Harry potter... do you ever wonder??? - Page 13

[pixiekisses]

Originally Posted by Daffodil

To totally change the subject, it bothers me that Harry was able to cast the Sectumsempra spell without even knowing what it was supposed to do, just by saying "Sectumsempra." If magic is just about saying some words, why do they need to take classes to learn it? And if there's more to it than just saying the words, Sectumsempra shouldn't have worked for Harry that first time he tried it.

He wouldn't be able to in his 1st year. It's not just saying the words, it's your powers too, he get's more and more powerful with time, and at the time being he's very emotional. When young wizards/witches are little, they can often make things happen when they are angry or upset, have strong emotions.
And remember Hermione, she had done some simple spells even before coming to Hogwarts, and they had all worked for her. And she can often do spells right away, from first try. And that's in the 1st year and before that. When Harry uses that spell he's in year 6.
I don't find it odd at all.

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by Daffodil

To totally change the subject, it bothers me that Harry was able to cast the Sectumsempra spell without even knowing what it was supposed to do, just by saying "Sectumsempra." If magic is just about saying some words, why do they need to take classes to learn it? And if there's more to it than just saying the words, Sectumsempra shouldn't have worked for Harry that first time he tried it.

I wondered this same thing.. but only AFTER playing Harry Potter on the Wii...

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by BookGoddess

You didn't kill the thread because there were secret Horcruxes made to preserve this thread.

I didn't think about it but you're right there are parallels between those two Potions Masters.

I read somewhere that Snape's picture would hang in the Headmaster's Office but I couldn't find any reference to it in the book. Is that something Rowling said in an interview?

Also, does the Headmaster of Hogwarts ever teach a class. It would have been awesome to have Dumbledore as a teacher. Of anything. I would have gladly taken any subject he taught.

Also, what do pure blood kids do until they are old enough to go to a magic school? Do the parents homeschool them until age 11?

Yes, in a post Deathly Hallows interview JKR said Harry made sure a portrait of Snape was hung in the Headmaster's Office.

And same with the lower grade kids. I think someone asked her where did the Weasleys go to school before they went to Hogwarts and she said Molly taught them at home.

So the woman homeschooled seven kids!

I agree completely, any class by Dumbledore would have been fascinating.

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by pixiekisses

He wouldn't be able to in his 1st year. It's not just saying the words, it's your powers too, he get's more and more powerful with time, and at the time being he's very emotional. When young wizards/witches are little, they can often make things happen when they are angry or upset, have strong emotions.
And remember Hermione, she had done some simple spells even before coming to Hogwarts, and they had all worked for her. And she can often do spells right away, from first try. And that's in the 1st year and before that. When Harry uses that spell he's in year 6.
I don't find it odd at all.

But he didn't even know what the spell was supposed to do! I guess I had imagined that the intention to make a particular thing happen was more important than the words. And what that spell did was much worse than anything he had intended or imagined. It just seems weird to me that the words alone could have that much power.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by Daffodil

I guess I had imagined that the intention to make a particular thing happen was more important than the words. And what that spell did was much worse than anything he had intended or imagined. It just seems weird to me that the words alone could have that much power.

I get what you're saying. I also thought it's not just saying the words but intent coupled with the words that matters. A prime example of this is when Harry tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix in OOTP. His attempt doesn't cause her to writhe in pain. She tells him mockingly that you have to *mean* the words and really enjoy seeing the person in pain in order for that curse to work. Later in the last book Harry uses the curse on one of the Carrows and it works this time. I think he says something like "yes, it's true you really have to mean what you say."

[journeymom]

I picked up The Magicians by Lev Grossman today:

From Publishers Weekly
Harry Potter discovers Narnia is real in this derivative fantasy thriller from Time book critic Grossman (Codex). Quentin Coldwater, a Brooklyn high school student devoted to a children's series set in the Narnia-like world of Fillory, is leading an aimless existence until he's tapped to enter a mysterious portal that leads to Brakebills College, an exclusive academy where he's taught magic. Coldwater, whose special gifts enable him to skip grades, finds his family's world mundane and domestic when he returns home for vacation. He loses his innocence after a prank unintentionally allows a powerful evil force known only as the Beast to enter the college and wreak havoc. Eventually, Coldwater's powers are put to the test when he learns that Fillory is a real place and how he can journey there. Genre fans will easily pick up the many nods to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis, not to mention J.R.R. Tolkien in the climactic battle between the bad guy and a magician.

Sounds intriguing.

