OoP: Flints, errors, and other details (LONG)

[GulPlum]

As I said at the beginning of the week, my first reading of the book was 
slow and deliberate. My current second reading is even slower and more 
deliberate (I expect not to finish for at least a couple of weeks), and 
this time I'm taking notes.  :-)

I've had an inordinately busy week and have had neither the time nor the 
inclination to follow the main list (which I reset to web view on seeing 
the avalanche of early posts on Monday morning) or any fan forums other 
than this one (I even have trouble keeping up here!), so some of what I say 
here is doubtless old hat, and perhaps even boring, to some. Nevertheless, 
I shall persevere with my comments, with the usual apologies for any 
duplication of stuff already accepted.

Barb mentioned that she'd identified six Flints in OoP. Here's my own list 
of 10 potential candidates (most, if not all, of which will have been 
picked up by others, and some have already been mentioned here), together 
with my attempts at explaining them. I shall also occasionally go off on 
tangents, some of which will be positive, to alleviate the otherwise 
possibly nagging tone...

Perhaps Barb (or anyone else) could add any that I may have missed or find 
alternative explanations for some I've included, in an attempt at the 
beginnings of an OoP FAQ?  (Incidentally, I'm a bit displeased because I 
spent a great amount of time last night on a huge post of parallels between 
Harry and his "father figures" and noticed that Barb beat me to it with a 
much better analysis than I could have mustered, so I've scrapped that for 
the time being, although I may yet return to it.). ;-)

(one of the reasons for writing all the above was to take up spoiler space)

Any page references are, as ever with me, to UK editions. I'm doing these 
in the order of length of my comments rather than the order in which they 
appear in the book, to assist in scan reading.

1. The Thestrals. JKR admitted in the Albert Hall on Thursday that Harry 
should have seen them at the end of GoF, but preferred to leave it until 
OoP. The explanation is a bit flimsy, but at least she recognised the 
problem. :-)

2. Harry's repossession of the Marauder's Map. Although it would have been 
nice for JKR to have dotted the 'i's and crossed the 't's, a reasonable 
explanation is that Dumbledore retrieved it from fake!Moody's possessions 
(it would've been difficult for him not to have recognised it for what it 
was) and returned it to Harry. Fake!Moody *had* called it "Potter's Map". 
Dumbledore may also have asked Sirius or Lupin about it (the map *does* 
bear MWPPs' names).

3. Back row of the Quidditch arena. On p. 602, we get: "They [Harry & 
Hermione] found seats in the topmost row of the stands." Five paragraphs 
on, we get: "Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face 
sticking between the
seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind" (which 
was full of first- and second-years). How can there be a row behind the 
"topmost row", unless the Quidditch arena magically expands if more people 
turn up?

4. Dennis Creevey. On p. 301, he turns up at the Hog's Head with Colin. 
Dennis was Sorted in GoF and thus is only a second-year and not eligible 
for Hogsmeade weekends. Perhaps Colin persuaded McGonagall that his kid 
brother would be safer in his company? (I don't doubt that the brothers 
were able to hoodwink their - Muggle - parents into signing a permission 
form for Dennis). On the other hand, Umbridge is on the offensive by this 
stage, and as High Inquisitor would have given herself the right to vet the 
list of those allowed to leave the school.

5. How does Harry manage "Lumos" while not holding his wand? (p. 21) As far 
as we know, like all spells and incantations, it only works if the wizard 
is holding his wand at the time. Yet Harry picks it up (indeed finds it) 
only once it's lit.

I suspect that this is a subtle clue that Harry's on the road to become 
very adept at wandless magic. Although Harry appears unaware of the "shock" 
which prevents Vernon holding onto Harry right at the beginning (p.  10), 
it is connected to the throbbing pain in Harry's head from having banged it 
against the window. This is *significant*, and I predict that it will be 
very useful during the Final Showdown.

