CHAPDISC: DH31, The Battle of Hogwarts

[Blair]

No: HPFGUIDX 184604

> 1.    Is it believable that there are no good Slytherins? Wouldn't
> one or two of them remain to fight? Are they all
> totally unredeemable? Or is it just herd mentality i.e. one leaves
> they all leave?
Oryomai:
Oh geez.  The "good Slytherin" debate.  I believe that there are good 
Slytherins.  The ones in Harry's year are not his best friends; I 
didn't expect Pansy to stay.  Harry seems to know very few Slytherins 
outside his year, so I think it's completely possible that some of 
them stayed.  Especially when they see Professor Slughorn again (I 
seriously doubt that he would come back by himself).

> 2.    I would have thought that rumours of the ghosts
> pasts would definitely have been well known by all students. Bearing
> in mind that Harry and co. learn plenty about Nick, wouldn't someone
> from Ravenclaw have figured out about the Grey Lady and passed that
> information on?
Oryomai:
Does she really talk to students like Nick does?  Nick seems to be 
the most sociable of the Hogwarts ghosts.  We don't have any mention 
of her talking to anyone.  Maybe Professor Binns went over it in 
History of Magic ;-)

> 4.    How could Dumbledore not have found out that Helena stole
> the diadem?
> When you consider how difficult it was for him to get hold of the
> ring and help
> Harry obtain the fake locket, would he really not have found out
> information
> that resided in his own school? Doesn't seem very likely to me.
Oryomai:
For how clever Dumbledore was, he sometimes wasn't very smart.  I 
think that he had hoped to be around long enough to help Harry 
attempt to figure out what the other Horcruxes are.  It's not a very 
good plan to destroy all but one Horcrux.

> 5.    Would Dumbledore really never have found the Room of
> Requirement? He
> also fails to find the Chamber of Secrets? For such an omnipotent
> wizard, that
> seems two rather big failures.
Oryomai:
He knew about it, but he didn't know what it was.  I can't remember 
which book it was in, but he mentioned finding a room filled with 
chamber pots but couldn't find it again.  IMO he knew it was there 
but wasn't able to find it as easily as Harry and Company.

> 6.    Isn't it a bit reckless to rush through the castle with a
> bunch of
> mandrakes? Surely the commotion in the castle would aggravate them?
> Aren't they
> at risk of killing innocent students/teachers?
Oryomai:
Maybe they didn't think that one entirely through?  Or maybe the cry 
wouldn't be strong enough to kill with all the commotion going on in 
the castle.  Or it could be another example of JKR forgetting details.
 
> 7.    Is it remotely believable that Ron could remember enough
> Parseltongue
> to enter the Chamber?
Oryomai:
No.  I think that this, among many other things in book 7, was a 
total cop out.  JKR needed to destory the Hufflepuff Cup.  She needed 
Harry to do something else.  This really rare ability is suddenly 
picked up by Ron (who isn't the brightest of students).

> 8.    If Harry truly loves Ginny, wouldn't he make more of an
> effort to
> stop her entering the battle?
Oryomai:
I asked about Ginny and the battle in my summary, and I don't think 
there's any way to stop her from joining the battle.

> 9.    Do we think Tonks appearance at the castle makes her a
> good wife or a
> bad mother?
Oryomai:
I think Tonks did what she had to do.  She was an Auror and a member 
of the Order.  There's no way she could sit at home while the final 
battle was going on.  I think it has more to do with her as a person 
as less of her as what she is to someone else (wife or mother).  Does 
Remus being in the battle make him a bad husband/father?  Would we 
even judge him on it?
 
> 12.     Crabbe is a complete idiot – how could he manage to conjure
> such a
> devastating curse (Fiedfyre)?
Oryomai:
Power and brains are two different things.  He wanted to kill them, 
and he knew a powerful curse.  Speaking of Fiedfyre, does anyone know 
the origin of that?  I'm assuming fyre=fire, but what about fied?

> 13.     Why, why, why did she have to kill Fred???
Because she's an awful, awful woman ;-) Kidding!  I think it's a 
really painful death.  I know that I thought Fred would be safe 
because he had his ear cursed off at the beginning of the book.

Oryomai
Thanks for the excellent summary and questions!