[MadiMamacita]

oh shoot, i had one, but i lost it!
i was thinking about trelawny today. i understand WHY dumbledore kept her on, but it seems a great disservice to the field and to the kids to have such a useless teacher. unless of course divination is innate and can't really be taught, in which case it wouldnt really matter who taught it. but even so, if they had a good teacher, the kids with the ability would be able to really hone it and nurture the gift..
i love that her name is cybil.. when she starts predicting for real (in PoA) it seems like a different person! so fitting..

[journeymom]

Dumbledore didn't put stock in divination at all and would never have had a divination class. But Sybill was related to the "great" Casandra Trelawney and when she applied for a job he figured she deserved at least the courtesy of an interview. I can imagine it galled him to have to add divination to the curriculum, simply because she needed protecting. But Lavender Brown and the Patal twins loved her!

[merpk]

Originally Posted by Aleo

Molly's line before killing her was stupid as well. I don't know if it was just me but I remember reading/hearing that elsewhere.

I *loved* that line. Total mama-lioness happenin'.

Horror-writer Stephen King wrote a lovely article on the Harry Potter books, and he basically wraps the whole article around that line ...

Originally Posted by 1littlebit

another thing i wondered about the deathly hallows and half blood prince is why lucius and narcissa didn't run to dumbledore and beg him to hide them after voldemort asked draco to kill dumbledore.. and why didn;t they run the first chance they could and look for draco in the castle instead of waiting for voldemort to go in? i had one more.. i'll get back to you.

Why would they go to Dumbledore? I kind of see Lucius' behavior in particular in DH as analogous to that of an abused wife who won't leave ... he may once have been loved and treated as royalty, now he's treated like a dishrag ... but he can't stop hoping that he'll be elevated to that pedestal once again.

And just because Voldemort is downright contemptuous of him doesn't mean he's suddenly lost his own contempt for Dumbledore or "blood traitors" or "mudbloods." He's scared for his son, he loves his son ... but that doesn't mean he's willing to embrace the enemy to protect him.

A difference between Lucius and Snape. Snape's fear leads him to think outside of the box; and remember, he's still a young man when he makes the choice to do what he does. Lucius' fear doesn't help him escape the box he's already in ... and since he's solidly middle-aged at this point, he's so deeply entrenched in that box, it probably wouldn't even occur to him that there is an outside-the-box to think in.

If that made sense to anyone but me.





I enjoy playing with the characters' motivations in my head. Helps clarify my own motivations, sometimes.

[BookGoddess]

After the defeat of Voldemort, does Draco and his family go to Azkaban for a period of time? I've wondered if Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa did any time for their deeds.

[wytchywoman]

Originally Posted by BookGoddess

After the defeat of Voldemort, does Draco and his family go to Azkaban for a period of time? I've wondered if Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa did any time for their deeds.

I've pondered that too but in the end, what crime could they be charged with besides aiding and abetting or treason? It's been awhile since I read book 7 but I can't recall where they actually did anything other than allow their house to be used as headquarters ( unwillingly I think).

[journeymom]

Oooh, good question. Nothing more is said of the Malfoys after Voldemort is defeated, except for Draco and his son Scorpius in the Epilogue. But I think they deserved to be charged with something. Some sort of accessory or aiding or whatever. And then they'd hire the wizarding world's greatest trial lawyer, Serpentes Indigrass.

[BookGoddess]

Rowling makes it ambiguous so it's hard to know what happened to the Malfoys.

As for crimes, Harry had a vision of Draco using the Cruciatus Curse at the request of Lod Voldemort. That would be a crime, wouldn't it since the use of the Cruciatus Curse is supposedly unforgiveable?

What about the imprisonment of Dean, Luna, Ollivander at the Malfoy home?

What about plotting to kill Dumbledore?

[Pinoikoi]

i think the Malfoys would get off because they would just say they were under that curse that forces people to do the will of others..

[wytchywoman]

That could either claim that they were under the imperius curse or they could essentially tell the truth, which was that they would have been murdered on the spot if they didn't comply with voldy's wishes. That would cover them for the prisoners held in the basement. As for DD's death, Snape was guilty of that. Draco may have plotted it, and attempted it, but he didn't actually do it and I don't think anyone high enough in the ministry ever really had proof that Draco sent the necklace or the poisoned mead. I definitely think Lucius and Narcissa should have done some time, even as nothing more than conspirators, but there's a soft spot in me that thinks Draco should have gotten a repreive somehow. He was barely an adult by the end of book 7, and look who he had for parents.