Nothing in canon indicates that the Weasleys are known for having many children. Arthur is never mentioned as having any siblings, iirc.

 

And Molly's brothers died during the first war.

 

Ah, well, it's been a little while since I've actually read canon. I guess I remembered Draco (hardly a reliable source, I know) talk about the Weasley's having a lot of children. And Aunt Muriel also said "another Weasley? You breed like gnomes." So I guess I assumed it could be about the Weasley line, not just Arthur's brood.

Molly was born a Prewett. I don't think her brothers are relevant.




Anyway, I have a question of my own:

Are any spells instantaneous? I know that the killing curse comes out as a green light, for example, but what does something like the imperious curse do? Can one even see it coming - can it be dodged? What about Transfiguration or some charms? There are so many fics that make duels seem like light shows, where every attack can be seen and countered, but is that accurate?

 

It's entirely possible that there are a number of 'off camera' Weasleys at Hogwarts. Probably not in the years directly above him, but Harry never pays much attention to students outside of his year who aren't in the DA. If they don't directly interact with Harry, who is standoffish and introverted, they don't make it onto the page and we don't know they exist.

Most spells can be blocked, redirected, transformed, or evaded, so they obviously travel from the wand at a speed slow enough for a skilled wizard to potentially perform these actions. A good example is the duel between Snape and McGonagall in DH. They do some nice effects in redirecting and transforming each other's non-verbal spells without either taking any damage.

 

Do you think if Harry was in a position like Dresden in Changes where he could kill all the Death Eaters by sacrificing Ginny would he do it?

 

Not necessarily. Even if spells travel near-instantaneously, you still have the duration of the casting time to muster a defence. And in fact, most defensive magic used in HP seems to be of this type: shields are cast at the same time as the attacker is casting his spell, not after the attacker's spell leaves the wand. Similarly Harry vs. Snape in HBP showed us that blocking occurs during spell casting, not after.

 

I think HP's moral compass is very action based, not results based. I think Harry would be willing to accept bad consequences if the only way to avoid them was to do something he considered a wrong action.

Case in point: he's unwilling to kill a Death Eater even if it means saving the lives of his friends and allies.

(In philosophical terms, he follows deontological ethics not consequentialist ethics).

 

Brought this here to not derail the Alternate Worlds thread

Do we have any suggestion this is at all possible? I've expressed before my belief that genetic conditions (poor eyesight, probably diabetes, theoretically MS) aren't all/completely treatable by magic but I'm curious to the thoughts of others.

 

I think the implication in canon was that wizards simply don't contract those kinds of Muggle ailments. Excluding seemingly unavoidable or self-inflicted, but relatively minor inconveniences like poor eyesight, acne, bad teeth, obesity, or even messy hair (which in Hermione and probably Harry's case as well, requires extensive but temporary styling), it seems that the possession of magic prevents mundane diseases. And though these seem beyond total, instant, or permanent repair, they can be ameliorated.

The kind of seriously life-threatening, debilitating, or terminal illnesses you mentioned like cancer, diabetes, MS, etc. seem to pass over wizards entirely. It might be a part of why they live so long.

 

It seems like fixing problems such as bad eyesight is possible, but not seen as a social necessity (or Harry, the ever lazy and magically uncurious, simply never bothered to find out about magical remedies). When Hermione got her teeth shrunk, for example, it wasn't because she just up and decided to, it was because of Malfoy's curse. Perhaps, in a society where bodily defects are easily corrected, people ironically begin to place less emphasis on physical appearance.

After all, chiseled abs and bulging biceps don't say much about your discipline or health if you developed them overnight by chugging a 12-Knut potion from Bob's Potion Emporium.

 

The thing is that Dumbledore has glasses, and since the uberglasses are usually a fanon trope, we should probably assume that he actually needs them to see adequately, and if there was anyone who could correct bad eyesight, if it were possible, it'd be Dumbledore.

So while it might be that they simply don't care (Dumbledore can probably see well enough without eyes anyway), the prevalence of people besides Harry with glasses who could use or might actually need better eyesight leads me to believe there's something preventing them from permanently improving eyesight.

