Battle/Cloak/Apparate/Dobby/TMR/Virus/Shun/Boggart/Animagi/Squib//Bill/Snape

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 168392

Goddlefrood recited in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168056>:

<<Snape says 'Out of here, quickly,' (p. 557) and he, Draco and the 4
DEs proceed away. The brutal-faced one is at the back, is petrified by
Harry and later picked up by the MoM (one good thing they do, mop up
;) [p. 604] ). Harry then follows, stepping over the prone figure. (9) >>

"Harry then follows, stepping over the prone figure" and I suddenly
realized that having his nose broken on the Hogwarts Express has
taught him a lesson about treading on downed enemies.

Aussie Hagrid quoted in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168057>:

<< In the NAQ section, Rowling says that the question she was never
asked was why DD had possession of James Potter's Invisibility cloak?
Could James have been involved in some kind of stealthy career that
has not been described? >>

Some listies have suggested that Dumbledore took the Invisibility
Cloak from the rubble before Sirius arrived, or that Hagrid took it
along with baby Harry.

<http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-aol-chat.htm> says:

<< Q:  What did James and Lily Potter do when they were alive?
JKR: Well, I can't go into too much detail, because you're going to
find out in future books. But James inherited plenty of money, so he
didn't need a well-paid profession. You'll find out more about both
Harry's parents later. >>

That James didn't need a well-paid profession, and that Rowling
concealed what he did, suggested to many that James had a stealthy
career, either as a poorly-paid Auror or as an unpaid full-time OoP
agent. That quote suggests that Lily also had a stealthy career, and
listies have suggested that she was an Auror, a full-time OoP agent,
or a researcher at the Department of Mysteries.

<< Q: Where did James get his Invisibility Cloak?
JKR: That was inherited from his own father -- a family heirloom! >>

However, no matter how stealthy James's career was, he didn't acquire
the Cloak for his career's sake -- he already had it as a schoolboy.

Julie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168060>:

<< can't recall any canon about why the Potters couldn't Apparate away
either >>

Especially as HBP introduced Side-Along Apparation, so they could have
taken Harry along. In fact, that is presumably what James meant when
he yelled to Lily to "take Harry and run". James was holding LV off to
buy time for Lily and Harry to escape, altho' 'run' is a Muggle word.

Doddie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168065>:

<< Given how no clear explanation of the "house elf" plight is
apparent in the text...I'm beginning to wonder if JBE (just being an
elf) may have a more significant meaning than most of us realize. I
believe that if anyone will betray Harry in the final book....it will
be Dobby, not Lupin.. Doddie ... seems to remember that Harry seldom
shares his elf experience with Hermione who has done much research on
elves, unlike Harry and the rest of us.) >>

But Hermione's research on House Elves led her to be outraged that
they're enslaved, and to demand they be freed (whether they want to be
or not), not to say that they're untrustworthy.

Magpie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168080>:

<< I don't think Tom would have been any less what he is if he'd had a
mother. >>

This is a forbidden "I agree" post. Young Tom was *born* a psychopath,
somewhat weakening JKR's harping on "choice". 

He might, however, have aimed his hatred at purebloods rather than at
Muggles and developed a liberte, fraternite, egalite, Half-Blood
Rights revolutionary cover story rather than his pureblood supremacist
cover story.

Bart wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168098>:

<< The virus explanation works if the resistance to the virus is a
recessive gene. This means that a squib is a W-born with a mutation.
(snip) This would explain, for example, a squib who suddenly shows
magical ability, especially if they had a blood->blood contact with a
wizard or an immune muggle. >>

What about most Muggles? Would we get magic if we got a blood
transfusion from a Wizard? Or are we unable to catch the virus? 

Wynnleaf wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168106>:

<< We can be sure that muggle kids weren't shunning him for being a
werewolf prior to coming to Hogwarts, nor did wizarding kids know he
was one, so there was no pre-Hogwarts shunning by children of Lupin
either. >>

I suspect his parents kept him away from other children lest he
trustingly tell them about his condition or they notice his monthly
absences and [their parents] figure it out.  

