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Sunday, August 5th, 2007
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1:16 am - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Seven
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For the final book, I've limited my notes to things that really stood out to me. This list will be under a cut, since obviously there will be spoilers.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
( Bullets GO! )
Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoyed this book, perhaps more than I enjoyed any other in the series. I hadn't been this into a Harry Potter book since PoA. It was thrilling and enthralling from the beginning to the last chapter, and since it's the last book, I understand some things had to be rushed. The above items were all rather minor annoyances it was easy to push to the back of my mind.
There were two major things, however, that bothered me to the point of being full-on sour notes.
( Tonks )
( The epilogue )
Overall, though, amazing book! I'll be looking forward to the movie. :)
ETA: Ah, one more thing I need to mention that bothered me a bit, that rather ties in with a lot of the above. The general fade-out of nearly all the supporting cast. All these background characters have been gradually built up over the first six books, only to become completely unimportant in the final volume. There were numerous times when I felt jealous of Ron and Hermione on behalf of the other characters.
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| Saturday, August 4th, 2007
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7:29 pm - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Six
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Don't the teachers all live at Hogwarts? What is Snape doing in some Muggle village in the middle of nowhere?
- There were rumors that baby Harry was a great Dark wizard? At a year old, the bad guys were thinking he might be their next leader?
What's this ring Dumbledore's wearing? I'm sure it'll be explained later in the book, I'm just making a note for myself.
- "Maybe he's broken his Hand of Glory," said Ron vaguely, as he attempted to straighten his broomstick's bent tail twigs. "Remember that shriveled-up arm Malfoy had?" Actually no, I don't. As I recall Draco merely looked at it in the store and Lucius told him to leave it alone. Since when does he own one?
- "Was that a Patronus?" asked Harry, who had seen Dumbledore send messages like this. Wha? Dumbledore's sent messages via Patronus? When did that happen?
- Having always traveled there by carriage, Harry had never before appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. Don't they walk to Hogsmeade all the time?
- Snape takes points from Harry on the first night and comments nobody's ever been in negative figures so soon before... can they really have negative figures? From the sound of things at the end of OOTP (Snape tried to take points, but the glass was empty, so McGonagall awarded a bunch more and then subtracted them) the House points can't go into negative figures.
- The Draught of Living Death... didn't that come up somewhere in one of the earlier books?
- Since when is Hagrid allowed in the forest again?
- I know about the ring now... but why did Dumbledore wear it to his meeting with Slughorn?
- Why did none of the older students press their age advantage over the Trio when they were younger, if it's so commonplace when they're older?
- If the twins were waiting in Hogsmeade for Ron on his birthday... why didn't they arrive at the hospital wing until 8 PM? And who told them what had happened?
Ron compliments Luna on her Quidditch commentary... but he wasn't allowed to go to that match!
- Emotional issues or no, Tonks' behavior when Harry encounters her by the Room of Requirement is extremely suspicious.
- If Dumbledore had really been unable to keep the DADA post filled after refusing Voldemort, I'd think he'd have run out of teachers long before now. That's a looooong time for such a trend to go on unaltered. Plus it doesn't really gel with what's written about Quirrell in the first book.
- Harry says Draco got into the D.A. headquarters last year, but I don't remember that happening.
- It surprises me that Harry and Ron don't regard the HBP's book as a Dark object after Sectumsempra, especially knowing what they do about Riddle's diary etc. There's really no excuse for it other than pure selfishness on Harry's part, which is rather unlike him.
- "...no, Harry, not seven Horcruxes, six. The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body. That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile..." That doesn't make any sense to me. It seems more logical that the piece of Voldemort's soul that was in his body would be destroyed upon the death of his body, forcing him to use a Horcrux-protected piece instead. That's what I always thought Horcruxes were - spares, backups. So now it appears, instead, that the Horcruxes are sort of like fuel to keep a disembodied fragment of soul going...?
What additional protection was in place while Dumbledore was gone? The presence of the Order?
What "fault" and "wrong" is Dumbledore referring to during the potion-drinking scene, I wonder?
- How did Snape's curse send Dumbledore flying off the tower? Wasn't he slumped against the wall?
