Porn star?
OotP, Ch.35 P.785, when two ‘prophecy globes’ are smashed open:
And
Does the first refer to the date of release of Book 6? December 22, which would be cutting it close to Christmas, but from my understanding, JK has a thing for releasing the books on ‘special’ dates?
I want to know how much time passed between James and Lily’s graduation from Hogwarts and their marriage, and then how much time until Harry’s birth. Were they Aurors? Did they continue their schooling somewhere after Hogwarts? Since they already knew and were presumably involved with each other to some degree before they left Hogwarts I’m assuming that they worked together, too. My real question is: where did their vault full of money come from? I’m assuming they died at around age 25. They seem to have a lot of money for two people who couldn’t have been working more than about five years (three years of training after Hogwarts). Did the two of them make all that by the time they died or could some of it have been inherited? Are Aurors especially well-paid?
My other questions are: What did Sirius Black do for a living before Voldemort and Azkaban, and what has Remus Lupin been doing for a living before teaching at Hogwarts, if it’s difficult for him to find work? He is qualified to teach DAtDA. Hmmm…
Perhaps all that money in the Gringott’s vault is the inheritance from Harry’s paternal grandparents. The must be dead, or surely Dumbledor would have sent Harry to live with them, rather than the Dursleys.
You might be right guessing the ultimate source of Harry’s inheritance, but Dumbledore wouldn’t have sent him to live with his paternal parents, because then the blood-bond of protection against Voldemort wouldn’t have worked. It’s Lily’s blood, Petunia’s blood, her side of the family.
Okay, I’ve been spending way too much time on fan sites, lately, so I can tackle a few of these.
I recall there was some line about being married “right out of school,” but I don’t remember where.
All the Marauders were Gryffindors born in 1959 or 1960 (somewhere there are charts working out all the dates). They graduated in 1977, IIRC. I suspect Lily was the same age, but I’m not sure if we know for sure. Harry was “one year old” when his parents died, on Oct 31, 1981. His birthday is July 31, and it must be in 1980. So if they were married right out of Hogwarts, they would have been 17 or 18, and had Harry when they were 20 or 21.
The actors playing them in the movie are way too old.
Never been revealed. Rowling said we’ll discover their profession or professions next book. The only hint she’s given us is that it was not well-paying (the money, as you suggest, is an inheritance on James’ side).
Hagrid described them as high school sweethearts, but Hagrid’s track record as a source of information is pretty awful. Lily doesn’t seem to like James, in the penseive memory – at least not at 15. Wonder what happened in the next 2 years?
Age 20, but Rowling has said somewhere (too lazy to find the quotation) that James inherited it.
Well, he was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix, but we never did learn his day job.
Aside from the Order, not much. I’m guessing he’s been living off the charity of his friends, or on the Wizarding equivalent of welfare. Dolores sponsored that anti-Werewolf act, which seems to exclude him from teaching, and probably most other jobs.
Rowling mentioned that there’ll be a new minister of magic this book. If someone more open-minded gets into office, maybe the anti-Werewolf act will be repealed?
I was thinking, what’s stopping Voldemort from going after the Dursleys? If the charm that Dumbledore put on Harry is still protecting him why doesn’t Voldemort go after the Dursleys while Harry is away at school? Thus getting rid of his safe spot away from Hogwarts (if you can call Hogwarts safe, how many times has he been at risk there already?), making him vulnerable to attack. Or does the charm’s protection extend to Petunia as well?
Do you reckon Sirus made out a will before he died? He didn’t have any children of his own before he died so that would probably leave Harry as his only heir. That would mean that Harry could possibly take possession of Grimmauld Place. That would certainly give him a place to go if the Dursleys were suddenly indisposed.
If there is a new Minister of Magic I’m betting it’ll be one of the Aurors we were introduced to in OotP. Maybe Kingsley Shacklebolt or Tonks… Or maybe even Mad Eye Moody. There’s a slim chance that maybe it’d be Author Weasley. But that would most certainly increase his chances of dying. If he were leading the Ministry into battle against Voldemort he would most certainly be killed.
Does one have to be employed in the Ministry of Magic in order to be appointed Minister or could any ol’ Joe Blow become the Minister?
Well, I’ve been lurking on a fan message board, and these people have everything worked out – they put Medieval Scholastics to shame with their theses and countertheses – but it seems the Ministry of Magic probably follows some kind of parliamentary-democracy style (answering my question in the OP), with the Minister of Magic like the prime minister. It’s been suggested that he’s going to have to call an election because he’s reached the end of his term, or he’ll lose a non-confidence vote.
The favourite candidate seems to be Amelia Bones, a new character introduced in Phoenix who lost part of her family to Voldemort, who’s a member of the Wizengamut, and who refused to follow Fudge.
Rowling said Arthur would not be the new minister. Some have speculated on Percy’s political fortunes, but he’ll likely be brought down with the Fudge administration. On the other hand, a restored Gilderoy Lockhart might try to run on charisma alone.
According to Sirius and Remus in OotP, they started going in seventh year “once James had deflated his head a bit.” (Presumably, having to rescue your worst enemy after your best friend attempts murder-by-werewolf does tend to deflate one’s head a bit. By the way, I really, really hope we’re going to get a good explanation of why Remus ever spoke to Sirius again.)
