Could some one please explain to me this, Why Mrs weasely believed what she was reading inw ithc weekly about Hermione? Right before she runs into hermione and Harry explaims that it is not true, Mrs Weasly is telling Amos Diggory that Rita Skeeter is known for lies and trouble, but apprently she reads it anyway. I just didn’t get that.
Because even if you read something that you don’t believe, it will affect the way you act.
And if Rita added just the right amounts of truth, it would make it more believable.
Or maybe Mrs. Weasly actually believes all that trash, but badmouths it in public… I’ve had friends like that with the Star, etc.
Consistency is not JK Rowling’s strength as a writer. Every time I re-read one of the Harry Potter books I come across more things that don’t make sense.
Magic is forbidden between school terms for Hogwarts students, yet the Weasley twins spend all summer making magical joke items?
There is a sentient painting guarding the door to the Gryffindor dormitory and students aren’t allowed to wander the grounds at night… yet the sentient painting not only lets students come and go as they please, it never tattles on them either?
And that whole obstacle course guarding the Stone in the first book? Uh, why not keep it in Dumbledore’s pocket?
-fh
I thought magic was forbidden to kids who lived with muggles- shows how muh i know! gee she goofed alot
The Weasley’s magic is low level stuff, mostly based on the junk the twins have laying around the house. They’re only denied the higher level, “wand and incantation” magic.
And as powerful as Dumbledore is, you could still wallop him above the head. Bot so for the final obstacle.
I thought that restriction applied only to students in the first few years.
Rita Skeeter wrote for the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Prior to Rita’s articles on Hagrid and the article calling Harry “disturbed and dangerous” she (Molly Weasley) probably took Rita to be quasi-real reporter, or at least one that got her base facts straight. Mrs. Weasley sure lapped up the first article about Harry, crying himself to sleep and being the tortured hero. I think Molly found more than a nugget of truth in that article. I took her telling Amos Diggory that Rita’s known for causing trouble more of a defense of Harry, than anything else. She knew that particular article was pure bunk, thought a prior one was all true and may have been reserving judgement on the Hermione issue until she knew. There may have been other things we didn’t read about, like one of the other Weasley kids telling Molly Hermione went to the yule ball with Viktor,(Percy was there, he may have mentioned it in passing) which may have given a touch of credibility to the “Hermione is a scarlet woman” article. Let’s face it, Molly is a bit naive. She believed Lockhart was an authority on dark creatures. I’m sure she believed Witch Weekly to be credible source on Lockhart prior to the end of CoS, though I thought she only admitted getting it for it’s receipes(unless I’m not remembering right).
Somehow I think everything not quite making sense is good. Life doesn’t quite make sense or follow the rules. I think the “no magic outside of school” rule is applied different for kids in the wizarding world as opposed to kids in the muggle world but basically it’s “no magic learned in school may be done outside of school”. In the wizarding world, it might be a rule that’s more overlooked but a spell or charm gone horribly wrong in the muggle would certainly cause trouble.
No magic law
How and to whom it is forbidden maybe unclear but it is clear the the Minstry of Magic can detect it and dispatch an owl that is there almost instantly.
But they don’t know the he-who-is-not-to be-names is out and about and sacrificing humans.
[rationalizing fan voice]
yes but lord voldmont must use some masking spell to block the minstry or some followers of Voldmont are in the minstry
[/RV]
[nitpicking fan voice]
It’s Voldemort. 
[/NV]
Is it ever explicitly stated that the twins are making their gimmicks over the summer? My impression was that they made them during the school year (during all that time that they’re supposed to be studying), and that they just market them during the summer.
And people of all stripes, wizard and Muggle, have a tendancy to want to believe dirty rumors about others. A source doesn’t have to be particularly credible for people to believe it.
If you ask me, I think that Rowling presents an amazing degree of continuity. Much of it is hard to check without going into minutae, though. For instance, she has the calander accurate in Prisoner of Azkaban, even though you have to check three books to even figure out what year it is.
Nah Chronos, the “explosions coming from the twins’ room” thing pretty clearly implies experimentation at home. The rule as given is students can’t do magic between terms.
Unless you have a lifetime’s experience living in a world with magic in it, it’s impossible to write about it consistently without making it extremely dull. I’m not exactly critical, I only notice because I’ve read the books an ungodly number of times.
Main point being that inconsistency is not meaningful criticism of the stories.
I mean, how old is Hagrid exactly?
-fh
Probably have the students who live with muggels undersurveliance, while the wizard kids are probaly clouded by anti wizard looking into your house spells or something.
Sure, count on someone named Chronos to work out the time issue.
Um, I apologize. Tell me what year it is.
Please?
Regarding the Weasley boys (and, by extension, Voldemort), let’s not forget that their father is prone to violate the edicts of his own department, making flying cars and the sort, which lends a little more credence to the “masking spell” theory.
JK Rowling wrote the character of Rita Skeeter to reflect the hounding she got (and likely still gets) from the tabloid newspapers, and the fact that Mrs Weasley suddenly believes the bad things about Hermione while at the same time not wanting to believe, almost definitely would match what Rowling’s friends or family react to what they read in the papers.
A tiny kernel of truth can be enough to make a lie seem believable.
Dammit, I keeeeel these hamsters!
To make a long post short, the detection powers of the Ministry of Magic seem to focus on location rather than person, and they probably pay more attention to kids living with muggles than with wizards as they don’t want the magic to be noticed/abused.
This is seen when Harry gets a warning letter from the Ministry after Dobby casts spells in the Dursley house at the begining of Chamber of Secrets. The twins magical mischief would however have gone unnoticed in a household putting out as much magical background noise as the Weasleys.
GuanoLad: I’d be very interested to hear where you found that! May I have the web site or magazine title or whatever?
D’oh!
I tried to look up the quote I read about that, and it turned out to be not true after all!
Darn.
Nearly Headless Nick has a five-hundredth deathday party in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and the inscription on the cake gives the date of his death as 31 October 1492.
So Harry’s second year at Hogwarts began in 1992, making the series begin with the 1991-92 academic year. Therefore Hagrid’s third year in Hogwarts was the academic year 1942-43, and he was 62 when he first brought Harry to Diagon Alley to buy his school things.
Of course, 31 July, 1991 fell on a Wednesday, not a Tuesday, as is implied in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s [Philosopher’s] Stone. Even worse is the mismatch in 1981, when Voldemort’s disappearance, said to be on Hallowe’en, is placed on a Wednesday (actual calendars show that to be a Saturday).
So much for accurate calendars.
OTOH, there was a discrepancy in The Goblet of Fire, regarding the order in which the shades of Harry’s parents emerged from Voldemort’s wand during his and Harry’s duel. I recently bought a replacement copy of that book, and the discrepancy no longer exists. So it’s possible that the calendar problems have been fixed, too.
Maybe Wizard calendars don’t have leap years.