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-   -   Little Questions Answered v.21 (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=131704)

Hes September 4th, 2012 9:52 am
Little Questions Answered v.21
 
This thread is meant for short questions and short discussions related to the Potterverse which are supposed to get a clear answer. In depth discussions can be done in existing threads (especially concerning analysis of characters).

Version 20 can be found here

Questions regarding the movies can be asked in the following thread: Questions about the Harry Potter Movies

Previous discussion:    

  

Quote:
Originally Posted by d0rked27 (Post 6037197)
I have a question about Prisoner of Azkaban- I apologize if this has already been brought up.

JKR writes that Lupin's briefcase is very old and the letters that spell out "Professor Lupin" are worn and peeling. If he was only a professor this one year, why would the letters be so worn? He makes it sound as if he has never taught before too- when he talks to Harry at the end about the dangers of him being a teacher.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Godric (Post 6037205)
I would just imagine that he had "Professor Lupin" magically inscribed into his already old and tattered briefcase.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dedalus Diggle (Post 6037208)
That was my initial reaction, but then why were the letters worn and faded?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Godric (Post 6037211)
To match?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowSonic (Post 6037224)
He got it from another Professor Lupin for a low price?
Quote:
Originally Posted by merrymarge (Post 6037226)
I just thought that he might have used the briefcase in other jobs. He had to do something after he left Howarts. Eventually, Umbridge got the Ministry to pass laws to prevent him from working.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xhanax315 (Post 6037234)
:rotfl: This is what I had been thinking, why make the letters look brand new if his briefcase was all tattered?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HedwigOwl (Post 6037241)
Which actually makes sense. If the letters were new and the case old and worn, wouldn't that just make the case look that much worse?
Quote:
Originally Posted by twinsrule26 (Post 6037269)
I wonder if the case was a hand me down from Remus's father or some other member of his family ?
  

BurrowGhoul September 4th, 2012 2:42 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
In OotP, Chapter 27, "The Centaur and the Sneak," Dumbledore says two lines as he is leaving his office:

Quote:
"I am not laving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you..."
and

Quote:
"Remember-- close your mind--" ... "--you will understand."
1. DID anything actually happen to make Fudge regret removing him from Hogwarts?

2. If Harry had truly closed his mind, would he ever have understood why it was necessary?

willfitz September 4th, 2012 7:39 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BurrowGhoul (Post 6037282)
1. DID anything actually happen to make Fudge regret removing him from Hogwarts?

2. If Harry had truly closed his mind, would he ever have understood why it was necessary?
Well, the whole mess of DEs versus DA in the DoM was a direct result of there being no one for Harry to talk to at Hogwarts. This catastrophe costed Fudge his job, so I would say yes. Though truthfully, Dumbledore seems to be warning about things he would be bringing about.

If Harry had truly closed his mind, Dumbledore would eventually tell him the truth, as was his plan. It would likely need to be the following year if not the end of that fifth year, as the following summer, Dumbledore would bring about a fatal curse and run short on time.

GillyweedFan September 4th, 2012 9:15 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Another one from me about Chamber of Secrets. (The book I'm currently re-reading :D)

"Most of their fellow students seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by teachers..." pg. 198. So because of the attacks, the classes are being directed to their next one by their teacher.
This is proven at the bottom of the page where we see Snape say, "Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology....It was only safe to let go of him when Snape had seen them out of the castle."

Understandable, their next lesson is Herbology, their previous lesson was Potions so obviously Snape would take them from his lesson to the next. But then after Herbology...
"At the end of the lesson Professor Snape escorted the class to their Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson." pg.199

Why wouldn't it be Professor Sprout escorting them to their next lesson if they're in Herbology? Is this a mistake?

willfitz September 4th, 2012 9:27 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GillyweedFan (Post 6037342)
Another one from me about Chamber of Secrets. (The book I'm currently re-reading :D)

"Most of their fellow students seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by teachers..." pg. 198. So because of the attacks, the classes are being directed to their next one by their teacher.
This is proven at the bottom of the page where we see Snape say, "Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology....It was only safe to let go of him when Snape had seen them out of the castle."

