Discussion: The 'Phoenix' files

Bela says:

Thanks, CalimaCala. I had not finished reading all the comments on my 1st post, so missed that. No offense, but does that explanation seem a little lame to anyone else? I mean, obviously he realized he was dead. He brought back Cedric's body and was very concernced about his parents.

Ok, changing subject - I do have an answer as to why Hermione's patronus is an otter. In the live chat with Rowling on Sept 24, 2001 she was asked if the animal one turns into as an animagi reflects their personality. In Rowling's response, she said "I personally would like to think that I would transform into an otter, which is my favorite animal." I have another book called "Exploring Harry Potter" which claims Rowling has stated she most identified with the character Hermione, and was much like her as a child. So I think this is just a personal touch.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 4:49 PM EST

Old Chortlebones

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 2601

Newt Scamander says:

A brave wizard isn't necessarily strong. Then again, we haven't seen many brave acts from our pal Peter Pettigrew, have we?

It's a hard issue to discuss. After all, Lord Voldemort is such a terrible entity. Pettigrew may have done some considerably brave things in "his prime." However, the fear of Voldemort is overpowering for so many. To further look at this, we have to think how many of the current Gryffindors would act as Pettigrew did? It's a hard thing to say. I can imagine some Gryffindors' bravery wavering upon sight of someone such as Voldemort.

This is one of the tougher questions. It'd be easy just to say he was in Slytherin, but I just can't see him there for whatever reason. It's also a question that isn't the highest on the list of questions Rowling will most likely answer, as it isn't overly important unless its importance hasn't been made clear yet.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 5:06 PM EST

Order of Merlin, 3rd Class

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 1540

I l0ve sirius says:

Heeyy .. this is my first time posting.
I loved The Order of the Phoenix but I was dissappointed with certain parts of it but I believe that I had too high of expectations for it after waiting three years for it.

I cried when Sirius died and everytime his name was mentioned in the rest of the book. [haha i know I'm sad ;) ]

I'm not sure if this speculation has been resolved, but I don't think that Bellatrix used Avada Kadavra on Sirius because the description of his face when he went through the veil was "mingled with fear and surprise" and when Cedric was killed his face was "expressionless" so I am of the belief that Sirius died because he passed through the veil. But i could def. be wrong. haha

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 5:23 PM EST

Animagus

House: Gryffindor
Points: 19544

Sirius-Ella says:

about the crookshanks thing AGAIN.
someone said they think mundgungas *miss spelled*
was a animegeaus..cause j.k. describes both dung and crook the same way...gingery hair bandy legs ect.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 5:31 PM EST

Old Chortlebones

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 2601

Newt Scamander says:

I l0ve Sirius - It wasn't an Avada Kedavra curse because the curse that hit him was red (the stun curse). I believe the veil was the actual, final cause of death. Sirius was stunned because he was doing well against Bellatrix, then he began laughing at her, and he was caught off guard when she nailed him in the gut.

Maybe we'll explore the veil and the Department of Mysteries in general more in the next two books.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 5:36 PM EST

Prefect

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 361

LaDonna says:

I noticed a mistake. In book 6 it says prefects cannot take away points from students, but in book 2 percy takes five points away from Ron and Harry because he catches them coming out of the girl's bathroom.
O.K. my theory on how Voldy will be defeated. The key is Ginny Weasley.
I strongly believe that Neville is in love with her or at the least harbors a crush. (There are clues from book 2-5, and not just the ball). Harry may love her or just harbor brotherly love toward her. Ginny likes both of them. Voldemort will kidnap Ginny to get at both the Weasley family and Harry. Both Neville and Harry will try to sacrifice themselves to protect her, meanwhile she'll try to do the same for them. (I haven't quite worked out how yet, but my guess is Harry still takes the blunt of the curses thrown.) Anyway this strong display and acts of love weakens Voldemort enough to allow Harry to defeat him, before he collapses.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 6:11 PM EST

Witch

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 609

Aravis says:

I don't think Harry is a matamorphagus. I mean, his hair grew back and never lies flat, but his dad's hair was the same. He never actually morphed into something else and I think by age 15 he'd have figured out what he could do.

