promise/kappa/ Snape/13-curse/Az guards/ Witches' Institute/Wendolyn

[Catlady (Rita Prince]

No: HPFGUIDX 189463

Carol wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189272>:

<< I didn't like Dobby and didn't think about his promise -- which he breaks as early as GoF with the stolen Gillyweed. Since Dobby was "free," it wasn't a binding promise, I suppose. If the choice was between breaking his word and saving Harry's life, obviously, he'll choose the latter. If he'd been Kreacher under the same order, he'd have had to choose to obey. >>

In my opinion, the bindingness of a promise comes from the personal honor of the person who gave the  promise (or it comes from fear of punishment like the Unbreakable Vow), not from a relationship of command and obedience. The commander can command, e.g.: "Don't tease Percy about his girlfiend" without having to demand "Promise me that you won't tease Percy about his girlfriend."

sile_dubhghlase wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189316>:

<< Snape criticizes Lupin's grading of a paper about Kappas as he moves up and down the aisles. Very poorly explained...That is incorrect, the kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia...Professor Lupin gave this an eight out of ten? I wouldn't have given it a three..." In reality, the Kappa is a Japanese water-demon, MOM >>

Of course the Kappa is a Japanese water demon. They like cucumbers, which is why those cucumber sushi rolls are called kappa rolls. They want to wrestle human passers-by in order to drown them because they eat the intestines of drowned people. When a Kappa challenges you to wrestle, bow to it. Good manners requires it to respond by bowing to you. Whereupon the water will fall out of the bowl shaped depression on top of its head. When the bowl is empty, the Kappa has no power, except to sulk.  

I personally don't really think that Rowling put the statement that they are more commonly found in Mongolia into Snape's mouth in order to show that he didn't know his material. I think the most likely thing is that it was Rowling who made that mistake. But the game that whatever Rowling wrote in canon and cannot be wrong would require making up an explanation of why her statement is true. Which is theoretically possible: The English language originated in England, but now has more speakers in USA. The only thing is, I am under the impression that Mongolia is sort of like a desert, and would have few perennial streams to provide habitat for Kappas.

dzturtleshell wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189390>:

<< Food for thought, how much of [HM Snape protecting the students] was Snape's own personal concern for the safety of the students, and how much of it was Dumbledore's portrait hanging behind Snape's desk overseeing things every day? >>

Even back in CoS, when McGonagall came into the staff room and said a student had been taken, "Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?". I've always taken that as evidence that he cared about all the students' survival.

Lui summarized PoA Chapter 3 in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189426> and asked:

<< It says in the newspaper that "Black" (eventually we know it was that rat Pettigrew) murdered thirteen people with one curse. What spell do you think he used? >>

I think he cursed a gas main under the street to explode (which made it easy for the Ministry to use 'exploding gas main' as their excuse to the Muggles) and the explosion killed the people in a normal way. 

Plenty of listies (Annemehr, Pippin, Lui, dzturtleshell, Potioncat) gave the same answer to this question as I did, but before I did. Ordinarily, I'd figured that this answer had already been well represented and had no need for me to chime in, but this time it is a segue to my next point.

One way a wizard could know about gas mains is by being a Muggle-born. I think Rowling intended Pettigrew to be Muggle-borm because she had that interview answer about a Muggle-born is not allowed to become a Death Eater except in very rare circumstances. I think the rare circumstance she had in mind was Pettigrew being the Secret Keeper.

Lui wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189448>:

<< Q. Although we know from CoS that Azkaban inspires fear even to brave people (a.k.a Hagrid), this is the first time the guards are mentioned. What was your first idea of what/who they would be?

luirhys: I thought at first- Elite Wizards. >>

Me, too.

No Limburger wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189452>:

<< Actually, JKR briefly mentions two other wizarding schools in GoF: the Salem Witches Institute (in the USA) and the Brazilian Wizarding School. >>

I feel absolutely certain that the Salem Witches' Institute is not a school, but rather a club for middle-aged witches. Because I feel sure that it is a joke on the name of the Women's Institute. The Women's Institute seems to have been a big deal in rural Britain between the two World Wars, based on how often it is mentioned by mystery novels by Agatha Christie and the other classic mystery authors.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Institute> begins its article by saying << The Women's Institute was formed in 1915 with two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation's aims have broadened and it is now the largest women's voluntary organisation in the UK. The organisation celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2010 and currently has approximately 205,000 members in 6,500 WIs. >>

AmanitaMuscaria wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189454>:

<< The witch-burning thing I found very difficult - while Wendolyn the Weird was enjoying the tickling sensation of the flames, real-world Muggle witches would have no such experience. It was my first jolt of reality impinging on JKR's world, and it was a very unpleasant one. >>

To me, the witch-burning thing was a clear example of one of the important jobs done by education: lying to the young. 

I am convinced that the obsession with Wizarding Secrecy is because the wizards are quite realistically scared of the MUggles. This is illustrated by Professor Binns's explanation of the founding of Hogwarts: "They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

Incidentally, it has often been explained on list how this could cause distrust of Muggle-borns, who might reveal the hiding places and hidden identities to their Muggle relatives, such that it was not necessarily bigotry when Salazar "disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy." 

But the wizarding folk don't like to admit to themselves that they are overpowered by Muggles, so they tell themselves cover stories which claim that Muggles and Muggle-borns are inferior, that wizarding secrecy is because "everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone[,]" and that the atrocities for protection against which the Knights of Walpurgis was founded really weren't anything for young wizards and witches to be frightened of.