• Board 2 August 02 - 7:56 pm

J.K. Rowling has said that a significant character will die in this one. The only ones we know it won't be are Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Snape. The most popular theory is that it will be Sirius Black, but I'm betting it will be Dumbledore.

_Do_ we know that it won't be Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, or Snape?

_Do_ we know that it won't be Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, or Snape?

Sorry about the repeat!

I'm betting on Neville, myself.

The report of a significant character's death was from an interview with Rowling on a show called Newsround. The rest was pieced together from other interviews where she mentions certain characters appearing in books later than this one.

Thanks Gordon!

I did see an article where she mentioned that someone would die, but I haven't seen the other articles. Still betting on Neville. He has the right sort of bumbling innocence to be truly tragic. Also, it makes an interesting echo to what happened with Black & co.

Sirius is a cool character, but he hasn't been around enough to be a "main" character.

She said that someone would die in the (20/20,Dateline,60Minutes?) TV interview she did. I thought she said Voldemort would get it...

But to be honest, I really don't remember for sure.

Quiet! You shouldn't go about saying the Dark Lord's name like that. I believe it was 60 Minutes. I doubt You Know Who will be killed until Book 7.

It's just a name.

A lot of people are saying Dumbledore....

According to the folks at http://www.harrypotterfans.net, there's a rumor that Neville will go on to an interesting post-graduate position in Book 7. These same folks (and several others around the net) are echoing the rumors that two of the fatalities in Book 4 will be Vincent Crabbe (the one we don't care about) and George Weaselly (the one we do).

Yes that is what the title is going to be. I actually knew that it wouldn't be Doomspell Tournament for some time, but figured I'd wait until a definate title was given. Rather disappointed, as I quite like the previous title.

Got the book read the book. The death was unexpected and not a major character (I honestly barly remembered him from the other books), the book seemed very long, seeming to add every refrance they could from the earlier books, anything that was a plot point had a couple pages given to it. Also the accents seemed very annoing this time around. But it was entertaining even though the ending was kind of a downer and would lead to a sequil too easly. Harry didn't exacly have a girl friend it was more like he had a crush then anything. The title seemed to be a little less involving this time around and I agree it should be Doomspell Tournament.

I liked the book; didn't feel like it was fluff. It was a lot darker than the others--good, but I miss the lighter points (I started reading them & liked them because they were _fun_; this was good, I think better written than the others in the technical sense but not nearly as much fun).

SPOILER (in case you're reading the board before reading the book--something I advise against).


Musca, I agree about the death. With all the fanfare & work up to the event, I was expecting someone I cared about. Cedric was, well, a nonentitity. He got some time in this book, but even so, when I died my reaction was "Oh, is that all?" when I would have been sadder without all the buildup before hand.

I'm glad none of my favorites died, but still . . .

Re: the long-expected loudly-heralded death, I agree! But I was so glad that it wasn't George (Fred and George are my all-time favorites) that I was willing to forgive the nonentiness.

I was so amazingly impressed by this book. I wasn't as fond of _Prisoner of Azkaban_ as the other two, and I judged a lot of the later quarter as having a bad case of musthurryandmeetdeadlinitis. But Rowling hasn't slipped (in my oppinion) into a rut of commercialism! Yay!

I am also impressed by this woman's education. "Avda kedavra" is Aramaic for "die as I have spoken." ("Abra kedavra," better known as "Abracadabra," means "be created as I have spoken.")

Finally, I am exceptionally pleased to have fairly few nits to report. And several anti-nits too. (WARNING: SPOILERS)

1) The biggie. What took Crouch so blooming long? The slimy villain was at Hogwarts for ten months before slipping Harry the dumb ol' Portkey. He was the DADA teacher, for crying out loud! He couldn't have called Harry into his office one fine September evening, inquired about some feigned offense, asked Harry to hand him that teacup over there, and whap bang Harry's out of Dumbledore's care. Why all the subterfuge and the Doomspell Tournament and the Cup? (I know, i know, real short book.)

2) So Death Eaters all have secret society tattoos, do they? Tattoos that are all on their wrists? Tattoos that are visible to non-DE's (Snape shows Dumbledore and Fudge)? You'd think this would make them very very easy to catch!!!

3) If Snape used to be a Death Eater and then turned his coat to become a well-trusted spy, why is he so fond of Draco Malfoy?

4) Poor Mrs. Lily Potter died after her husband. Yet during the Priori Incantis charm, she appears after James.

5) Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore are noble and irreproachable in their good-hearted stoicism. Not a single one of them voices the thought that if Harry had let Moony and Padfoot knock off Wormtail in the last book, they'd all be safe now. Oh, and on that subject, Dumbledore said that he doubted Voldemort would be crazy about having a servant who was in Harry Potter's debt. Sorry, Albus, but apparently You-Know-Who doesn't seem to mind.

6) Hermione is way too nice to that foul slanderous journalist. After ruining both Harry and Hermione's reputations and causing serious "emotional distress" to Hagrid, the "stunningly pretty cold heartless two-timing Muggle witch" lets the beetle off with one year of a dry pen. No printed corrections and apologies, no extended blackmail to keep her from printing libel, just a year's vacation "to see if she can't break the habit." Of course the irony here is, now that the Minister is covering up events of dire political significance, the European magical public could use a Rita Skeeter to print these "preporterously untrue" rumors.

Anti-nits:
1) I've complained twice before about the absence of due process in the wizarding world. Now we see, however, that the wizarding world is notoriously short on order in general. The Ministry is comparitively inept at keeping the peace and only provides the loosest excuse for govenment possible. Many wizards find it very easy to get 'round the Ministry, since many of Weasely's fine noble laws are practically unenforceable. Wizard peacekeeping is a sad excuse for justice because nobody could enforce due process even if they wanted to!

2) If Snape used to be a Death Eater, nobody would let Dumbledore even consider letting him teach their kids DADA. This is why he keeps getting passed up for the job.

Re nit 3: Perhaps Draco reminds Snape of himself as a young child?

Also, given his general nastiness, it's possible that Snape's ties are more to Dumbledore than to Good in general.

It was nice to see Sirius again (though Snape would not agree).

Just started and am on page 126 and 612 more to
go!:)
Glorious fun!!!!:)

I agree that this book was very well written, and a lot of fun until the end. It was also much darker than the previous three, and that kind of threw me for loop. I didn't really like that fact, and I'm not sure why, since dark books generally don't bother me. [I'm a huge fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books, if that tells you anything]

Puzzlement: when Harry tells Dumbledore that Voldemort can now touch him, he thinks he catches a gleam of "triumph" in Dumbledore's eye. What the heck is this? After this book, I'm almost afraid to trust anyone (except Snape. My trust in him since the end of book 1 was finally vindicated, much to my pleasure).

Am I the only one to feel any sorrow over Cedric Diggory? I remembered him from Quidditch, and thought he was nice then, and he did get a lot of screen time this book. *I* was sad as soon as I realized the Cup was a Portkey. I knew then he was going die. At least it wasn't Neville. I was afraid it would be.

And at least this crisis with Voldemort may bring back Lupin! I hope so. I also hope we get to see some stuff with the real Mad-Eye Moody. If he's anything like his replacement acted, I think he's very cool.

I think it was really sad that Cedric died. Not that he was real cool or anything, just that he, well, died. I was crying by the end...

Snape acted very cool in the end..kind of un-Snape-ish. And Sirius had a bigger part in this one. Very groovy.

Let's face it. Snape is actually a Good Guy^OMT, but he just doesn't like Harry.

You said it! A major plus in a series where the boundaries between good and evil are so stark.

And Sarah, I know what that gleam of triumph was... a plot device that's going to be vitally important in book 5 or 6 when Rowling explains what the heck it's about! ;-) Dumbledore is just aware of some bit o' ancient magic that we aren't and has seen somewhere the seed of You-Know-Who's downfall.

Jessica, I am certain that Snape's ties are actually to The Good, and not Dumbledore. It would have to be The Good for him to turn spy against Voldemort when the Dark Lord was at the height of his power. This is why I like Snape, even though he can be cruel (the Witch Weekly article, Hermione's teeth...).

BTW, I don't think the lines were quite as black and white in this book. And the House differences were less important--ie, Cedric is from Hufflepuff, and he and Harry helped each other in the maze and stuff.... In general, I liked these grey-er additions, though you won't really get me to admit that Rowling ever had everything all black-and-white (not since the discovery that Snape saved Harry's life in book 1).

And the House differences were less important--ie, Cedric is from Hufflepuff, and he and Harry helped each other in the maze and stuff....

That's because the honor of Hogwarts takes precedence over inter-house rivalry.

I don't think Cedric & Harry helped each other b/ca Hogwarts' honor was more important than house rivalry--Hogwarts would have won _whichever_ of them picked up the cup. They helped each other because they were both basically decent people.

I was sad that Cedric died, but I was less affected by his death than I would have been if I hadn't spent the whole book worried about the Weasly twins (I was sure it was going to be one of them). As it was, I was sad, but also relieved.

Re: anti-nits to Shira nits.

1. They required Harry for the execution of some high-powered magic. Said ritual probably required freshly gathered ingredients and certain astronomical conditions (they got to be studying Astronomy for some reason, since not everybody is going to take Divination).

2. The Death Eaters' tattoo isn't always visible. When Snape showed it, he noted that it was fading. It's only visible when Voldemort wants it to be.

Loony theory time!

The specifics on the Muggle-repelling wards at Hogwart's in this book gave me an idea (keeping in mind that I have absolutely no proof for this). To a Muggle, Hogwart's appears to be merely ruins. This, along with the fact that it's commonly believed that Hogwart's is located in Scotland, has given me the idea that Hogwart's is that castle ruins on Loch Ness. Thoughts?