Impermanence seems to be the weak point of a number of magical phenomena in HP, come to think of it.

 

Poor eyesight is pretty different from a minor cosmetic defect, and fixing Hermione's teeth with magic did get suggested to her. Magical eyesight fixing being available (and not obscenely expensive or difficult) and no one ever mentioning it to Harry is too far on the side of "all adults are criminally negligent" for my tastes.

Dumbledore also strikes me as the sort of person that might wear glasses as a fashion accessory, though.

 

So I was looking through the character list on FF.net for Harry Potter, and there seems to be a ton of characters I don't recognize that have been added. Who the fuck is Bane for example? Or Bob H., Elphinstone U., Flora C., Fay D. - the list goes on. Seriously the entire list of characters is ridiculously long by this point.

The only thing I can think of this that maybe these are Pottermore characters? Can anyone who uses it tell me if they are?

 

Bane is one of the Centaurs, the dickish one, iirc.

 

You're right, my bad. Completely forgot about the centaurs, but my question still stands. There's a ton of ridiculous names up there I've never heard before - my favorites being Vulchanov and Zograf.

That aside, they could probably clear out that list a lot. For example, why is the Mirror of Erised listed as a character? Or the Whomping Willow? Is anyone ever going to need to list 'Karkaroff's Aide' as a main character in their story?

 

For the eye thing, I always thought it was because eyes are incredibly delicate and complicated. Wizards may be able to regrow entire bones in a night, but bones are not really all that complicated in form or structure.

As for the characters, I would advice you not to go to the HP Wikia if you think there are too many random characters. I have seen entries for made-up characters from the LEGO game that only made one appearance.

 

You're right, he's a vastly underutilized character. I've decided to rectify that. The following is the saga of Karkaroff's Aide as well as proof that you should never write on cough syrup.

Kirkaroff’s Aide and the Goblet of Fire

Kirkaroff’s Aide entered the Great Hall, sneering at the opulence. With golden silverware, thousands of floating candles, and a ceiling that displayed the moonlit sky, it was magic and wealth beyond anything he had before witnessed. All wasted on pathetic children.

“Verdammt Englisch,” he spat in disgust. At Durmstrang, they knew how to treat the little bastards.

Karkaroff’s Aide gasped as he saw his reason for entering the school in the middle of the night, his object of fixation. Surpassing all the sights of the hall in beauty, the Goblet of Fire stood in front of the Head Table, glowing softly in the night.

Karkaroff’s Aide walked to it as if in a trance, stumbling here and there along the short distance. Once he reached it, he raised his hand and softly caressed the wooden goblet. Another gasp escaped his lips.

“You’re so cold,” Karkaroff’s Aide muttered in broken English, “let me warm you in a way your flames never will.”

The Goblet’s flames, previously blue, flashed a deep red as a piece of parchment shot from its depths. Karkaroff’s Aide clumsily caught it and read the single word. Yes.

The Aides’ face split into the widest smile he could remember ever giving as he parted his robes and lowered his pants. Already hard in the presence of the beauty, he grasped his manhood and plunged it into the flames in one sudden motion.

Pleasure, indescribable pleasure filled Karkaroff’s Aide. Beyond any feeling he could imagined, the warmth and ectasy took over his every thought, his entire being, for just a moment. And then the pain began.

The flames, returned to blue, spread from the goblet to the Aide. In seconds he was entirely consumed. His screams filled the massive hall as he was turned to ash. The ashes, rather then falling to the ground, began to swirl above the Goblet of Fire. Once they all were gathered, they slowly fell into the rim of the goblet, manna to a starving mouth.

Staring openmouthed from a corner of the hall, a one-eyed, peg-legged man could only stutter, “What the fuck,” and stare in horror as the Goblet of Fire once more flared red, appeased and fully sated. For now…

 

Now I'm shipping Karkaroff's AideXMirror of ErisedXWomping Willow.

 

What does a single Horcrux do to you?

Do you stop aging? Does it make you more resistant to stuff that would kill you?

If you do keep aging whats the point in one unless you also have the ritual and helper to keep amking yourself a new body.