6. How did James become Head Boy if he wasn't a Prefect? The Pensieve 
reveals Lupin to have been the fifth-year prefect, but Molly says on p. 149 
that "it's the first step" to being Head Boy. I don't believe this is a 
Flint at all, simply because James is far too important and a big deal is 
made about it. Something (the Prank?) is going to happen between OWLs and 
MWPPs' arrival for their sixth year to make Dumbledore change his mind and 
give James the job. Alternatively, Lupin will tell Dumbledore that he can't 
control his friends and resign. (I'm assuming that James will have to have 
become prefect material in the sixth year as there will have to have been 
*some* foundation to name him Head Boy in the seventh).

Or (my favourite idea), the Prank happens at the beginning of their sixth 
year, Lupin resigns, and given that James has shown the ability to save 
Snape (whom he obviously hates), Dumbledore thinks this is a sign that 
James has grown up a bit and is worthy of a bit of responsibility. It is 
the fact that James has shown himself to be responsible that Lily (who is 
already a prefect) decides he's worthy of her romantic attentions. This has 
the additional benefit of the Prank having led to Snape's being under 
James's authority which would have been particularly painful for him...

7. OWL results. JKR can't seem to make up her mind when they're announced. 
Percy sits his OWLs in PS/SS, but he gets the results in CoS (p.40), the 
day before Harry arrives at the Burrow, i.e. 3rd August (the Anglia arrives 
during the night following the third day after Dobby's visit, on the 
evening of Harry's birthday, so Harry must arrive at the Burrow on the 
morning of the 4th).
Gred & Forge sit theirs in PoA but receive their grades at the same time as 
the rest of the school get their end-of-year exam results, as does Percy 
his "top-grade NEWTs" (p. 313), and they don't need to wait for the 
holidays/beginning of GoF.
Yet in Oop, McGonagall tells our heroes that an "'An owl will be sent to 
you some time in July'" (p. 625).  So which is it? Late June, July, or 
early August?

An attempt at an explanation: the pandemonium with the Stone in PS/SS seems 
to have happened during exam week, and thus would have delayed the 
marking  of papers and the collation of results; in PoA, the Shrieking 
Shack events didn't have much of a repercussion on the rest of the school, 
and so the OWL/NEWT exams could have carried on without incident. In OoP, 
Umbridge is in charge and she has probably decided that all results must be 
vetted by the Ministry, delaying collation of the results until after the 
end of the school year. (IOW it would be normal for pupils to return home 
with their results; Harry & Co could thus get their NEWT results before 
leaving Hogwarts for good).

Note: at the end of CoS (p. 249), McGonagall cancels all exams. Does this 
include OWLs and NEWTs? (Perhaps this is the real reason for our beloved 
Marcus Flint's presence in PoA?) :-)

Note 2: For the benefit of non-Brits, real-world A Levels (i.e. NEWTs) are 
announced on the Thursday of the second week in August; O Levels/GCSEs 
(OWLs) are announced seven days later. This is the expectation British 
teenage reading HP would all have.

8. Rookwood's first name. In the GoF Pensieve scene, Crouch refers to him 
as "Augustus", whereas the Daily Prophet refers to him in OoP (p. 480) as 
"Algernon". The thing is, neither of these sources have been proved to be 
exact with their names. In GoF (p. 179) the Prophet refers to "Arnold 
Weasley", and of course Crouch refers to Percy throughout GoF as 
"Wetherby". Crouch is more likely to be correct on this one, though, as his 
reference to "Augustus" is not questioned. In other words, as the 
"Augustus" is not in narration, but quoted from the Prophet, I construe it 
as just another example of the Prophet's cavalier attitude to 
fact-checking. (i.e. it's not a mistake on JKR's part, but the Prophet's).