Since when can everybody and their brother produce a corporeal Patronus?
Gotta say I think Slughorn is one of the weakest characters of the entire series. Most of Rowling's characters make me feel something, affection, pity, loathing, fear, something - but with Slughorn there's just nothing. He might as well not even be there, for all the effect he has on me.
From the way the crew's return to Hogwarts after Christmas by Floo powder is written, it sounds like the school may indeed not be "wired" for full travel by such means.
Chapter 22 is awesome. xDD I think it may have beat that chapter of CoS I mentioned as my favorite chapter of the entire series.
"But how do you do it?"
"By an act of evil - the supreme act of evil. By committing murder. Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon creating a Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage..."
Harry's gotta be a Horcrux, or have one, or have something to do with one, especially considering Dumbledore's suspicion that Voldemort intended to create one with Harry's death.
Upon reexamination of the tower scene, I'm convinced Dumbledore knew well in advance what Snape was supposed to do and wanted him to do it. The moment Snape appeared on the scene, before he'd said anything or done anything, Dumbledore was pleading with him. There's no reason he would've done that in front of all the Death Eaters if he seriously wanted Snape's help. I'm certain Dumbledore knew about the Unbreakable Vow, and wanted Snape to kill him so Draco wouldn't have blood on his hands, and possibly because Snape may be more valuable to the Order than Dumbledore at this point. It's also possible that that's what Dumbledore wanted all along when he asked Harry to get Snape for him. Maybe Dumbledore knew the potion he drank was fatal, that he had no hope of surviving anyway.
It'll be a shame if the relics of the Founders have to be destroyed along with the bits of Voldemort's soul. I wonder about Slytherin's locket, too... That's a very unusual treasure for Salazar Slytherin. What might be inside? With my writer's imagination I'm now wondering if the popular theory of a love triangle among the Founders might be true. Perhaps Slytherin and Gryffindor quarreled over Ravenclaw? The locket might be a relic of a relationship between S and R... especially with love becoming such a gigantic theme in these later books.
The entire pile of paper known as the Harry Potter series could easily be retitled "The Power of Love." :P The love theme is shouted more strongly in HBP than any of the other books so far. In fact, in these later books it's also a downright scary force. In OOTP, it's hinted strongly that love is the force being studied behind the sealed door in the Department of Mysteries, and it's described as both powerful and terrible. And in HBP we see more reasons why. For love Hermione, always the first to consult the rule book, hexes McLaggen to give Ron the edge during Quidditch tryouts. Very OOC for her based on everything else we've read about her. And under the influence of love potion, Ron punches his best friend. It's shown pretty clearly that love can be as dangerous as it can be helpful. I'm sure it'll be an even stronger influence on the final book now that the main characters are old enough to fully experience love. It's rather unique that Rowling presents love as both a positive and negative force. It's unusual in material meant for a young audience.
Back to the locket, if it is revealed to be a sign of a G-R-S love triangle, I imagine that revelation might lead to some sort of reconciliation between the four houses of Hogwarts. The thus far unheeded need for the Houses to work together has been a big theme in the last few books as well.
Since I just recently read the rest of the books, the change in mood over the series is a lot more powerful to me now. Diagon Alley, for example, strikes me as especially sad. Thinking back on the vision of it in the first movie, which I just watched last week, and contrasting it with the bleak description of it here in HBP, is tragic and depressing. We're really getting into the real point of the series here. This isn't about a kid discovering he's a wizard - it's a series about a great evil coming back, and the fight to save the Wizarding world. Kinda like Lord of the Rings, in a way. We're introduced to this bright, shining, happy world - and then an evil force moves in an taints it, until it's hard to remember how beautiful and peaceful things once were.
It's kind of interesting how this is the first time Harry's suspicion of who the bad guy is turns out to be right in the end.
Although I'm liking HBP more this time around, there do seem to be a lot of strange errors, like she was misremembering her own canon. It feels a bit disconnected from the other books, like it's not quite the same series. Still good though.
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7:13 pm - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Five
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Dudley was beating up Mark Evans... that name sounds really familiar for some reason, do we know him from somewhere?
