How is speaking in limericks harmful? All it does is make the person look stupid, which they obviously were for not knowing about magical artifacts.

IIRC, Harry was looking for Dark Arts books, so it's possible that he was in a section of books that students should know could cause them problems.

 

I assume it's considered dangerous, as there's probably no counter-curse to it, leaving the person stuck speaking in limericks for the rest of their lives. I could be wrong though. There isn't a whole lot said about it in canon.

 

What? This isn't like Dumbledore choosing to wear the ring when he knows it cursed, this is some unsuspecting kid getting cursed forever for picking up a book. How's he supposed to know which one is cursed and which isn't? He may know some books are cursed, but how does one know exactly which? That makes him stupid?

 

Heh, imagine someone trying to duel while speaking with limericks...

 

It worked for Elan from Order of the Stick.

 

Oh, for fucks sake!!! I hope the next person who mentions that wretched book or limericks for that matter, gets badly bitch slapped by anyone who might be near him at the time !!!

That book and why Harry didn't know about it turned into another "who is Nathan's godfather" debate... utterly pointless and most importantly annoying as hell.

Read what the Author says:

 

Does not answer fundamental question:

Why are they keeping such a book readily available in a school with 11 year olds?

This is not a Nathan's godfather event. That was NEVER featured in the story. This is officially part of this story's history, and is the opening salvo in his relationship with a major new Original Character.

Surely, there should be logic, grounding, and reason involved, lest we assume the whole hazard is a danger fabricated by Calypso. Which would be fine if that were the intent, but at this juncture the story has become nebulous.

 

I actually somewhat agree with psihary, even though he sounds incredibly stupid. It's not like were're going to get anything more out of the debate. I feel like hiding a dangerous book in the middle of the library just for lulz is incongruous with my conception of the wizarding world, but we'll just have to wait and see what the author does with the issue.

Update plz?

 

Lolwut? Because there's no restricted section at Durmstrang - have you been reading the story at all? It's the primary reason Harry wanted to transfer, remember ?

Being a school steeped in blood/magical superiority, they'd probably figure that if a student was dumb enough to mishandle a dangerous book, then he wasn't worthy to be at Durmstrang in the first place.

 

....Mishandle a dangerous book? Opening it is not mishandling. Now if someone put a curse on the book so that anyone who rips it up or pisses on the book gets cursed that seems somewhat acceptable but we are talking about the act of opening the book cursing someone for life. Maybe it would be amusing if it only lasted a month or was reversable but this speaking in limericks is dangerous especially since a good deal of people need to speak to cast spells since they can't do it non verbally. This is practically a life or death matter.

However saying all that I am willing to wait to see what the author is doing with it. Maybe he does have a good reason for leaving such a dangerous book around.

Not having a restricted section doesn't mean people should have books around that curse them for life. So I am hoping when the author reveals his reason it is better then "well they don't have a restricted section so 11 year olds can curse themselves for life on a book and it makes sense SEE!"

 

You know, at Hogwarts restricted section =/= forbidden section. In my mind it wouldn't contain heavily cursed books because they let students have access with teacher permission, and it's relatively easy to bypass the restriction. And I don't see why you expect school libraries to hold books that do nothing but curse people. The restricted section in Hogwarts holds books with the instructions to the Polyjuice Potion, not books that kill you if you open them.

Moreover, lack of restricted section means the students have unlimited access to all the books, not that the dangerous ones (assuming there are some truly dangerous ones) aren't separated from the harmless ones. Simply for the fact that it would make research that much more difficult if you ran the risk of being cursed for life every time you opened a book.

 

You all seem to forget the Care of Magical Creatures book, which actively tried to bite off fingers. This was given to Harry in his third year, iirc, in Hogwarts. Singing in Limericks, if anything, is too cute for Durmstrang.

 

Sesc, what's dangerous about the books in the restricted section is their content, not the books themselves.

 

I think you're smart enough to make sense of what I wrote.

Firstly, restricted section refers to the fact that it is restricted to students, not teachers. So even if we were to imagine the existence of a forbidden section (which I wasn't), it wouldn't be such a stupid concept.

Secondly, my point is that even in Hogwarts, the restricted is only restricted, not forbidden to students. They still have access (since you need me to spell it out). I agree with your view of the magical institution as more than a school, but they are still schools. So collecting as many different books as possible is fine, but not in a way that makes it dangerous for students. Even the material in the restricted section is filtered, as you rightly point out.

All of this is about your baseless conjecture that some books in the restricted section are actively dangerous. And then that there aren't many cursed books and that everyone knows about them (which is convenient, because let's face it, if your ideal library was loaded with cursed books and you did't know which they were it wouldn't be that much fun).

As I see it, your argument goes like this: "The restricted section holds dangerous books. Books that curse the reader for life are dangerous, so there should be some in the restricted section." Doesn't make much sense to me. If you were the one being cursed, you would care a bit more about whom the book is dangerous to.

 

To summarize:

1. In real life, an institution of learning has to ensure a certain level of safety for their students.
2. Durmstrang - working on a magical system of what constitutes "safe" at a basic level, and being a school known for its relatively hands-off learning in this particular story - is an institution of learning.
3. In the HP-verse, wizards have been known to curse any and all objects, including books that try to kill people (see Chamber of Secrets).
4. In the HP-verse, there have been staff-known areas that could potentially harm/kill students (see Sorcerer's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban).

Conclusion: Durmstrang wouldn't hold books that could actively harm/kill their readers.

...Are you kidding me?

 

They might. But the students would be warned.

The last comments I made were about the restricted section in Hogwarts though.

Theoretically, if there were only very few cursed books, and everyone reasonably smart knew about them and knew to be cautious it would be fine - but in this story Harry is neither dumb or muggleborn, and he gets along with the librarian, and has a friend who knows the school pretty well. I just hope the explanation is good.

Edit: I'll also repeat this: that although you'll find many instances of wizards being careless with danger, they are far less so when the potential damage isn't reversible through magic.

 

How about the Monster book of Monsters. That wasn't even a 'cursed' book, and was deemed safe enough to be on a freaking book list, but it was still arguably dangerous. It had teeth and supposedly was constantly attempting to maul the owners whenever they got near.

Wizarding World has a different level of what normal people would deem safe. Likely due to the ability to fix a deal of injuries with the wave of a wand etc.

 

I did not like the last segment of the Calypso scene. Having this 11 year old with "her plans for Harry Potter" sounded a bit absurd. She felt like a bad B-Movie villain, even if she's over identifying with her Parents plans. Think of how Draco and Voldemort are portrayed. Nasty twerps.

Also, we all knew what was in the letter already I think. Hit the highlights, and move on to the things that have been affected by Harry.