Hey, now here's a test they could do: divide the student body into as many parts as they can, then set them all up in different undisclosed locations as tutoring groups to finish the year. (They'd have to hire temp staff, of course.) If the Heir of Slytherin can't restrain themselves from attacking students even without their beloved monster, they've at least narrowed down their list of possible culprits. If the Heir of Slytherin is smart enough to keep their head down, at least they have lots of time for the Auror Department and maybe the Gringotts cursebreakers if the goblins will hire them out for a few weeks to search the castle without worrying about students getting hurt. These efforts would probably fail, but someone at least should have suggested it even if only to get shot down.
Also McGonagall is either insane or used to be the most incompetent law enforcer in history of law enforcing.Sleep deprivation, I'm telling you. She hasn't had more than four hours of sleep a night since 1959. That's bound to affect one's mental
( ... )
The test is either a good way to find the culprit or (considering how incompetent and overworked the staff is) great way to drastically reduce Hogwarts’ student population. Either way it’s still preferable to what Minnie came up with
( ... )
I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Jo switched villains (just like in PS) because Lockhart seemed to be too obvious choice. It would explain why there is so many shenanigans concerning memory while local memory charms expert isn't involved.
It seems to be very wasteful to use this kind of technology for plumbing. Benches jumping out of the way are short term use of magic so depending on how this magic works could drain the energy source less than continuous usage. Same goes for wizarding tents- most of people use them only occasionally. Though in both examples artefact running out of energy would be disastrous. Now depending on how this magic works, it could be hard to maintain a plumbing infrastructure using it... but perhaps that is the point? What if introduction of magical plumbing infrastructure added additional burden to already encumbered Hogwarts' systems and that is why so many dark creatures/artefacts can pass through wards
( ... )
I wonder how the other permanent-seeming Hogwarts enchantments are powered? Like the moving staircases and the Room of Requirement. Hermione says electricity won't work at Hogwarts because there's too much ambient magic, so there's more magic around the castle than, say, some random place in Sheffield. But I don't think she explained exactly why that is.
I think Mottsnave was the one who had the castle built over a magical "source" which powered the enchantments indefinitely. That's one possibility; there are traditions of some places being inherently magical, and maybe that's true in the Potterverse. Or maybe having lots of magical people in the area is itself a power source because they have magical "charges" which "leak" out of them and build up in the area. The kids' emotions and magic somehow generate Peeves, probably (he's not exactly a traditional poltergeist, but there is a tradition that they're created by emotional teenagers). So maybe that's possible too. Or maybe it's all the magical objects lying around which leak
( ... )
If this was Urban Fantasy, I would say that Hogwarts lays on Ley line and is powered by it. So highly magical field could potentially interfere with electronics and power up Hogwarts' wards. But Jo never tries to explain how Hogwarts' "enchantments'" work so this is open question.
If castle was built over Ley line and was constantly visited by magical people it could explain so many things. For example: why there are only a few truly magical places? If we go off books we have Hogwarts+Hogsmeade, Diagonal Alley+Knockturn Alley, Ministry and St. Mungos. All those locations could lay on the same Ley line, so if one location took more power others either experience blackouts or simply get less power. Hogwarts should take a lot of power if it is truly the safest place in UK. Kinda makes me wonder how wards at Ministry and St. Mungo look like during Dumbledore's shenanigans.
Indeed. The paraselmouth probably had good intentions, but as usual somebody found a way to abuse the system.
I really wish the books had used those (semi-?) sentient portraits better. It's like having security cameras all over the castle! Presumably Tom-in-Ginny could obscure them or Obliviate them or Disillusion Ginny or something, but did he really never slip up? Like missing an itty-bitty portrait in a dark corner which saw everything and immediately nipped off to another portrait to tell someone? He sure has all the luck!
But it's odd how there isn't a huge push to question every portrait in the castle. Between them, they might have seen lots of little clues, at least to eliminate a bunch of suspects. ("Nope, these thirty kids were in the Hufflepuff common room at the time.") At least, eliminate them in the eyes of everyone except Dumbledore, since he's the only one who knows Tom is behind it somehow and that Tom can seamlessly modify memories.