- Why does Harry ring the bell to enter the Dursleys' house? Even if he feels unwelcome there, he's got Dudley with him...
- So when you're expelled from Hogwarts they destroy your wand... I suppose if you don't go to school, you don't get a wand, so all you can use is the random magic that just happens by itself?
It is kind of odd Petunia would remember Azkaban so clearly, of all the things to know about the wizarding world. I wonder what the story behind that is.
- Did we ever find out exactly what was in Dumbledore's letter to Petunia, what his "last" was?
- How (and why) did the escort that came to take Harry away from the Dursleys unlock and open his bedroom door from downstairs?
- OOTP says being an Auror is the only career Harry's considered... but what about being a professional Quidditch player? Before the fake Moody mentioned Aurors to him last year, Harry seemed plenty interested in the professional sports route...
- Why don't they use Disillusionment Charms on the whole escort for easier travel?
- Why does Harry wear jeans and a t-shirt to something as important as a disciplinary hearing?
- If Mr. Weasley's not allowed in the hearing, why can Dumbledore stroll right in to act as Harry's counsel?
- Exactly how unfindable are Secret-hidden places? Owls can still find you when you're in one, yes? Why didn't Harry get the owl sent to notify him the time of his hearing had changed, then? I always thought owls could find you anywhere.
- If the Ministry has no authority to expel students or confiscate wands without proof, why did Harry get those notices from the Improper Use of Magic Office then? They sure had the feel of automatic form letters. You wouldn't think they'd have that sort of system set up if they couldn't actually act on those decrees.
- Why Ron for prefect? Why not Seamus or Dean? I suppose if Dumbledore wanted someone like Harry, Ron would be the next best choice, since he was part of all Harry's adventures... but he's not exactly a model student...
- If Dumbledore chooses the prefects, why is Draco one?
- Were there always gargoyles guarding the staff room? I don't remember them being there before...
- If a couple of teenagers like Fred and George can make Headless Hats, why are invisibility cloaks so expensive?
- I dunno about Shacklebolt "modifying Marietta's memory" when Umbridge was questioning her about the D.A... it reads a lot more like the Imperius Curse, IMHO. Brrr.
- According to OOTP only teachers can dock House points, but I could've sworn a prefect (Percy?) did it in one of the early books.
- Why does Draco go directly to Snape when Montague's found stuck in the toilet? Head of House or not, Snape's the Potions master... surely there's a teacher better suited to the task of releasing him?
Why didn't they use the Floo powder to go to Grimmauld Place to look for Sirius instead of just asking Kreacher if he was there?
- Dumbledore says Kreacher could lie to Harry without punishing himself... but why were Kreacher's hands bandaged when Harry talked to him, then?
- What did the centaurs do to Umbridge? What could they have done that damaged her so without physically injuring her? And what was Hermione expecting them to do?
- What's so enticing about the veil of death, and why wasn't Hermione affected?
I haven't gotten to that part in HBP yet, but I think Starsea said something earlier about Harry inheriting Kreacher after Sirius' death... but in OOTP Kreacher turns to the Malfoys as his next masters in line... why does he go to Harry in HBP then? Answered clearly at the beginning of HBP.
- "[Lily] gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day." I thought Voldemort overcame that by using Harry's blood to return to life?
It's written that Sirius got the house because he's the last Black left. I would assume the same goes for the Black fortune, as we discussed earlier.
I wonder if Sirius' mother felt differently about him after he was jailed for betraying the Potters to Voldemort. It's said she died only ten years ago, so she should've been around then.
How did Sirius manage to turn out so differently than his relatives, despite being raised by elitist purebloods? I have this urge to write Marauder fics now... -_-
Being a Squib has to be the worst thing ever. You're connected to this mysterious world, yet unable to participate in it. Talk about a rough deal. The wizarding community doesn't even give two figs about you, but you can never fully leave it behind either. And Squibs being able to see dementors is a fib, right? Without being magical I don't think they'd be able to, and it doesn't seem so based on Mrs. Figg's testimony. More evidence of the suckiness of being a Squib, that - they don't even care enough about you to know whether you can see dementors or not.