Understandable, their next lesson is Herbology, their previous lesson was Potions so obviously Snape would take them from his lesson to the next. But then after Herbology...
"At the end of the lesson Professor Snape escorted the class to their Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson." pg.199

Why wouldn't it be Professor Sprout escorting them to their next lesson if they're in Herbology? Is this a mistake?
My version has Professor Sprout escorting them to the next lesson. My guess is it was a typo in an early edition.

GillyweedFan September 4th, 2012 9:45 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by willfitz (Post 6037343)
My version has Professor Sprout escorting them to the next lesson. My guess is it was a typo in an early edition.
Easily answered! Thought it was a bit odd! Thank you! :)

wolfbrother September 6th, 2012 4:06 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Has Jo ever mentioned the percent split of world population into muggle and magical ? Or any other numbers on how the two communities compare ?

willfitz September 6th, 2012 7:26 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Mugglenet InterviewES: How many wizards are there?
JKR: In the world? Oh, Emerson, my maths is so bad.
ES: Is there a ratio of Muggles to wizards -
MA: Or in Hogwarts.
JKR: Well, Hogwarts. All right. Here is the thing with Hogwarts. Way before I finished Philosopher's Stone, when I was just amassing stuff for seven years, between having the idea and publishing the book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year. I'm delighted I did it, [because] it was so useful. I got 40 pretty fleshed-out characters. I never have to stop and invent someone. I know who's in the year, I know who's in which house, I know what their parentage is, and I have a few personal details on all of them. So there were 40. I never consciously thought, "That's it, that' s all the people in his year," but that's kind of how it's worked out. Then I've been asked a few times how many people and because numbers are not my strong point, one part of my brain knew 40, and another part of my brain said, "Oh, about 600 sounds right." Then people started working it out and saying, "Where are the other kids sleeping?" [Laughter] We have a little bit of a dilemma there. I mean, obviously magic is very rare. I wouldn't want to say a precise ratio. But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being sent to Hogwarts, then that's very few wizard-to-Muggle population, isn't it? There will be the odd kid whose parents don't want them to go to Hogwarts, but 600 out of the whole of Britain is tiny.
Let's say three thousand [in Britain], actually, thinking about it, and then think of all the magical creatures, some of which appear human. So then you've got things like hags, trolls, ogres and so on, so that's really bumping up your numbers. And then you've got the world of sad people like Filch and Figg who are kind of part of the world but are hangers-on. That's going to bump you up a bit as well, so it's a more sizable, total magical community that needs hiding, concealing, but don't hold me to these figures, because that's not how I think.

wolfbrother September 6th, 2012 8:58 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Thanks for the quote.

Three thousand sounds really low though. If we include all the other magical creatures and bump the number to a hundred thousand, that's only 0.16% of the population of UK. Extrapolating it to the total population puts the number at a little over eleven million in the whole world.

Maybe there is a point to their secrecy. If things go south and the two sides end up fighting, we could crush them through sheer numbers never mind all the advanced weaponry we've got.

ShadowSonic September 6th, 2012 9:18 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Only a few thousand wizards doesn't make a lot of sense. There'd be little need for the huge Bureaucracy that is the Ministry of Magic if there were that few people. And the economy wouldn't really support a place like Diagon Alley either with such a low number.