Muggle Wizard is correct, Crookshanks was purchased by Hermione in PoA. I still think there's something up with that cat. I think it's on Harry's side (obviously hated wormtail a.k.a. Scabbers so probably not in league w Voldie, and he palled around with Sirius). But if there was another animagi besides those particular 4 that learned how to become an animagi i should think Sirius or Lupin would've mentioned it. I can't figure it out. ARGH! We need more clues! I am going to mull it over some more.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 6:23 PM EST

Headmaster
(Moderator)

Cheeser says:

Just a note about duplicates and errors and things - I've been working on it today. I made the Post button disable itself after you push it so you won't accidentally post duplicates. Also, after you post you should be taken to the page where your comment is shown. If you don't, please let me know and I'll continue working on it. You DON'T have to post again, it's almost certainly there and you just can't find it. :)

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 6:35 PM EST

Witch

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 609

Aravis says:

I forgot to add...there is a page of all book mistakes at www.MuggleNet.com. Look under (duh) "mistakes".

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 6:37 PM EST

Witch

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 609

Aravis says:

Cheeser...I wasn't taken to a page showing my posts...but at least I can see my last post. I thought I kept crashing the internet LOL it wouldn't be the first time...

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 6:40 PM EST

Animagus

House: Gryffindor
Points: 19544

Sirius-Ella says:

Aravis: Someone said a few or more pages ago, that it was a thought that Crookshanks was Mungdungus, I have to agree with whoever said that, that it is maybe a possibiailty. (J.k. Rowling describes both crookshanks and dung Gingery Hair and bandy legged)

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 8:01 PM EST

Old Chortlebones

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 2601

Newt Scamander says:

I have to agree with phoenixashes that Crookshanks is at least partly Kneazle. Does Rowling mention anything about its tail? It could be a complete Kneazle, though those require licenses. Maybe the store illegally advertised it as a plain cat, but it indeed was a Kneazle. The personalities match exactly.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 9:32 PM EST

Old Chortlebones

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 2601

Newt Scamander says:

Dealing with all this Cho talk, I think it was a great move on J.K. Rowling's part to make her so "snobbish" and hung on Cedric's death. I'm not saying that Harry didn't have his faults, he had an equal amount if not more, but Cho is going through adolescence (I think I blotched the spelling of that) just as Harry is. She is, after all, only a year older than him. On top of this, she also had what was probably her first encounter of death of a loved one, at the least when that death involved murder and youth.

So, what I'm saying is, Harry isn't the only one going through this snobby teenage stage in the book. It has to be realistic after all.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 10:47 PM EST

Wizard

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 993

Muggle Wizard says:

Newt Scamander -- I wonder about exploring further the veil at the Department of Mysteries. I'm not sure that there are explanations for everything, and therefore, there may not be much to explore. Thoughts?

Aravis -- I would be surprised if Crookshanks was an animagus. We found out about Scabbers/Pettigrew after three books. Crookshanks has been around for three and we still don't know anything. Oh, I wish Sirius would have said more than just that Crookshanks was a smart cat...

lauryn -- Of course we would like Harry to be happy. That's part of the magic of the HP books, though. We are being shown that you can't know how good happiness is unless you know that there is something worse (in this case, misery and anger). Once you know the opposite exists it makes you appreciate the good. Harry thought he knew the opposite after staying at the Dursleys. He was wrong. I hope he doesn't have more lessons along this path to learn, but he might.

Beatrix Butterwhistle -- I like the first line of your post -- sounds like you were writing a book review! And I didn't even know that umbrage was a word! (Maybe someone else pointed it out and I missed it, but no, I think this was the first I saw of it.)

sky_4_hermione_and_harry -- And yet people blame Dumbledore for leaving Harry in the dark. I agree with you, though, as I liked his speech too. I still think he is a wise character who simply isn't perfect contrary to previous opinion. And, yes, it's nice to have another passenger with us on the H/Hr ship!

