It tells me that Flitwick is just that good.

 

I was having a roundabout philosophical discussion with my teacher today when something occurred to me.

How do we know that Lily was the one who gave Harry protection? James was the one who ran out and tried to fight and defend Harry wandless. It seems to me that he was the one willing to die fighting for Harry, while Lily... well, I have no clue what she was trying to accomplish. Probably deny the obvious.

Dumbledore said a whole bunch of shit but how do we know that he's telling the truth?

To be honest this idea appeals to me only because of the possibility for an AU with Lily still alive but still, besides Dumbledore's ramblings on a Mother's love, I can't recall any real evidence that it was her, not James who did it.

Was there any real proof in-story of Dumbledore's assertions?

 

No, of course not. Harry's survival against Voldemort is a deus ex machina every time.

Err, 2000th post. Fuck.

 

Well, there was the blood protection working when he was at the Dursleys. As James isn't a blood relation of any of them it must have been Lily. James really died so that both Harry and Lily could get away, if he gave the protection then surely Lily would survive as well. I think that the main difference was that Voldemort offered Lily the chance to live but she still chose to try and defend Harry, even if it seemed like a futile gesture.

 

Ah yes, if I recall this was probably the reason given . I was just curious as to why the magic worked for Lily and not James.

I guess it works thematically, because Voldemort destroyed himself. Although I really doubt he had planned to let her live anyway.

 

It worked for Lily because James didn't have any convenient, potentially abusive relatives. Also a mother's love sounds better than a father's love. A father's love sounds like it comes from a creepy priest

 

There's actually a quote on this very topic.

- Source

There you go. Lily's worked because she had a chance to live but died anyway. It has to be a true sacrifice, with a chance to live which is then turned down.

 

It was Voldemort's mercy in offering Lily to live that led to Harry's survival?

That's kind of flimsy. I wish I hadn't read that.

 

How long have you been here? And what was the impression you were operating under as to the reason Harry survived, then?

And I wouldn't call it 'mercy,' by any definition of the word. Snape still wanted to fuck her so Voldemort was going to grudgingly allow it, but then took the first opportunity to murder the nattering bitch anyway.

His words, not mine.

 

See, I've always believed that it was the prophecy that allowed Harry to survive.

 

The prophecy didn't do anything other than state what would happen--in a vague and openly interpretable way. I. e., the prophecy was speaking of the future--a future--as if it were the past. If I spoke of eating spaghetti for dinner last night, speaking of it didn't cause me to eat the spaghetti, eating the spaghetti allowed me to speak of it. If some hypothetically genuine psychic two days ago predicted that I would eat spaghetti last night, that doesn't mean their prediction made me eat it.

 

Alright so I've got two questions and they're HBP related.

1) Did Dumbledore ever get his position as Supreme Mugwump back?

Since I can remember that he gets reinstated to Chief Warlock in one of those articles in chapter three, but I don't recall anything being said about the ICW Chairmanship.

2) Are there any other Bones family members besides Edgar, Amelia and Susan?

I can't seem to remember Susan mentioning any other family even in passing without names. But for some reason I seem to recall Susan crying in HBP and it not being about her Aunt Amelia.

Admittedly most of HBP is glazed over in my mind, so I only really know the real important parts.

Edit: Squib... Hmm, that's interesting.

 

1) Yes, he got all his positions, titles and whatnot back.

2) They are never named in canon bit I think we can assume they exist. I'm not sure about Susan crying in HBP, wasn't that Hannah Abbot?

 

I don't know, probably was Hannah Abbott and I'm just not remembering correctly. Eh, I suppose it's the same with Dumbledore and his ICW position. That's what I get for only reading HBP once or twice.

 

Susan was freaked out after the Azkaban breakout in Order of the Phoenix because her uncle Edgar's whole family had been killed by one of the escapees during the first war. While Susan's Aunt Amelia died before the start of school in HBP, it was Hannah's mother dying later that made a stir, as Hannah never returned to classes.

Susan's parents are never mentioned but should be living. Fanon often mistakes her as orphaned and living with Amelia, but Fudge and the muggle Minister banter that Amelia was reported as an older woman who lived alone.

 

So is it like canon law that a spell has to travel in a straight line that the caster is pointing as, hence giving their opportunity to dodge it? I mean is it possible that say someone can somehow control the trajectory of their spell?

 

There's nothing in canon indicating that's it's possible to change the trajectory of a spell, short of perhaps a shield charm (and we don't really know if it stops it entirely or deflects it). We don't even really know if they travel at such a speed that they can be dodged after they're cast.

 

Did Rowling ever explain Quirrel's ability with commanding trolls?