willfitz September 6th, 2012 10:47 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfbrother (Post 6037800)
Maybe there is a point to their secrecy. If things go south and the two sides end up fighting, we could crush them through sheer numbers never mind all the advanced weaponry we've got.
I'm not sure what effect advanced weaponry would have on wizards who can transfigure or vanish those weapons at a moment's notice, create imperturbable shields, or simply teleport out of the way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowSonic (Post 6037801)
Only a few thousand wizards doesn't make a lot of sense. There'd be little need for the huge Bureaucracy that is the Ministry of Magic if there were that few people. And the economy wouldn't really support a place like Diagon Alley either with such a low number.
I don't think that we can really compare things so easily to our own economy, and the way that it works. Wizards likely don't need nearly so much money in manufacturing, transportation, energy production or labour, so it's really quite incomparable. Instead, their number one priority is keeping themselves secret, which is where most of their resources are invested; this makes sense. Everything else which takes huge amounts of resources and workers in our world is often capable of being done or conjured with the flick of the wrist, or, possibly, being stolen from Muggles.

ShadowSonic September 6th, 2012 11:24 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by willfitz (Post 6037820)
I'm not sure what effect advanced weaponry would have on wizards who can transfigure or vanish those weapons at a moment's notice, create imperturbable shields, or simply teleport out of the way.
Seeing how we've never seen how those magics would hold up against Muggle weaponry, we don't know how effective or ineffective it'd all be. If enough concentrated magic can mess around with some technologies (like at Hogwarts), then for all we know enough concentrated technology could disrupt magic's effectiveness.


Quote:
I don't think that we can really compare things so easily to our own economy, and the way that it works. Wizards likely don't need nearly so much money in manufacturing, transportation, energy production or labour, so it's really quite incomparable. Instead, their number one priority is keeping themselves secret, which is where most of their resources are invested; this makes sense. Everything else which takes huge amounts of resources and workers in our world is often capable of being done or conjured with the flick of the wrist, or, possibly, being stolen from Muggles.
I mean amount of customers and amount of commerce generated by said customers to keep up profits. It must be hard work for wizards to produce their products on their own if there's no mass production, lots of effort and time and resources going into their businesses and products. With such a small population, could the profits generated be enough to maintain their businesses if they do everything (research, manufacturing, labor, maintenance) themselves? Would be tiring.

And I doubt the Ministry would be the way it is too if there was such a small population to manage.

wolfbrother September 7th, 2012 12:27 am
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by willfitz (Post 6037820)
I'm not sure what effect advanced weaponry would have on wizards who can transfigure or vanish those weapons at a moment's notice, create imperturbable shields, or simply teleport out of the way.
By advanced weaponry, I meant our ability to cause indiscriminate destruction over large areas. There are limits to what magic can accomplish and I think they would be disadvantaged in a straight fight.

Someone should write a fanfic about this...

Ripper September 7th, 2012 3:13 am
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowSonic (Post 6037827)
It must be hard work for wizards to produce their products on their own if there's no mass production, lots of effort and time and resources going into their businesses and products. With such a small population, could the profits generated be enough to maintain their businesses if they do everything (research, manufacturing, labor, maintenance) themselves? Would be tiring.
Not so sure it would be tiring if they're using magic to do lots of this stuff. As for the economics as a whole I see it as pre industrial revolution standard. Small scale as it was when a village had one or two of each trade operating to fulfill the needs of all their community.

Montse September 8th, 2012 2:24 am
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
I am not sure this even belongs in this thread , its more of a movie plot hole than a question book related... Should I have posted it in the DH part two thread... I think so ... but it is still a little question so I am posting it here instead , sorry if I am mistaken.
Anywho, the thing is , I was watching DH part two last night and when Snape gives Harry the memory , Harry watches in the pensieve when Lily tells Harry to be brave and that he is loved... Ummm, how did Snape have that memory, it does not make sense , does it? In order to have it he would have needed to be there when Voldy killed her, I know its was not in the book , but even if it is in the film , it should make sense shouldnt it...

willfitz September 8th, 2012 3:12 am
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Montse (Post 6038107)
I am not sure this even belongs in this thread , its more of a movie plot hole than a question book related... Should I have posted it in the DH part two thread... I think so ... but it is still a little question so I am posting it here instead , sorry if I am mistaken.
Anywho, the thing is , I was watching DH part two last night and when Snape gives Harry the memory , Harry watches in the pensieve when Lily tells Harry to be brave and that he is loved... Ummm, how did Snape have that memory, it does not make sense , does it? In order to have it he would have needed to be there when Voldy killed her, I know its was not in the book , but even if it is in the film , it should make sense shouldnt it...
Yeah, this post would belong somewhere in the Muggle Studies forum. Frankly, making sense doesn't seem to be as big a priority in the movies as in the books.