I wonder if Aberforth Dumbledore might have a role to play in the final book. He was in the original Order, as far as I know he's still alive, where is he this time?
The handling of boggarts has sure changed since book three. Originally the boggart would automatically turn into something upon seeing you, and by using Riddikulus you'd change it into something silly to break your fear and allow you to defeat it... but now Riddikulus appears to change the boggart into something fitting you instead, and sometimes defeat it as well.
I was just watching the CoS movie and I had a thought. A lot of people think Harry's the heir of Gryffindor, but I think it would make more sense for it to be Dumbledore (Albus). He's got the hat and the sword, and there's all that stuff about only being gone when none are left who are loyal, Dumbledore being the only one Voldemort's afraid of, etc. It would be a neat setup for Voldemort vs Dumbledore, being the Heir of Slytherin vs the Heir of Gryffindor. It could also extend into a nice setup for Harry vs Draco, being Dumbledore and Voldemort's representatives, respectively.
"I thought," said Phineas Nigellus, stroking his pointed beard, "that to belong in Gryffindor House you were supposed to be brave? It looks to me as though you would have been better off in my own house. We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks."
What was Peter Pettigrew doing in Gryffindor??
The Peter in Snape's worst memory reminds me of Colin Creevey a bit, what he might be like if Harry was the type to want an adoring fanboy.
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6:47 pm - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Four
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Okay, someone explain O.W.L.s to me. I always assumed it meant one pass/fail per subject, i.e. "You're at a passable level in DADA." However, people keep talking about how many OWLs you get. Are there multiple levels per subject, like the more OWLs you get in DADA, the higher you scored? Is this based off a British standardized test system that might be easier for me to understand? When Mrs. Weasley's disappointed in the twins for not getting as many OWLs as she hoped, what exactly does that mean?
- According to Mr. Weasley at the beginning of the book, Portkeys transport you from point A to point B at a prearranged time. They all stand there touching the boot for a while until the time arrives and it whisks them away. If that's the way it works, why does the Triwizard Cup activate immediately when Cedric and Harry touch it at the end?
- Mr. Crouch said they'd organized Portkeys "across five continents" for the Quidditch World Cup. Which of the six inhabited continents was left out, and why?
- Doesn't anyone care about the bunch of hangers-on who joined the Death Eaters in support of their assault on the Roberts family? It turned into a pretty big mob according to the narration... sounds like there are a lot more problems in the wizarding world than a handful of loose Death Eaters.
- Why is it apparently so easy to transfigure another human into an animal, but so difficult to learn to transform into one yourself? During the second task Krum Transfigures himself into half a shark, so that throws out the "it's easier to change other people to animals than yourself" theory. So what exactly is the difference between Transfiguration and being an Animagus? Clearly you don't need a wand to transform when you're an Animagus, which would be very convenient, but why would it be so much more difficult that it requires such strict regulation? Why not just stick to Transfiguration instead of going through all the hassle?
- "Moody" is Crouch Jr through the entire book, as I recall. Why is he teaching Harry to resist Voldemort's best weapons?
If the Ministry can tell if an underage wizard uses magic anywhere, or even if magic is used around them, and exactly what spell it is, why can't they detect people using illegal curses?
- The whole Goblet of Fire thing has always bothered me. Putting your name in forms a binding contract that obligates you to compete if chosen. Shouldn't the Goblet have safeguards against people putting someone else's name in? What if someone put their enemy's name in as a joke?
Following that, you'd think the Goblet could tell the difference between a real school and a fake one, or a noncompeting one. Otherwise people could sneak in by lying about their school.
- In addition, everyone had to write their name and school on the paper, so when Harry's name came up, why couldn't they just look at the paper and see another school had been written down? There's all this guessing about how he got in. And if it was just his name, how did that work?
Dumbledore says the champion with the most points will be the winner... why is the Cup just stuck in the maze for the first person to grab, then?
Doesn't Hermione subscribe to the Daily Prophet? Why do they have to learn of Skeeter's article about Hagrid from Draco?