For a moment, when I first read the new forename, my mind went off at a 
wild tangent and I started wondering if Algernon could be Neville's 
Great-Uncle Algie (and origin of Trevor the Toad). However, the timeline 
doesn't really fit, as Algie was around just before Neville first went to 
Hogwarts, whereas Rookwood was known to have been languishing in Azkaban.

9. Harry in Snape's Pensieve memory. If the Pensieve is an accurate record 
of Snape's *memories* (rather than a "flashback film"), Harry should not be 
able to have concentrated on following MWPP around, but should have 
retained Snape's perspective. My explanation is that memories aren't 
photographic records, but mixtures of feelings, images and perceptions, 
some of which become confused with further experiences (e.g. several people 
over on the Movie list needed persuading that the Potions puzzle was never 
included in the first MTMNBN, so convinced were they that they had 
witnessed it). Indeed, in GoF, Harry doesn't see the trials through 
Dumbledore's eyes, but from a position *next* to Dumbledore. In a way, this 
makes the Pensieve's role ("One simply siphons the excess thoughts from 
one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's 
leisure.  It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, 
when they are in this form.", GoF p. 519) easier. If one retains one's 
original perspective, those "patterns and links" are more difficult to 
spot. There are various elements of MWPP's behaviour which Snape didn't (or 
at least, shouldn't) have been aware of at that time, such as James 
scrawling "LE" or Lupin's references to his lycanthropy.

Alternatively,  JKR is playing with us big time here. The Lily and James in 
the Pensieve scene could be paralleling Ron and Hermione's attitudes to 
each other, in that they're constantly bickering but clearly without true 
malice. On the other hand, it's interesting that they refer to each other 
by surname alone. Thus far (pretty much like in real life schools), 
Hogwarts pupils tend to refer to their friends or those they know well by 
their first name, and others by full name or surname alone, in particular 
those from other Houses. So, are Lily and James not both in the same House? 
Curious... (more on names in a moment.)

Also, did the Prank predate the OWLs, or not?  can't remember all the 
details, but I have the impression somewhere in the depths of my brain (I 
can't find the reference in canon) that the Prank happened during the sixth 
year, thus after the OWLs exams. But in the conversation, MWPP appear quite 
open about it and don't appear to care if anyone's listening. Even more 
curious...

Back to names for a moment. As some of you will be aware, I have a 
fascination with Dean Thomas. Harry refers to him as "Dean", but the 
narrative almost exclusively refers to him as "Dean Thomas", as if we 
didn't know who he was... (The only times his surname isn't included is if 
he's already in the scene).

And a further comment. Ever since he was revealed as a good guy, Sirius is 
only referred to in the narrative as "Sirius"; Lupin on the other hand, is 
stuck with the narrative device of identifying teachers by use of his 
surname alone. I must say that I'm not particularly pleased about that (I 
am equally displeased that Lupin has never invited Harry to call him by his 
first name, which would have been normal under the circumstances). In the 
Pensieve scene, incidentally, Peter Pettigrew's name is never used once in 
the narrative. He is exclusively referred to as "Wormtail".

(Note: in the Pensieve, Flitwick makes a remark to an MWPP classmate called 
Stebbins. There's also a Stebbins in Harry's time, in Hufflepuff (GoF p. 
371))...

10. At the beginning of the week, I admitted that I dislike the whole idea 
of the Prophecy, the orbs and the way they're used. Several details appear 
to make no sense or they're proof of such incredible stupidity on 
Dumbledore's and Voldemort's parts that they don't deserve the positions 
they enjoy. I shall limit this to "Flint-like" ones, which I shall make no 
effort to explain, because I can't find a way around them.

As Malfoy says (p.693), "the only people who are permitted to retrieve a 
prophecy from the Department of Mysteries are those about whom it was 
made". This can be interpreted in many ways (among others, taking the orb 
off the shelf, removing it from the Room of Prophecy, removing it from the 
Ministry premises, or handing it at all). In any case, considering how much 
(or rather, little) Voldemort and the DEs appear to know about it all, 
Lucius Malfoy appears willing and expects to be able to handle and remove 
the orb from Harry's hands while still in the Prophecy Room.