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 10:49 PM EST

Wizard

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 993

Muggle Wizard says:

Newt Scamander -- I agree with your comments on Cho.

Falcon and others -- (please, someone correct me if there's a canonical explanation on Falcon's question) I think that you don't have to be a prefect to be Head Boy or Head Girl. That's like saying you have to be a Governor before you can be President.

What I want to know is how often the Head Boy and Head Girl come from the same house. Would it cause a lot of fuss if, say, both Harry and Hermione were selected, as they're both Gryffindor?

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 10:57 PM EST

Witch

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 609

Aravis says:

Oh, I've got lots to say (big surprise there LOL). First off, I found a great site that explains lots of name origins and everything and it's all very indexed and organized. It's called the Akashic Record and the addy is: http://www.m5p.com/~pravn/hp/index.html (you might want to cut and paste...I do hope it works).

On Crookshanks...yes, it is interesting about the physical similarities with Mungdungus but again, I still don't think Crooks is an animagus, if only for the rather lame reason that JKR usually doesn't repeat things like that. Phoenixashes, please post with more info on kneazles...this might be a lead! Maybe JKR didn't say more about ol' Crooks because she hasn't properly introduced us to kneazles yet (I know she did in the "school books" but not properly in the HP books). Didn't Prof. Grubbly-Plank say they were going to learn about them? Help! Someone clue me in!

Oh, and I second Muggle Wizard's thoughts on Head Boy/Girl. I am still confused as to whether there's one head boy/girl for each house or if it's for the whole school. I guess if each house already has prefects then maybe just one set of Head boy/girl for the whole school? I've tried to read up on it but am still confused.

sky_4_hermione_and_harry...I love your name and I am so glad there's someone besides me sailing the H/Hr ship! Muggle Wizard, I didn't know you were too! Very cool...I mean, Hermione is so perfect for Harry, NOT Ron! LOL

Okay, I'm not done yet (I warned you all!)...my thoughts on the whole arch/veil thing. well, my thoughts of the moment anyway...I think it's the Arch of Death or something. Like someone mentioned, it could be the wizard's style of execution. Like, they (cerimoniously) push you through to execute you. But once you go through, you're dead and can't come back. For a gruesome analogy, think about when they used to hang people. The convicted person would be standing (with a rope around the neck) on a platform/box on top of a trap door. The executioner would open the trap door, and the person would fall through and be hung.(it's scary I know that LOL) The trap door can be opened, but once ya fall through you're dead and not coming back. Okay that was a very crude analysis but oh well. Since it is a doorway to death (the arch that is), all the dead people are on the other side. Once you've seen death I guess you can hear them (why Harry, Neville, and Luna heard the voices).

Okay, if you're still reading this, congrats...you have a long attention span :-) I'll go now.

Posted Jun 30, 2003 at 11:47 PM EST

Wizard

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 993

Muggle Wizard says:

Aravis -- Oh wow, that is one big Akashic Record and there are so many details.... Thanks!

I still wonder why some people could hear voices coming from the veil. Does seeing a death supposedly make you more spiritually in tune to the dead or something?

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:12 AM EST

Witch

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 609

Aravis says:

If any of you are in a mood for Harry humor, go to www.giverius.com. They have Harry Potter parodies of real movie posters, such as "Planet of the Snapes" and "The Slyth Sense ('I see talking snakes")". It is really funny!

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 1:08 AM EST

Wizard

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 993

Muggle Wizard says:

OK, that was really funny. I wish I knew how they did that stuff.

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 1:36 AM EST

Jahboh says:

I added my Chapter 16-20 analyses today (observations after reading the book a second time)! Yay! Go to www.geocities.com/jahboh and click on the blue flame...

