I suggested this idea awhile ago in the DLP improvement thread and OZ said I could start one here.

Basically this where you ask questions that you don't think require a whole thread just to get an answer and where you can hopefully get honest answers and opinions.

For example someone started a thread recently to ask about a spell that Voldemort used in the books. Some tried to answer honestly, and others kind of made fun of the whole thing.

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Rules

This is a thread for asking questions on Harry Potter Canon that don't deserve their own thread -- that is to say, short questions that you don't see garnering much discussion, typically simple fact-based questions, and are loath to waste an entire thread on.

Here are the rules:

Questions:
You are allowed to ask questions that have straight-forward Canon answers.

Question: Which class did Harry have first thing on Monday in OotP?
Answer: History of Magic.​

You are allowed to ask for opinions on a very specific, narrow topic that can be reasonably proven by Canon facts.

Question: Is there a wand needed to Apparate?
Opinion (1): Yes. In DH, Ron says they can't Apparate, because he doesn't have his wand.
Opinion (2): No. We've seen people Apparate without holding their wands.
Opinion (3): Not sure. It was never said to be needed during the Apparition lessons in HBP, in any case.​

Not: What would happen to Harry in Slytherin? (too broad), What's McGonagall's favourite dish (impossible to say).


Answers:
You are allowed to answer questions with Canon facts, provided someone else hasn't already done so.
You are allowed to share your opinion based on Canon facts.

Anything else does not belong into this thread! This includes especially

• Speculation
• Responding exclusively to posts other than the one asking the questions, or talking about a topic other than the question, hence
• Discussions
• Joking
• Trolling

For everything else, you are ENCOURAGED to

• Search the Forums -- much has already been discussed, so you might find a thread that way
• Create a new thread -- discussions are encouraged, just not in this thread.

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I'll start us off by asking one.

Why is it that the Dursleys who cared about a lot about their reputation with their neighbours openly admit to have raised up a criminal(Harry) and also underfed him and generally mistreated him without hiding, would it not have been better for their reputation to treat him well, they would have been the kind generous loving people who took in an orphaned relative and raised him as their own.

 

I feel the Dursleys just blamed it on his parentage. The apple never falls far from the hippie/liberal/immigrant-loving crime-ridden tree.

I think we could turn this into a bit of a game almost, you answer the question above and then ask one below, all in the spirit of the thread. Your answers should address the question, and people can try to avoid hating too hard for idiocy here.

So how common would it be for people to hold onto their House discrimination past school? Does it only last a couple of years, or is it an all your life thing for the majority of people?

 

Here's a question, possible plot hole. When Harry was looking at the Mirror of Erised in the random room, was the Philospher's stone already hidden in it? If not, where/how was it hidden before Dumbledore moved the Mirror to the third floor corridor?

 

I wouldn't have thought house discrimination lasts that long outside of school. You might get a few die-hard house fans (Malfoy, maybe a few Ranveclaws who feel the intelligent should run things, not the pure.) but for the most part, I don't think it important. Which quidditch team you support though...

His deepest desire was a way to know how to hide the stone from Voldemort.

 

I agree with this assessment. I think the Dursleys are happy to cultivate a "put upon" image with their neighbors, and it allows them to treat Harry with disdain and scorn in public as well as in private.

Again, I agree. In the Epilogue, even Ron (the most divisive of the three friends and one who despises Slytherin anyway) is almost nonchalant about seeing Draco and his kid. He tells Rose to stay away from him not because he's Malfoy's son (and presumably a future Slytherin) but because he's a pureblood and it would cause Arthur a stroke. Of course Ron's kidding, but not entirely. He demonstrates no animosity at all, really, and that to me says it all - that if even Ron grew up, pretty much everyone does.

Interesting, but no. I like to think that Dumbledore's greatest desire - from the very day it happened - was to have his little sister live and him not to have flirted with Gellert's ideas.

Question: Do you think Harry *really* put the Elder Wand back in Dumbledore's tomb, where practically anyone could steal it again? And don't you think it's kind of stupid for him to have become an Auror, when that increased his chances of losing mastery of the Elder Wand about a trillion-fold as opposed to his being a Quidditch player??

 

This is Harry, I don't think he really thought ahead that much. Also, getting the wand would first rely on knowing where it was and having access to Dumbledore's tomb. If someone did manage to gain mastery of it from Harry, firstly they probably wouldn't believe it exists, secondly wouldn't know where it is, and thirdly Harry would be able to go and either move it or put some protection on the tomb. As to becoming an auror, who's to say that losing a quidditch match wouldn't count as being defeated, and losing mastery of the wand.

Question: Was Harry actually spectacularly good at quidditch, or was he just using a superior broom against a poor quality of opposition? I've always wondered how he would fare against Krum.

 

Jesus. Considering how stupid the wand-rules Rowling set up this might just be true. :facepalm

 

The scene where he caught Neville's rememberall, which led to him joining the quidditch team, seems to suggest that he was that good.

 

I saw an interesting idea in a fic a while back (although it was only a slight mention in one chapter). Harry is actually a terrible seeker.

He may have had natural talent when he first started, and he may have trained hard, but he was on a Nimbus 2000. Literally top of the range, or damn well close. Then he gets a Firebolt.

A World class racing broom, that is so sensitive to his every touch it almost reads his mind (or something like that, I can't recall the canon description). And because his broom is so much better than anyone else's on top of him being awesome, he doesn't have to force himself as much as the other players.

