Minor parts of the story that alarm or surprise you.

[crmdy1023]

Originally Posted by KisaDiggory

I guess Harry was just not thinking straight at the time. Remember he was just rescued from the freezing pool of water where the locket almost strangled him. He was cold, shaking and confused. Suddenly there is Ron who came to help, Harry has no idea how he got there so maybe it just came to his mind that Ron has cast the doe. I think he knows what Ron's patronus is, if he was in a better state and thinking more clearly, he would not have asked that question.

I think that you are right about this.. and it's silly really I dont even know why it bothered me so much or stuck out for me, but there are certain things Harry does and says sometimes that are just so patronizing to the other two... i think it was just his following up with exclamations about his own patronus being a stag and acting like Ron's question was stupid when he had just asked him the same thing! i think it might have been half desperation too, assuming but still needing confirmation that Ron did not cast it so he could know for certain that someone else, as yet unknown, had helped him from some mysterious place... and also he asked Ron shortly after that question, "how come you're here?" I think he may still be angry at Ron after their fight before he left, though of course his anger quickly fades... lol JuSSayiN'

[Kryscendo]

Originally Posted by merrymarge

Snape mentioned that giving students Veritiserum was forbidden. (GOF movie). I think it was partly because even if he had taken it people still wouldn't believe he was innocent.
It was all part of the set up leading to OotP, the Ministry didn't believe Harry and Dumbledore. they believed Rita Skeeter's stories that Harry and Dumbledore were deranged. If they believed Harry in GOF, then there would be no problem believing him in OotP.

You know ... that really bugged me. Dumbledore has proven himself over the years to be quite sane ... he was a "pillar" in the wizarding world. Then suddenly ... he is senile?

Also - Umbridge ... did she get away with that nasty quill punishment???? How come that was never brought up? Seems to me she was promoted for bad behavior.

[ginevraweasly]

Originally Posted by nimra_ahmed

Sirius always knew he was non-guilty so he had a hope within him. That hope became more strong when he saw that newspaper, now he had to save Harry Potter. I bet a goal to do made his mind more active and he was able to escape. Him turning into a dog aided him because dementors become confused deciphering dog's thoughts.

Yeah, well, hope was pretty scarce in Azkaban, I would think. Honestly, every normal person in Sirius's place would have written to Dumbledore and explained. And Dumbledore would have believed him! But- it didn't suit the plot at all, as I said.

[merrymarge]

Umbridge did serve time in Azkaban; this was later after the war. She wasn't promoted; she was back at her old job of Undersecretary to the Minister. As for being in charge of the Muggleborn commission, I didn't see it as a promotion, she was just helping Thicknesse.

[LisaA]

It always really bothered me how horribly the Dursley's treated Harry. I know they hated magic and anything 'not normal' but did they ever think that if they treated Harry like a person, he would have been less likely to do anything bad to them and been less likely to want to embarrass them in front of the all important neighbors?

[merrymarge]

the Dursleys didn't care how bad they treated Harry. They thought if they squashed the magic out of him, he would be normal. I still think Vernon did the most mistreatment of Harry and Petunia just went along with it. We also don't know how she felt, if she and Vernon had arguments over his manner of mistreating Harry.

[BrianTung]

Originally Posted by merrymarge

the Dursleys didn't care how bad they treated Harry. They thought if they squashed the magic out of him, he would be normal. I still think Vernon did the most mistreatment of Harry and Petunia just went along with it. We also don't know how she felt, if she and Vernon had arguments over his manner of mistreating Harry.

It's possible, but I rather doubt that they did--not with any frequency, at least. Not only does it seem out of character for Petunia to have stood up for Harry in any argument with Vernon, but on the one occasion when she put her foot down (rather against her own best judgment, it seemed, after Dumbledore's "Remember my last, Petunia"), Vernon gave in rather meekly, as though it took so much for her to stand fast on the matter that he felt he simply had to capitulate. He'd never have done that if that were a commonplace thing in the Dursley household.

[merrymarge]

well, I agree with you on that point

[MinervaRonDobby]

Why would Dumbledore let someone as into punishment and cruelty as Filch work at his school...?
Some may disagree but I think he seemed to genuinley like being horrible to people, I mean even if it was because he's a Squib.....

[ginevraweasly]

Yes, MinervaRonDobby, it always seemed hard to me they let a Squib be the Caretaker of Hogwarts. I mean, the amount of cleaning he's ought to do without magic will turn many nice people into horrible creatures.

Just kidding.
While I am here I should mention also the sudden disappereance of minor characters from the books like Creevy. Unless of course at the final battle again, in death! Colin Creevy was annoying to the point of being unbearble to Harry sometimes but he standed for the small, the weak in their own eyes folks, who will adore passionately a hero, and who lay down their life for their hero radily.

Ein Hoch for the Creevys! Cheers!

