I wonder what happened to the beta team. So far only two responded to the posted full chapter 13 in the beta group.

 

Perhaps they are otherwise preoccupied.

 

Fighting a dragon one on one is already nigh-impossible, y'know.

 

Says who? AK will probably kill a dragon if you can hit it.

 

One thing is to fight a dragon, and quite another to fool a dragon to catch the golden egg.


I asked whether the two chapters of the summer will be like the previous summer. That is, one would be the summer of Harry and the other would be the reactions of others during that summer.

However, I personally would like to see if Snape find that Calypso is the little sister of a former comrade who fell in battle. And much more interesting would be if he finds out before Harry's parents.

 

Pretty sure dragons, sphinxes, nundus, etc. wouldn't have their age-old reputations for being incredibly tough/dangerous if the Killing curse worked on them without a hitch. JKR did suggest it kills anything, but this seems to be something she didn't consider.

 

Crouch Jr. said an entire class of Fourth Years using the Killing Curse wouldn't give him more than a bloody nose. Considering dragons have a magical resistance due to Old Magic in their skin, I wouldn't be surprised if most wizards wouldn't actually be able to kill one with the Killing Curse. Never mind the fact, that most wizards never even used that spell and probably won't be able to get it right on the first try.

 

He said that because he assumed they wouldn't be able to cast it. Not because the spell would just bloody up his nose.

 

That's because they don't know how to cast it not because it is impossible for them to cast the spell. I'm sure the killing curse would work if multiple wizards cast it simultaneously at the beast, but I don't see one wizard being able to do much about it.

I'm not sure where you get the Old Magic in their skin bit...they are magical creatures and their skin can offer magical protection. There is nothing about Old Magic being in their skin.

This is a quote from 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' regarding the magical properties of a manticore. In fact, there are several other entries for animals in this book that mention similar things about being able to repel most charms, curses, and the like. The Chimaera, for instance, has only been successfully killed once according to the book.

The killing curse and other dark art are not going to give you a clear advantage against them. In fact, I'd say given what I've read in the book transfiguration would potentially be the most useful in dealing with magical creatures as you could create physical objects with which to bind them, but I dare say that this would require some serious skill in the art as well as enough materials to transfigure.

 

Nothing explicitly mentioned in canon. However, the amount of Stunning spells reflected by the dragon's scales suggests some kind of ancient defence.

 

No, it suggests some kind of natural defense. There is nothing ancient about it. For the life of me, I don't get where this is coming from. Are you just talking about how long the animal in question has had the ability? I suppose you could say it is old magic in that it has been around for an obscenely long amount of time, but the same could be said for some of the spells used if that were the case. Hell, some of these animals only exist because of slightly unhinged individuals like Hagrid (and his father) who breed animals that ought not be bred.

And here we go again...yet another in an exceedingly long line of thread derails. I hope the update comes quickly. No good can come of this. Sigh.

EDIT:

Hold the fuck up. Are you saying that we are getting the full chapter this time and not one broken down into parts? Beta team needs to get on that!

 

Saying ancient defense sounds cooler than natural defense.

 

So I read the story again since the new chapter should be out soon and I noticed a few things:

When Calypso said that very few people in Western Europe knew her dad was still alive Romulus was already teaching at Durmstrang. Maybe she was just thinking about how things were or maybe she was just wrong. But maybe this hints that more has been done to prevent word of Rosier's survival spreading than has been explicitly indicated. If so we probably can't just assume that everyone will already be aware that he is alive.

Also, I'm a bit surprised Calypso hasn't made any progress with the animagus transformation yet. Wouldn't the failed transformation earlier in the story imply that she was a lot closer to finding her form than Harry was? But I guess the failure and pain associated with it could have set her back, or her progress is being slowed in the same manner that Harry's was.

And while the focus wasn't on Harry's end of year projects like in past years there are passages that make it sound like he'll be getting M's in Charms and Transfiguration and a J in Dark Arts.

 

Did it say she hadn't make any progress? I forget. If it didn't there is a possability that she has and we just haven't seen it, but if she hasn't I would assume the pain and memories of the experience have halted her progress.

 

No, it indicates that she tried to force the change before she was ready. The animagus transformation isn't one that requires skill so much as it requires the ability to do it, time, understanding of oneself, and connecting to magic on a deeper level than mere wand waving.

 

I was wondering what will happen in the world cup? Of Course- the dark mark will be seen but will Harry show his knowledge about the dark curses...during the incident?

I think Crouch Sr. will blame Harry for the mishap (or atleast imply that)

 

Why?

Crouch Sr. doesn't know Harry from any other almost-fourteen-year-old kid.

As far as the Triwizard is concerned, I don't think The Santi will or should make major changes to the tournament. This isn't a fourth year fic, and I personally don't really want to see the story get hung up on what is only a small part of Harry's younger years.

 

It's coming from 'The First Task', Chapter 20 of GoF.

 

I've been thinking that if Harry becomes Durmstrang's Champion, he could probably skip another year in the Dark Arts as he trains for the Tasks.

That would mean that he'll break another school record.

Although, I think Santi once said that Harry would not be skipping any more years in his classes, but I'm not sure.

 

In OotP, we see students that haven't mastered Expelliarmus yet (possibly Stupefy too, but I couldn't find that in a quick search) only push back their opponents, instead of disarming them. I'd assume an unmastered Killing Curse works the same way, possibly causing minimal physical harm.

If he assumed they wouldn't be able to get any effect at all, he could have just said something to that effect. Not being able to produce a spark or put a hair out of place would have been better in that case.

Exactly what I meant. Might even be the same kind of mysterious ancient magic that protected Harry from Voldemort.