First of all, greetings from a ... sort of newbie. I've been a *member* for months, but haven't had the time to read regularly until lately, and have never posted anything meaningful. Hi, I'm Weaver. :-) Non-shippy, completely non-allied with any house, just in love with the whole HP universe... and with Sirius. ::blushes:: I'll just get to the point now... --Sirius a 'pureblood' > >Liz wrote >>>Another matter is that motorcycle. >>>I have figured Sirius to be muggle-born or half-blood, simply >>because of the motorcycle that he enchanted to fly. > >I say: >What about Arthur's car, then? I can't recall the exact quote, but *somewhere* in canon a Malfoy-esque person remarks on the Weasley's pure-bloodedness in relation to their Muggle-lovingness, which is irrelevant except that it tells us the Weasleys are pureblood, even though Arthur obviously knew enough about cars to make one fly. Just like Sirius... ::dreamy stargaze:: I liiiiike Sirius. > >Foreseeable argument: "Couldn't ARTHUR have been Muggle-born or half-blood too, and just the Weasley *kids* the pure-bloods?" >Response: In CoS Volderiddle calls Harry a 'half-blood' just like himself. (--side note--Personally, I'm confused: LILY was a Muggle-born, but she was still a witch... shouldn't that make Harry pure-blood magic, just with a short lineage? --How many generations does it take to be called 'pureblood', anyway?) However, I'm assuming Volderiddle is, if not *the* definitive guide on who's 'pure' and who isn't, at least one of the top whosits. The Malfoys certainly follow his lead... meaning Art must be 'pureblood'. >After that rather rambling argument, I'm concluding precisely nothing -- except that Sirius's ability to make the bike fly doesn't prove anything about his birth. > > >--Magic Calorie-Burning (can't we say kilojoule?) ;p >Marina wrote: >>>In the books, however, there are very few overweight >>>wizards or witches. The only one I can think of off the top of my >>>head is Neville. > >I say: >I don't think Nevvy's fat... is he? I don't recall any mention being made of anyone's weight, except Mrs W -- and do we trust the word of a Malfoy, even if he *is* sexy as all hell? -- I think we were told Nevvy has a 'plump face' or a 'chubby face', when he was in first-year. I tended to assume that was a remnant of babyfat. It does seem a little stereotypical to have him as the 'tubby stoopit boy', and JKR-may-she-live-for-ever seems to have voided stereotypes where she could... I can't recognise any that are *quite* as obvious as it would be to have Nev overweight. I just can't really visualise him as fat, despite That Celluloid Thing's portrayal... >> Hmm . . . Arthur, William, Charles, Frederick, George . . . no >> wonder poor Ron feels like he's got too much to live up to; his >> father and all his brothers except Percy are named after kings! > >And a sister whose name, if not short for Virginia (for the >Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I), could be short for Regina, which is Latin >for queen (source: http://www.behindthename.com/nm/r2.html). > --Or for Guinevere, my personal favourite option... and here's hoping nobody here *doesn't* know which queen THAT is ;p, especially with all the Arthurian messages lately... >I can't think of a name that starts with J that would have >Ginny as a nickname. --Nicknames don't always follow logically from the first name -- Bill for William, Dick for Richard etc. For Ginny, how about Jennifer? Or Janelle, or Janine? Admittedly not particularly English names (like the boys' names). Jean? Jane? I think it's quite possible that Ginny does fit into that suggested system. >Anyway, when Percy was a Hogwarts first-year, even Charlie had been >out of Hogwarts for a year already. Percy was all alone in this big >school for two years, until the twins started. If Bill and Charlie >were in the same year, then Percy was the only one of the flock who >had to be in school alone. Being alone could have been scary and he >could have sought acheivements as an antidote to fear. --I would suggest otherwise. Percy strikes me as a very competent and confident person, not the type to be scared by being alone -- and also, I come from a family of over-achievers myself, and it was an immense relief when my big brother left the school I was at: I no longer had to live up to the pressure *quite* so much. Admittedly, there was always the "Oh, I knew your brother" episodes from teachers, which I would assume Percy got a lot of. "Oh, yes, you're Bill's brother. I expect *you*'ll do well, then..." --Also, Harry's all alone in this big school, and he isn't that worried. Ron can barely wait to be all alone (I *think* -- don't have the books here) and very few others are mentioned as having siblings currently at the school -- I can think of the Creevys and the Patils off the top of my head. Percy would have hardly been alone, and by the time Charlie left he would -- we hope! -- have a few friends he could depend on. >Wouldn't it be really weird if Percy was the cause of a sibling's >death. That would IMHO be a reason why he always plays by the rules, >maybe when he was young, he broke the rules and his brother died >because of it. --Yes, I like! All that strait-lacing cocooning poor Percy. That would also give a bit more reason for his abandoning dignity to splash into the lake after Ron in the Second Task -- anxiety, fear for his brothers, and maybe he just doesn't want to be blamed. --And then I can follow that up with his ambition and his high achievements... Percy subconsciously thinks that if he's successful enough, does enough good, somehow he can make up for what he did wrong? Maybe he wasn't the *cause* of a brother's death, but the supposed brother (let's call him Dave :)) died because he didn't obey the rules. Although that doesn't quite give Percy enough guilt and angst, and I *do* like torturing him... ::evil grin:: >But even when he was Head Boy >and had a girlfriend, Percy didn't seem all that happy a person. He >wasn't said to have a large circle (or even a small circle) of close >friends. He had Penelope; that was it. --Ohh... can I say that Oliver Wood is the only one we know of in Percy's year level aside from Penelope. I'm sure there are others, but Percy's relationships with them aren't explored. I'd like to think he had friends, and in fact can't see any boy, no matter what, living in the same room with (presumably) four others for seven years and not becoming close to any of them. I just don't think it could happen. Please, give Percy a few friends .. :) >I fear that the list is turning into a fanfic generating >machine. --Hey, that's why I hang around -- :-) >Another source, (babynamer.com) gives the definition as from >the name 'Rognvaldr' which means 'Ruler's counsel'. --And my babyname book says "Harry" is from (don't have exact reference, but...) 'ruler' or 'ruler of men' or 'leader'... now isn't that interesting. >And what about girls? Is it the same for the 7th daughter of >a 7th daughter/son? --Have you ever read Terry Pratchett's *Equal Rites*, where the masculine power of wizardry is passed to the seventh child of a seventh son, who - after recieving the power - turns out to be a girl? Proposes an interesting idea, anyway, and as a die-hard TP fan, I love advising people to read him :-p ------------------------------------------- That's all I have to say today... thanks for listening! Apologies to people whose names I missed or forgot, and also to everyone if I've mentioned anything that's been said. The sheer amount of mail on this list prevents me reading everything... but I love it! --Weaver "That's right," he said, "we're philosophers. We think, therefore we am." ------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.schnoogle.com - part of the FictionAlley community novel length fanfics - 7 sickles an ounce --------------------------------------------------------------------- Express yourself with a super cool email address from BigMailBox.com. Hundreds of choices. It's free! http://www.bigmailbox.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------