I keep calling them semi-sentient because I'm uncertain of their sentience. Sometimes portraits interact with characters like normal human beings and sometimes they act like chatbots with limited phrase banks. It's mostly Jo being inconsistent in her writing. But yeah, headmaster shouldn't be able to say that he doesn't know what happens in the castle. After all he has ghosts, portraits and House Elves... Even if Tom managed to Oblivate every portrait he passes, in theory you could cross-examinate portraits and locate portraits that have holes in memory (after all would Tom have enough time to bother with creating new memories for every portrait?) and thus learn how the culprit moved around castle. That alone eliminates a lot of potential culprits.
Right, the elves too! Okay, use the portraits, elves, and ghosts to eliminate crowds of people who were in sight at the time in common rooms and such when the attacks happened, and if there are any locations where portraits frequently have memory gaps. Of the people left, figure out which ones usually walk around together (since no one is supposed to go anywhere alone), and set a house-elf to watch each of those groups, and a couple more on the suspicious locations. That should at least let them eliminate more people from suspicion and leave them with a much smaller pool of suspects. Then those few people will be even easier to have watched...
Also just occurred to me: you know what else the ghosts would have been good for? Guarding the Whomping Willow back in the 1970s. They could take turns watching it in pairs--one to stay there and one to float for help if needed. If they did their lurking properly, midnight marauders wouldn't spot them until it was too late. Ghost guards could have nipped those little forest romps in the bud.
It would have been an obvious step to take for Remus's safety, never mind everyone else's (since if a hapless student figured out the tree and went in on a dare, Remus would probably still be punished for it). And if something like that didn't occur to Albus at first, it certainly should have after the "prank" incident. That's exactly the sort of thing that makes people with even halfway decent sense to go, "Oops, security was inadequate. Let's increase it." Because if four other students could figure it out (one of them not even in the same dorm), so could more students. Shutting Sev up doesn't do a thing to prevent anyone else from looking out
( ... )
Heh, ghosts might be bit too visible during full moon nights, but House Elves would work here wonderfully. But, yeah extra security, especially during civil war should be given. I wonder what exactly student body knew about this incident. As far as we know nobody else tried to follow Remus, yet everybody seemed to know that Snape was saved by James...
Depends on whether translucent, pearly ghosts fade in bright, pearly moonlight, like setting a candle next to a lamp or something. I don't think we ever find out. But you're right, house-elves would probably be even better, since they are experts in not being seen.
Was it everyone, or just Lily? (And Dumbledore, of course.) I can't remember now. I think I blocked it out of my mind because I just could not get it to make sense
( ... )
Well: "Dumbledore’s silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts." And that is in candle light, so I imagine that in proper full moon light ghosts would be very visible.
According to DH: “They sneak out at night. There’s something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going
( ... )
Candle light is more golden, though. We know it makes (live) human hair shine, but not having actual ghosts around to test, we don't know whether they look different under different colors of light.
Albus is definitely involved somehow. I mean... Lily knows there was something dangerous in the tunnel, and she knows Sev thought it would be a werewolf. But she doesn't think to ask, "So, was my counter-hypothesis right and they were really just sneaking out to feed some monster Hagrid's keeping there? Don't you feel silly now?" So, either she knows Sev was right but won't say so (maybe because she doesn't understand exactly what happened and thinks she's protecting Remus), or she thinks it was something else but also won't say so, or she is so incurious that she just accepts "something dangerous" and doesn't wonder at all what it was, not even so she can admire James more. The last sounds too unlikely even for incurious Hogwarts kids, unless Albus or one of the Marauders magically induced her lack of curiosity. If she thinks it's
( ... )
/Candle light is more golden, though. We know it makes (live) human hair shine, but not having actual ghosts around to test, we don't know whether they look different under different colors of light
( ... )
Also McGonagall is either insane or used to be the most incompetent law enforcer in history of law enforcing.Sleep deprivation, I'm telling you. She hasn't had more than four hours of sleep a night since 1959. That's bound to affect one's mental ( ... )
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It seems to be very wasteful to use this kind of technology for plumbing. Benches jumping out of the way are short term use of magic so depending on how this magic works could drain the energy source less than continuous usage. Same goes for wizarding tents- most of people use them only occasionally. Though in both examples artefact running out of energy would be disastrous.