- Why is Myrtle so helpful to Harry? Just because she's sweet on him? He'd never have made it through the second task if she hadn't guided him through the whole thing, that's a lot of help. And then he just continues to blow her off like she doesn't matter. Git.
According to Sirius, Snape was part of "a gang of Slytherins" when he was at Hogwarts, but don't the flashbacks in OOTP show him as an outcast loner?
- Wouldn't the Muggle police have searched the Riddle house after Frank Bryce disappeared?
- Why does the Portkey return Harry to the outside of the maze?
- Why does Barty Jr spill his entire plan to Harry? I can swallow it for a while, since he feels he's better than the other Death Eaters and wants some credit, but he goes on and on with all the details when the rescue squad might be busting in at any moment.
- You'd think Moody wouldn't be so easy to subdue, and Dumbledore wouldn't be so easy to fool.
- Wouldn't Fudge be in trouble from somewhere for having Barty Jr essentially executed without even questioning him? Aren't there checks and balances in the Ministry?
- How did the dementors end up working in Azkaban in the first place? Were they supporters of Voldemort before, and if not, why not? And even if they weren't, why would they have ever been trusted to guard Azkaban if they were always hovering on the edge of the Dark Side?
- The only person apart from Ron and Hermione that Harry felt able to talk to was Hagrid. As there was no longer a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, they had those lessons free. Weren't they already having exams before the third task? Why are there still lesson periods?
- It's sweet revenge, but Hermione kidnapped an adult witch. That's very serious. Isn't Hermione always the one who says they should go straight to Dumbledore with everything? And now she's kidnapping and blackmailing someone?
Watching through the Omnioculars, Harry saw that [the veela] didn't look remotely beautiful now. [...] "And that, boys," yelled Mr. Weasley over the tumult of the crowd below, "is why you should never go for looks alone!"
Hee. Nice foreshadowing for the Ron/Fleur/Hermione triangle later, intentional or not. xD
And here again we have another example of Gringotts' "security," Mrs. Weasley was able to withdraw gold from Harry's vault without, apparently, his knowledge. WTF was the point of the keys and that in the first book if any old person could withdraw your money any old time?
"So go on - how d'you hide a place like Hogwarts?"
"It's bewitched," said Hermione. "If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a moldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying Danger, Do Not Enter, Unsafe."
Heh. Sounds like exactly the kind of place a lot of Muggles would want to explore, actually.
The Triwizard Tournament is spectacularly unfair. When it's running, it takes place only once every five years. With the age restriction in place, if you don't happen to be born in the right year out of ten, you don't have a hope of ever being able to compete in it. And even before that, you're up against people up to four years older than you, what chance have you got of getting in? Totally sucks for 80% of young wizards. Of course, what it really is is a CPD, but that's no excuse for not making logical sense IMHO.
The Yule Ball is another example of the unfairness of the tournament. It's only open to fourth years and above, and with the event taking place only once every five years, there will be entire classes of students who will never get to go. *shakes fist at CPDs*
"Socks are Dobby's favorite, favorite clothes, sir!" he said, ripping off his old ones and pulling on Uncle Vernon's. I has seven now, sir... But sir..." he said, his eyes widening, having pulled both socks up to their highest extent, so that they reached to the bottom of his shorts, "they has made a mistake in the shop, Harry Potter, they is giving you two the same!"
I think this is the absolute cutest Dobby moment in the entire series. ^___^
Is anyone else kinda bothered by the Hermione/Krum relationship? Krum's 18, and Hermione's only 14 as far as I can tell... ugh. What would a guy like Krum, a star athlete and practically an adult, see in a fourth-year average-looking girl anyway? It's like a senior quarterback dating a nerdy freshman. It's sweet and all, and makes a big impression on Ron, but pretty darn unlikely.
"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."
I have to admit I don't quite get this part of Dumbledore's speech. When the chips are down, remember the good kid who died suddenly without a chance to defend himself? Gosh, that's motivating. Remembering Cedric in a case like that would probably drive me to become Peter Pettigrew.
After finishing GoF I understand the basis of the Harry/Hermione ship.
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| Thursday, July 19th, 2007
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4:57 am - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Three
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Why does Sirius' animal form look like the Grim? Why the heck did he pick that shape? If he wanted a dog, why such a big one?
