Anne:  DD explains in HBP that even among Dark Wizards the knowledge
of the Horcruxes is very, very rare. IIRC.  Snape (or the other
DEs)not knowing about Horcruxes did not bother me.
> 
> 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?? 

Anne:  I think the portrait is indeed there.  I know it's not
mentioned, but I still think it's there.  Harry was in the office the
first time to see the memories in the pensieve and all the portraits
are described as being empty.  The second time Harry had to get is
final debriefing from DD.  He was focussed on discussing the
Horcruxes.  Also, I think everyone who participated in the final
battle was still in shock, HRH included.
> 
> Q: How could Dumbledore have known Draco's mission before Draco did?

Anne: Snape told him about it.  "Scowling Snape said, "The Dark Lord
does not expect Draco to succeed.  This is merely punishment for
Lucius's recent failures." DH, US edition, p. 682  The Dark Lord had
obviously discussed the plan with Snape.  Snape told DD.  Note:  I'm
very curious to know why do you think Draco hasn't yet been told of
this mission at this point?  Did I miss something?
> 
> 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 

Anne: Not sure.
> 
> 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?

Anne: Yes, we are.  I think LV is a sociopath. Who can fathom what
goes on in the mind of a person like that?

> Q: The Polyjuice Potion. It only lasts for an hour. That was important
> in GoF. And in this book it's never even once mentioned! And some of
> the adventures took longer than an hour. Is this a new version of
> Polyjuice? Why aren't we told so?

Anne:  We are shown in GoF that PJ potion can last for a year if the
pjed person keeps taking drinks of the potion.  I think maybe (not
sure about this) that this is what's going on here. 
> 
> Q: The prophesy business. What a mess. Dumbledore's and Trelawney's
> accounts clashed – if what Dumbledore said was true about the evening
> of the Prophesy, there was no way Trelawney could have known the
> eavesdropper was Snape. But she knew. And Snape still only reported
> the first part. How does that all fit??

Anne: I agree that the two accounts don't match up.  I'll have to
think about this for a while.  Someone is confused, confunded or
lying.  I think it could be a Flint. Possibly.
> 
> 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? 
> (Okay, perhaps Harry didn't always notice when Voldemort came to peek
> into his mind in OotP, and perhaps now Voldemort doesn't know Harry's
> there.) 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? You know, to better catch him, and
> all that. I half-expected it for the first several hundred pages. It
> never happened. And I can't understand why not.

Anne:  I think DD tells HHarry that the soul bit in Harry has been
growing stronger and stronger since LV came to power.  This soul bit
gave Harry access to LV's movements and thoughts; yet, LV didn't know.
 After his DoM possession of Harry I think LV was determned to never
willingly go into Harry's head again.  Experiencing Harry's grief was
just too painful.  I think it's possible Harry was also protected by
the fact that he grieves so much in this book.  LV is obsessed with
finding a wand to defeat Harry throughout the book.  That's all he
thinks about in DH until he realizes his horcruxes are being
destroyed.  I think he knows Harry will come to him in the end so he
doesn't need to be in Harry's head.  Also, I think LV thinks it's
likely his DEs will capture Harry. 
> 
> 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?

Anne:  Mad-eye describes the Trace as being able to detect magic
performed near an underage wizard.  I don't think the Trace can
specifically tell who preformed the magic.  If you think about it this
Trace only restricts Muggle raised underage wizards from doing magic
out of school.  At any rate, until Harry is inside of the
Order/Ministry wards then the Ministry can trace him if anyone
performs magic near him.  That's my understanding.  I acknowledge that
the Trace seems a bit convoluted.
> 
> 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?

Anne;  I think the wand has to be taken in an adversarial situation as
opposed to a practice or learning situation.
> 
> 
> Answers are welcome. Even if you only tell me I'm stupid and missed
> something. (At least then I could stop wondering.)
> 
> Toodles,
> CiraArana
>
Anne Squires:  I had fun trying to answer your questions.  I hope my
answers make sense and don't make me look stupid.