Didn't Hermione argue in Order of the Phoenix that curses, hexes and jinxes used in a defensive manner (counterjinx, etc) aren't dark magic, but Umbridge and her textbook disagreed? I might be misremembering the passage.

 

Yes. The implication being that a counter-curse and a curse are the same spell just used in different ways, and that therefore the difference between Hogwarts DADA and Durmstrang's Dark Arts classes is largely one of perspective.

 

Rowling's definition of "counter-curse" lacks consistency. Sometimes they are brought up as no different from regular curses, and some other times they are brought up as spells that you use to reverse the effects of a curse.

 

What is the status of magic during a quidditch match? Accepting that outright spellcasting is forbidden (is it forbidden in all circumstances, though? come to think of it, is carrying a wand onto the pitch tolerated), is preemptively casting charms before a game illicit? I seem to remember Harry casting impervius spells or something? Can you cast a charm to enhance your performance (make yourself lighter, stronger, have faster reflexes for the duration of the match)? Can you ingest potions (Felix was forbidden but it's forbidden in many contexts)?

Second question, nothing to do with the first: I vaguely recall a moment in canon where McGonagall conjured food (sandwiches I think) out of thin air.
1 - when did this occur?
2 - was this in fact summoning rather than conjury?

 

Book two

Since McGonagall would be very aware of the dangers of conjuring food, we can assume that she was summoning some from the kitchens or un-Vanishing some that she had prepared for just such an occasion.

EDIT: or as what appears to be this case, the platter is linked to the kitchen and the elves resupply it when it gets empty.

 

It could be about how it was used might have an effect. For example -what springs to mind for me-If someone used cursed fire(like fiendyfire) it is a curse but if someone creates cursed fire to stop cursed fire (fire breaking for example)it is counter cursing.

Another example for it is that one spell that causes someone to dance uncontrollably. You use leg locker to stop them because you don't know the counter spell and it is stil counter cursing.

 

Thanks for the ref wordhammer, and your explanation makes sense. If you're right, one might say that the plate and jug act as a sort of mini-Great Hall table. I wonder what the limitations on this sort of magic are, then (other than spatial, as I don't imagine such a charm would work in London, getting stuff from Hogwarts): I mean, could a student do the same (get a house elf-linked breakfast in bed, for example) or is this somehow keyed to McGonagall's wand? Just a thought though, I don't think there's an in-canon answer..

On a similar topic: lots of fics have Harry or the staff or someone else eating elsewhere than in the Great Hall occasionally or often, and obviously the sort of magic mentioned above would make it easy. Do we know what the obligations are at Hogwarts vis-a-vis dining? Must all teachers always eat in the Great Hall? Do they? What about the students? Also: is there an obligation to eat at one's house table? Fanon seems to think not. Finally: is the teachers' table raised relative to the others (on a platform)?

 

I would assume fanon is wrong or else Luna would eat with the Gryffindors. But Harry gives no fucks one way or other so he's not going to notice Padma and Parvati eating together even if they do.

 

I'm sure Percy and Penelope Clearwater eat together at some point - you'd think they could, anyway. There's definitely a bit where they talk to Harry about the upcoming Quidditch match in the Hall.

 

It's probably more of a case that you can, but it's more likely that the houses stick together for meals out of habit rather than any ruleset. I imagine. That near the end of mealtime the tables scatter more naturally with people mixing more once they've finished their food.

 

Trufax: you could sit at any table you wanted... until 1991. Then Dumbulz changed the rules because he didn't want his pet 'boy-who-lived' to be well connected and stray from his two paid operatives, Weasel and Granger. It was one of many seemingly innocent 'house spirit' changes (purebloods used to just floo to Hogwarts, which is why Molly didn't know where the platform was and was able to con Harry, dontcha know) that suddenly appeared in the Hogwarts rule book just before Harry arrived, all to alienate him to anyone that might help him escape Dumb-old-doors manipulations.

And yeah, a lot of people found in suspicious. Harry never found out though, because of the anti-owl mail ward that surrounded Privet Drive. 'Couldn't they have said something at school?' I hear your unwoke asses asking. Nope. They couldn't. Ron would scare them off if they ever got passed the ignore-Harry-charm that the evil headmaster snuck on Harry at the sorting.

But vlad, surely Daphne could have said something.

And you're right. She could have. And she did. And her family got one pissed off headmaster who traveled back in time to curse their bloodline with a blood curse, for her troubles.

 

How did Voldemort not know the room he hid the Diadem in was known to many people?

Supposedly he hid it there thinking only he knew it existed. Maybe thinking only House elves put stuff there not students.

But surely Draco or someone explained how the Death Eaters got into the Castle in HBP, and that his hiding place wasn't as good as he thought.

 

No definitive answer. Presumably he hid it in a secret room (RoR or not), not just in a room full of generations of junk, and then after the fact the Room moved it to bulk storage.

 

I was under impression Voldemort asked to room a place hide his diadem. Room give it to him but as soon as he left, room moved everything left behind to junk pile which is what room stores everything left behind while in the rest mode.

Voldemort never knew how little room cared for a piece of his soul. If he knew he would have been offended.



Not that he can know. If he were to go back and ask room about his diadem he would get exact same room he left. Observer effect essentially.

RoR should have been called Schrodingers room really.

 

Does Voldemorte actually says himeself that only he knew of the room? Or was that Harrys thought? It is possible that Voldemorte knew other people found it but tought the risk low enought.

 

Who knows really. For someone that JKR claimed was such a genius, Voldemort did not exhibit any remarkable intelligence and his reasoning was quite flawed.

However, logically he would have had to know that others had found the Room of Requirement as there were other things in it. He might have thought that no one finding the room would be able to actually find the cup in the room and then be able to recognize the cup, recognize it was a Horcrux, and know how to dispatch of said Horcrux.

 

The one who has the book, of course.

So yes, I think Rowling is implying here that Voldemort thought he's the only one who knew about the RoR.

 

To me it sounds like Harry implies that Voldemorte things only he himself knows. It is possible that he never tought that.

 

Then yet again the supposed once in a lifetime genius acts like an idiot for the plot to work.

 

Well, being fair with Lord Voldemort, I think it was an act of genius to hide the Diadem in the RoR. We don’t know the room’s specifics enough to assume otherwise. Think what needed to happen to the Diadem to be destroyed:

To even know that there were Horcruxes and what they did (it was not exactly common knowledge)
To work out what Voldemort's plan was.
To have the nerve to actually try to stop him.
For Dumbledore to stumble onto the room.
For Dumbledore to mention it to Harry.
For Harry to believe him and later try to use the room.
For Harry to actually be able to use the room at will.
For Dumbledore and Harry to work out that Voldemort had hidden a horcux under their noses at Hogwarts.
For Harry to work out what the Horcrux was.
For Harry to work out where the Horcrux was.
For Harry to find it and have a means for breaking it.

The probability of this happening was very low. In my opinion it was the best guarded Horcrux of all. And it was destroyed because the plot needed it; in a RL situation, the plan is foolproof. Or as much as foolproof any plan can be.