Chapter Discussion PoA 6, and a few other posts

[Catlady (Rita Prince]

No: HPFGUIDX 189557

Mike Crudele wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189535>:

<< Speaking of Lupin, what the heck had he been doing beforehand that would make him need to sleep for most of the trip? Or was he faking it? >>

After several readings, I realized that he was faking it in order to eavesdrop on the students.

Eric Oppen wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189541>:

<< I think Ron chose Divination because he saw it as a soft option >>

Come to think on it, why didn't Ron take Muggle Studies, widely believed to be an easy class? I didn't think he was already at the age of refusing to do something one wants to do just because one's father wants one to do it...

Carol wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189553>:

<< Hagrid is absurdly sentimental about his dangerous pets. Possibly, his fanatical attachment to "interestin'" creatures (which extends to his seemingly monstrous and untameable half-brother, Grawp) results from his loneliness and his sense of being different from everyone else. >>

I have seen it suggested that because too many people say Hagrid is dangerous because of being half-giant, he sympathizes with the animals that people say are dangerous and assumes that they are victims of prejudice like he is. 

But even tho' he doesn't seem to realize that his pets are dangerous, he does recognize a difference between interesting critters (to which he is attracted) and boring critters (to which he is not), so really he is attracted to the ones with powers of destruction even tho' he doesn't believe they would ever use those powers against people except in self-defense. Okay, Fang, unicorns, bowtruckles show the destructive ones are not the only animals that attract him.

Joey Smiley wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189550>:

<< I don't think [Binns] wanted to show off or pretend to know. In fact, I wonder if he *wanted* to do anything at all. (snip) He does not mean to teach though, I agree. He doesn't seem to have any goal at all, actually. >>

That may be related to him being a ghost. Sir Nicholas is a ghost with an ambition, to be admitted into the Headless Horsemen club, and Moaning Myrtle's ambition was to harass Olive Hornsby, but changed to having living people feel sorry for her. Still, it may be that ambition and goals are uncommon among ghosts. Maybe he used to have a goal but it went on the next great adventure with his soul, and was not left behind in the imprint his departed soul left on this world (DADA teacher Snape's definition of a ghost). 

CHAPTER DISCUSSION - PoA Chapter 6
with acknowledgement that the Questions first appears in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189533>, 
Sherriola discussed PoA Chapter 6 in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189536>:

<< 1. Why did you think the Dementors affected Harry so badly, compared to everyone else? >>

Because he's the protagonist. But I was surprised to read the posts that some people thought the screams that he heard were real-time same-place.

When we found out that Harry had the worst reaction *because* his memories were the most traumatic, I assumed that Draco's not so good reaction was because he also had traumas in his past. Why didn't Ginny faint as well as Harry?

<< 2. Did you think anything was going on with Hermione's schedule or have any idea of how she was taking so many classes? >>

As a life-long science fiction fan, as soon as Ron said that three of her classes were at the same time, I knew there was time-travel involved.

Marianne wild irish rose replied in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189540>:

<< When finals came around, and Hermione was so overworked trying to study for all the classes, why didn't she jump back and forth between time zones to do her studying. How could she take all those exams? Would she use the time turner? >>

Hermione did use her time turner to take two exams at the same time (see Zanooda's <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189546>). It seems she never used it to get extra time to study or sleep. Maybe McGonagal specifically told her to use it only to attend classes or generically told her not to use it more than necessary.

<< 5. Did you think Trelawney was a true seer or a hoax? Did you expect any of her predictions to come true, even the simple ones? >>

In this chapter, I thought she was a complete hoax, altho' she did have an appropriate textbook and an organized lesson plan. If she had been mountainously fat instead of unusually thin, and kept her classroom so cold that all the students shivered rather than so hot they all fell asleep (and not had the well-organized lesson plan), she could have been my persona in the series, instead of me having to Mrs. Figg.

<< 6. Did you think Harry had truly seen a Grim? >>

I didn't think the teacup showed a Grim nor a dog, and I was sure the black dog back in Surrey was a dog, not a Grim. Listies pointed out that the teacup had shown a big black dog which was Sirius. 

The students' reaction to Trelawney saying that Harry had the Grim:
<< H[arry] could tell that he wasn't the only one who didn't understand; Dean Thomas shrugged at him and Lavender Brown looked puzzled, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths in horror. >>

We knew that Harry didn't know about the Grim because he was Muggle-raised and we knew that Dean Thomas was Muggle-raised, so I view that as evidence that Lavender Brown was Muggle-raised despite having such a wizarding name.

<< 8. Do you think a person's Animagi form says anything about his or her character? Take McGonagall, does a cat fit her as you've come to know her through the series? >>

Megan PoohMeg replied in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189534>:

<< McGonagall seems pretty cat-like in some ways in her human form - keeps to herself, slightly superior attitude, etc. >>

and Nikkalmati replied in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/189544>:

<< I like McGonagal, but is she really cat-like? I am not sure. She is independent, but I don't think of cats as being so strict and willing to enforce the rules. >>

The only rule that cats are very strict about enforcing (and only on other cats) is their internal pecking order. Many cats make some efforts to enforce a rule on humans: "Thou shalt not mock or make fun of a cat", but their efforts usually consist of scowling at the human, then walking away in an arrogant style. 

However, I like to think McGonagal is cat-like, not only parading her dignity and privacy, but I like to think of her also as preferring to fix situations herself rather than ask others for help (altho' canon shows her dithering when an unknown monster is attacking students), and of secretly being extremely sensual behind closed doors. I say her private quarters in Hogwarts Castle contain a bath as warm and bubbly and perfumed as the Prefects' Bath (but smaller) and her bed has down comforters and mink pillows. Maybe an anti-gravity mattress for literally sleeping on air.

<< 11. What are your thoughts on Draco's actions in this lesson? Should he have listened more to Hagrid's instructions? Does he have any blame in the fact that he was injured? >>

Well, of course Draco has some blame for his own injury, because he had heard and understood the instructions and deliberately decided to do the opposite. I've often wondered WHAT WAS HE THINKING? Did he really think that an animal (a hippogriff) would defer to his high social status? At that age, he didn't seem mentally mature enough to make a long-term scheme, such as deliberately get injured in order to get Hagrid fired. On another tentacle, two years younger he had made the scheme of challenging Harry to a duel with the intention of not showing up, in order to get Harry caught violating curfew...

The foreword to FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM mentioned that Newt Scamander's mother was a hobbyist breeder of fancy hippogriffs, and poor Bode in the hospital received a calendar with a picture of a different fancy hippogriff each month. From which I deduce that hippogriffs are not uncommon pets for wizarding people who can afford them. So Draco ought to have already visited relatives with stables of hippogriffs and been taught how to handle them.

Maybe he had, and had made friends with a hippogriff such that cooing "You're such a big ugly stupid monster" while scratching its eyebrows made it purr, and he assumed that a random half-wild hippogriff would 
respond the same?