I like it!

Re: #2
But during the Dark Years, those marks were probably visible a lot of the time, which would make catching Voldemort's agents pretty easy. And better still, when he calls them to a meeting and expects them to drop everything they're doing immediately and appear at his side. Just set a watch on Lucius Malfoy and Avery Nott long enough, and see if they both need to take a sudden emergency bathroom break at the same hour of the same day. Really, Voldy, use some tact!

Hmmm. I can't believe I didn't notice this before. If Veritaserum exists and the Dark Lord's most faithful servant is powerlessness against it, how is it possible for a wizard court to convict innocent people? If Hagrid had been tested with Veritaserum before being expelled, he could have proved he never touched the Chamber of Secrets. If Sirius Black had been tested with Veritaserum before being shipped off to Azkaban, he could have proved he never betrayed the Potters. And as for the stuff being strictly controlled by the Ministry, I'd think that the need for the truth doesn't get any direr than a murder trial!

Possibly, it's a recent development, like the Wolfsbane potion (yeah, it's kind of lame, but it's possible).

One line could have explained it! Like "It's a new development, we're going to need it in times like these so we don't make another mistake like we did with Sirius."

Might it be possible to use the Fidelis Charm to counteract the effect of Veritaserum? It appears that nobody except the secret-keeper is capable of breaking the curse, and Flitwick indicated that the only way for the secret-keeper to do it would be for them to reveal it of their own free will. Seems that if one were to use the Fidelis Charm to secure a bit of information, they could use all the Veritaserum they want and not find out a thing.

But, I'm sure there's something or other that disproves that. Just a thought.

Never mind, I just thought of how to get around it. If one were to use Veritaserum on someone who had performed the Fidelis Charm, they could tell you who the Secret-Keeper was, and then you could go beat up on them at your leisure.

Now, if we go with the Loch Ness theory, would the famed monster be just another pet of Hagrid?
Each professional Quidditch team has a mascot that represents the country... I wonder what the American team would have had...
And about the Memory Modification stuff... Could it be that that's where we get Men in Black? Just think...
In Men In Black the movie, when a person sees alien activity, the MIB sweeps in with a wand shaped device and changes the person's memory...
In the world of Harry Potter, when a muggle sees wizard activity, a special wizard force sweeps in with a wand and changes the person's memory...

Re: U.S. Quidditch mascot. Something from North American folklore, I'd imagine. Maybe a Sasquatch or a hoop snake.

Re: Now, if we go with the Loch Ness theory, would the famed monster be just another pet of Hagrid? There is that giant squid in the lake . . . yes, I know the Loch Ness isn't a squid but stories can get distorted to us Muggles.

In the questions about all the books category, which house were Sirius, James, Lupin, and Pettigrew in?
Evidence being, they were inseprable, so they were *probably* all in the same house ("your house is like your family at Hogwarts"). James seems likely to have been in Gryffindor, although I don't believe this was ever stated. But . . . Hagrid said in the first book that "very few" dark wizards were not in Slytherin. This is backed up later. It was You-Know-Who's house, for pete's sake! Since everybody thought Sirius was You-Know-Who's Second in Command, wouldn't it register as odd to ANYBODY if he came from Gryffindor? And Lupin doesn't want to take sides with Harry's Quidditch game in the fourth one. And Pettigrew's behavior certainly wasn't very brave. But I cannot imagine James in Slytherin. So, which house?

why do we never hear about the Quidditch matches between Ravenclaw and Slytherin?

I never knew about this board before. . . . I'm happy I found it.

J.K. Rowling has said in interview that both James Potter and Lily Evans were in Gryffindor. I make the argument somewhere on this site that the whole gang was together in one house.

Pettigrew seems like a Hufflepuff to me.

I just re-read this book today (40% off at Barnes and Noble!) and noticed a few things.

#1, I'm glad we finally found out why they insist on sending Harry to the Dursleys every summer instead of letting him go with the Weasleys. Voldemort says himself that he can't do anything to Harry as long as he's in the care of his relations. I have no idea why this is so, since the Dursleys have about as much magic as a lima bean and would probably be quite happy if Voldemort were to show up and zap Harry one, but that's magic for you.

#2, I may have figured out why Dumbledore seemed to be pleased that Voldemort could touch Harry now. Harry's blood was part of the potion that restored Voldemort's body. Since it appears to have been successful, might it be plausible that Harry's blood, in some form, now runs through Voldemort's veins (or at least exists in his body) in some form? Since Voldemort can now touch Harry, yet I don't see that anything has been done to lift the portective magic placed upon him, the most logical explanation to me is that a part of Harry is now with Voldemort, allowing him to bypass Harry's protection by being recognized as a part of Harry himself. If this is so, then could Harry possibly use some magical ability to control his own physical being to control the Dark Lord, who now posesses part of that being? (And if this is true, then wouldn't Wormtail have been right all along, they'd have been better off grabbing a random wizard off the street and then killing them after they were done?)

#3, What's with this "Snuffles" business? Several times, Harry and the gang say "Snuffles" in reference to Sirius Black. Seems to be used in place of "Padfoot." Is this just my copy, or what?

Matthew, re #3:

It's quite likely that Black's alias of "Padfoot" is known. They may be using "Snuffles" to avoid bandying that about.

Sirius tells them to use "Snuffles" when they go see him.

Also, I agree about the Dumbledore thing, but I also think Voldemort's got another reason for using Harry, and it will work to his advantage, as well as to the good guys'.

Is Expelliarmus really the only spell suitable for duelling Harry knows?? What about trying spells like Stupor, Rictusempra, Impedimenta or Petrificus Totalus when duelling against You Know Who?

Poor kid was probably panicked out of his wits. I'm sure we can forgive a 14-year-old who unexpectedly finds himself in a duel with the Lord of Darkness and Evil and finds all the magic he's ever learned slipping out of his head like a sieve.

Also, I'm willing to bet that spells such as the Leg-Locker Curse (or the full Body-Bind), the Jelly-Legs Jinx, the Reductor Charm, or "Impedimenta" take more time and energy to pull off, as well as having a lower success rate. (Look at when he fights the spider. He can't stop it with Impedimenta, and it takes him and Cedric combined to Stupefy it, but when he uses Expelliarmus it drops him immediately.)

Do You know any collection of spells and curses used in HP-Books? (If not, let's collect them as a new topic in the Wizard's Sink)

I don't know of any, no. And that sounds like a good idea!

Does anybody know an approximate release date for HP5?

Why died the Boggard after HP. casted "Riddikulus"? In "The Prisoner of Azkhaban" (Sp.?) it needs several casters to kill the Boggard.

Prof. Lupin said, "It's always best to have company when dealing with a Boggart." Best, but not necessary. And remember, the boggart-removing in Book 3 was a teaching session, so it was important to give many people a chance to try the spell. Presumably a good wizard can take on a Boggart by himself.

Last I heard, November 2001, to coincide with the movie release. Also, the Harry Potter Textbook pair should be out on March 12.

At Waldenbooks, they have a sign posted that the fifth book will be coming out in 2002. Reserve your copy now!

Yesterday I've heared a rumor, that the English book (Harry Potter 5, title unknown) is almost ready and the German translation is under construction. Does anybody know something more?

?

No. Last I heard, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ might be delayed until early 2002. Rumors seem to be flying everywhere, so I don't know. What does amazon.co.de have to say on the matter?

it says "Server not found" Maybe it was down, or did I have a typo?

Hmmph. House-elves are not REAL Elves.

Yeah, they don't go singing:

Tra-la-la-lally
Welcome back to the valley!

Gil-galad was an Elven king...

Ok... work with me here.

We have previously established that Book 1 begins in 1991, making Book 2 in 1992 (in time for the 500th anniversary of Nick's death in 1492) and Book 4 in 1994. Repeat, this book takes places during the 1994-95 academic year.

In this book, however, Dudley gets a Playstation for his birthday (or wants one or whatever... I've loaned my copy out). But there were no Playstations in 1994!

When did the PS1 come out? I guess we could go ask over on the Games board...

Yes there were. My grandfather got his Playstation in 94. And the next year I got my N64.

Throughout Goblet of Fire, JKR drops hints that the Mrs. Figg who lives near the Dursleys is the "Arabella Figg" mentioned by Dumbledore as part of the old anti-Voldemort crowd. A couple of people have asked why she didn't tell Harry who he really is, since she had the chance. Here are a few possible anti-nits:
1. Figg is living incognito in the Muggle community. Identifying herself to Harry would blow her cover
2. She wants to be close enough to the Dursleys to keep an eye on Harry, but not so close that the Dursleys might realize that she likes Harry. The Dursleys wouldn't knowingly send Harry to stay with someone he enjoys being with. And they certainly wouldn't send him over there if they knew that she was a witch.
3. She knows that Dumbledore wanted Harry to grow up away from the recognition of the Magical community
It will be interesting to see if any of these theories are correct. I am eagerly awaiting Book 5

You know, I think you're on to something...

Maybe Mrs. Figg is the witch who is responsible for Harry's magical invulnerability while at Privet Drive!

You know, the spell that keeps Voldemort from knocking him off while he's home with the Dursleys. Maybe she's the one responsible for it, and she didn't tell Harry that he was a wizard because she didn't want anyone to... to...

Well, my theory peters out from there, because by the time Voldy is back in arms, everyone knows that Famous Harry Potter lives no Privet Drive with the nasty Muggles.

But I still think you're on to something.

Now that Voldemort has regained his form, does he still suffer from the curse put on him for drinking unicorn blood?

