Don’t get me wrong here. I enjoy the adventures of the youthful wizard. But I got to thinking last night, and a couple points started to bug me…
-Sorcerer’s Stone: End scene, Harry and Quirrell/Voldemort by the Mirror of Erised. Only someone who wants to find the stone but not use it can get it out, right? So why not just leave the darn thing in the mirror? I mean, Quirrell/Voldemort had already tried to get it out by themselves and failed; they wanted to use it. Harry got it out, Voldemort detected it and nearly got the stone. Probably would have, if Dumbledore hadn’t shown up at the last minute and saved Harry’s bacon. And for this Potter and Co. get the hero treatment? I give Harry full marks for good intentions; after all, he didn’t know that the last line of defense would hold. But the fact remains that if he and his friends had just stayed put, the stone would have stayed in the mirror.
-Prisoner of Azkaban: Pettigrew is revealed as a traitor and illegal Animagus. WHY DIDN’T SOMEBODY STUN THE BASTARD?! They could’ve just floated him down the stairs with Snape, and he wouldn’t have had a chance to shift shape and get away. Oh, and why didn’t somebody Accio some potion for Prof. Lupin?
A nitpick about your nitpick:)… Dumbledore didnt help Harry beet Voldemort/Quirrel at the end of Philosphers Stone, the fact that his mother died for him did, Dumbledore tells Harry this in his office at the end of the book. Although your point is right, they should have just let the thing in the mirror… but I guess then anyone could have got it…
These are more things that confused me than nitpicks and they probably have answers but…
I wondered why Snape didn’t do something to take out Quirrel if he really knew what was going on before everybody else did. (I know, there are reasons, Voldemort’s power among them, but it confused me).
Also, I could have sworn that she implied in Book 4 that Percy had just was all excited after having just got his liscence to apparate after his seventh year, and it seems in Book 5 people are apparating after the sixth year (I refuse to consider that some kind of major spoiler…) Anybody know what’s up with that?
And speaking of the Ministry of Magic’s lifts, what’s with the Maxwell Smart method of getting in there (phone booth)? If wizards have such trouble with muggle devices (and yes I know she does refer to that in that scene) surely they could pick an easier way.
It served as comic releif, certainly, but one must have some secret way in. You could have a sign “Minstry of Magic-Muggles Not Allowed” over the door.
It did remind me of Dr. Who and the Police Call Box.
I got the impression that the phone-box entrance to the Ministry of Magic was for wizards who were passing in the Muggle world for whatever reason. Mr. Weasley and Harry entered via the phone box because Harry wasn’t old enough to Apparate, and because they were staying at Grimmauld Place, which for obvious reasons was not connected to the Floo Network. Most wizards would Apparate into the entrance hall of the Ministry, or arrive via one of the many fireplaces which lined the entrance hall.
Doesnt it say that in Phoenix? That as Harry was walking along with Mr Weasley he heard the pops of people apparating to work? I dont have my book at the moment so I cant check
**I got the impression Harry didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter: that once he looked into the mirror he found the stone in his pocket. Yeah, it might have been better to trust to Dumbledore’s traps and not fiddle, but he had good reason to think V knew how to get past everything. My beef is with D - couldn’t he have hidden it, well, better in any number of ways? (Secret keeping, bricking up the doors (Well, the unopenable doors pretty pointless if V can go through the wall), keeping it in his pocket…) But maybe he planned H to confront D, who knows?
Personally I think it might have made more sense for the stone to be hidden elsewhere in the chamber under some ‘unbreakble’ spell, and Harry looking into the mirror finding how to get it, and V reading that from his mind.
They were stupid under pressure? They didn’t know any knock-him-out-without-killing-him spells? Another option would be to force him to transform and put him in a cage
Face it, the books are full of holes which could have been patched up. But I like them anyway ::shrug::
Doesnt it say that in Phoenix? That as Harry was walking along with Mr Weasley he heard the pops of people apparating to work?
Yes, that’s true, it does talk about how most of the wizards and witches got there by apparating (or floo I think? I can’t check right now either but I remember something about fireplaces) and that Mr. Weasley normally apparated. The phone booth was still weird to me though.
I love the books but after all the Snape-centric fanfics I’ve been reading I’m starting to think of Mr. Potter as kind of a little snot. I need help, yes I do…
Perhaps Snape knew Quirrel was really possessed by Voldemort, but didn’t want to blow his cover so soon. Judging by Voldemort’s speech about the lost Death Eaters at the end of GoF, it didn’t work.
Let’s talk about owls for a minute. Even if they’re bright birds, how do they know where to find the people the messages need to go to? Sure, if they’re going back and forth between two fixed points it’s easy (isn’t that how pigons were trained?) but what about poor Hedwig trying to find Black while he’s on the run? It’s not as though owls can follow a scent-trail like a bloodhound…
Oh, I never meant to imply otherwise, that’s one of my favorite pasttimes. I just wanted to reinforce the point that you do have to accept they’re there.
I think that you had to be “of age” (that age being seventeen) to take the test to be allowed to apparate - it doesn’t have anything to do with what grade you’re in. Maybe Percy just wasn’t ready to take the test until the summer after he graduated.
I think that one of the reasons for the apparent backwardness of the wizarding community technology-wise is how magic seems to interfere with electronic devices (something along these lines was mentioned in book four). Hence flying memos, mechanical lifts, etc.
He successfully ended his service to Voldemort, when it’s clear from several places (the best example I can remember off-hand is Sirius’ brother (?) who was killed by Voldemort after chickening out of serving him) that Voldemort’s retirement plan stinks.
Lucius Malfoy, again in book 5 I believe, was said to deeply respect Snape. But wouldn’t Snape be considered a traitor to the cause?
So is there any evidence that Snape still pretends to be a Death Eater, and a double agent, or is this just overlooked?
Thanks in advance,
