61 responses so far ↓

• 1 korg20000bc // Jul 2, 2007 at 3:17 am

  Another great Pubcast, Travis.

  You really sound busy.

  A couple of things that struck me as I was listening was about Draco being in trouble with Voldemort. I was thinking that Voldemort always intended Draco should to fail and possibly be killed/punished by Dumbledore. This was to teach Lucius a lesson in obedience.

  Also was thinking about the orator at the funeral, was this wizarding clergy? I agree that to a lot of people a minister at a funeral has no real right to speak about the person who has died. Either that or it rings false to them. (One minister told me that a family wanted him to do a funeral service for the father. He asked them what he was like and what he liked. After a few minutes of silence one member of the family said “He really liked that “been through the desert with a horse with no name” song…” THey couldn’t think of anything else. So it’s not always the minister’s fault.)

  In Pubcast 28 you said you’d get to a question regarding Alchemy and a possible homonculus in the next story. I have read a lot of people saying that Rowling won’t introduce anything new in this next story but will resolve the existing plot points. Do you think this is right? In all the previous books new things have been introduced and dealt with in that book. What’s the go with that?

  Matthew

• 2 korg20000bc // Jul 2, 2007 at 6:13 am

  All of Rowlings quotes about the finality of death have all been about the insufficiency of magic to bring someone back. I’m wondering if this could be pointing to other powers that could do this. Obviously, I’m suggesting that this may be where Rowling lets us all in on her faith.

  Matthew

• 3 shadowquill // Jul 2, 2007 at 11:44 am

  Yeah, reguarding “wizarding clergy”, I’ve been wondering how they’re going to do the wedding of Bill and Fleur and whether their service will be religious or secular or not indicated. Perhaps we’ll just see the reception? And then in the movie version (which I realize is still probably a couple years away) they’ll probably make some sort of decision one way or the other.

  Personally, I don’t see why it couldn’t be a religious ceremony. Rowling didn’t shy away from giving Harry a godfather.

• 4 Reyhan // Jul 2, 2007 at 11:57 am

  Thought provoking pubcast, Travis. Especially the point about Lily Evans as the strongest Christ figure in the series. I agree - although I’m not sure how her sex figures into this - and I think that may hold the answer to several questions: JKR’s challenge that her Christian faith should tell us enough to guess the end of the story, the finality of death, as well as Matthew’s point that other powers, meaning love, could bring someone back from death.

  As you said, it’s Lily’s love and sacrifice which protects Harry from evil, and makes the rest of the story possible. Could it be Lily’s love which at the end delivers Harry from death and allows him to vanquish Voldemort so that he stays dead?

  I’ve been speculating about Harry crossing the veil and coming back, led by Sirius Black, or more likely by that resurrection figure, Fawkes, through Dumbledore’s intervention and grace. But it actually fits the overall arc of the story better for it to be the power of Lily’s love which saves Harry one final time.

• 5 Reyhan // Jul 2, 2007 at 2:01 pm

  About Wormtail.

  I enjoyed the picture you drew of Snape, Wormtail and Draco together at Spinner’s End, brooding on their debts to Dumbledore or Harry, thinking disloyal thoughts which none can express. I don’t think that JKR will pause for that moment, but it’s a neat picture anyways.

  You asked us to comment on how Wormtail’s life debt to Harry will work out. That reminds me of Gandalf’s oft-quoted words to Frodo, about why Gollum should be spared:

  “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

  There are two thoughts here, I think. The first is that we can’t take away life because we can’t give it. Which is fine, as far as it goes, except when it comes to people like Fenrir Greyback who desperately needs to be killed. But the second thought is the one that I think applies to Wormtail: we can’t condemn someone for their past actions because we don’t know what the future holds.

  To my mind, Wormtail is slightly less capable of redemption than Gollum. Which is to say, not at all. Smeagol was at least touched by Frodo’s kindness to him. Haven’t seen any such feeling from Peter Pettigrew, to date. Last time we saw him, he stuffed a rag in Harry’s mouth (interesting touch that) before forcibly taking some of his blood.

  So I’m guessing that the role Wormtail is almost surely destined to fill in bringing about Voldemort’s end will be like Gollum’s, or his near-namesake, Wormtongue’s. That it to say, it will not be motivated by loyalty or the stirring of any kind of decent feeling, but by the same ignoble feelings which have motivated him all along: envy, fear and hatred.

• 6 Mia // Jul 2, 2007 at 4:54 pm

  Reyhan, I do believe that Wormtail is capable of redemption and decent feelings, though we haven’t seen much of it yet.

  When Harry spared his life, he said “it’s more than I deserve” and he made a (feeble) attempt to prevent Voldemort from using Harry in his rebirthing ritual. And the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor, which means that he must have some courage in him after all. Perhaps he can overcome his cowardice and fear at some point.

