Also, Pettigrew isn’t necessarily that thick: to know the differences between a werewolf and a real wolf, you’d have to know what both are like, so hanging around a werewolf every month wouldn’t be enough to answer the question.
Yes, exactly! Thank you for making this point -- so many people overlook it.
It's also worth noting that there aren't any normal wolves in the wild in Britain, anymore, which means that 1) Peter almost certainly wouldn't've seen a real wolf, and 2) if you're in Britain and see a wolf free, something is wrong; you don't need to know the visual differences unless you leave the country.
So why did the headmaster’s office seal itself against Umbridge? Does it have some way of telling who the “true” head is? But then, Snape seems to have been able to use it without any difficulty, and none of the good guys seem to have thought that he was the true head.
Severus managed to enter the office even before his official appointment: He was there before the 7P battle in late July, his appointment was announced at the end of August (and in any case was after the takeover of the Ministry on August 1st).
It is possible that during the summer he just flew into the office through the window. (Was it left open since June? Did he Alohomora it from the air?) But during the school year he must have been able to enter it normally. Is it because Severus was appointed by the board of governors while Umbridge was only appointed by the Minister? Is it because Albus discussed Severus' future headmastership in the office (as we see once in The Prince's Tale) so the office knew his appointment was what Albus desired?
It would be quite easy to do this, given that James had access to the Marauders’ Map, allowing him to get Snape when he was alone, and the Invisibility Cloak, allowing him to sneak up on Snape.
Also had access to a mirror-communication device through which he could have been warned of approaching teachers by a friend.
This is approaching James Bond levels of equipment. If schoolchildren can obtain and make these, why are the adults so useless?
James Bond level of equipmentterri_testingOctober 17 2011, 02:18:18 UTC
James is the rich and spoiled only child of elderly Pureblood parents of ancient lineage. It's canon that they gave him "a" (which turned out to be "THE") invisibility cloak to misuse while he was at school. (C.f. Lupin in PoA, "the number of times I've seen him diaappear beneath that cloak," and Twinkles in PS assuring Harry that James used it mostly to sneak food
( ... )
Re: James Bond level of equipmentoryx_leucoryxOctober 17 2011, 03:54:02 UTC
If James' mother was Dorea Black from the family tree then she had siblings (and was not from the main Black line in the first place) so she may not have contributed much to the inheritance, but if James' father too was an only child he may have inherited all the shiny artifacts of two old families. And so forth.
Why is this? Did Dumbledore make him sign an Unbreakable Vow not to tell anyone?
Or threatened to expel him. Whatever he did, Severus didn't tell Lucius or other DEs, even after school, but he was capable of leaking the information to the Slytherins.
but how could what they were doing be worse than what we see of James’ and Sirius’ behaviour?
Because some spells have cooties. James' apparently don't, no matter how actually damaging they were.
Was it a bribe not to tell anybody that Dumbles was harbouring a werewolf in the school?
Or a prize for allowing Dumbles to keep the story hidden (by avoiding a situation of a dead student).
Re: Part 2danajsparksOctober 17 2011, 18:36:51 UTC
----but he was capable of leaking the information to the Slytherins.
I've questioned whether this is actually how the Slytherins found out. Remus tells Harry that Snape told the Slytherins, but Remus is far from a reliable source of information. It think it's more likely that the Slytherins figured out on their own that Remus was a werewolf because they did the essay that Snape assigned, like Hermione did. All Snape then had to tell his students was something like, "There was an incident last night because Prof. Lupin forgot to take his regular potion."
Re: Part 2danajsparksOctober 17 2011, 20:56:14 UTC
Or it could be that some parents did complain, but Dumbledore assured everyone that, because he was taking the Wolfsbane potion, Lupin was perfectly safe when transformed.
* So why did the headmaster’s office seal itself against Umbridge? Does it have some way of telling who the “true” head is? But then, Snape seems to have been able to use it without any difficulty, and none of the good guys seem to have thought that he was the true head. Besides, how would the room tell who’s the legitimate headmaster? Umbridge is the legal head of the school, but apparently that’s not good enough. Maybe it has some way of reading people’s characters, or something.