- The Knight Bus folks say the Ministry had Sirius cornered, yet only one wizard died in the curse, and there were no wizard witnesses to see it was actually Peter? How was he "cornered" by only one guy?
- When the kids get on the Hogwarts Express... they load their luggage into a compartment, then get off the train, and then get back on and go looking for an empty compartment but everything's full? Buh? And then they "find" the one with Remus in it, but their luggage just happens to be there (because it's the one they loaded in the first place, duh)? Confusion...
- What do the dementors make Ginny remember?
- Why would the school governors care what Lucius has to say anymore, since he was ousted last year for blackmailing them?
If the Whomping Willow was planted Remus' first year at Hogwarts, it can't have been that big when all the Marauders' adventures were going on. Even the biggest plantable saplings aren't that big. I seem to recall it was planted to cover the secret passage entrance...? What was the passage before then, then? Just a big old hole in the ground? And why does no one on staff know about that passage if they planted a tree to guard it?
How was Sirius able to afford a Firebolt? For that manner, how did Harry's parents get so crazy rich at such a young age? And then there's Remus, with hardly a Galleon to his name... poor guy...
For their DADA final, they have to battle a boggart in a trunk. How do you fight in a trunk? How big do trunks get in England? o_O
- We still don't know the story behind Crookshanks, do we?
- Is a tunnel where third-years have to bend almost double big enough for seventh-year boys to fit down? The Marauders must've had trouble when they got older... and even if they went in their animal forms, that's sure not enough room for a stag...
How are all these wizards attempting to kill each other without Avada Kedavra? Harry threatens to kill Sirius, then Sirius and Remus plan to kill Peter... how? There's all this talk of people pointing wands at each other's hearts, but wands aren't like guns.
- Why does the Time Turner move Hermione and Harry from the hospital wing to the entrance hall?
- And when they get there... sunlight at 9 PM? And was it really that late when Buckbeak was "executed"? Hagrid's note said "sunset"... but 9 PM?
Has Peter repaid his debt to Harry yet? And is he likely to recognize it at all, being the kind of person that he is? (And man oh man, does he ever seem like he belonged in Slytherin. Only helping others when there's something in it for him... I still can't figure out why he ended up in Gryffindor.)
And some random thoughts.
Why was everyone so quick to believe Sirius was guilty? Just because he's the one who lived? He was in the Order, didn't anyone vouch for him? Everyone talks in this book like he was a follower of Voldemort for ages and everyone knew it, but I thought the didn't start suspecting him until after Peter "died." It sure seemed like people still trusted Sirius at the beginning of book 1. Ahh... was it because Voldemort had killed Lily and James, so then everyone thought Sirius had given them up so clearly he was in league with them all along? Still, though... people go on and on about Sirius being Voldemort's second in command... that doesn't seem like the kind of belief that springs up suddenly after one event.
Haha @ Ginny wandering into the Trio's compartment on the Express in the dark and nearly sitting on Harry's lap.... if only they knew... >3
It's kind of weird, but I think Cedric Diggory's death is the one I feel most emotional about over all the deaths in the series. Maybe because he was the first... and he was such a good, fair, strong character, such an all-around good person... and there's enough one-on-one time between him and Harry in book 4 that you really get a sense of the kind of person he is... and he's an innocent bystander, just a good, likeable kid, who happens to get caught in the crossfire. I had an "aww" moment when he first came on screen in the GoF movie, and I had an "aww" moment rereading the first mention of him in PoA now. Poor dead Cedric.
Gringotts really isn't as secure as all that, is it? First a rather average wizard is able to break in... now a convicted murderer is able to order an extremely expensive broom using Harry's name and a completely different vault... So much for all that keys-and-spells business.
You know, Firebolts were very new and rare. Couldn't they have tracked down who'd sent it by asking the suppliers who'd ordered one lately?
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| Monday, July 9th, 2007
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1:44 am - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book Two
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Why doesn't Petunia remember that students can't use magic outside of school? Hating Lily's witch-ness like she did, you'd think that would be something she'd remember.