  When I was on my Peverell quest I eventually came across the Pettigrew family motto, which is “sine sole nihil”, nothing without the sun. Do you think this is of any significance?

• 7 Reyhan // Jul 2, 2007 at 6:06 pm

  Mia, you’re right: I’d forgotten Pettigrew’s feeble attempt at getting Voldemort to use someone else instead of Harry. So maybe there is hope for him.

  We don’t know for sure he is a Gryffindor (the question about the Marauders was garbled, so Lupin’s name was mentioned twice, Pettigrew’s not at all, so JKR never conclusively stated that he was a Gryffindor). And perhaps he will find his huevos one day. But to date, all he’s done is suck up to people more powerful than he, and betray those foolish enough to trust him. This is why I think his contribution to the good will be by an act of betrayal - he will do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

  In order to interpret the family motto, we’d have to know if JKR was aware of it and/or picked the name with a sense of destiny in mind.

  BTW, I read in Wikipedia that he was JKR’s original choice to masquerade Moody as the DADA in book 4. To which all I can say is - I knew that Crouch Jr was the result of a re-write. But now I wonder why she didn’t leave Pettigrew in that role. Because there’s something important he needs to do in book 7?

• 8 Travis Prinzi // Jul 2, 2007 at 8:35 pm

  That swythyv person postulated that Pettigrew was playing Lupin all through HBP. I don’t buy it for a second, but maybe he’ll be someone else Polyjuiced in Book 7?

• 9 Mrs. Lovegood // Jul 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm

  So, if I understand you correctly, Travis, your point about who gets closest to death is that we will learn in DH that in HBP, Dumbledore was in a sort of delayed death state, due to the skill of Severus Snape in keeping him from dying before HBP even began as a result of his attempt to de-Horcrux the ring.

  And that may be true. But I continue to believe that it is Harry, not Dumbledore, who will get closest to death. Maybe he’ll have to turn to Severus to help him, that would be an interesting twist. It may be that we will learn that Dumbledore almost died almost a year before he actually died, but I think the person we’ll remember as having almost or in some sense coming back from what would have, for Muggles, been truly death, is Harry.

  Today, I had the pleasure of attending the funeral of a dear Christian woman who was born 90 years ago this year. The sermon was on God’s perspective of death vs. our perspective and was very encouraging. But what I found most interesting was that we sang Amazing Grace and the hymnal of this old, very conservative church (more conservative than my own, which is saying something) had more verses than the 4 I am familiar with. The next-to-last verse reads as follows (I’d never heard it before):

  Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
  And mortal life shall cease;
  I shall possess, within the veil,
  A life of joy and peace.

  And I found myself thinking about the veil in the Department of Mysteries. I thought it was interesting that the song says “within the veil” instead of the traditional “beyond the veil” that we more often hear mentioned.

  I found all of this highly relevant to your discussion on death, Travis, and I hope you and at least some of your readers do, too.

  I may be back later to make comments about Snape and Wormtail.

• 10 shadowquill // Jul 2, 2007 at 9:05 pm

  I’ve wondered whether Pettigrew’s act of “honor” will be essentially something selfish as well, Rehan. Although Snape has (arguably) displayed some sense of honor (life-debt to James, etc.) Wormtail has displayed none of this. Despite Dumbledore’s words reguarding Pettigrew, I think he’s essentially what Sirius described him as in Book 3: never willing to act unless he could see something in it for himself. And yet he was placed in Gryffindor. I’ve been wondering lately whether the Sorting Hat will place you in the house you want in addition to considering your talents. I can just picture Peter having met James and Sirius on the train and wanting to be in their house. It’s natural, and I don’t fault him for it at all. Friends like being together. And Snape, being further down the alphabet than Potter, might have already began hating James and thought “Put my anywhere he isn’t!”. Nah, I don’t really think it happened that way, but after Harry’s “not Slytherin!” and Dumbledore’s words about our choices revealing who we truly are…I think the hat places people where they want to be. The catch is the yearning that the student has to be like the members of that house must become a reality. And so, just as a Hufflepuff can display rather unfriendly traits (Zacharias Smith) and Slytherin can be nice (Slughorn), it continues to be a matter of choice. It isn’t simply labeling yourself “Griffindor” or “Slytherin”, it’s walking the walk.

  Wow look at that. I’ve strayed way off my original path. Oops! But I think Wormtail is the least likely of the bunch to redeem himself out of selflessness. Then again, perhaps his desire for heroism will take a turn for the good. I can tell he doesn’t necessarily like hurting Harry after Harry saved his life, and that’s a start. He does have a conscience, but I’m not sure whether that comforts me or frightens me more.