[magentastorm]

I was always quite bothered by that throwaway 'joke' of Fred and George trying to trick Ron into taking an Unbreakable Vow when they were kids. I assume (or rather, hope like hell) that they didn't realise it could kill him, but they were 7, they still had to have some level of understanding that what they were doing was dangerous, possibly Dark. (I don't know if an Unbreakable Vow truly does count as Dark Magic, but it certainly seems a bit dodgy..)

Similarly disturbing is them nearly killing Montague by shoving him in the broken Vanishing Cabinet. At first I thought they had done it without realising the danger, but then upon a reread I noticed that they mention that they 'don't know where they sent him' and that 'it might take weeks for him to reappear' indicating that they did know that the Cabinet was broken.

Also, the general attitude everyone has towards bullying and fighting. Teachers never seem to punish anyone for it and it's so rife I can't believe that they don't know it's going on. I can't remember which book, I think it might've been HBP, but I remember a paragraph about a lot of Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch players hexing each other in front of witnesses just before an important match. How were they allowed to get away with this?

The casual way Love Potions are treated. They're practically date rape drugs, and children are being taught how to brew them in school!

I've always been annoyed by the hipocrisy of Harry thinking Draco getting turned into a ferret and repeatedly smashed into a stone floor and ceiling by a teacher to be hilarious, but then being disgusted by James and Sirius in Snape's Worst Memory. In my book either both actions are bad or neither are.

Hermione's bird attack on Ron. Beyond disturbing. If he'd done the same to her people would've gone mental. Double standards like that are horrible.

[ginevraweasly]

Originally Posted by magentastorm

I was always quite bothered by that throwaway 'joke' of Fred and George trying to trick Ron into taking an Unbreakable Vow when they were kids. I assume (or rather, hope like hell) that they didn't realise it could kill him, but they were 7, they still had to have some level of understanding that what they were doing was dangerous, possibly Dark. (I don't know if an Unbreakable Vow truly does count as Dark Magic, but it certainly seems a bit dodgy..)...

...Similarly disturbing is them nearly killing Montague by shoving him in the broken Vanishing Cabinet. At first I thought they had done it without...

Also, the general attitude everyone has towards bullying and fighting. Teachers never seem to punish anyone for it and it's so rife I can't believe that they don't know it's going on. I can't remember which book, I think it might've been HBP, but I remember a paragraph about a lot of Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch players hexing each other in front of witnesses just before an important match. How were they allowed to get away with this?

The casual way Love Potions are treated. They're practically date rape drugs, and children are being taught how to brew them in school!

You might have a point there with the Love Potions, magentastorm. I would think Love Potions act according to wizards age. Tom Riddle Sr. got abused indeed..whereas Ron's infatuation with Romilda Vane would have been just goofy by the looks of it

...Somehow Montesque, I have to admit, is difficult to feel sorry for. However, you have a point there, again!

And I don't believe in bulling and unnecessary fighting either. Nevertheless, the need to adress evil and confront evil will never cease to exist and therefore sometimes is necessary to fight. And fight. And fight..

With this wise words I will finally dissaparate to the Burrow

[Goddess_Clio]

I agree with (much) earlier posters that the whole Hermione/Krum thing creeps me out. It’s not so much that three years is a large age gap (a 40- and a 43-year old, for instance) it’s that there’s a huge gap in maturity and life experience between a 15 year old to an 18 year old (it may not seem like it if you're 15 but there is!), it’s, to me, like an eighth-grader dating a junior in high school. Creepy. Not so creepy when Hermione is older, as in book 7 at the wedding but the maturity gap has been narrowed.

Thought of another thing that surprised me when reading GoF:

The first and second tasks are completely pointless (in terms of the tournament, not in terms of the story). The winner of the tournament isn't determined by who has the most points by the end of the competition, that only determines the order in which the contestants enter the maze. The winner is determined by who touches the cup first.

So doing well in the previous tasks makes no difference if you're awesome solving mazes and cryptic sphynx riddles.

And if that's the case than they are basically just putting students in harms way (and in life-threatening situations) for the thrill of having the chance to enter the maze a couple seconds ahead of the competition.

Come to that, they're giving KIDS challenges like facing a full grown mother dragon, something I'm betting not many full grown wizards could handle (Sirius didn't seem real keen on how to beat the dragon and he's supposed to be one of the cleverest students in his time) - and these are people who haven't even graduated school yet!

The wizarding population seems very cavilier about other people's lives. =^/

[magentastorm]

Originally Posted by Goddess_Clio

I agree with (much) earlier posters that the whole Hermione/Krum thing creeps me out. It’s not so much that three years is a large age gap (a 40- and a 43-year old, for instance) it’s that there’s a huge gap in maturity and life experience between a 15 year old to an 18 year old (it may not seem like it if you're 15 but there is!), it’s, to me, like an eighth-grader dating a junior in high school. Creepy. Not so creepy when Hermione is older, as in book 7 at the wedding but the maturity gap has been narrowed.

