All planned out (WAS Re: Other New News)

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 178235

> Allie:
> 
> And here I MUST comment because it becomes clear from DH that MANY 
> MANY things were planned in advance, from the time that SS was 
written:
> 
> For example:
> 
> Harry's invisibility cloak 
<snip> 
> Grindelwald <snip> I have NO trouble believing she had planned the
> Elder Wand back then.

> There are many more examples but I can't think of them all right 
now...

zgirnius:
I would add, H/G and R/Hr. Ginny Weasley is the first witch of his 
generation Harry ever meets, while Ron and Hermione begin their 
bickering on the Hogwarts Express. I did not attach much meaning to 
the first of these occurences (but apparently it is common to 
introduce the eventual love interest ot the hero/heoine in this way, 
and once someone pointed this out to me, I could think of other 
examples), but I suspected the second SHIP from their first encounter.

I would also add, the Secret Keeper switch. Sirius Black comes up in 
Chapter 1; Scabbers on the Hogwarts Express is targeted by a spell to 
turn him yellow (for cowardice, naturally), of all possible colors.

And, of course, the one dearest to my heart: Snape's backstory. Much 
was made of importance of the three Potions facts Snape introduced in 
his first lesson in PS/SS. We saw Wolfsbane in PoA and bezoars in 
HBP, but no one ever used the Draught of Living Death as anything but 
a classroom exercise, despite some really fine fan theories about the 
role it would play in DH.

So what was it doing there? Its named (in PS/SS, we learn more in 
HBP) components are asphodel and wormwood. Asphodel is a plant in the 
lily family, which in Greek myth is what grows in the fields of the 
land of the dead. It comes up as a symbol of death and memorial 
sorrow in literature and the "language of flowers". Wormwood is a 
plant noted for its bitterness.  And together, these things produce 
something called the Draught of Living Death. Snape's life story, in 
a single recipe.

Rowling looks this sort of thing up - Aconite (wolfsbane) is so named 
in RL because it was believed to protect against werewolves. Bezoars 
are not something she made up. Rue is used in traditional herbal 
medicine as a remedy after poisoning (as for Ron in HBP). Dittany is 
likewise believed to help prevent scarring. So no, I do not think 
this was a coincidence. <g>