- Why aren't there more Muggles like the Petunia, who think magic is unnatural and wrong? Or jealous ones? With all the Muggle-born wizards, there should be quite a number of normal folk around who know about the wizarding world.
Did we ever find out exactly why Voldemort lost his powers after attempting to kill baby Harry?
Why can't the Ministry tell the difference between Harry using magic and Dobby? What if a wizard were visiting a Muggle-born's house and used magic there? What if the Weasley kids did it at the Burrow, how would they get caught? You'd think there'd be some system set up to identify exactly who is using the magic, and whether or not they're allowed to.
How do the Muggle-born students get into Diagon Alley?
- "Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy." Come on, is Draco really that bad? None of his actions so far strike me as anything worse than the things Dudley's done - bullying, teasing, getting Harry in trouble, etc. How did Draco become such a supervillain? In fact, this has been bugging me since I started this reread of the series. A couple of encounters with Draco in book one and he's suddenly the bane of everyone's existence. Seems pretty exaggerated, and based mainly on the other characters' view of him rather than things we see him do... I don't know why I fell for it the first time.
- Why does Filch have to do all the cleaning-up of nasty stuff when they have house-elves?
Why does Colin's camera work at Hogwarts? Aren't Muggle devices supposed to malfunction there?
Rereading CoS now I'm realizing it may actually be my favorite of the series, but a disappointingly small amount of character development came out of it. I know a number of people have complained that Ginny's experiences in this book weren't used to help her form a bond with Harry like they might have been.
You know, I think that may be one of the major problems with the entire HP series. The books in and of themselves are pretty good, but overall, things don't really build off each other like they should. There's some ongoing development, but not nearly as much as there could (and probably should) be.
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| Saturday, July 7th, 2007
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3:26 am - Harry Potter Curiosities, Book One
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Weeeeeell I've been rereading the Harry Potter series in preparation for the release of book seven, and now that I'm older and wiser and have my fanfic writer and beta-reader hats on, a lot of plot oddities have been jumping out at me. I've been posting them in a discussion thread over on .moon (thread) but I figure I'll list them here as well for the heck of it.
Questions that have been satisfactorily answered in the discussion thread or by the other books in the series will be crossed out.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone
How old was Harry when his parents died? The best I can tell with logic is he was only a few months old, but Hagrid says he was a year old, and contextual evidence suggests a year or so as well.
- It was Quirrell who broke into Gringotts, yes? How did he manage it when it's supposedly so secure? I was assuming Voldemort helped him, but he didn't have the turban that day and Harry had no problem interacting with him, so I assume Voldemort wasn't with Quirrell at that point. Surely the goblins know something about preventing wizards from getting in?
Why the heck did James give his Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore before he died?
- There's mention of general bathrooms and the prefects' bath, but where do the normal students bathe?
- The Muggle parents of Hogwarts students all seem oddly cool about the whole wizard world thing. I know it's a children's book, so there's some things you just have to let slide, but still, it strikes me as pretty strange. Ever wonder if there's some sort of enchantment on them to make them okay with it? A happy cloud of bemusement comes with the letter, or something?
- Following that, what do you think would happen if some parent refused to let their child go to Hogwarts, or a student refused to go themselves? Harry was clearly a special case, I doubt they'd go to such an extent to get them all through the doors.
- Why do the students hang around an extra week waiting for their exam results? Is this normal in England? Why not send everyone home and send them their results by owl?
- When the Trio heads after "Snape" (really Quirrell), they decide against sending Dumbledore an owl instead because it wouldn't reach him in time... but then toward the end Harry sends Hermione back to send him an owl anyway. Why didn't they send one in the first place before heading into the forbidden corridor?
- After they fall through the trapdoor... "We must be miles under the school," (Hermione) said. Miles? After falling from the third floor? I know it's written that Harry fell "down, down, down..." but damn. Even landing on Devil's Snare can't be that soft, to break a fall like that...
- Ron was a knight in the chess game... why was his final move only one space forward? Can't knights only move in "L" shapes? I'm not misinterpreting, it's clearly written that it's only one step...