Pippin wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168130>:

<<What would we say of Lupin's method if Neville's boggart was Jews?
That they must have had it coming? >>

I'd say the purpose of the lesson is to teach the kids how to use
'Riddikulus' on a Boggart, not to correct their morals and prejudices,
and not to teach them how to cope with a non-Boggart problem like a
cruel teacher. 

Some kids at Hogwarts might see a Boggart as an Auror coming to take
their parent away to Azkaban, and perhaps others would see the cliched
evil loanshark of melodrama coming to evict the family from its home.
It's the DADA teacher's job (in the Boggart lesson) to teach them to
humiliate the Boggart Auror or Creditor and laugh at it, not to teach
them to side with the Law against their own parent. 

If some kid's fear was the 'Mudbloods' taking over, the DADA teacher's
job is to teach the kid to humiliate and laugh at the negatively
stereotyped Mudblood, not to lecture himer against blood bigotry.
Altho' that kid would probably be cruelly teased by hiser friends --
Junior Death Eater friends would say 'scared of a stupid Mudblood' 
and Junior Dumbledore friends would say 'racist pig'...

sylviampj wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168147>:

<< I can never work out how big the wizarding world is meant to be. >>

We can't even work out how big Hogwarts is meant to be! Rowling wrote
a list of 41 students in Harry's year (all Houses), shows us 8
Gryffindor students in Harry's years, his double classes with
Hufflepuff and Slytherin both have twenty sets of equipment provided
-- there is every indication that each year has about 40 students,
roughly ten per House, times seven years of school makes about 70 kids
in each House and 280 kids in the school. Seventy kids are able to all
do their homework simultaneously in one cozy round Common Room? And
not recognize each other, at least by sight, after five years of this? 
(Harry not recognizing MacLaggen.) 

Herself said in an interview that there are 1000 students at Hogwarts,
and provided a QUidditch match in PoA where three-quarters of the
crowd wore Gryffindor red but the other 200 wore Slytherin green. This
led some listie to post the wonderful comment:

4 * 10 * 7 = 1000. Wow, that Arithmancy is some powerful magic.

clcb wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168151>:  

<< I wonder if a wizard who learns to become an animagus gets to
choose what animal they transform into or do they just get what they
get, like with a Patronus? >>

As Magpie said, JKR has confirmed in interviews that the Animagus
doesn't get to choose his/her animal form, but instead the animal form
is a reflection of his/her personality.

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-aol-chat.htm
Q: Does the animal one turns into as an Animagi reflect your personality?
JKR: Very well deduced, Narri! I personally would like to think that I
would transform into an otter, which is my favorite animal. Imagine
how horrible it would be if I turned out to be a cockroach! 

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm
Q: If you were Animagus, what kind of animal would you be?
A: I'd like to be an otter -- that's my favourite animal. It would be
depressing if I turned out to be a slug or something.

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm
Q: When you turn into an Animagus, can you choose what animal you
become? Or does this get "assigned" to you?
JK Rowling replies -> No, you can't choose. You become the animal that
suits you best. Imagine the humiliation when you finally transform
after years of study and find that you most closely resemble a warthog.

I want to know, what happens if a person who has become an Animagus
goes over the whole training again, from scratch, will heesh get
another animal form? (That could be how Dumbledore can turn into a
bee, wasp, phoenix, and uncanonical Lethifold, per Goddlefrood in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168099>.)

Can a person who is a werewolf become an Animagus? with an animal form
other than wolf? Can a werewolf who is an Animagus with an animal form
other than wolf avoid turning into a wolf monster at Full Moon by
turning into hiser animal before the moment?

I also would like to know the relationship between Animagus form and
Patronus form. JKR has said that she would like to be an Otter if she
were an Animagus, and she gave her avatar character (Hermione) an
Otter for Patronus. I don't think that was a hint that Hermione is an
Animagus. I think JKR simply takes it for granted that the form of a
person's Patronus is the same form that person would take as an
Animagus. To me that is illogical: she seems to be assuming that
always what protects people is themselves, not their parents nor their
faith in God nor their commitment to justice and/or the rule of law
nor their luck nor their powers of deception.

