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

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 168397

--- "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> 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 >>

> Catlady replies: 
>
> 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.
> 

bboyminn:

Just one problem, as the most recent book tells us, 
and as I have always suspected, nearly all wizarding
buildings are protected from Apparation, both in and 
out. Notice that Mr. Weasley never Apparates directly 
into his own kitchen or living room, he always Apparates
just outside the front door.

So, likely since the Potter were in hiding, they had
implemented significant security measures including
protection against Apparation. Notice again, that 
Voldemort arrived by walking up the garden path, not by
apparating directly into their living room. 

"...take Harry and run..." probably means /run/ outside
the house and Apparate away. I suspect if Lily could 
have ducked out a window onto the roof of a lower 
section of the house, she could have apparated away.


> 
> 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? >>

> Catlady:
> 
> 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. 
> 

bboyminn:

A far better question is - why would Jews be Neville's 
greatest fear? That's far more irrational than it being
Snape. Further, Snape is a very bullying, intimidating,
and therefore frightening individual, how does fear of
one nasty person equate with the irrational fear of a
specific ethnic group of people? To me, it makes about
as much sense as your greatest fear being of Methodists.

In addition, it doesn't matter what a students greatest
fear is, that fear will look ridiculous dressed as 
Neville's grandmother. Think about it - a spider dressed
as Neville's gran, a mummy dressed as Neville's gran, or
as it happen's Snape dressed as Neville's gran - each is
just as funny.

So, I agree with Catlady, the purpose of the lesson is
to make whatever you fear funny, not to make a moral
judgment on what it is that you fear. 



> 
> 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. >>

> Catlady:
> 
> 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, ... -- 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. ...
> 

bboyminn:

JKR didn't create 41 students, she created 41 student-
characters, so whenever she needed someone she didn't 
have to make them up on the spot. She knew the backstory
of each of the character, knew how they would act, and
knew how she could use them in the story when their time
came. That indicates how many characters she thought she
would need, not how many students are in the school.

The 10x4x7=280 has always been a hopelessly flawed 
estimate. It assumes many facts that are not in evidence.

We don't know that Harry's class year is typical of all
class years. We also don't know that their is an even
distribution amoung houses. I have always suspected that
Hufflepuff was the largest, Ravenclaw second, and 
Slytherin and Gryfindor tied for the smallest houses. 

In my school year sizes ranged from 15 to 30 (yes, it 
was a very small school). Yet either one of those 
numbers extrapolated across the entire school would 
give you a false impresion of the true size of the 
school.


> Catlady:
> 
> 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. 

bboyminn:

I have always suspected that 1,000 was the capacity of
Hogwarts, not its current enrollment. We see that there
are many classrooms that are unused, and many areas that
are being used for storage, that indicates that the 
school is /not/ at full capacity.

As to the Quidditch match, you are assuming that all the
people watching are students. If you go to a local school
football (either type) game, are all those present students?
I don't think so. 


Just a few minor points.

Steve/bboyminn