CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets Ch. 5. The Whomping Willow

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188795


> 1.  Not only Ron knows that underage wizards can use magic in case of emergency, he quotes the chapter of the law to that effect. Was Molly's home schooling that effective or does Ron really like to study more than we were lead to believe?

PIppin:
As has been pointed out, Ron doesn't actually know the details. Since Arthur is behind the Muggle Protection Act, he's surely discussed the law and its loopholes at home many times. 
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> 2.  Is Arthur just placating Molly when he agrees not to make car invisible or is he truly afraid of her?

Pippin:
I don't think he's afraid of her. He, unlike Ron and Harry,  knows perfectly well that missing the train would not be an excuse for using magic. And he probably also knows that the invisibility booster is unreliable. If he didn't know it was a bad idea, he'd have just done it without asking for Molly's permission, which, IMO, he knows very well he won't get.

I think he's teasing her a little. 
 
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> 3. What was your first impression of Whomping Willow? Did you expect for it to make another appearance in the series?
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Pippin:
I thought it was just another quirky Hogwarts feature, like moving staircases or talking portraits. But considering Fluffy, perhaps I should have guessed that it was guarding something. 

> 4. Snape implies that he would like to expel Harry. How can this be reconciled with the commitment to help Dumbledore protect Harry we saw him make in "The Prince's Tale"?

Pippin:
Are you sure it's Harry Snape would like to expel? The dialogue has Snape mostly replying  to Ron. Snape doubtless thinks that if Weasley got expelled, Harry would get into trouble less often. That could account for his "Christmas had been cancelled" expression when the boys are let off. 

 Of course Snape knew perfectly well that Harry was not going to be expelled unless he did something so drastic that Dumbledore's hands would be tied. But that's a possibility -- look at what happened to Hagrid. Dumbledore himself says much the same thing.

 As others have said, I think Snape wants to impress on both boys that they have landed themselves in very serious trouble and it could have been a lot worse.  

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> 5. "This was not the first time Snape had given Harry the impression of being able to read minds". We know now that this impression was absolutely correct. If Snape used Legilimency and knew that they indeed could not get through 9 3/4 by regular means, why does he say what he says?

Pippin:
He said that he was waiting to hear why they hadn't arrived on the train, and then, characteristically, silenced them when they tried to explain. Possibly, having extracted the answer to his question via legillimency, he had no need or interest in hearing what they had to say. McGonagall didn't think not being able to get through the barrier was a good excuse either. 

Snape's legillimency is a much more useful talent if people don't know that he can do it, and of course JKR isn't yet ready to reveal that Snape really can read minds. 

> 6. What do you think was that "large, slimy something suspended in green liquid on a shelf behind Snape's desk?

Pippin:
The shelves are lined with jars in which floated "all manner of revolting things Harry didn't really want to know the name of at the moment." I have no idea what this one  was, but the jars do  bring in the association between Slytherins and liquids. We know there's cockroaches in one of them <g>.

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> 7. Please feel free to add your own questions here.

Pippin:
Not really a question, but I think McGonagall lit the fire because she's an old lady and cold rooms make her bones ache. IOW, for her own comfort, not Harry's. She was still very angry at that point.

Pippin