Well, my pet theory on No. 12, Grimmauld Place, is that we’re going to find out it’s entailed on a male heir – i.e., Draco Malfoy :eek:
(Of course, my last pet theory, before JKR nixed it in an interview, was that it would go to Regulus Black, who has been cleverly disguised as Luna Lovegood’s roaring lion hat, so you may not want to trust my pet theories too much 
)
What’s the deal with Harry getting a letter from the Ministry of Magic about not using magic outside of school when it was Dobby who made the bowl of desert hover? Why blame Harry for it?
By the way, a (belated) Happy Birthday to both Harry himself and J.K. Rowling!
Actually, that’s not the craziest theory I’ve heard so far. All of Rowling’s anagrams and subtle clues have spawned some pretty wild ones.
My current favourite is that all those bubble gum wrappers Mrs. Longbottom is giving Neville are a clue – someone fed them through an anagram-program, and “Drooble’s Best-Blowing Gum” came up as “Gold Bribe Beneath St. Mungo’s.”
Some of the Bounder’s Books outlets were actually celebrating it
Harry’s birthday, that is, not Rowlings.
I had a very scary Harry Potter nightmare last night.
Harry is staying at #4 Privet Drive, when suddenly he knows that Voldemort is coming for him. He nobly tells the Dursleys to get the heck outta Dodge (or Little Whinging, anyway) so they won’t get blasted, while he stays behind, figuring this is the safest place he can be. Much delay and nonsense with Uncle Vernon not understanding why they have to leave, being stubborn on principle, etc., etc., until finally he allows Aunt Petunia to convince him that they gotta leave. Harry’s POV from an upstairs window shows Uncle Vernon mailing a postcard having to do with telling the electric company that the family will be gone for some days and he doesn’t expect to have to pay for service while they’re gone. Finally they drive off.
And Harry is alone in the house. Night begins to fall.
Then, a noise! Banging is heard as Harry discovers a kid, a boy of about nine or ten, peeking in the windows and trying to get in the house. He’s running away from home and wants a place to hide. Harry is reluctant to let him in, but doesn’t want to leave the kid outside either. In the end he lets him in and tries to tell him what’s coming. Kid is too antsy to pay attention and another kid shows up, this one about 13 or 14. Seems to be an older brother or neighbor of the first kid, pursuing him, “You’re in big trouble,” etc. Harry is becoming more alarmed as the wind begins to pick up; he knows these kids shouldn’t be in the house. Wonders vaguely if he can send an owl for help against V. Older kid tells them a sad, scary story about a kid in the neighborhood “so badly abused […something…] that it would make you throw up to hear about [what happened to him].” And the sad, abused kid shows up on the sidewalk in front of the house. Then a fourth kid, a boy of about 16 or 17 gets into the house, and he knows something that Harry needs to know. All four of these boys are Muggles, by the way.
The tension is ratcheting up, Harry is more certain than ever that V. is coming…
…and then I woke up, scared.
Ooh, I had my own Harry Potterish dream the other night.
I was out appliance shopping with an ex-coworker of mine. I needed a new dryer and suddenly I look over and my coworker is signing paper work for a new dryer. I said to him I knew it wasn’t for me because my taste is to expensive for him, and I knew he didn’t need one because he and his GF had recently bought one. He showed me the delivery slip and the dryer was being delivered to Nevil Longbottom. When I asked him why he was buying Nevil a dryer, he said that he’d run into Nevil’s Grandmother a few days ago and she asked him to order one for Nevil as he keeps forgetting.
I was so surprised it woke me up.
Heh. Too bad.
Maybe next time you have the dream you can stay asleep long enough to open the dryer and find out what’s inside.
RE: The Half-Blood Prince.
I might’ve glazed over someone else mentioning this previously, but if she’s referring to the same arc cut from Book 2 then I strongly suspect Dean Thomas. I remember reading his discovery of his father’s past in the earlier books was cut in the interests of focus/length.
The books wouldn’t bother me so much if she didn’t leave the most interesting characters undeveloped. It wasn’t until near the end of book 5 that Nearly Headless Nick shows some real personality rather than being a convenient excuse for a joke or a place to be.
For “The Half-blood Prince”,
I’m going to have to go with the Hagrid theory. This is based on:
- “The Chamber of Secrets” was originally planned to be “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince” before a good deal of the revelations and plot planned for it were moved to book 6 because that would fit better. Now, a focus of “The Chamber of Secrets” was that Hagrid was hinted at as a Bad Person (and later, of course, turning out not to be one). In my opinion, this could have been corroborated with the revelation that he’s a half-giant (hey - maybe some reveations were only moved one book down the line?).
- It is likely that whose side the giants end up on will be pivotal in the “Death Eater VS. Order of the Phoenix” showdown. Thus Hagrid’s diplomatic mission to them will be equally important and could be a major focus of “the Half-blood Prince”.
- IF Hagrid is of giant royalty, sending him on a diplomatic mission despite his apparent lack of diplomatic skill makes much more sense.
- I like Hagrid.
My SO and I were trying to figure out Lily and James’s ages after watching the third movie on DvD one lazy afternoon. I’m not sure if picky details in the movies can count as any kind of point of interest where the books are concerned, but when we freeze-framed a shot of the Quidditch trophy showing James’s name and a year (which we couldn’t place as his grad year or the year he won the cup. Neither seemd to really work out), there was very distinctly a McGonagall next to him, dated the year before.
I’ve paid closer attanetion to Professor McGonagall ever since when re-reading the books, but she never does get flushed out much. If there’s any significance at all to things reveals in the movies, is there perhaps a son or a nephew? He’d be too young for a brother, being contemporary with James. Or she, I suppose, Quittich being equal-opportunity.