Maybe it needs the governors' approval? Umbridge was installed via Educational Decree, IIRC.
* Fred and George have thrown Montague into the Vanishing Cabinet for trying to take a few House Points. You’d have thought that two legal adults would act in a more mature way, but then JK Rowling always had funny ideas about behaviour
( ... )
"at this point they are public in their aims and ideology (I think),"
I'm not sure how open they are about their ideology at this point, but I don't think the first incarnation of the Death Eaters was overtly racist. They let the half-blood Snape join, after all, and Hagrid expressed surprise that Voldemort had never tried to recruit Lilly or James to his cause. Possibly the blood purity angle only became important after Voldemort's return, when his old followers didn't flock to his banner as he'd expected and he consequently had to find supporters wherever he could.
Honestly? I think Voldemort did try to recruit at least Lily, on Sev's say-so. But I think he tried to recruit both of them, and they refused. That constitutes defiance. Remember that we cannot trust what Hagrid says. I don't think Hagrid deliberately lies, but he is prejudiced and sometimes ignorant.
Anyway, that's my theory of how these two kids "defied Voldemort three times". And I am sticking with it unless it's conclusively proven wrong.
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Yes, exactly! Thank you for making this point -- so many people overlook it.
It's also worth noting that there aren't any normal wolves in the wild in Britain, anymore, which means that 1) Peter almost certainly wouldn't've seen a real wolf, and 2) if you're in Britain and see a wolf free, something is wrong; you don't need to know the visual differences unless you leave the country.
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Severus managed to enter the office even before his official appointment: He was there before the 7P battle in late July, his appointment was announced at the end of August (and in any case was after the takeover of the Ministry on August 1st).
It is possible that during the summer he just flew into the office through the window. (Was it left open since June? Did he Alohomora it from the air?) But during the school year he must have been able to enter it normally. Is it because Severus was appointed by the board of governors while Umbridge was only appointed by the Minister? Is it because Albus discussed Severus' future headmastership in the office (as we see once in The Prince's Tale) so the office knew his appointment was what Albus desired?
I don’t think Malfoy ( ... )
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Also had access to a mirror-communication device through which he could have been warned of approaching teachers by a friend.
This is approaching James Bond levels of equipment. If schoolchildren can obtain and make these, why are the adults so useless?
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Or threatened to expel him. Whatever he did, Severus didn't tell Lucius or other DEs, even after school, but he was capable of leaking the information to the Slytherins.
but how could what they were doing be worse than what we see of James’ and Sirius’ behaviour?
Because some spells have cooties. James' apparently don't, no matter how actually damaging they were.
Was it a bribe not to tell anybody that Dumbles was harbouring a werewolf in the school?
Or a prize for allowing Dumbles to keep the story hidden (by avoiding a situation of a dead student).
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I've questioned whether this is actually how the Slytherins found out. Remus tells Harry that Snape told the Slytherins, but Remus is far from a reliable source of information. It think it's more likely that the Slytherins figured out on their own that Remus was a werewolf because they did the essay that Snape assigned, like Hermione did. All Snape then had to tell his students was something like, "There was an incident last night because Prof. Lupin forgot to take his regular potion."
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Maybe it needs the governors' approval? Umbridge was installed via Educational Decree, IIRC.
* Fred and George have thrown Montague into the Vanishing Cabinet for trying to take a few House Points. You’d have thought that two legal adults would act in a more mature way, but then JK Rowling always had funny ideas about behaviour ( ... )
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I'm not sure how open they are about their ideology at this point, but I don't think the first incarnation of the Death Eaters was overtly racist. They let the half-blood Snape join, after all, and Hagrid expressed surprise that Voldemort had never tried to recruit Lilly or James to his cause. Possibly the blood purity angle only became important after Voldemort's return, when his old followers didn't flock to his banner as he'd expected and he consequently had to find supporters wherever he could.
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Anyway, that's my theory of how these two kids "defied Voldemort three times". And I am sticking with it unless it's conclusively proven wrong.
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Heh! Coincidentally, I posted the following today:http://majorjune.livejournal.com/72022.html
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