# With One Week To Go, Yet Another "Harry Potter Year 6 predictions" thread (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878 "2005-07-10T20:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/141 "2005-07-13T20:08:23Z")
Silly me, I thought the man in the hat looked like Mad-Eye Moody and the house looked like Hagrid’s cabin. I guess I’m not thinking deeply enough. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/142 "2005-07-13T20:30:23Z")
> [@](#): > > The guy in the hat could be Pettigrew. It was his left hand that was replaced, right? The guy’s left hand is hidden, so there’s no way to confirm there. No, it was Pettigrew’s right hand, but everything in the picture looks so silvery that I can’t tell whether Hat-Man has a silver hand or whether it’s just moonlight. Cool art, anyway. I’m getting excited. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/143 "2005-07-13T20:40:11Z")
> [@](#): > > if that’s true Dumbledore didn’t convey this to the rest of the Order, since short of using Unforgiveable Curses they were trying like hell to kill Voldy in the battle in the Ministry. Dumbledore was the only member of the Order in the atrium when Voldemort appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/144 "2005-07-13T20:45:14Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Silly me, I thought the man in the hat looked like Mad-Eye Moody and the house looked like Hagrid’s cabin. > > I guess I’m not thinking deeply enough. I think he’s too short and stout to be Mad Eye. I vote Peter Pettigrew. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/145 "2005-07-13T21:01:06Z")
**Izzybella** and I were eagerly discussing things at lunch. We decided the following: Petunia got a letter from Hogwarts, but was so revulsed by the thought of the magic world that she refused to go and figuratively, if not literally, beat the magic out of herself. Note that she married one of the muggliest Muggles ever in the person of Vernon Dursley. This would make sense of her revulsion and distaste for Lily, who got the same letter and chose the wizarding world over the Muggle world. It would also make sense as to why Petunia treated Harry so shabbily. Perhaps since she beat it out of herself, she thought she could beat the magic tendencies out of him as well. That means, in our not very humble opinions, that the non-magic person who will do magic will be Petunia, and probably in order to save Dudley. And we also agreed that Vernon doesn’t know that Petunia got a letter to Hogwarts, and he will be horrified and appalled when she does said act of magic. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/146 "2005-07-13T21:17:43Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > Oh, I’ve been coming across some interesting theories lurking around fansites. My favourite right now is that Professor Sinistra, the astronomy teacher, is a vampire, since her classes are always at night, she’s never at dinner, and the astronomy tower is off-limits except for classes. > > Since vampires seem to be able to control their thirst for human blood in the Potterverse, maybe she’s in the same kind of situation as Lupin? That intrigues me. Jo has a way of picking descriptive names - what does the left side have to do with astronomy? Unless Sinistra is sinister in the English sense. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/147 "2005-07-13T21:43:50Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > Petunia got a letter from Hogwarts, but was so revulsed by the thought of the magic world that she refused to go and figuratively, if not literally, beat the magic out of herself. Note that she married one of the muggliest Muggles ever in the person of Vernon Dursley. This is my theory as well, though a lot of people don’t like it. > [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > That intrigues me. Jo has a way of picking descriptive names - what does the left side have to do with astronomy? Unless Sinistra is sinister in the English sense. Sinistra is a star in Ophiucus (the Serpent Handler). That constellation is rich with symbolism that seems to fit in a Potter context, because of the three different explanations for the constellation:[ul][li]It depicts the first doctor, Asclepius, who learned the healing arts by watching one snake heal another with herbal remedies only known, apparently, to snake-kind.[/li][li]It depicts Apollo the sun-god’s victory over Python to lay claim to the seat of the Oracle at Delphi.[/li][li]It depicts Laocoon, the Trojan priest dragged under by sea-snakes for realizing that the Trojan Horse was a ruse.[/ul][/li] You can see how any of these would fit in with the story, given Rowling’s love of subtle Classical allusions 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/148 "2005-07-13T22:32:41Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > What think ye all of the [deluxe edition cover art](http://www.hpana.com/imageviewer.cfm?nid=18675&f=deluxecover.jpg)? > > I think the Mysterious Man in the Hat is probably Peter Pettigrew, but I’ve got no clue where they are and who’s in the house. I’ve seen some speculation that the HBP is Godric Gryffindor, and that there will be some more “viewing of the past,” through the Penseive or elsewhere, in this book. Given that, and the snake on the hut, maybe the Man in the Hat is Salazar Slytherin? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/149 "2005-07-13T23:49:35Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > This is my theory as well, though a lot of people don’t like it. > > \ > > You can see how any of these would fit in with the story, given Rowling’s love of subtle Classical allusions 🙂 Very interesting, thanks for the extra info **Hamish**. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/150 "2005-07-14T02:30:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve seen some speculation that the HBP is Godric Gryffindor, and that there will be some more “viewing of the past,” through the Penseive or elsewhere, in this book. Given that, and the snake on the hut, maybe the Man in the Hat is Salazar Slytherin? Well, while JKR isn’t super-careful about historical detail (e.g. dressing Nearly Headless Nick, who died in 1492, in Elizabethan-style clothing), I can’t _quite_ see her depicting a wizard who lived a thousand years ago in a modern-style coat and hat. It could still be a Pensieve flashback, though – maybe to the night Harry’s parents died, or the night of Voldemort’s birth (she’s said we’ll learn more about that). ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/151 "2005-07-14T04:03:45Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Dumbledore was the only member of the Order in the atrium when Voldemort appeared. :smack: You’re right. Long and confusing battle, that, although I thought by far her best-written yet. Still, I saw no evidence that Dumbledore was holding back either. I don’t know. It looks like Rowling is saying only Harry can kill Voldemort. But it would be a major plot point if it turned out that if somebody ELSE killed Voldemort, they’d kill Harry too. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/152 "2005-07-14T04:28:05Z")
Fretful Porpentine: > [@](#): > > Well, while JKR isn’t super-careful about historical detail (e.g. dressing Nearly Headless Nick, who died in 1492, in Elizabethan-style clothing), You sure of that? I thought Nick died in 1592. I’m just now (in preparation for Saturday night) rereading Sorcerer’s Stone, and Nick tells Harry he hasn’t had food in almost four hundred years, not almost five hundred. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/153 "2005-07-14T05:26:11Z")
Hmm… I thought it was basically an open secret that Voldemort and Harry were linked so that if you killed Voldy, you’d kill Harry (unless it was Harry doing the killing). After all at the end of OotP, when Dumbledore held Voldemort in that painful contraption, it was causing Harry all sorts of bad pain. That’s why Dumbledore can’t kill Voldemort, and it must be Harry that does the job. I think the real mystery is why this is the case and how that night at Godric’s Hollow linked them so. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/154 "2005-07-14T05:29:09Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Fretful Porpentine: > > You sure of that? I thought Nick died in 1592. I’m just now (in preparation for Saturday night) rereading Sorcerer’s Stone, and Nick tells Harry he hasn’t had food in almost four hundred years, not almost five hundred. Well, he has his 500th deathday party in CoS, which is set in 1992. Another “oh dear, maths” moment for JKR, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/155 "2005-07-14T05:43:44Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > After all at the end of OotP, when Dumbledore held Voldemort in that painful contraption, it was causing Harry all sorts of bad pain. Looking back at the passage, I guess it isn’t clear that Dumbledore is holding Voldemort, but it does seem from passage that Harry feels linked to Voldemort to the point where he is wishing that Dumbledore kill “us”. It seems to strongly suggest that Voldemort and Harry are very closely linked and that trying to hurt Voldemort will end up doing damage to Harry. (If it was Voldy holding Harry at the point, why wouldn’t he have killed him? I think that it was probably Dumbledore who was holding Voldemort and then Voldy decided to show him the result) ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/156 "2005-07-14T13:27:14Z")
I apparently need to read that part again, but I thought that Voldemort broke free, disapparated, and then possessed Harry from whereever he ended up. When that failed, he returned to the ministry to save Lestrange, which is when Fudge et al. saw him. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/157 "2005-07-14T21:18:25Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > Well, he has his 500th deathday party in CoS, which is set in 1992. Another “oh dear, maths” moment for JKR, I’m afraid. Yup. She’s admitted this is one of her mistakes. 500 is canon. Anyone who wants to read the back of the UK/Canadian children’s edition, [click here](http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.asp?sec=4&sec2=1&unart=yes&artTitle=Back%20Cover%20Copy%20Released). There’s a spoilers warning on it, but very minor and for the very, very beginning of the book. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/158 "2005-07-14T21:31:10Z")
So, I [blogged this question](http://www.contracheck.com/blog/) this morning, but what the heck, I so rarely have an original thought. 🙂 (Please don’t burst my bubble by telling me its unoriginal and linking me to HP slash. 😛 ) Does Hogwarts have a Sex Ed class for the older students? You know, magical methods of contraception, the dangers of using engorgement charms on yourself - the basics. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/159 "2005-07-14T21:36:18Z")
**Sex ed at Hogwarts** Book Titles: _Wand Control for Wizards_ By Richard Longfellow-Wang _Understanding Your Inner Cauldron for Young Witches_ by Delores Mulva ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878/160 "2005-07-14T22:35:31Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Looking back at the passage, I guess it isn’t clear that Dumbledore is holding Voldemort, but it does seem from passage that Harry feels linked to Voldemort to the point where he is wishing that Dumbledore kill “us”. It seems to strongly suggest that Voldemort and Harry are very closely linked and that trying to hurt Voldemort will end up doing damage to Harry. > > (If it was Voldy holding Harry at the point, why wouldn’t he have killed him? I think that it was probably Dumbledore who was holding Voldemort and then Voldy decided to show him the result) At the end of _Goblet of Fire_ there is a passage when Dumbledor looks triumphant for a moment when he finds out that Voldemort used some of Harry’s blood in his re-birth and that it will transfer some of Harry’s power/protection. I’m guessing this will be the ‘out’ for the kill-one-kill-both thing. Now that both Harry & Voldemort have a part of each others power, maybe you can kill one of them & the ‘part’ that is with them will subustitute for the death of the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-one-week-to-go-yet-another-harry-potter-year-6-predictions-thread-spoilers/311878.md?page=9)