Harry hands the Orb to Neville, who does not go mad. I can see where JKR is 
going with this: either boy can still be the subject of the prophecy. 
However, the prophecy refers to "one" and "him", not "them". The prophecy, 
if true, can refer only to either one or the other, and thus only one or 
the other should be able to handle the orb with impunity. (I just had an 
iditiotic idea, which will doubtless prove untrue, that neither Harry nor 
Neville is The One, but Dudley). :-)

Dumbledore claims that he kept his distance from Harry, so that Voldemort 
might not suspect that his and Harry's relationship was a little closer 
than headmaster-pupil. Err... Lucius Malfoy, for one, would most certainly 
have been aware of this, and would have passed the information on. Draco 
witnessed Dumbledore's behaviour during the End of Year Feast at the end of 
their first year; he also knew that school rules had been stretched to 
allow first-year Harry to have a broomstick. Lucius himself interrupted 
Harry & Dumbledore's tete-a-tete at the end of Harry's second year. Not to 
mention that the entire wizarding population appears to have known that 
Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to deal with Harry after the Godric's 
Hollow "incident", and that he was close to James and Lily. Come on, 
Voldemort and Luicius have to be fools to think there was nothing special 
between Dumbledore and Harry, and Dumbledore is a fool for thinking they 
might fall for it.

Changing the subject, one further observation on which to end this post: 
when checking some of the other books for quotes for this post, I noticed 
that during the Shack scene (p. 264), JKR uses the phrase "Black stopped 
dead". My recollection was that she's not used this idiom very much, so in 
view of the events in OoP, I thought I'd check who else may have "stopped 
dead" along the way, and that perhaps it might be a clue to further events:


PS/SS p.9: "Mr. Dursley stopped dead." (upon hearing wizard folk talking 
about the Potters being dead)
PS/SS p.68: "Uncle Vernon stopped dead" (on Platform 9 at King's Cross)
PS/SS p. 171: "Malfoy ... stopped dead to listen." (eavesdropping on HRH 
talking about Norbert)
PS/SS p. 182: "Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks." (on discovering 
detention was going to be served in the Forest)
CoS p. 119: "Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs" (on 
seeing the Trio coming out of Myrtle's toilet)
PoA p. 93: "Hagrid stopped dead" (to berate the Trio for coming out after dark)
PoA p. 190: "Harry stopped dead" (on seeing Crookshanks, thinking it was 
the Grim in the dark)
PoA p. 243: "Ron stopped dead" (trying to keep Scabbers from escaping)
PoA p. 253: "Lupin stopped dead" (when Ron calls him a werefolf)
GoF p. 232: "Hermione ... stopped dead" (on seeing Hagrid in his 'best 
clothes')
GoF p. 294: "Ron stopped dead facing Harry across the room" (during the 
Rift, coming into the common room when Harry has spoken to Sirius)
GoF p.544: "Harry ... heard something in the path running parallel to his 
own that made him stop dead."
GoF p.544 (2 paras after the last): "Krum ... stopped dead in his tracks" 
(as a result of Harry's "stupefy")
OoP p. 80: "She [Molly] stopped dead" (upon catching herself mention Percy)
OoP p. 370: "he [Ron] stopped dead in his tracks." (on seeing H&H after his 
Quidditch failure)
OoP p. 749: "Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle emerged ... Harry stopped dead; so 
did Malfoy and the others." (note, Malfoy breaks the silence with "You're 
dead, Potter").

Make of those quotes what you will (although I immediately notice that 
Cedric never "stopped dead", although both Harry and Krum did, on the same 
page, right next to Cedric...).

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who thinks that one 20KB post a day is enough and is 
now off to bed, doubting that this post will have much reaction both due to 
its length and the fact that others have probably found several more Flints. :-(