- What the heck is Quirrell doing while the Trio's getting past all these time-consuming tasks? The key-chasing, and the potions logic puzzle, and an entire chess game? Does he really spend all that time staring cluelessly at the Mirror of Erised?
- If Quirrell posted a troll in the tunnel as his part of the protection of the Stone... obviously he's capable of dealing with trolls, right? Why were the teachers not suspicious of his fainting from fear at Halloween, then? The guardian troll is written as being even bigger than the Halloween troll...
- Quirrell waited all year long before making a try for the Stone? He found out Fluffy's secret quite a while earlier...
Quirrell met Voldemort while traveling around the world? WTF? Wasn't he some cloud of intangible vapor since the night of Harry's parents' deaths? How did he randomly run into Quirrell on some other continent?
What happened to Quirrell after his fight with Harry? Unlike the movie, in the book it doesn't seem like he dies. Harry burns him, but there's nothing about him crumbling away, he's just burnt, and then Dumbledore arrives and pulls them apart. What happens to Quirrell after that?
Why the heck can't Dumbledore tell Harry about the prophecy right away?
- Hmm... how did Ron and Hermione get out of the tunnel, when it was miles underground and all?
- Why do the first-years take the boats back across the lake at the end of the year? I thought that was only some symbolic traditional thing they did on their first journey to the school.
- Finally... what's with all these people not being at all surprised to see the Trio butting into extremely dangerous, adults-only situations? They're eleven! "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter." Did he actually think a bunch of kids had a chance against Fluffy, and the Snare, and the chess, and the potions? Those aren't exactly first-year skills, dude.
Also, some general musings...
I'm in the crowd that believes Snape had a crush on Lily, so I think when it comes to his hatred of Harry, it's less that he's James' son and more that he's James with Lily's eyes. Harry is a symbol of the fact that Snape lost... that Lily chose James instead. Harry's also the reason Lily died. I find that explanation a lot more sympathetic than hating the next generation for the actions of its parents.
Does anyone else get the feeling that McGonagall is a lot younger in the books than the movies made her?
I love Dumbledore to death, but he's kind of an ass, isn't he? Letting eleven-year-olds get into all these dangerous situations where they're more likely to get killed than not...
About two of the most unlikely Gryffindors in all the history of Hogwarts we've seen - Peter and Neville. For a while I was thinking that they seem to be pretty similar, and why did Peter turn traitor when Neville didn't? But even in the first book, it's not hard to spot the difference. Peter strikes me as the type who always did what the cool kids wanted to do. When Sirius and James were getting into mischief, he rolled with it even if he didn't agree, so they would like him. By contrast, almost from the very beginning Neville speaks up against things he really doesn't agree with (events at the end of SS/PS being an obvious example, but there were earlier instances too). Of course, Neville also had Harry and Ron encouraging him to speak his mind, while James and Sirius were probably more interested in having a lackey. Who was it with that quote, "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes"?
More about Quirrell's fate... The only hint of it is that Dumbledore said Voldemort "left him to die." I triple-checked the scenes because I'd thought it was clearer myself... but that's all that's said. I suppose the implication is supposed to be Quirrell was mortally wounded by Potter and, once Dumbledore appeared on the scene, Voldemort separated from Quirrell (?) and without his strength supporting him Quirrell died. But it still seems odd to me upon reexamination. Quirrell's wounds were painful but didn't seem that serious. I suppose it's possible the full affect of his injuries set in once Voldemort was gone (and he was grafted onto his head, how did he just let go and get free so easily?) but there were no new injuries done to him at that point - unless Dumbledore took a shot at him. Which is kind of creepy to consider now, actually. We're not shown anything of what happens after Harry passes out. It's unlikely, but possible Dumbledore busted in, pulled Quirrell and Harry apart, thought Harry was dead and proceeded to deal Quirrell a deadly blow in retaliation. Who knows? "Left him to die" is a rather open statement. It also seems possible that, although Voldemort left Quirrell to die, he didn't actually die. I see why the movie elaborated on the battle scene like it did. In GoF Voldemort says Quirrell died when Voldemort left his body.
"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." Dumbledore says this about Nicolas Flamel... I wonder if that sentiment will come up again...
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