I doubt it. Remember, use of the sorcerer's stone would have freed him from its effects.

I didn't get that impression, Kira, though I haven't read the books in over a year and I may be going on just the movie. I thought that he would still be half-dead because of the unicorn's blood, but he would gain a more physical presence due to the Sorcerer's Stone.

Can someone who has read the books recently clear this up? (If no one has by this weekend, I'll just have to force myself to reread the first book Actually, I'd reread it now, but I have finals this week...)

In the third book when Harry first gets the Marauders' map, I think it says that he sees a miniature image of himself and others on the map. So I got the impression that the Marauders' map shows an image of the person on the map. However this could not be the case in the 4th book, or else when Harry saw Bartholomew Couch in Snape's office he would have seen an image of Mad Eye Moody, or an image of Bart jr, and known it was not Bart Sr. as he assumed.

Yasu - I believe he's always seen people on the map as tiny dots with miniscule writing identifying them.

Despite all that, the Marauder's Map certainly affords plenty of nitpicking opportunities. Clearly, IRTS (It Reads The {manu}Script). As revealed in the third book, of course, Fred and George apparently never found it odd that for two years their brother's dot was always accompanied by one marked "Peter Pettigrew." Now in this book, it picks up a "Bartholemew Crouch" dot for Crouch Jr. during one scene (I believe he is disguised as Moody at the time), but not at any other time. So apparently the Map can see through Transfigurations but not through Polyjuice Potions, except when IRTS. But even assuming Crouch Jr. is able to fool the Map, why doesn't it pick up a second "Alastor Moody" that never seems to leave his office?

Harry never gets the Map back, so maybe J.K. is retiring it as a Plot Device Ex Machina. But if she brings it back, look out for more nits. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

why doesn't it pick up a second "Alastor Moody" that never seems to leave his office? - Anonymous

Who says it doesn't?

IIRC, Harry didn't use the Marauder's Map during this year until that night.

My mom thinks that the relationship between Voldemort and Wormtail is similar to that of Sauron and Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings. Anyone agree?

Saruman and Wormtongue, yeah, I can see that. Though Voldemort is definitely less abusive. You think this might point to a possible ending?

Yeah, I too can see your point. In any case, I suspect the name "Wormtail" is a tip of the hat to Tolkien's "Wormtongue."

As far as James appearing first -- this must have been corrected for later printings, because I just read it and Lily did in fact appear first.

Oh, and a thoroughly unimportant nit pointed out by my sister: Mr. Weasley tells Crouch that they can't import flying carpets because carpets are officially a Muggle artifact. Why aren't brooms also a Muggle artifact, since obviously Muggles use them too? Is the Ministry of Magic just reluctant to import from the Middle East?

For that matter, why would they need to import them? If you want a flying carpet, just go out in the hall, cast the appropriate spell on the rug, and go.

(Actually, where I come from, "carpet" refers to something that covers a whole room, which would be awkward for flight. But I suppose that "flying rug" just doesn't have quite the same tone.)

I wonder, why Harry did not use the "Accio" - spell to get his map back. HRTS?

Probably because he feared that he would be heard.

Ummm, he "Accio"'d his Firebolt from long distance during the Dragon-Quest, and so he should be able to use the spell when hiding somewhere, far away from the Profs... ;-)

But he told Mad Eye that he'd lend it to him.

Ooops, sorry, I must have overread that.

I was curious about something in this book. Why did the fake Moody teach the fourth years about the Unforgiveable Curses? Granted, that is something the real Moody would have wanted to do, but why the fake one? He was angling to get Harry caught and killed, but, if you think about it, he actually saved Harry's life by warning him about the Unforgiveable Curses. If Harry had not known about the Killing Curse, he surely would have been completely demoralized after seeing Cedric drop dead with just a spoken phrase. He would not have been able to resist the Imperious Curse, and the Cruciatus Curse would have terrorized him as well as causing him pain. The Curses were not supposed to be taught about until the sixth or seventh year, so why?

The only answer that I can think of is that Dumbledore specifically told him to do it. Sirius wrote to Harry, saying something along the lines of "I hear he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means that he's reading the signs, even if no one else is...." It still seems strange. You'd think that "Moody" would delay teaching them the curses as long as possible.

Any thoughts on the subject?

and the Cruciatus Curse would have terrorized him - DK Henderson

I assume you mean 'terrified'.

TERRORIZE

TRANSITIVE VERB
1. To fill or overpower with terror; terrify.
2. To coerce by intimidation or fear.

I sez what I means, and I means what I sez.

Very simple. To delay teaching about the Unforgivables would be distinctly unlike Moody and would probably make Dumbledore suspicious. When a spy is in a deep cover, he/she/it sometimes has to make compromises to keep that cover intact.

There's no other more appropriate place to post this, so I'll do it here. I watched Biography the other night featuring J.K. Rowling; it was excellent. She's actually got the last chapter of the last book written and hidden away!

She also warned that there would be more deaths, including one that would be very difficult to write (or rather re-write; she said she's already got it down). Which of course, leaves one wondering who? Dumbledore leaps to mind. The only other characters (so far) that I think would be difficult to kill off would be Hermione, Ron, Fred or George, and possibly Sirius. Or Harry. Is it legal to kill off your main character?

They also showed some of the "down side" including some fool likening the books to Wicca. Anyone who had the slightest knowlege of Wicca would know that that's not true, and I think the Wiccans would have a right to be offended at the notion.
Some adults just refuse to give children credit for intelligence. Rowling said that she has yet to hear a child say, "Because of you, I'm dedicating my life to the occult."

So many people are saying that the books are teaching children to be witches and wizards. There are many arguments against that, but there is one very simple, very obvious fact: If you're not born with the talent, you can't be one. All the teaching in the world won't do you a lick of good if you don't have the magic inside. Not even if you're born to a wizarding family, like Filch. You either have it or you don't, and I think it's safe to say that we in the "real" world DON'T.

God must love fools, he makes so many of them....

"For Nicholas and Pernelle, it's like going to bed after a very very long day. You must understand, Harry, that to the well-organized mind, death is just another great adventure."
--Albus Dumbledore, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

This character is doomed. My theory is that he will be killed in an Epic Battle during Book 7.

Other theories:
1. Neville will become the Herbology Master when he graduates. Rowling has said that one of the students will become a teacher, and it's not the one you think it is.
2. Snape will be redeemed sometime before the middle of Book 7. He will still be a jerk, but he'll be a redeemed jerk. And, contrary to all the vomitrocious fan-fiction currently circulating, it will not be by a love interest.
3. Draco Malfoy will not be redeemed. He won't die, but he won't be redeemed either. I would have gone bail for him until his last speech in this book, but now he's moved from racist classist twerp (remember, he wanted to be friends with Harry in Book 1 and he, unlike the mistaken Voldemort, never calls Harry a half-blood) to full-fledged supporter of the Dark Lord, and he has turned down the path of pure evil.
4. Ron and Hermione will get together. This one's visible from a mile off.
5. This one is actually my husband's. He's betting that Snape will replace Dumbledore as Headmaster after Dumbledore is killed in the Epic Battle.

I think that Harry is the most likely replacement for Dumbledore.

Awfully young, though. They might move McGonagal (sp) up.

Kira - Most of your predictions make sense, except...

"Snape will be redeemed sometime before the middle of Book 7. He will still be a jerk, but he'll be a redeemed jerk."

What does he need to be redeemed from? I think he's proven himself to be a Good Guy Of Unwavering Loyalty pretty thoroughly by this point. He's just kinda, well, a jerk.

It's occurred to me that Snape has a perfectly good excuse for Voldemort as to why he didn't show up with the others. He was at Hogwarts, and as Hermione is constantly telling everyone, you cannot Apparate or Disapparate from Hogwarts. All he need say is that he couldn't slip away from Dumbledore (or any or all of the other professors) and didn't want to risk blowing his "cover" by running away from Hogwarts.

Has anybody heared / read any news about the release date of the 5th book?

I hear Spring, I hear Fall....

I see the little Quidditch ball...


Everybody,sing with me!

I see the Quaffle tossed so high....


(Someone else's turn now, and we really need some music!)

It might even hit the sky!

But if you even start to twitch...

OK, someone else can finish with the obvious next line!

You'll know you have an itch!

Actually, I was thinking of something about the Snitch.

...or blink your eyes, you'll miss the Snitch!


(This winter's lasting WAY too long....)

Just finished it.

Whoa.

Words escape me. I almost don’t know where to begin. First, my bitter feelings about the ending of Prisoner of Azkaban are somewhat mollified. The first two books were self-contained, and I wrongly assumed that what happened with Sirius and Buckbeak was the end of the story, at least for now. Since it seems J.K. Rowling intends the novels to be part of a larger ongoing story arc, of which Prisoner of Azkaban is only a part, I can forgive the ending of that book more.
---In fact, the ending of Goblet is obviously an even bigger downer, most notably for the death of Cedric (I had managed to compartmentalize the fact that I knew someone would die in the novel, so that when his death came it was a shock), and for the fact that Lucius Malfoy and co. will not be punished just yet for their crimes. When Lucius first showed up, I said to myself, "That’s it; if this piece of cheese isn’t punished along with his son at the end of the novel, I’m going to be VERY angry!", but the story is essentially not over, so I’ll just have to wait for the reckoning. I am glad Harry and friends beat the ever loving snot out of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle with their hexes. It was a small taste of their just desserts.
---This book has reinvigorated my admiration for the Potter books. Anyone who at this point makes snide remarks about adults reading them obviously hasn’t done so. Who the hell would think of a 734 page novel with such dark, scary elements (a quasi-Satanic ritual, torturing of a fourteen-year old, chopping off body parts), and such a tragic ending? I can just imagine what awaits in Book Five. I hope it’s AT LEAST as long as Goblet, (Hey, I need my Harry Potter fix!), and wonder just how broad the story will be. Will there be all out war between the Good and the Evil, with the Giants on the Dementors involved? Will Hogwarts be shelled? Will we see more wizards from schools in other countries? Maybe some American witches and wizards from the Salem Academy?