Betsy Hp wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168153>:

<< Both Harry and Ron enjoy using magic against a powerless squib.>>

Presumably you mean Filch. Perhaps Umbridge, altho' canon has not yet
stated that she can't do magic. Neither of them is *exectly*
'powerless',  as both have power given to them by their position in
the school hierarchy that permits them to punish students.

Sherrie Snape wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168305>:

<< William Weasley >>

I don't recally any William Weasley (I had Arthur's sister Willa in a
fanfic, before JKR wrote on her website that Ginny was the first girl
Weasley in several generations). I recall a Bill Weasley, but I
believe his name is Bilius, named after their Uncle Bilius who died
after seeing a Grim. 

As was Ron's middle name:
<http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm>
<<kylie: Thanks for writing such wonderful books, Ms Rowling :). Just
one question: What are Ron, Hermione and Ginny's middle names? Thank
you :)
JK Rowling replies -> My pleasure:) Middle names: Ginny is Molly, of
course, Hermione 'Jane' and Ron, poor boy, is Bilius.>>

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168259>:

<< But if Snape did betray his friends by spying on Voldemort for
Dumbledore, he's primarily risking his own life, not theirs, both in
VW1 and after GoF. Even if he gave DD names of DEs, which DD then gave
to the MoM (and we don't know whether that actually happened), the DEs
(none of them innocent victims) would then be arrested and sent to
Azkaban to prevent them from committing further crimes. That's very
different from revealing your friends' location to a Dark Lord who
wants to murder them and their innocent child. >>

Didn't Sirius say that most people sent to Azkaban go mad fairly soon,
and then die from forgetting to eat? So a life sentence to Azkaban
pretty well IS a death sentence.

Evans and Rosier were school friends of Snape who became Death Eaters.
They were killed by AUrors trying to arrest them. Yeah, Moody at least
wouldn't have killed a suspect who wasn't resisting arrest, but still,
Snape's old friends were killed by Snape's new allies.

Betsy Hp wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168300>:

<< I wonder how it is that Snape realized that Harry, friend of the
Weasleys, wouldn't think too keenly of his father as a prankster? >>

I don't think Snape did. I think Snape's idea was for Harry to
constantly see the names of two people about whose deaths he was in
pain, thus reminder after reminder of the loss, pain upon pain. 

Also, someone suggested that Snape intended this detention as an
opportunity for him to Legilimens Harry. I forget what he was supposed
to be looking for (DDM!Snape looking for Voldemort's influence,
ESE!Snape looking for a vulnerability) but it may have been something
that Snape thought Harry would be reminded of by thinking of Sirius.

Zgirnius wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/168307>:

<<  Though he is a jerk, I do not believe sadism is a primary, or even
secondary, motive for how he acts with regards to 

Harry. Dislike, frustration, anger, guilt, sure. >>

I don't see any way that Snape's nastiness being motivated by dislike,
frustration, anger, guilt, (and outright hatred, in the OoP scene
where he and Sirius nearly came to wands) means that he's not being
nasty because he gets jollies from hurting the recipient's feelings.
Maybe the particular pleasure is a temporary absence of feeling guilty
rather than sexual arousal; it's still a jolly.

I agree that he finds it more enjoyable to hurt the feelings of people
he hates, dislikes, is angry at, or frustrated by, such as Sirius and
Harry and Neville and, I guess, Hermione, but I believe that's he'll
settle for hurting the feelings of people he doesn't care one way or
the other about (what he would consider 'innocents'), if they're
convenient and the others aren't convenient. 

He ought to control himself and not act on this particular desire. but
it doesn't make me deny that he is DDM!Snape. *I* ought to control
myself and stop eating chocolate, at least until I lose 125 pounds. 
FAT CHANCE is perhaps *too* apropos a phrase...