Now depending on how this magic works, it could be hard to maintain a plumbing infrastructure using it... but perhaps that is the point? What if introduction of magical plumbing infrastructure added additional burden to already encumbered Hogwarts' systems and that is why so many dark creatures/artefacts can pass through wards ( ... )
Reply
I think Mottsnave was the one who had the castle built over a magical "source" which powered the enchantments indefinitely. That's one possibility; there are traditions of some places being inherently magical, and maybe that's true in the Potterverse. Or maybe having lots of magical people in the area is itself a power source because they have magical "charges" which "leak" out of them and build up in the area. The kids' emotions and magic somehow generate Peeves, probably (he's not exactly a traditional poltergeist, but there is a tradition that they're created by emotional teenagers). So maybe that's possible too. Or maybe it's all the magical objects lying around which leak ( ... )
Reply
If castle was built over Ley line and was constantly visited by magical people it could explain so many things. For example: why there are only a few truly magical places? If we go off books we have Hogwarts+Hogsmeade, Diagonal Alley+Knockturn Alley, Ministry and St. Mungos. All those locations could lay on the same Ley line, so if one location took more power others either experience blackouts or simply get less power. Hogwarts should take a lot of power if it is truly the safest place in UK. Kinda makes me wonder how wards at Ministry and St. Mungo look like during Dumbledore's shenanigans.
Indeed. The paraselmouth probably had good intentions, but as usual somebody found a way to abuse the system.
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But it's odd how there isn't a huge push to question every portrait in the castle. Between them, they might have seen lots of little clues, at least to eliminate a bunch of suspects. ("Nope, these thirty kids were in the Hufflepuff common room at the time.") At least, eliminate them in the eyes of everyone except Dumbledore, since he's the only one who knows Tom is behind it somehow and that Tom can seamlessly modify memories.
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But yeah, headmaster shouldn't be able to say that he doesn't know what happens in the castle. After all he has ghosts, portraits and House Elves...
Even if Tom managed to Oblivate every portrait he passes, in theory you could cross-examinate portraits and locate portraits that have holes in memory (after all would Tom have enough time to bother with creating new memories for every portrait?) and thus learn how the culprit moved around castle. That alone eliminates a lot of potential culprits.
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It would have been an obvious step to take for Remus's safety, never mind everyone else's (since if a hapless student figured out the tree and went in on a dare, Remus would probably still be punished for it). And if something like that didn't occur to Albus at first, it certainly should have after the "prank" incident. That's exactly the sort of thing that makes people with even halfway decent sense to go, "Oops, security was inadequate. Let's increase it." Because if four other students could figure it out (one of them not even in the same dorm), so could more students. Shutting Sev up doesn't do a thing to prevent anyone else from looking out ( ... )
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I wonder what exactly student body knew about this incident. As far as we know nobody else tried to follow Remus, yet everybody seemed to know that Snape was saved by James...
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Was it everyone, or just Lily? (And Dumbledore, of course.) I can't remember now. I think I blocked it out of my mind because I just could not get it to make sense ( ... )
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"Dumbledore’s silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts."
And that is in candle light, so I imagine that in proper full moon light ghosts would be very visible.
According to DH:
“They sneak out at night. There’s something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going ( ... )
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Albus is definitely involved somehow. I mean... Lily knows there was something dangerous in the tunnel, and she knows Sev thought it would be a werewolf. But she doesn't think to ask, "So, was my counter-hypothesis right and they were really just sneaking out to feed some monster Hagrid's keeping there? Don't you feel silly now?" So, either she knows Sev was right but won't say so (maybe because she doesn't understand exactly what happened and thinks she's protecting Remus), or she thinks it was something else but also won't say so, or she is so incurious that she just accepts "something dangerous" and doesn't wonder at all what it was, not even so she can admire James more. The last sounds too unlikely even for incurious Hogwarts kids, unless Albus or one of the Marauders magically induced her lack of curiosity. If she thinks it's ( ... )
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