Nits and Notes:
It was interesting for me to read that there are not only witches and wizards of other countries like France, but also in America, as the book mentions the women from the Salem Witches Academy when Harry and Ron are camping at the Quidditch Cup site.

I think the book mentions explicitly for the first time that McGonagle is the Hogwart’s Assistant Headmistress, though this could’ve been gathered from the fact that she stood in for Dumbeldore when he was removed in Chamber of Secrets.

On pages 258-259, it says the Goblet will be placed in the center of the entrance hall, "on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat." But Chamber of Secrets explicitly established that the Sorting Hat is kept in Dumbeldore’s office.

Before the day of the first task, Moody (Barty Crouch) takes Harry into his office, and gives him some advice. Harry mentions during this conversation that he’s not allowed a broom during the tournament. When Moody suggests playing to his strengths and using a simple spell, Harry decides to use a Summoning Charm to summon his Firebolt. Why is summoning your broom with a spell during the tournament any less forbidden than carrying with you into the tent and onto the field?

When trying to figure out how to breathe underwater for the second task, Harry thinks of an aqualung, but figures he can’t summon it, since he can’t let Muggles see it zooming through the air. Why doesn’t he simply order one by owl?

Giving people the power in sci-fi and fantasy to easily detect the truth always opens a can of worms. Accusing Harry of breaking into his office to steal boomslang skin and gillyweed, Snape tells Harry about veritaserum, which causes people to tell the truth, and which they later use on the exposed Barty Crouch. So why don’t they just use this stuff at trials on defendants accused of crimes? Why bother with this silly Roman Coliseum Method of deciding guilt and punishment? A few drops, and the system becomes perfect!

During the Priori Incantantem effect of Harry and Voldemort’s duel, the echo of Cedric comes out first, then that of Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, James Potter and lastly, Lily Potter. Dumbeldore later tells Harry in his office in Chapter 36 that they were images of "the last murders the wand performed…in reverse order." But before Jorkins was killed, the last one Voldemort murdered, thirteen years earlier, was Lily. And before her, James. Lily, therefore, should’ve come out before James, but she instead came out after him.

In the scene where Barty Crouch is exposed, Winky the House Elf is present. Dumbeldore then takes Harry to his office where they speak with Sirius. Then Harry is taken to the hospital wing, where he is given sleeping potion. After Harry wakes up, Dumbeldore tells Madam Pomfrey to go to Moody’s office, where she will find a distressed Winky, and tells her to try and help her. Huh? Winky is still there in the office? Hasn’t Harry been asleep for some time now? What is she still doing there?
--
--
Rebuttals:
Musca Domestica: The death was unexpected and not a major character
Luigi Novi: True, but I had gotten to like Cedric enough through the camaraderie he and Harry shared through the tournament. He seemed like a good sport, he was fair and honest, and we know how involved his dad was in his success. I was shocked when he died. I thought it was tragic. That’s just me, I guess.

Kira Sharp: I am also impressed by this woman's education. "Avda kedavra" is Aramaic for "die as I have spoken."
Luigi Novi: It’s actualy "Avada Kedavra." And yeah, I also like the way she researches things like that (the Basilisk in Chamber of Secrets, the Mandrakes, which were actually thought to have magical powers, etc.) and puts them into the books.

Kira Sharp: So Death Eaters all have secret society tattoos, do they? Tattoos that are all on their wrists?
Luigi Novi: From the way the book mentions how the DE’s have to push up their sleeves to make them visible, I understood it to mean that they’re higher up on their arms, like in the middle or at the top of their forearms. Also, didn’t the end of the book say they become visible only when Voldemort comes to power. During the intervening 13 years, therefore, there were not visible.

Kira Sharp: If Snape used to be a Death Eater and then turned his coat to become a well-trusted spy, why is he so fond of Draco Malfoy?
Luigi Novi: The way I see it, he simply despises Gryffindor House and Harry Potter because of what James Potter and his friends were like during their school days, and favors Slytherin House, since he’s the head of that house. He’s essentially a good guy who’s poisoned by bitterness because he wasn’t the popular kid, and is now taking it out on those who are.

Also, Harry himself speculates at the end of the book that Snape is a double agent who is spying on the Voldemort and the Death Eaters for the Ministry. Showing favoritism to someone like Draco, whose father is a Death Eater, would make the disguise more convincing to the DE’s.

Sarah Perkins: Am I the only one to feel any sorrow over Cedric Diggory? I remembered him from Quidditch, and thought he was nice then, and he did get a lot of screen time this book. *I* was sad as soon as I realized the Cup was a Portkey.
Luigi Novi: Hear, Hear, Sarah! Maybe you and I should start the Cedric Diggory Memorial Movement.

Windy: I think it was really sad that Cedric died. Not that he was real cool or anything, just that he, well, died. I was crying by the end...
Luigi Novi: Our membership is now at three!

Gordon Lawyer: it's commonly believed that Hogwart's is located in Scotland…
Luigi Novi: I’ve heard this before; can someone tell me what the clues are to this? I assumed it was in England.

Jon Wade: Each professional Quidditch team has a mascot that represents the country... I wonder what the American team would have had...
Luigi Novi: An eagle? (Or was that a rhetorical question?)

trekkerxphile: In the questions about all the books category, which house were Sirius, James, Lupin, and Pettigrew in? Evidence being, they were inseprable, so they were *probably* all in the same house ("your house is like your family at Hogwarts"). James seems likely to have been in Gryffindor, although I don't believe this was ever stated. But . . . Hagrid said in the first book that "very few" dark wizards were not in Slytherin. This is backed up later. It was You-Know-Who's house, for pete's sake! Since everybody thought Sirius was You-Know-Who's Second in Command, wouldn't it register as odd to ANYBODY if he came from Gryffindor? And Lupin doesn't want to take sides with Harry's Quidditch game in the fourth one. And Pettigrew's behavior certainly wasn't very brave. But I cannot imagine James in Slytherin. So, which house?
Luigi Novi: It’s not impossible for the two of them to have been in different houses. Harry became friends with Ernie and Cedric. Percy and Penelope Clearwater were an item. Parvati and Padma Patil are in different houses. Besides, the supposed relationship that people think formed between Voldemort and Sirius obviously could’ve occurred after they graduated.

Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson): Harry's blood was part of the potion that restored Voldemort's body. Since it appears to have been successful, might it be plausible that Harry's blood, in some form, now runs through Voldemort's veins (or at least exists in his body) in some form?
Luigi Novi: That’s precisely what Voldemort said on page 657, when he says, "…for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too…"

Kira Sharp: Also, the Harry Potter Textbook pair should be out on March 12.
Luigi Novi: What’s that, Kira?

D.K. Henderson: Now that Voldemort has regained his form, does he still suffer from the curse put on him for drinking unicorn blood?
Luigi Novi: No, because he’s no longer in the same body he was using back then. That was Quirrel’s body. Besides, it’s clear Rowling wants us to fear Voldemort now that he’s back, and doesn’t want any built-in weaknesses that would undermine that….until she’s ready to kill him off for good.

D.K. Henderson: why would they need to import them? If you want a flying carpet, just go out in the hall, cast the appropriate spell on the rug, and go.
Luigi Novi: If I had to guess, I’d say that there is a universe of spells in the magic world, and some are region-specific, and that Arabs are the masters of spells for flying carpets, much in the same way the Swiss make the best watches, the Japanese makes the best electronics, America makes the most popular movies, etc.

Duke of Earl Grey: But he told Mad Eye that he'd lend [the Marauder’s Map] to him.
Luigi Novi: Yeah, but I doubt he’d let Barty Crouch keep it after being exposed and hauled off to Azkaban.

D.K. Henderson: Why did the fake Moody teach the fourth years about the Unforgiveable Curses? Granted, that is something the real Moody would have wanted to do, but why the fake one?
Luigi Novi: What fake one?

D.K. Henderson: He was angling to get Harry caught and killed, but, if you think about it, he actually saved Harry's life by warning him about the Unforgiveable Curses.
Luigi Novi: Not necessarily. Harry knows there are killing spells, because he knows Voldemort used one on his parents, and the spell Harry used to deflect it, the Expelliarmus spell, is something he’s known for a long time.

D.K. Henderson: If Harry had not known about the Killing Curse, he surely would have been completely demoralized after seeing Cedric drop dead with just a spoken phrase.
Luigi Novi: Again, this is not necessarily true. Besides, who’s to say he wasn’t completely demoralized by this?

D.K. Henderson: He would not have been able to resist the Imperious Curse…
Luigi Novi: Did Moody show him how to do this? Telling the students about it doesn’t necessarily give Harry the power to resist it.

D.K. Henderson: …and the Cruciatus Curse would have terrorized him as well as causing him pain.
Luigi Novi: You mean it didn’t?

D.K., I agree in general that not informing Harry about them would be in Moody’s best interests, but I don’t agree that teaching them to the students necessarily means these things that you say it does. Besides, the kids can look this stuff up anyway.

Kira Sharp: theory: Neville will become the Herbology Master when he graduates.
Luigi Novi: What about Sprout?

Merat: I think that Harry is the most likely replacement for Dumbledore.
Luigi Novi: I doubt they’re going to make an 18-year old kid a headmaster, especially when McGonagle is the assistant Headmistress.