HedwigOwl September 8th, 2012 7:07 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Montse (Post 6038107)
I am not sure this even belongs in this thread , its more of a movie plot hole than a question book related... Should I have posted it in the DH part two thread... I think so ... but it is still a little question so I am posting it here instead , sorry if I am mistaken.
Anywho, the thing is , I was watching DH part two last night and when Snape gives Harry the memory , Harry watches in the pensieve when Lily tells Harry to be brave and that he is loved... Ummm, how did Snape have that memory, it does not make sense , does it? In order to have it he would have needed to be there when Voldy killed her, I know its was not in the book , but even if it is in the film , it should make sense shouldnt it...
Yes, there are threads on the movies for these questions. But as long as I'm typing anyway.....I believe the movie mixed Harry's own memories with the ones Harry saw from Snape; similar to Harry's being able to see his own memories from when he was a toddler when the dementors got close to him -- Snape's memories evoked his remembering some of his own.

Montse September 9th, 2012 10:22 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HedwigOwl (Post 6038232)
Yes, there are threads on the movies for these questions. But as long as I'm typing anyway.....I believe the movie mixed Harry's own memories with the ones Harry saw from Snape; similar to Harry's being able to see his own memories from when he was a toddler when the dementors got close to him -- Snape's memories evoked his remembering some of his own.


__________________

That sounds logical enough :) thanks

Now a question that does belong in here: How did Hagrid get to the hut on the rock ? He says he flew, but If I am not mistaken , it is stated in DH that he could not fly via broomstick cause he was too large. Did he use Sirius Motorcycle ? threstral? And then , I understand when he leaves Harry he somehow disapparates, could he do that with his piece of wand?

horcrux4 September 9th, 2012 11:07 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
How Hagrid travels at all (eg to Diagon Alley) is a bit of a mystery. Could Sirius' bike be made invisible like the Ford Anglia? Otherwise I can't see him using it to travel into the middle of London if all the Muggles could see him arriving. And if he used it to travel to the island where was it when he and Harry left? And how did he get it back? We never see Hagrid apparating either and I got the impression he wasn't supposed to be using magic which was why he had his wand hidden in the umbrella. Can Muggles see Thestrals? (If they've seen death I mean). If not I suppose he could have ridden one but what happened to it later? Could the Knight Bus have got him on to the island? I'm puzzled. Maybe Dumbledore created Portkeys to get Hagrid around?

snapes_witch September 9th, 2012 11:36 pm
Re: Little Questions Answered v.21
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by horcrux4 (Post 6038502)
How Hagrid travels at all (eg to Diagon Alley) is a bit of a mystery. Could Sirius' bike be made invisible like the Ford Anglia? Otherwise I can't see him using it to travel into the middle of London if all the Muggles could see him arriving. And if he used it to travel to the island where was it when he and Harry left? And how did he get it back? We never see Hagrid apparating either and I got the impression he wasn't supposed to be using magic which was why he had his wand hidden in the umbrella. Can Muggles see Thestrals? (If they've seen death I mean). If not I suppose he could have ridden one but what happened to it later? Could the Knight Bus have got him on to the island? I'm puzzled. Maybe Dumbledore created Portkeys to get Hagrid around?
In PS/SS (the book) Hagrid puts Harry on the train to go back to the Dursleys instead of to Hogwarts as in the movie. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid as the train pulled out of the station but when he looked out the window Hagrid had disappeared. Did he apparate? As you say, how Hagrid travels is a mystery! :shrug:


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