CHAPDISC: DH20, Xenophilius Lovegood

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182910

Jerri wrote:
> <snip> I felt that there were just too many "new" types of magic or
new uses introduced in DH.  And things that if they had existed we
should have known about in earlier books.  "The Trace" and the "Taboo"
and the rather strange extra use for DD's "put-outer" which Ron used 
in the previous chapter, and many more that I kept noticing.
> 
> Harry's ability to do the Imperious Curse the first time, with no 
practice and no special lessons, and have it work pretty well. 
(Compared with the experienced death eater who presumably tried to put
an imperious curse on the Muggle PM's staff member and end up with 
someone who quacked like a duck and tried to attack people.  One can
only assume that he had intended some more useful and less noticeable
activities for that person.)
> 
> I know that JKR liked to keep introducing new things.  I believe we
 saw at least one new form of transportation in each book.  But Harry
has been in the wizarding world for almost 7 years now, and has been
taking classes and getting fairly good grades.  How did there come to
be so very many issues that were still new to him and to us?  The
Deathly Hallows alone were a major new concept to spring on Harry and
the reader in the last book of a series.  All these other little new
types of magic or changes or apparent inconsistencies kept adding up. 
> Any ONE can be accepted or explained away or just considered a minor
irritation.

Carol responds:
I agree with you about the inconsistencies, especially regarding the
Imperius Curse and the Trace. (The Taboo works beautifully for the
scene at Tottenham Court Road and as a means of detection that gets
them kidnapped by Snatchers--what is Harry *thinking*?--but presents
other problems that have already been discussed. Ditto for Harry
performing Unforgiveable Curses, but I don't want to go round and
round on that topic again!)

However, I don't see a problem with Harry's being introduced to new
concepts, such as Horcruxes in HBP and Deathly Hallows in DH, that are
not familiar to the average Wizard on the street. (DD has removed the
books on Horcruxes from the Hogwarts library, and if any books on the
Deathly Hallows exist, they're apparently not read by many people. The
list of "believers" in DH consists of Grindelwald, who somehow found
about them at Durmstrang, and Dumbledore and Xenophilius, who somehow
found out about them at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle and Hermione, who also
spent a great deal of time conducting research in the Hogwarts
library, never found out about the Deathly Hallows, probably because
they were exploring other subjects. 

Each book in the series has a mystery of some sort for HRH to solve,
along with ongoing plot elements, such as the central conflict with
Voldemort and the Snape and Draco arcs. IMO, the Deathly Hallows serve
as the mystery in DH. Granted, it's solved rather earlier than the
mysteries usually are, but that's because Harry has crucial choices to
make, the first one being Horcruxes or Hallows.

As for the Deluminator having additional properties besides lighting
and "unlighting," I don't find that surprising given that it's DD's
invention and he can adapt it to his own purposes. And the moment when
Harry realizes what "I open at the close" means is one of the most
moving in the book. I hate the Elder wand, but I can't say that JKR
hasn't been preparing for its appearance since at least the graveyard
Priori Incantatem scene in GoF.

The types of new magic that I found most irritating were Hermione's
protective spells. why would anyone resort to a Fidelius Charm, which
can be broken by a faithless Secret Keeper or weakened by the death of
the SK, when the spells that Hermione casts provide such good
protection that not even Ron can find Harry and Hermione. They're
perfectly protected from DEs and Snatchers until Harry blows
everything by breaking the Taboo. And yet adult Wizards like Ted Tonks
and Slughorn's protege Dirk Cresswell are found and killed (and the
kids can overhear them because they've never heard of
Muffliato--evidently Severus Snape never let that one become
popular--or Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell left school before he did).
You'd think that Ted and Dirk would at least cast an Impervius charm
to prevent them from being overheard or rained on, but maybe that only
works to seal off doorways and keep the rain off eyes and glasses.
(Unlikely, right?) And how about Salvia Hexia and Protego Totalum and
whatever that spell was that had the Latin word for "enemy" in it?
Hermione knows those spells but the older wizards don't? I find that
disturbing, at the very least.

Carol, also noting that Harry's Protego (DH Am. ed. 380), cast with
Hermione's wand, lasts longer and works differently from previous
Shield Charms, which cause the opponent's spell to backfire rather
than creating a barrier between the opponent (in this case, Hermione!)
and the caster