And guys, may I please reiterate:

WOULD YOU PLEASE PUT SPOILER WARNINGS WHEN DISCUSSING ANYTHING J.K. ROWLING HAS REVEALED ABOUT FUTURE BOOKS?! I DON’T WANNA KNOW!

Thanks. Sorry for yelling.

Jon Wade: And about the Memory Modification stuff... Could it be that that's where we get Men in Black? Just think...
In Men In Black the movie, when a person sees alien activity, the MIB sweeps in with a wand shaped device and changes the person's memory...
I see. So you know about the neuralizer. Where did you say you lived again? We’ll be at your house shortly...

Gordon Lawyer: it's commonly believed that Hogwart's is located in Scotland…
Luigi Novi: I’ve heard this before; can someone tell me what the clues are to this? I assumed it was in England.

The main one being the lateness of sunset in "Prisoner of Azkaban". There's a whole discussion over on that board that I'm not going to repeat.

I saw a mention of it, and Rowling's "comfirmation" of it, but I couldn't find any discussion on it. Could you tell me which post it is, Gordon?

The "Fake" Moody was Barty Crouch the younger, who used a potion to make him look like Moody. I still think that it was strange that he would "arm" Harry with foreknowledge of the Curses, and help him develop his resistance to the Imperious (sp?) Curse by practicing it in class. If they had never been told of the Unforgiveable Curses, no one except Hermione would have thought of looking them up, and only Neville would have had personal knowledge of them. (I hope at some point in the books, a way is found to cure the madness of Neville's parents!)

I think that the "textbook pair" refers to QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES and FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, althought QUIDDITCH is not, technically, a "text" book (although the Quidditch teams probably consider it as such!) They are not a necessary part of the Harry Potter Opus, but they are fun to read, and charitable to buy.

The funniest moment in the book:

Going up to the water pump in the camp site for the Quidditch World Cup in Chapter 7, Harry gets on line, and right in front of him are two men having a heated argument. One is a very old wizard wearing a long flowery nightgown, and the other a Ministry wizard holding out a pair of trousers arguing with him.

--"Just put them on, Archie. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious.
--"I bought this in a Muggle shop," Archie says stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."
--"Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these.
--"I'm not putting them on," said Archie indignantly. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks."

IIRC, I was desperately trying to suppress my giggling on the subway. But here's the nit: Don't witches wear nightgowns? What do they wear?

Tuxedos?

"...the last one Voldemort murdered, thirteen years earlier, was Lily. And before her, James. Lily, therefore, should’ve come out before James, but she instead came out after him."

This has been mentioned before on this site and others as a nit. I'd like to point out that it has never been stated in the books that this is how it happened. All we know is that Lily died defending Harry and that she need not have died. No mention is made of when James died. I take I take Lily's dying first as an indication that it was Harry Voldemort was after as his primary target, not James. James may have died as a result of Voldemort's curse bouncing off Harry.

This would actually explain why Voldemort did not die from his own curse. If James was between Harry and Voldemort when the curse came back (trying to kill the SOB who had murdered his wife and was trying to murder his son) then James would have taken the full power of it.

S., I believe one of the prior books (Prisoner of Azkaban, if I'm not mistaken) explicitly stated that James told Lily to take Harry, and while he'd hold off Voldemort, and that Voldemort, confronted by James when he arrived at their house, killed James first.

Also, I read somewhere above after my first big post here someone mentioning that the spell reversal scene was rewritten to make Lily come out first. Wouldn't that prove that someone caught the error and that Rowling fixed it after it was originally published?

Btw, this doesn't pertain to any particular book, but in general (and since I'm here), why did Voldemort kill the Potters? Why them? Was there a specific reason? Are they going to reveal this in future books? Or were they just going to kill every single wizard, and started with the Potters at random?

I think they were part of the faction that opposed his power grab...

I expect that all will be revealed in the next 3 books.

"Faction"? Wasn't everyone in the entire Magic World (outside of the Death Eaters0 opposed to him?

They may have been opposed, but it seems not many of them were willing to do anything about it. (this is not an unfamiliar situation -- people often "go along" with things they know are wrong due to fear)

Yeah. Especially when I "help" them go along with it.

I just went to the store and looked at a new edition of the Goblet of Fire and the order has been changed. There goes my theory.

Many people have come up with a very interesting idea - that Harry (and James before him) is the Heir of Gryffindor, just as Tom Riddle (Voldemort) is the Heir of Slytherin. Consider the following:

1) The Potters lived in "Godric's Hollow".
2) Harry pulled the sword of Godric Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat in Chamber of Secrets.
3) Harry definitely seems to be a sort of 'antithesis' of Riddle/Voldemort. Voldemort payed a lot of attention to him even before Harry managed to resist him.

I think there are more clues people have noticed, but I can't remember them right now.

First of all, I thought this book was great!! Although I was shocked at the death and surprised how gloomy it ended - the dark lord returned and you just have to wait what will happen.

Luigi novi >The funniest moment in the book:...

I quite agree with you, I had to stop myself from ROFL..

I like that a couple of points which bugged me about the previous books where cleared up: for example, I've wondered about why harry doesn't offer to buy ron a new wand, for example in HP2, and about christmas / birthday presents. But now we see how much ron feels ashamed about the poverty and how hard it is for him to accept harrys presents because he can't "repay" him. (and it might put a crimp in a friendship if one person is always buying the second stuff, but the second has no way of giving back - that can lead to resentment.)

also, we learn that dumbledore himself wants harry at the dursleys home because of the extra protection.

Anti-nit: About the marauders map: I doubt that george and fred would take the time to look for ron on the map. It would be most useful to look for teachers or filch - why bother looking for your little brother? After all, these are tiny dots with tiny writing.
I think that hagrids cabin might be outside the map, which is why the map would show peter only on the way back. (HP3)

The 50 years that are mentioned seem to be a rough guess, not an exact time. For example, the gardener frank comes back from the war (Ch. 1), but 50 yrs before 1994 the war is still going on.

Nit: before the 3rd task, harry shows mrs weasley and bill around. The gamekeeper before hagrid is mentioned. But in HP2 we heard that hagrid was expelled 50 years before (maybe roughly) and was taken on as a gamekeeper by dumbledore afterwards. (true, we don't know how much time passed between that). But even for rough guesses that would make mrs weasley quite old.

(will there be a timeline coming out? Or is there going to be a board to figure it out?)

I've wondered in HP2 why hagrid still has black hair when he is over 50 yrs old, but as he is half-giant, we don't know at what rate he would age.

Maybe Hagrid was being trained as the gamekeeper by his predicesor until fairly recently?

Wizards seem to continually dump upon Muggle technology, and point out how much better magic is. Still, you'd think they'd be happy to have computers, and say, a nice Internet search engine, considering all the trouble Harry seemed to have doing research in the library for the second task, when he was trying to figure out a way to breathe underwater. I wonder if the Wizard world has something equivalent to the Internet...

Me again. I'm wondering something. How did Voldemort get his own wand back? Apparently, when his curse on Harry rebounded on him, Voldemort was ripped from his body, as he says in this book. So, was his body, with his wand, just lying there in the remains of Harry's house? In any case, he couldn't have physically manipulated the wand after that, because he was "less than a spirit, less than the meanest ghost". Soon after the incident, good wizards would've been on the scene, so someone must've taken Voldemort's wand and kept it. Yet by the beginning of this book, Voldemort has it back. Wormtail must've gotten hold of it for him somehow, I suppose, but that would've been difficult work. I can't think of any other explanation, though.

Makes sense that Wormtail got a hold of it, or perhaps another Death Eater.

Constanze, concerning the gardener Frank, he could have been put out before the war ended due to a medical discharge.

I think I have figured out the way the marauders map works! somebody wondered why it never showed peter before HP3. But when harry is given the map in HP3, he notices tiny moving dots labeled with names. So, since the map is magic, it shows only what is relevant to the user. For a student bent on mischief, moving teachers etc (filch, peeves) are shown, because they mean trouble. Other students or their pets are unimportant, and are not shown. When lupin uses the map, he is a teacher, so students bent on mischief - harry, ron, hermione - are shown. Likewise, moody can see the moving persons, including crouch sr., harry, victor, etc.

kira asked why moody doesn't use the next best oppurtunity to whisk harry away with a portkey. there may be another reason apart from constellations or special fresh ingredients: hermione tells several times that hogwarts is protected by more than walls. E.g. you can't apparate into or out of hogwarts. Probably some similiar restriction applies to portkeys, and some special allowance is made for the tournament, as parents are watching the final.

Two more ponderings (not real nits): After the world cup and the dark mark, the weasleys get home early, but molly is very worried. Wizards don't use a fellytone, but couldn't have bill or charlie apparated ahead to assure molly that noone was hurt?

I'm very surprised that somebody like rita skeeter is employed by the daily prophet. So far it seemed to be a serious newspaper, but her style of writing is more suited to the yellow press. No one else checks her work before it is printed?

When moody tells harry afterwards how he helped him secretly along, he says "you have a streak of pride and innocence that could have ruined all" (what snape said in HP3 I think). He mentions that the book he gave to neville mentions gillyweed and that harry should have asked his classmates. Harry didn't ask and only had help from harry and ron because he seemed to think that the rules didn't allow outside help. But when bagman tells the rules at the beginning, only teachers aren't allowed to help. No mention of classmates or other adults.

Luigi, I have a book with the ghosts coming out in the right order. No mention is made which edition or if it has been corrected.

