Peeves / Lily / Slytherins / Ice Cream / Witchy Sewing / FingerRemoving Jinx

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 176612

Bart wrote in 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/175902>:

<< In DH, it is mentioned that Peeves has been around 25 years. >>

I found the quote to which you refer. US DH p602. "Yes, Peeves, you
fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of
a century? Go and fetch him at once!" (Minerva to Argus)

That could mean that Peeves had been there for 25 years so before
that, Filch didn't need to complain about him. It could mean that
Filch had been there for 25 years, and Peeves was there before him. I
thought it meant the latter, that Peeves has been there for centuries,
but only in recent decades has Filch been complaining about him.
However, I also thought that Filch has been there longer than 25 years. 

Leah wrote in 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/176264>:

<< I don't think that Snape wanted Lily kept alive for his personal
pleasure. He wanted her alive because he could not bear to be in a
world in which she did not exist. He may have hoped that she might
come to care for him, but I think that's as far as it went. >>

I believe you're right about Snape's desire, but Voldemort would 
expect Snape to spend time with her and would insist that Snape keep 
her under control, as in not seeking vengeance for the lives of her 
husband and her child.

Steve bboyminn wrote in 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/176284>:

<< I'm sure they've concluded that Voldemort would have been bad for 
business, and what is bad for business is bad for Slytherins.
Stability breeds prosperity. So, it is too the advantage of 
Slytherins, who want to prosper, to promote stability in the world. 
So, collectively they have a new set of priorities. >>

You know I agree with you that saying that Voldemort would be bad for 
business is a considerable understatement. 

But saying that Slytherins are ambitious isn't the same as saying that 
Slytherins want to prosper -- people can be just as ambitious for
game, winning a competition (e.g. the Olympics), or power, as for 
prosperity. (Various fiction has presented people of talent and 
inspiration who were insanely ambitious to create the great works of 
art of which they believed they were capable, but I don't know if that 
happens in the real world.) Trying to view Crabbe and Goyle as 
ambitious suggests only an ambition to be valued servants of the 
biggest baddy on the block. (Goyle still may be ambitious to serve The 
Malfoys, but Crabbe pretty clearly disowned that as his ambition.)

But neither ambition or prosperity is especially a WATER trait. 
Prosperity is more Earth than any of the other Elements, and I think 
Ambition might go with Fire -- with Gryffindors being ambitious for 
fame and glory, most not satisfied to be brave and chivalrous if few 
people know about it.

Slytherins should have some watery characteristics if they're the 
Water house.

What watery traits are Slythie traits? 

Secrecy: they like to know secrets and find out secrets and keep 
secrets and sometimes even keep their glory secret ("still waters run 
deep"). Doing research to discover new facts about nature or magic 
also falls under discovering secrets. Being good at hunches may also 
fall into this trait.

Sexual/Sensual: they were all over each other in their railcar 
compartment when Harry spied on them. 

Sensitive feelings, as in their feelings are easily hurt, whereupon 
they want revenge. 

Awareness of other people's feelings, used to know how best to taunt 
the other person, or to know how to manipulative the person (Draco 
knows Ron's sore point is his poverty and Severus goaded Sirius into 
drawing wand against him in the dining room of 12GP). 

Versatile: if one plan doesn't work, make another. If the means to 
success are embarrassing, do them anyway, just secretly. As water can 
be liquid, steam, or ice, and can break big rocks by freezing into 
little ice in little cracks of the rocks, and (when liquid) can find 
even the tiniest leak in its container... There must be a better word 
for this characteristic than 'versatile' or 'unscrupulous'. Not 
'persistent' because that's as much an Earth trait as a Water trait.

Jen wrote in 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/176319>:

<< there wasn't even any *ice cream* anymore for crying out loud! >>

It's tragic that Florian Fortescue was captured by the enemy (and 
presumably tortured before being killed), but saying there was no ice 
cream anymore is a bit of an exageration. There would still be 
home-made ice cream from householdy witches like Molly and Andromeda, 
or householdy wizards I suppose, and House Elves could make even 
gourmet ice cream like Florian's.

Mike wrote in 

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/176396>:

<< This poverty issue I never quite understood. I mean, they can do
magic so why don't they fix up the clothes? Why didn't Molly do some
repairs and remodeling of Ron's dress robes? Why doesn't Eileen
modify Sev's smock into something resembling a real shirt? They have
the materials, just fix them up a little. C'mon mums! >>

Madam Malkin, the professional robemaker, doesn't seem to use much 
textile or sewing magic, either.

PS/SS: "In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was 
standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black 
robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long 
robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length."

At the very least, she should be able to stand him on the stool and 
then wave her wand to make the fabric fold up and the pins fly into 
their places, an even hem at the first try without all that hassle of 
pinning and stepping away to look and stepping back to change the pin 
one just did ... Does she have to sew the hem by pointing her wand at 
a threaded needle which will sew (as if there were an invisible 
seamstress) only as long as she keep her wand pointed? She ought to be 
able to just tap her wand on the pinned hem to transform it to a sewn 
hem.

In fact, rather than putting hems up or down at all, she should be 
able to wave her wand and cause the bottom of the robe to grow or 
shrink so that it was a perfect fit.

Maybe clothing, as well as food, is one of the Five Principal 
Exceptions to whatever law of Transfiguration Hermione quoted.

Cathy D wrote in 

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/176497>:

<< Just one that sounds *really* amusing to me, from the HP-Lexicon:
"finger-removing jinx: Removes the target person's fingers. Goodwin
Kneen's wife, Gunhilda, hit him with this jinx after he came home a
bit late from celebrating Ilkley's win in Quidditch (QA3)." I imagine
Goodwin Kneen found it quite irritating....to say the least. >>

OTOH the wizarding folk are a lot better than us Muggles at replacing 
lost fingers. Molly could have grown George's ear back if it had been 
removed by a Severing Spell instead of by Sectumsempra.