I agree that it's a little creepy, but it's not the largest age gap relationship in the series by far, so I just accept it's not meant to come off as weird, even though it kinda does. Also, I think he was 17, not 18, if that's worth anything.

Come to that, they're giving KIDS challenges like facing a full grown mother dragon, something I'm betting not many full grown wizards could handle (Sirius didn't seem real keen on how to beat the dragon and he's supposed to be one of the cleverest students in his time) - and these are people who haven't even graduated school yet!

The wizarding population seems very cavilier about other people's lives. =^/

Well, they're not actually kids. All the legitimate champions were 17, and therefore adults. But I get your point. A challenge like that really isn't appropriate for anyone regardless of age.

Really, it is ridiculous how few safety precautions were taken. I know they said that adults were ready to step in if something went wrong, but what if that something going wrong was someone getting their head bitten clean off in the first 10 seconds? Even worse is the maze; if you needed help you'd probably already be dead by the time someone arrived, and if you were REALLY in trouble, you probably wouldn't be able to send up the sparks anyway. What if something went so wrong even the adults couldn't fix it?

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by magentastorm

Well, they're not actually kids. All the legitimate champions were 17, and therefore adults. But I get your point. A challenge like that really isn't appropriate for anyone regardless of age.

Really, it is ridiculous how few safety precautions were taken. I know they said that adults were ready to step in if something went wrong, but what if that something going wrong was someone getting their head bitten clean off in the first 10 seconds? Even worse is the maze; if you needed help you'd probably already be dead by the time someone arrived, and if you were REALLY in trouble, you probably wouldn't be able to send up the sparks anyway. What if something went so wrong even the adults couldn't fix it?

An 18-year-old is a legal adult but I still consider about 80-90% of them kids (and I'm 26 so I'm not that far from 18!). What's more bothersome to me than their 'legal age' is that they are unqualified (having not passed their highest level of exams yet) and still in school so they still have learning to do.

And as far as i'm concerned it was just reckless to choose a challenge like facing a dragon - it's like throwing someone in a cage with a komodo dragon, locking the door behind them and saying "Hey, good luck! Hope you make it!

Even if these kids (and they are still kids) volunteered for the tournament I was surprised by how age-inappropriate the first challenge was.

[Dedalus Diggle]

Put it in the context of the Gringott's escape - the entire population of goblins at Gringotts could not stop one blind, scrawny abused dragon hemmed in by the limitations of the rock chambers - and the goblins knew there was a dragon down there. But these teens were supposed to handle a hale, robust, protective dragon with nearly complete movement (a very long chain prevented flying away, but did not hinder movement within the facility), and they were not supposed to have known before heading into the task.

[Goddess_Clio]

Okay, VERY minor here, but I thought of this the other day:

What ever happened to Neville's toad Trevor? Did he die? Did Neville start leaving him at home with his Grandma? Not really that alarming or surprising but I was just wondering...

[magentastorm]

Something that just struck me the other day, it doesn't strike me as very safe to leave a baby outside on a doorstep for several hours in winter.

Now I don't know how cold it is in November in England, but I'd have thought it would have been cold enough to have not wanted to leave him there for so long.

[Dedalus Diggle]

Originally Posted by magentastorm

Something that just struck me the other day, it doesn't strike me as very safe to leave a baby outside on a doorstep for several hours in winter.

Now I don't know how cold it is in November in England, but I'd have thought it would have been cold enough to have not wanted to leave him there for so long.

Most of England is well-warmed by the Gulf Stream throughout the winter so that freezes are relatively rare, compared to the USA, for instance, particularly as far south as Surrey. This was not even winter, too, as it was November 1, barely over a month into fall. Presumably, Dumbledore would have taken precautions if the weather had been harsh. However, I am more bothered by the fact that Harry was not really a baby at that point. At 15 months, he was almost certainly well capable of wandering off. Maybe Hagrid or McGonnagal hung around and kept an eye on Harry until he was taken in.

[Prodfoot]

Originally Posted by Dedalus Diggle

Most of England is well-warmed by the Gulf Stream throughout the winter so that freezes are relatively rare, compared to the USA, for instance, particularly as far south as Surrey. This was not even winter, too, as it was November 1, barely over a month into fall. Presumably, Dumbledore would have taken precautions if the weather had been harsh. However, I am more bothered by the fact that Harry was not really a baby at that point. At 15 months, he was almost certainly well capable of wandering off. Maybe Hagrid or McGonnagal hung around and kept an eye on Harry until he was taken in.

In the books, it did say that he was asleep the whole time while he was on the doorstep. Perhaps he was placed under a sleeping spell (which I have never heard of, but that doesn't mean that Dumbledore couldn't have known about one) or was given a potion?