About why voldemort went after the potters, in HP3 it was said that dumbledore was warned by a spy and told them to go into hiding. I got the impression that voldemort wasn't after them specially, they were one of many that were killed. Harry is special because he caused the unexpected downfall. It's probably like cedric's death: kill the spare. The potters work against me, I'll kill them.

Possible explanation for The Maurders Map.
The way I see it, the Map must have a "scroll" feature of some kind. Since Hogwarts is a big place, there is no way that all the people would be on the map at the same time.

Duke of Earl Grey wrote:

"Me again. I'm wondering something. How did Voldemort get his own wand back? Apparently, when his curse on Harry rebounded on him, Voldemort was ripped from his body, as he says in this book. So, was his body, with his wand, just lying there in the remains of Harry's house? In any case, he couldn't have physically manipulated the wand after that, because he was "less than a spirit, less than the meanest ghost". Soon after the incident, good wizards would've been on the scene, so someone must've taken Voldemort's wand and kept it. Yet by the beginning of this book, Voldemort has it back. Wormtail must've gotten hold of it for him somehow, I suppose, but that would've been difficult work. I can't think of any other explanation, though."

Maybe one of the Death Eaters used the "Accio"-Spell to get the wand and then he returned it to You Know Who when he returned?

OK, maybe it took some research about where the wand was kept, but if it was not kept in Gringotts, it should be possible to "accio" it even from outside the building. (as like HP did with his Firebolt during the Dragon-Quest.)

NANJAO: When Voldemort summons the Death Eaters and speaks to them, he pauses in front of a large gap, saying something like: the most faithful servant of all is at hogwarts, one left his ranks, he will be killed of course, one didn't dare to turn up, he will be punished. He is refering obviously to barty crouch jr., snape and karakoff. But the question is: who of them will be punished, and who will be killed? Since snape is still alive at the leaving fest, he must have been considered a coward, but not a traitor by voldemort. Karakoff must be the one who is going to be killed.

That's why when Dumbledore asks Snape if he is ready to do it (turn spy again) both look worried: they know that punishment and great danger are in store for snape.

Dumbledore said at the trial of karkaroff (as harry saw it in the pensieve) that snape turned spy against voldemort. He says that in a public court, with reporters like Rita Skeeter present. Let's just hope that nobody of voldemorts supporters or he himself will ever read the article concerning the trial, because then snape is done in.

Actually, we have no idea what Dumbledore wants Snape to do. For all we know, he wants him to get some Squid Chow^TM for the squid in the lake. The idea that he's going to be a spy was what Harry thought, and (pardon if this sounds harsh) Harry hasn't been noted for his accuracy in such guesswork.

Yeah, but somehow I don't think Rowling put that line in there because she wanted Snape to get Squid Chow. Obviously, it has something to do with the war brewing on the horizon, although Harry might not be entirely accurate..

Another observation: When harry is transported to the graveyard, wormtail binds him to the gravestone of riddles' father and gags him. Harrys wand is at his feet, so he can't say a spell, point his wand or do anything else. Yet, in HP1 he did a lot of magic without even knowing how before hagrid arrived, and in HP3 harry "blew up" his aunt without saying a spell or pointing his wand, so the magic inside him doesn't always need a spell or wand. On the other hand, these are different situations: in HP1, harry was either ashamed (the hair growing back overnight, the shrinking ugly sweater) or afraid (normally afraid, if there is such a thing), when he jumped onto the roof of the school. When he made the glass in front of the snake cage vanish, or when he blew up his aunt, he was very angry.
(situations, where normal people would not be surprised if something strange suddenly would happen, because you are so full of anger/shame that you can almost feel it radiating outwards changing things ...)
But in the graveyard, harry seems to be frightened out of his wits: he just experienced not only a portkey, but the casual murder of a classmate and excruciating pain. He doesn't know what's coming next, but he is terrified. That's why he only thinks "Please don't let it work", but his own magic doesn't manifest itself.

I made the same point on the Sorceror's Stone board about the things he did before finding out he was a wizard.

I've always assumed that those happenings were a sort of mystical equivilent of a hormone surge of sorts.

Re: the whole "due process" nits:

The problem here is that while Rowling has done a magnificent job of creating her magical world and the characters therein, there's a lot of stuff on the periphery that's hazy, probably due to the fact that Rowling herself hasn't bothered to go and flesh out her own creation. This means that certain things like the legal system or the government are going to be weird until she nails things down. As a writer myself, I tend to cut other writers slack in this department, as it is very hard to do and get away with.

However, there are a few nits that pop up here.

For the first time in this book, we see the Hogwarts school dance. Actually, this is the first time it's ever mentioned. Of course, it's the first time that Harry's class is eligible to go (all of this comes with an IIRC). However, I do believe that they said that younger students could go as dates of older students. Here's the nit: Harry's a popular guy. Each of the previous years, there should have been at least one older girl who might have tried to ask Harry to the dance. But we never heard about that. The reason for this is obviously because Rowling never had the dance in mind until she needed it for this book. Too bad I don't deal in reality! The village of Hogsmede has a similar nit in an earlier book.

I would assume that British common law applies.

Sparrow47, about the dance: I thought that the dance was because of the triwizard tournament, meaning that normally there would be no dance?

Besides, there are good reasons why in HP2 (the chamber of secrets is openend, they talk about closing the school down!) and in HP3 (a murder is on the loose, so security is tight) the dance may have been cancelled.

And yes, I noticed that in HP1 dumbledore says in the beginning that the forest is forbidden. In the next books he says that the forest and hogsmeade for below 3rd years are forbidden. But this may simply come under the heading of "things happening when we aren't looking" like the question: does harry give ron + hermione birthday and christmas presents? We only read about what he gets, but that doesn't mean he is so uncaring that won't give his friends presents.

Gordon: I've always assumed that those happenings were a sort of mystical equivilent of a hormone surge of sorts.

Thats what I meant: he can't control what will happen. When a wizard says a spell or waves a wand, he gets a certain reaction because he controls the magic to work a certain way. (it reminds me a little bit about the SF books about telepathy and telekinesis: everybody can knock things around when he is angry, but to lift sth. up you need to learn how to control the power).
We see this in the book as harry is struggling hard with the summoning charm.

About the veritaserum nit (Kira and luigi wondered why it wasn't used more often instead of the trial): when snape is talking to harry about the break-in, harry is innocent, but he is afraid of what and whom he will betray under the influence of veritaserum (hermione, dobby, his feelings for cho). So, when a wizard is accused of being a death eater, do all the other wizards really want to hear the truth, which could implicate a lot of them, or do they want to stage a trial and send the accused away?

I'm only wondering how veritaserum would work with a changed memory (Oblivate!). Would the person tell the real truth or the altered version?

About the tatoo Voldemort puts on his followers: I think it is very fitting. It means, first of all, that V. has absolute power over them, which is what the dark side is about, after all. It also makes it very hard for one follower to switch sides, as he will always be marked. The ministry is obviously very ineffective and not interested in catching important people (the malfoys, for one thing), and besides, the death eaters know a lot of dark magic, to be a match for the ministry.

I thought that the dance was because of the triwizard tournament, meaning that normally there would be no dance?

Besides, there are good reasons why in HP2 (the chamber of secrets is openend, they talk about closing the school down!) and in HP3 (a murder is on the loose, so security is tight) the dance may have been cancelled.constanze

I got the impression from Goblet that the dance was supposed to be a yearly thing. However it's been a while since I've read the books so I may be in error. However, going on the assumption that the dance occurs every year, even if it were cancelled, we should still have some sort of dialouge to indicate as such... "Did you hear? They cancelled the dance!"

In this book Prof. McGonagal says "we are approaching the Yule Ball. A traditional part of the triwizard tournament."
This indicates that the dance was part of the tournament and NOT a yearly Hogwarts dance.

I guess that officially makes it my bad, then.

Which leads to the question of Why doesn't Hogwarts have the occasional dance? At least for the upperclassmen? Or does this never happen in Britain anyway?

Okay, I've gotten around to reading these again and I've found a weird half-nit that may be a result of the "Americanization" of the book. When the Gryffindors are first retiring to their dormitory, we find that Dean has tacked up a poster of Victor Krum next to "his old poster of the West Ham football team." But only a couple of lines later, we hear of "the completely stationary soccer players." (emphasis mine) Now I thought that the only people who ever use the word "soccer" are Americans- so why are both terms here?

And now I've finished the book, so I have some general comments.

What is butterbeer? Apparently it's alcoholic, because elves can get wasted off it. But also, our underage witches and wizards can purchase it, apparently as young as 13. Now, I don't know how this meshes with British drinking laws in general, but I find it interesting.

Something that no one raises an eyebrow at in the Hermoine-Krum relationship is the age difference- she's 14, he's... 18? Not only is he 18, but he seems quite interested. Now, the validity of this observations depends on what the British reaction to this sort of thing would be, but I can certainly say that if Krum and Hermoine got too interested, the whole thing would be illegal in New Mexico.

Another 47! Actually, there was one also in the third book, but I lost it- I'll have to go back and check for it. Anyway, in the second task, Cedric is awarded 47 points.

I'm also putting in a prediction below, but hiding it for the benefit of those who don't care or don't want to speculate. Highlight below to receive my predition that...

Ginny Weasly will die before the series is out.

sparrow,

the butterbeer may be something like maltbeer (almost no alcohol, but with a funny enough taste to make it beer-like enough for kids. I drank it sometimes in the 80s, but haven't seen it for quite a while). I mean, there is a small amount of alcohol in some fruit juices, but children don't drink 10 litres a day to feel the effect. After all, whatever makes an elf drunk may not work for a human - different species.

Um, why would a friendship/relationship between two youngsters be a problem? I mean, they fall in love all the time! Besides, I can't imagine hermione getting to close to him already - she is british, they take their time (I guess).