It is like entering kid's bicycle races on a Harley. You completely outstrip all the other competition , whether or not you yourself are better, the equipment makes such a difference you don't need to try at all, and then when you enter the adult world of motorbike racing, you would be worse than a complete beginner, as you would have to forget all your old bad habits.



But in canon, I reckon Harry's awesome seeker skills are due to skill, not broom - he beats Malfoy when on the 2000, and Malfoy is on the 2001.

 

...or Malfoy really sucks balls.

There was one theory that Harry deliberately becomes an Auror but without the Elder Wand, so that if he "loses" somehow, somewhere, the mastery of the first Hallow will become lost - and with the wand itself safely locked away (in Dumbledore's tomb or elsewhere) the power of the Elder Wand will be negated, since the 'owner' will probably never get his hands on it.

 

Personally, I think Harry is just that good.

The first time Harry ever rode a broom, it was no Nimbus 2000, it was a school broom that was who knows how old, had been ridden by who knows how many kids whose attitude was "It ain't my broom", and probably wasn't one of the top of the line models even when it was new.

Despite all of that, he not only rode it competently, he pulled off an amazing diving catch, without becoming part of the ground or the castle wall. It was impressive enough that, from that move alone, McGonagall put Harry on the team, instead of putting his ass in detention (or expelling him, as Hooch threatened).

The only time he loses is when there's outside interference... by things that can eat your soul.

And, of course, his flying was sufficient to keep him from being cooked by a dragon in the First Task.

Basically, he's a natural and gifted flier, outside of quidditch...

On the pitch, all he has to do, other than that same flying, is find a gold ball and not get clubbed by bludgers... which both fall under 'paying attention'.

There seems to be a growing trend in fanfic to downplay Harry's quidditch abilities, insisting that his victories were all down to his broom. From what I've seen, this tends to smack of a desire to contradict canon simply for the sake of being new and different, rather than any real storytelling or characterization reasons.

Although, some of it may be down to the authors not wanting/being able to write quidditch matches. It is a common complaint among HP fanfic writers.

Er... and, among non-HP fanfic writers, there is no quidditch to complain about.

I've seen Harry leave the team because he wants to concentrate on the 'serious business' of training to fight Voldemort, but that doesn't require him to downplay his talent.

 

I've got one that's been bothering me for ages. What is the British magical government like in relation to Westminster? Like, would Fudge, Bagnold, Scrimgeour, be members of a political party, would they be elected, etc.? How is the Minister scrutinised? And what are the Heads of Department, would Amelia Bones be equivalent to Justice Secretary? And the Lord!Harry cliche could actually make sense here, as in there being hereditary peerships like in the House of Lords (until 1999).

 

I'll get flack for this but I think that when it comes to the Elder Wand the movies beat the books when it comes to common fucking sense. Snap the fucker and be done with it.

I did read a nice little one-shot by... someone where Harry was working for the ICW as a Dark Lord aborter and Ginny made him get the Elder Wand out of Dumbledore's tomb and replace it with a fake that portkey'd people to the DMLE.

Here's one for you. How the hell did Harry's wand light up when he shouted Lumonus in the alley in OotP?

 

WANDLESS MAGIC!!1!

 

Of course that would be the sensible thing to do. And that's the same reason it doesn't happen, because magic and whatever.

I actually sort of like the idea of its being indestructible, and that jives with the idea (a misguided one, IMO) that the wand was really a gift from *the* Death.

The main problem is that you're reading stories where Harry allows Ginny to "make" him do anything at all.

That said, I had the idea of putting a fake back in its place as well, and keeping the true Elder Wand hidden away. I also toyed with the thought of Harry placing the Elder Wand under a Fidelius Charm, with either *that* secret being placed under a second Fidelius or the name of the Secret Keeper being placed under a Fidelius.

Of course, that sounds pretty stupid even to me, and as vague as the Fidelius is, I don't think I could make that one work without a shitload of work.

Yeah if he really shouted "Lumonus," I'd be pretty confused as to why it worked too...

The idea of this ability was used to fairly good effect in Draco664's Apprentice Potter, where Harry's "remote casting" ability was the "power he knew not."

 

It also showed up in Shezza's Denarian series.

...I should re-read that sometime.

 

That would be Number Games, by Jbern, I believe. Not a bad little fic (certainly the only one of his I've finished).

As for the question, I've always held to the idea that there's a sort of connection between wizard and wand, so when he called out Lumos it was enough to cast the spell. I'm not saying it would work for serious magic, but a couple of basic charms perhaps. It probably doesn't fit with canon at all, but eh.

 

Ghost in Harry Potter

Hello again, all. Thanks to those who weighed in with opinions on my last question. I have a new one now. On the subject of Ghosts in HP, am I correct in remembering that, when someone dies, they have the choice of moving on to the next world or staying and continuing on as a Ghost? And that the choice is permanent? Once they've chosen to haunt, they cannot move on later?

And, could someone point me to Harry Potter Law that I keep seeing mentioned in various threads?

Lil

 

1st, this belongs in the "Questions that don't deserve their own thread". 2nd from what I understood in OotP ghosts are permanent.

To find Potter Law, search it or give me a bit to edit the link in.

EDIT: Instead of finding what you want I've been looking at all of the hilarious 2007 posts, anyways it's just called "Potter Law" and you need only search the thread title.