spells/themepark/Scabbers/Crookshanks/Lupin&Dementors on train/Sirius

[Catlady (Rita Prince]

No: HPFGUIDX 189527

Joey asked in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189469>:

<< Are spells also like words where different words could give the same meaning? Not sure if there are other such spells. >>

Oh yes. I always go on about that "Locomotor trunk" spell that Tonks used to transport Harry's trunk. It's redundant with the Mobili- spell that we had already learned: Mobiliarbus to move a tree, Mobilicorpus to move an unconscious person (body), and surely Mobilicysta would move a trunk.

dzturtleshell wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189479>:

<< I just got back from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. It was phenomenal! It's still a bit crowded (it only opened a month ago), but the crowds lighten up a lot in the evening after 5 pm. >>

There was just an article on Marketplace <http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/08/06/pm-entering-universals-world-of-harry-potter-/> about Universal had not realised how popular it would be and had to scramble for crowd control. It says Universal is proud to have got the wait times down to one hour. Do you think it will be less crowded in January or February?

Nikkalmati discussed PoA Chapter 4 in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189480>:

<< 6. Did you notice the strange fact that Scabbers was much too long-lived? What did you think it meant? >>

Rowling rather called attention to it, but I had no idea what it meant.

To which, Joey replied in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189481>:

<< The clue for Animagus was in PS/SS with McGonagall turning into a cat but I never applied the concept to the ever-snoozing "Scabbers." >>

My recollection is that, at the time, a myriad of people figured that it was CROOKSHANKS who was an Animagus. I even had a theory that he was McGonagall's son.

dzturtleshell wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189507>:

<< Why was Lupin on the train at all? I get that he's not wealthy, but couldn't he have just apparated to Hogsmeade and walked over from there? Did Dumbledore ask him to take the train to watch over Harry during the Dementor's search? If so, how could he have known Harry & co would happen to sit in the same compartment with Lupin? >>

Discussion on this list persuaded me that Lupin was on the train because Dumbledore had told him to guard Harry on the train. As for how he knew which compartment Harry would take, so that he could wait for Harry in it, Dumbledore (who knows more than he tells, as I think Arthur mentioned sometime) knew that the Weasleys were always late to catch the Hogwarts Express and therefore took the only empty compartment they could find; DD or Lupin realized that he could make sure that one compartment was empty for Harry & Co by putting an unimpressive looking professor in it, to be avoided by students who had a choice.

<< I feel like it's fairly well known that Dementors have an overwhelming effect on individuals with a traumatic past, so shouldn't everyone (adults at least) have expected Harry to have that reaction? >>

Maybe it isn't common knowledge that Dementors have an overwhelming effect on people with a traumatic past. Maybe most wizards and witches know very little about Dementors except that they guard Azkaban.

Amanita Muscaria wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189510>:

<< I wondered whether the Dementors had stopped the train, rather than that it was an arranged raid - that Lupin goes to see the train driver could work either way. I thought he might be checking on whether the driver was able to continue, at the time, but it may have been to ask if he knew who'd set the raid up. Dolores may already be around, and it does see to be her style ... >>

It eventually dawned on me that Lupin had gone 'to see the train driver' really to send a message (probably by owl rather than by Patronus) to Hogwarts that Harry had fainted and should be checked over by Madam Pomfrey.

Amanita Muscaria wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189522>:

<< I do wonder what Sirius was doing after school - would he have inherited money, or would he have had to take a, perhaps demeaning to him, job? >>

Canon says Sirius's Uncle Alphard left him enough gold that he could get a place of his own IIRC at 16. I've never doubted that young Sirius lived non-frugally on inherited money.