Acually, I'm wondering much more whether Krum is okay or not. He is nice and respectful so that explains why hermione falls for him (after the way ron treats her esp.), but he comes from a school of dark arts, and barty jr. disguised his true intentions behind a helpful manner for 10 months! So, will hermione be back safely from her holiday?

the butterbeer may be something like maltbeer (almost no alcohol, but with a funny enough taste to make it beer-like enough for kids. I drank it sometimes in the 80s, but haven't seen it for quite a while).constanze

True, however it's still alcoholic and these are still 13-14 year olds. But that's why it's a comment and not a nit.

Um, why would a friendship/relationship between two youngsters be a problem? I mean, they fall in love all the time!constanze

Well, I don't know, but how many long-lasting relationships have you seen develop between an 18-year old and a 14-year old? As a 19-year old I can tell you that I have seen ZERO. The problem here is that this relationship involves someone old enough for college (Krum) and someone old enough to just be starting high school (Hermoine- at least in America, which is the only way I can base this on). While a 4 year age difference doesn't sound like much to adults, in teenagers, there's a huge difference in emotional development and maturity (both emotional and in general) between the two sides. That this relationship exists is not the nit- Krum is, after all his school's champion and Hermoine was more mature for her age before she gained all sorts of time in book 3. The nit is that someone, probably Professor McGonnagol, should be taking note of the situation and thus should at least mention the difference.

So, will hermione be back safely from her holiday?constanze

Well, I don't remember if Hermoine said she was actually going. I find it unlikely that she would, or that her parents would let her ("let's get this straight... you want to go alone and visit this guy who's how old?"), but assuming that she did, I think she'd be okay. Yes, Krum comes from suspect circumstances, but he never did anything that we saw that was in any way suspicious. He's probably a good guy.

Now, a couple of other nits, and these are indeed nits:

When Krum and Harry are stumbled upon by the real Crouch, Harry decides that one of them should stay with him while the other fetches Dumbledore. What? Aren't these guys wizards? One of them (I'm thinking Klum) should know some sort of spell that would help them carry Crouch out of the area, or since Krum is so athletic, he should be able to at least pick Crouch up bodily and get him out of there.

The real Mad-Eye Moody might need to get his Foe Glass checked. First of all, by the time the teachers showed up in the glass, it gave faux Moody little to no time to actually do anything (like open his trunk). I realize that the whites' of the teachers eyes would probably have been showing much before Harry looks over and notices them, but still, not much time was given. Meanwhile, how does this mirror work? Or at least, how does it select whose foes to depict. I would suspect that the real Moody would at least try and hex the thing so it only showed his enemies. However I don't think any of the teachers were his enemies, per se, they were only those of the faux Moody. So the mirror was at some point convinced that Crouch Jr.s' enemies were really Moody's. Would the Polyjuice Potion be that strong?

Sparrow,

I still don't get it why you think anybody should mention sth about hermione and krum. But maybe as germans, we tend to view the whole relationship/ s-ex stuff much more relaxed (most of the germans didn't understand at all the uproar a few years ago in the US when a six-year old was banned from school for kissing his classmate. I think it was called sexual harrassment.) It would be interesting what the british people think about it. But then, although krum calls hermione his girl-friend, we hear nothing beyond some dancing at the yule ball. Did they hold hands or even kiss? We don't know. They might not have, if the british girls are as reserved as stereotype would have it :-)

I understood that the foe-glass just shows who has intentions against the owner. Like the sneakoscope lighting up when sth untrostworthy is around. The foe-glass wouldn't need to know who the owner is, just who is trying to do him harm.

About the scene when harry and krum meet crouch sr.: I guess they have too much respect for an adult, a senior minister, to pick him up bodily or by spell.

To be honest, Constanze, most Americans thought that the six year old being expelled was idiocy as well. In fact, there were a lot of people calling for that principal to be fired.

I certainly did.

I think that a lot of the PC BS in the US is idiocy.

I think that this thread now belongs in PM, by the way.

I still don't get it why you think anybody should mention sth about hermione and krum. But maybe as germans, we tend to view the whole relationship/ s-ex stuff much more relaxedconstanze

Well, I imagine it's just a cultural thing then- it mostly matters what the British would think. But just so we're clear, my problem is that you have an adult trying to start a relationship with a young teenager (as opposed to a 17 or 18-year old, who would be an "old" teenager.

--By Sparrow47 on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 04:44 pm:
The real Mad-Eye Moody might need to get his Foe Glass checked. First of all, by the time the teachers showed up in the glass, it gave faux Moody little to no time to actually do anything (like open his trunk). I realize that the whites' of the teachers eyes would probably have been showing much before Harry looks over and notices them, but still, not much time was given--

IIRC Crouch Jr. was caught up in the moment, and not really paying attention to the foe glass.

sparrow,
Well, I imagine it's just a cultural thing then- it mostly matters what the British would think.

That's what I am interested in, too: what do the british nitpickers here think?
But then, Rowling herself is british, and she didn't mention anything. Maybe for her it's clearly a harmless friendship - remember we don't even hear about anything else outside the Yule ball like holding hands, kissing, writing secret letters,... what you would expect in a real love (or puppy love) relationship. Krum and hermione are either very cool and reserved, or very innocent and slow about it. Or hermione thinks its more important to concentrate on harry and saving his life, and that its the wrong time to develop a relationship. We can only speculate and wait for the next book, if it clears up some questions.

One of my favourite parts of this book was Malfoy getting turned into the Amazing Bouncing Ferret, and everyone's subsequent teasing of him for that.

I hope the real Moody is as cool as the fake one was.

(I'm picturing Tom Felton (of Draco Malfoy in the movie fame) turning into a white ferret and bouncing off the ceiling and floors of a palace with twenty foot high halls.)

Personally, with this new revelation about Snape, I think he'd be the perfect DADA teacher. He was involved in the Dark Arts, for whatever reason, for however long. He's gotta know some tricks that the DEs use, and thus, would know what works against them.

Try explaining that to the parents. To them, it would probably be equivalent to have a former child molester teach sex ed.

I never claimed to have the most popular ideas, ya know. ;)

How many people even know about Snape's past? I get the impression that his value to Dumbledore comes from the fact that his associations are not generally known.

After all, if many Good Wizards knew, sooner or later one of V's people would find out & would wonder just why Snape wasn't rotting in prison & draw the obvious conclusion.

Not a nit, only a statement:

In one scene (is this the right word for a part of a book?), I think it was after a macic "accident" when Herminoe was hit by a "Densaugeo"-spell, and Snape not allowing her to go to the "doctor", Harry wishes to know how the Cruciatus-Curse works, and imagines Snape suffering from horrible pain like the spider in the DADA-lesson. (uh, awful long sentence)

I think, the spell would have worked. Why? Harry feels *BURNING HATE* against Snape in this moment, and he imagines Snape suffering like that spider.

(It's good, that Harry did not try it. I only say "Askhaban".)

Yes, that's the right word, Andreas.

Just an observation and prediction:

I'm sure most people have noticed by now that the Ministry of Magic is incompetent. The minister, Cornelius Fudge, was probably behind all this. Judging from his reactions and behavior at the end of book 4, there is a VERY GREAT possiblity he might actually BE a death eater, too. As Minister of Magic, Fudge has the most power. From the way it is presented in the books, the ministry seems to have full control over the entire magical community. Any important decisions have to be approved by the ministry. If something happens and they need to take action, they must get permission from the ministry first. Since the ministry has such great authority, perhaps Voldemort found it useful to have a death eater that works in the ministry. Voldemort might have lured Fudge to dark side some time in the past. They mentioned in the books that only Voldemort himself knows how many death eaters there are. Even his most trusted followers are only given a partial list. So maybe Voldemort kept Fudge a close guarded secret and only very few people know that Fudge is a death eater. At the end of book 4, Fudge refused to believe that Voldemort is back. He probably was just pretending. Since he is the Minister of Magic, and he has such great authority it would be an advantage to Voldemort. If the good wizards/witches want to take action against the dark side, Fudge can just play dumb and easily overrule all their requests and effectively hinder the efforts of the good side. But this didn't seem to work very well because Dumbledore and co. decided to go ahead and warn the others despite Fudge's objections.

I think that by the process of elimination, we can rule out Fudge as a Death Eater. Voldemort summons all his followers to his side when he takes a body once more, and specifically notes who *isn't* there who should be. He mentions three dead in his service, one who has fled (Karkaroff), one who has defected and will die for his treachery (Snape), and one who is already working for him at Hogwarts (Crouch). This doesn't seem to leave anyone. You could say that Fudge is just some kind of super-secret agent of the Dark Lord, but there isn't any textual evidence to support this.

On another note entirely, who is the head of Ravenclaw? Would that be Flitwick?

We already know that Snape is head of Slytherin.
We already know that McGonagall is head of Gryffindor.
We already know that Sprout is head of Hufflepuff.

And we know that Dumbledore is head of Hogwarts.

There isn't any textual reference to support the idea that Fudge is a Death-Eater, but certainly it's not out of the realm of possibility. If he is a super-secret agent of Voldemort, then V definitely wouldn't talk about him to everyone!

As for the Ravenclaw house head... hmmmmm... Flitwick's as good a guess as anyone, I suppose.

If he is a super-secret agent of Voldemort, then V definitely wouldn't talk about him to everyone!

Yes. But since this is not *stated or implied in the text at any point*, we can't really make a case for it. I could just as easily say that Professor Vector is the head of Ravenclaw House based on the fact that nobody's ever said he isn't.

