So schools in England actually do the points system? Is it set up the same way as in the books? I ask this because I came here to complain about the points, there is no rhyme or reason to them.
The teachers randomly give and take away random points for random acts, and then complain when their house loses. What makes them not fight point-for-point? McGonnigal hears Snape took away 10 points from Harry because of a bad potion? 500 points for Harry for showing up to class.
Also I hated how AD just gave all the points to Gryff after the first book. Not to mention being crazy vague about the whole thing and probably leaving students saying “what the hell?” after awarding 60 points for friggin chess playing.
My sense was that, under the circumstances, they couldn’t trust any Slytherins so they all had to go. Even if some individuals might have wanted to stay, they weren’t given the option. But I might just be making that up.
No, it didn’t at all seem to be a mandatory evacuation of Slytherins. Pretty clearly none of them were against Voldemort, or at least were willing to take a stand against him.
[FANWANK!!!]The boundaries of a wizard-dominated dwelling/public space form a Time Portal, to a temporally dislocated spatial envelope within which everything and everybody exists in the fourteenth century.
It stands to reason that folks living in such an envelope would have only minimal knowledge of the modern world outside the envelope.[/FANWANK!!!]
What Elendil’s Heir said. Also, please to keep in mind that evacuation was mandatory for all students under the age of seventeen. The pool of Slytherins available to fight in the battle was not that large.
Slughorn fought in the final battle. Or were you talking about students?
I’ll echo the ending.
Narcissa Malfoy: He’s dead.
Voldemort: Good! I’ll take your word for it even though you whispered something to him, because I your Dark Lord am a trusting sort at heart. Death Eaters, ho!
Mr. & Mrs. Miracle Max: Bye boys! Have fun storming the castle!
[Trekkie monster]In volatile market, only stable investment is porn![/Trekkie monster]
I wonder if they’re affected by the Muggle economy at all. It did mention that they exchange wizard currency for Muggle in Diagon Alley. I’m assuming that gold isn’t worth as much in the wizarding world, and that- like leprechaun gold perhaps- wizard gold can’t leave into the Muggle world.
That I can buy because Voldemort is too busy pacing back and forth grinning fiercely at his followers in his apparent moment of victory to pay strict attention to what is happening with his fallen foe.
That is another thing that bugged me. Surely galleons et al would be traded on some market, somewhere? If you can exchange currency, then you must have some kind of trading relationship (even it it’s just currency). Which means that Muggles know all about wizards.
I am trying to remember if I was allowed to get any East German currency when our school group toured East Berlin (as part of a larger tour of Germany). I can’t recall. I bring this up only because it seems like the most similar example.
My recollection of the way this worked in Azkaban is that it’s the jigsaw-puzzle style of time-travel. That is, you don’t actually make any changes to anything when you go to the past. The last section of the book has the kids going back in time and experiencing events from another location, but the events themselves don’t change.
The thing that has always bugged me most is the Dursleys. I always felt like Rowling was trying to pull a Roald Dahl with them, but she just isn’t Roald Dahl (who is? the man was an utter genius) and doesn’t succeed, IMO. They’re just nasty and boring and not amusing, even when they’re getting some well-deserved magical comeuppance.
I’ll agree about the camping in book 7. I can’t figure out why they’re making two movies out of that. Just skim the dang camping, the story will be half as long!
I agree, winterhawk has made an excellent point.
I always wanted to know exactly what a bat-bogey hex could do and what happened with Ginny’s, as she was so good at it.
Bogey is Brit for boogers (never mind the golf usage). I cannot (and don’t want to) imagine what bat boogers look like. I do tend to picture the hexed victim as dripping in slime, though.