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 11:18 AM EST

Old Chortlebones

House: Hufflepuff
Points: 2601

Newt Scamander says:

Aravis - I'll summarize on Kneazles:

1.) Catlike creature with generally spotted fur, outsize ears, lion's tail.
2.) Independent, smart, sometimes aggressive. (Very like Crookshanks, even if the aggressiveness was generally against Pettigrew).
3.) "The Kneazle has an uncanny ability to detewct unsavoury or suspicious characters." There's the biggy.
4.) They must be licensed, et cetera, et cetera.

This is why I think it's either a cross-breed or was illegally advertised to Hermione as a normal houes cat. Do you remember anything about the description of its tail? I may have another excuse to pick up my favorite book (Prisoner of Azkaban) to find out!

Muggle Wizard - Yes, there are many unexplained things. Perhaps, if Harry dies in book 7, he will die going into the Veil. I doubt it, but even if he doesn't, maybe that will allow Rowling to show who was behind there.

Also, a question about Sirius's death...do you suppose that it would be counted as a sacrifice? I suppose it wouldn't, at least not to the extent of Lily's death, but it may have given Harry an extra boost in his "secret weapon" from the locked door - his heart. Any opinions, anyone?

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:08 PM EST

Head Girl

House: Gryffindor
Points: 479

eclektic says:

hey! ok i actually have this question thats abt the 3rd book; the prisoner of azkaban. i know its the wrong place to ask but i thought wat the hell..:)

ok, the thing is, when harry was repelling the dementors for the FIRST time, he could only conjure wisps of his patronus. hardly enough to repel them actually. jus before he passed out, he saw an image of himself across the lake who then successfully repelled them away. my question is, how is that possible when the time turner was NOT in use at all? could someone else have saved them in the first place? and if so, who is that person?

hope u guys can help.. asked many pple and posed it to a number of forums but no one seems to be able to provide a satisfactory answer besides the possibility that someone else saved them all from the dementors.. but the flaw with this theory is that the patronus that was conjured was a stag. and since we know that it is unique to the wizard that produces it, it was harry that did it. but the time turner wasnt used then!!!

so how is it possible then?

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:11 PM EST

Auror

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 2374

TrueBluePotterFan says:

eclektic - Have you read the entire book? If not, do not read the rest of this post. If so, please continue.

The time turner was used. Hermone and Harry used it to turn back time to save both the hippogriff and sirius. The harry in the future produced the patronus because he was not directly being effected by dementor and also he had knowledge that he was capable of producing the patronus since he had seen his future self do it previously. Does that make sense?

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:27 PM EST

Prefect

House: Slytherin
Points: 310

MissOcclumensMystique says:

Hi everyone, it's my first post here...

Ootp is a wonderful book, and I especially liked the Occlumency/Legilimency thingy (now we know exactly where Snape's mind-reading ability mentioned in the previous books comes from...)

Siriusella, I've been wondering about the Mundungus/Crookshanks thing too : I doubt that Dung is an Animagus who turns into Crookshanks, because in PoA the witch who sold Crookshanks to Hermione said that he had stayed for ages in her shop... I can't imagine a wizard like Dung staying inprisoned in a shop like that (why would he?)

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:28 PM EST

Head Girl

House: Gryffindor
Points: 479

eclektic says:

was doing this cross referencing to earlier books..
in the 5th there was a hogwarts headmaster that was mentioned by the name of "fortescue" and in the 3rd book, harry used to go to this ice cream parlour if im not mistaken who's owner was called "florean fortescue" who gave him free sundaes every half hour and helped him in his essays on medieval witch hunts... i wonder if they're related..
jus a thought and wondered if anyone saw that too..

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:45 PM EST

Wizard

House: Ravenclaw
Points: 993

Muggle Wizard says:

Hi again Newt Scamander. IMO Sirius' death counts as a sacrifice, but I don't think it counts as a sacrifice in Harry's behalf as much as it counts as a sacrifice in the behalf of the Order (of which I expect Harry will become a member sooner or later). Thoughts?

Posted Jul 1, 2003 at 12:46 PM EST