Well, it's not a theory that I really and truly believe, but I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility.

Meanwhile the spoilers page that Rowling auctioned off still appears not to have been made public...

In an online chat, Rowling stated that the head of Ravenclaw is indeed Flitwick.

I don't think that fudge is a death eater, I think his incompetence is real. He is doing what children sometimes do: "if I don't want sth. to happen, I wish hard, and it won't happen" - I don't want Voldemort to be back (because I can't handle it), so its not true.

From the way most wizards act in the books, I got the impression that its a wizard-eats-wizard world out there. Whoever has the greater power wins, rules are only for the weak to obey. The truly great wizards don't obey to the rules. Dumbledore has morals and ethics which decide which side he's on, and voldemort has different ethics (bad ones).

So I don't see a reason why voldemort would need a death eater in the ministry to make rulings. An informant is helpful, but he doesn't need much more.

mpatterson,

He mentions three dead in his service, one who has fled (Karkaroff), one who has defected and will die for his treachery (Snape),
Or the other way round: snape has fled, karkaroff has betrayed him. After all, it is mentioned earlier that voldemort followers know that karkaroff made a deal with the ministry. Only dumbledore knows about snapes change of heart. (Though I still wonder why he told it out loud in court - didn't he think about voldemort would return, or one of his followers would take revenge on snape?)

-------

BTW, I think its interesting to compare the most dramatic scene in the shrieking shack of HP3 with the revelation at the end of this book. In HP3, Harry argues that Lupin can't wish him harm, because he had plenty of opportunities to do so during practice and didn't use them, at which snape scoffs "don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolfs mind works" (paraphrased).

Now, Harry learns that mad-eye moody was working to capture and ulitmately kill him while appearing to help him and having lots of opportunities before, but instead waiting almost 10 months.

Of course, harry trusting lupin last year turned out right.

the most faithful servant of all is at hogwarts, one left his ranks, he will be killed of course, one didn't dare to turn up, he will be punished. Okay, as for me, I always interpreted this as: Faithful servant--Moody. Punished--Karkaroff. Killed--Snape. Since Karkaroff was still technically a follower but didn't show up for fear of being caught, so he would be punished, although not killed (Voldemort needs all the support he can get). Snape, however, has really and truly left the Death Eaters, and even worked against them...he's too much of a security risk, he has to die. And, of course, Moody plans on being rewarded for all the work he's done in Voldemort's name.

What is butterbeer? Apparently it's alcoholic, because elves can get wasted off it. But also, our underage witches and wizards can purchase it, apparently as young as 13. Technically, so's Nyquil and other sleep-inducing medicines with alcoholic content. Kids as young as twelve are allowed to take those. Granted, I can't see your average twelve-year old actively trying to get wasted on Nyquil (which tastes horrid), and butterbeer would go down a lot easier and be more of a hazard, but it still might be legal. Maybe it's the reverse equivalent of caffiene, which is milder than alcohol in terms of its mind-altering effects, so that even a large quantity of butterbeer (let's say around six pints) would give you nothing more than a pleasant buzz, and not inhibit your functions. Also, there might be ways to counteract the effects and establish sobriety (a Sobering Charm or the like).

here is a link to an interesting essay about how magic works that would explain many of the questions in the HP books.

NITS:

Several students try to cheat their way into the Tournament because it offers a lot of honour. Seems they are ambitious and "use every means to reach their goals", does it? Naturally, you'd expect these cheaters to be Slytherins, but they are two Gryffindors, a Ravenclaw, and a Hufflepuff! You mean the only house defined by ambition would be the only one NOT to cheat? And what happened to Hufflepuff honesty?

Also, when Harry’s name comes out of the Goblet, the Ravenclaw students are angry at him because they think he cheated. Didn’t a Ravenclaw cheat, too? Interestingly, the Gryffindors also think that he cheated, but they don’t care – to them, all that matters is that a Gryffindor student competes. Again, sounds a bit like “using every means to reach the own goals”, doesn’t it?

In the beginning, Rowling writes that Dudley’s last encounter with a full-grown wizard ended with him having a pigtail. I don’t think you can call Hagrid a full-grown wizard, since he got expelled from Hogwarts and isn’t even allowed to do magic. Also, the Dursleys had to pay to have the tail removed. Didn’t the doctors ask any questions? Wouldn’t the Ministry of Magic have heard about the incident, and wouldn’t Hagrid have got into trouble? After all, the Ministry was very quick to notice both Dobby’s spells at the beginning of book 2 and the blowing-up of aunt Marge in book 3.

The thing about the other schools seems like an afterthought. I doubt that it was planned from the start. For three years Harry didn’t have a clue that there were any other schools, so obviously no one ever mentioned them. Now Hermione says she had read about them long ago, and Malfoy talks about how he wanted to go to Durmstrang. Even Ron says he’s heard about the other schools! It’s strange that no one ever talked about them during the entire three years.

I’m surprised that Transfiguaration, at least the way Prof. McGonagall teaches it, is NOT considered a Dark Art. Turning hedgehogs into pin-cushions and mice into snuff-boxes sounds cruel to me, especially when the teacher comments that „your cushion still curls up in fright if someone approaches it with a pin“. You could do a lot of damage turning living creatures into half-finished things. The Killing Curse is Unforgivable because it, well, kills. Yet I'm not sure if say, turning people into pincushions would be much preferable.

At Hogwarts they have a lot of faith in objects although, as is evident, they can be outwitted easily. Really, the Weasely Twins should have realised that anyone above the age of seventeen could throw anyone else’s name into the Goblet. For that matter, the Sorting Hat seems to err pretty often, too. You tell me that Fred and George wouldn't make good Slytherins and that Crabbe and Goyle are ambitious and cunning?

Sirius is being dumb when Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit him. Harry tells him that Karakoff was showing Snape something on his forearm, and Sirius says „Well I have no idea what that is.“ Oh, come on. Karakoff is the headmaster of a school famous for the Dark Arts, Sirius knows about the Death Eaters, he even suspects Snape of being a Death Eater, and he can’t put two and two together?

It is really unfair that Harry wins the Tournament. He didn’t solve the first task – Hagrid showed him the dragons and both Sirius and Moody spelled out the solution for him. The other candidates heard about the dragons, too, but at least the found out how to deal with them themselves. He didn’t do anything for the second task either – Cedric, Myrtle, and Dobby spelled it out for him. If he had been on his own, he would have been so far behind that the third task wouldn’t even have mattered, because Cedric probably would have reached the goal by the time Harry entered the maze. And he only got through the maze without any problems because Moody stunned Fleur and put the Imperius curse on Krum!

When Harry’s and Voldemorts‘ wands connect, the last spells performed by Voldemort’s wand are echoed. WHERE ON EARTH DID VOLDEMORT GET HIS WAND, THE SAME ONE HE KILLED THE POTTERS WITH, FROM? (I’m suspecting Mr Olivander, who seems a bit evil to me, but I might be wrong.) And if he's had it all the time - you're telling me that he hasn't done more than a few spells - in fact, no spells other than the Killing Curse - since 1980? Also, he killed Harry's father and mother and then tried to kill Harry, but the last spell doesn't echo.

As Moody was Voldemort’s agent all the way, it was very dumb of him to show Harry how to fight off the Imperius curse. There really wasn’t any reason for this, even if Dumbledore had told him to teach it. Dumbledore wouldn’t go putting people under the curse to see if Moody had taught the defence. And it also seems that Krum, who comes from Durmstrang, does NOT know how to fight off the curse even though they teach the Dark Arts there.

How could Fudge not have known that Snape used to be a Death Eater? He's the Minister of Magic! The ministery was already founded during Voldemort’s reign and Fudge was the first minister, which means that he was in office during the war. Snape had a trial and was considered guilty. Sirius didn’t know about that, but he had spent the last fourteen years in Azkaban. Since there seem to be only thirteen or so Death Eaters (half of which never got convicted) and Snape was the only spy, Fudge should have heard about him in any case.

When Fudge’s Dementor kills Crouch jr., all Professor McGonagall does is run screaming to Dumbledore. Surely she could have prevented the Dementor’s access to Crouch! Is Professor Lupin the only person to know about the Patronus spell?

So Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus? That’s making four that we know of (Sirius, James Potter, Wormtail, and her) and only one who’s registered (Prof. McGonagall). Frankly, I’d be surprised if anyone with that useful an ability would bother to get himself registrered. I mean, how’s the ministry going to check on this? Catch all the animals they can find and see if some of them have marks? They’d have a lot of trouble with, say, ants. In book 3, Hermione says that there have only been seven registered animagi in this century. I’m assuming that all of them are Transfiguration teachers.

Page 329 f (of my paperback edition): Harry sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing horrific things happening to him ... if only he knew how to do the Cruciatus curse ... he’d have Snape flat on his back like that spider, jerking and twitching ... EXCUSE ME, BUT THAT IS OUR HERO? In other words, here we have a fourteen-year-old perfectly willing to put an Unforgivable Curse on his teacher (who once saved his life, come to think of it), and the only thing that stops him is the fact that he doesn’t know how to do it?

It is said several times that Dumbledore has never yet been wrong in trusting a person. Frankly, I can’t see that this is true. He trusted Quirrell and Lockhart to teach DADA. He trusted Lupin - yet Lupin kept the information about Sirius being an animagus from him for a year despite believing that Sirius was a mass murderer ready to break into Hogwarts, thus giving him free access to the place. For that matter, he also trusted his student Lupin to stay in the Shrieking Shack as a werewolf and not to roam the grounds at night, placing all the others in great danger. In book 1, he trusted the Dursleys to tell Harry about the letter Dumbledore had left for him.

This is up to 198k.