• 11 shadowquill // Jul 2, 2007 at 9:07 pm

  Re-reading what I wrote it sounds like I hate the guy. I don’t, I feel sorry for him because I can relate to his cowardice far more than I’d like to. However, I feel that Draco and Snape have already refused to do the Dark Lord’s orders in some manner or other (assuming Snape is no longer loyal, that is), and Wormtail has yet to take even that step. I want him to redeem himself, I do. But I wouldn’t bet money on it.

• 12 Reyhan // Jul 2, 2007 at 10:35 pm

  Mia,

  This is nothing but an interesting coincidence, but the song Amazing Grace has a sixth verse, following the one which refers to the veil that Mrs. L. quoted. It goes:

  “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
  The sun forbear to shine;
  But God, who call’d me here below,
  Will be forever mine.”

  Which made me think of the Pettigrew family motto: nothing without the sun.

  Together, they might lead one to interpret that there is no redemption for Peter. That when he dies, there will be no life “within the veil”. But the 12 dead Muggles and the 12 years Sirius Black spent in Azkaban would have led to the same conclusion as well.

  I wonder if there is a wizarding hell, and if so, what it looks like.

• 13 Mia // Jul 3, 2007 at 6:40 am

  Reyhan, I don’t think that there’s a special wizarding hell. I don’t know whether Rowling was aware of that family motto, but she may have been, since she chose her character’s names very carefully.

  “Nothing without the sun” suits Peter well, I believe, because it describes the state he lives in. His life must be hell, having no friends, no love, no hope for redemption. I think he aspires to be like James or Sirius, but doesn’t have the courage and never had. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t find it in the future, since he does seem to have a sense of guilt and gratitude towards Harry.

  I believe that redemption is available for everyone, even for a traitor and murderer like Peter (well, everyone except Voldemort, perhaps.) I hope that he’ll finally do something right and redeem himself in book 7.

• 14 shadowquill // Jul 3, 2007 at 9:57 am

  Ooooh, did you look up the Pettigrew family motto online or in a book? I had never heard of that and I find it very interesting! Wow. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rowling had researched family mottos while naming characters as well. Sometimes I wonder at all the work she seems to have done on all of the details of the series…

• 15 Reyhan // Jul 3, 2007 at 11:27 am

  Travis, back to Snape, Wormtail and Draco baching it at Spinner’s End.

  I was looking up GG’s eye color on JKR’s website when I scanned through the section of rumours which she has dispelled. She deals with the rumour that Snape is Luna Lovegood’s father by writing:

  “This is a most tantalizing idea but no, Mr. Lovegood, the editor of the ‘Quibbler’, really is Luna’s father and Snape does not have a daughter.”

  Maybe my mind is in hyperdrive because of the approaching date, but do you think it’s a coincidence that she didn’t say “Snape does not have any children”?

• 16 Fantasy Fiction for Christians: Christian themes and symbolism in Narnia and Harry Potter // Jul 3, 2007 at 12:35 pm

  Harry Potter: Plenty of Stuff for Fans and Haters…

  So Much Stuff!
  The amount of Harry Potter-related news and commentary is overwhelming. As we move closer to D-Day — July 21 — expect a lot more.
  With “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” hitting theaters next week and Book 7 t…

• 17 Mia // Jul 3, 2007 at 12:44 pm

  shadowquill, I looked up “Peverell” online because of the Ring Horcrux (Hinc mihi salus, Hence comes salvation to me) and under the letter “P” I also found “Pettigrew” (Sine sole nihil, Nothing without the sun) and “Prince” (Miseris succurrere, To help the miserable).

  http://www.heraldryclipart.com/p.html

  I don’t know if it means anything at all, but I thought especially the Pettigrew motto was somehow fitting.

  Reyhan, “Snape does not have a daughter” is another typical answer from Rowling, just like “Snape wasn’t in Godric’s Hollow under the Invisibility Cloak”. So does he have a son and was he in Godric’s Hollow without the cloak? She really seems to enjoy putting our minds on hyperdrive.

• 18 Rena // Jul 3, 2007 at 1:23 pm

  Reyhan, I also noticed, that she didn’t exclude the possibility of Snape being father of a son. But who could it be? Harry looks like James, Dudley looks like Vernon, Draco looks like Lucius. Well, Neville looks like his mother. But – Snape and Alice Longbottom? Although she was married to Frank? Without the faintest hint in one of the books? Nooooo …

• 19 Reyhan // Jul 3, 2007 at 2:34 pm

  We’ve been hit over the head with the fact that Harry looks like James. And Dudley undisputably got his girthy genes from the father’s side. But did JKR ever say clearly that Draco looks like Lucius? In the movies he does, and that’s a strike against where I’m going with this, but is it mentioned in the books?

  As for Neville? Well, Snape would have to be as unnatural a parent as Marvolo to treat Neville the way he does if he is his parent.

• 20 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 3, 2007 at 2:53 pm

  Honestly, the thought of Snape as parent to anyone gives me the heebie-jeebies. Also, I just don’t think Rowling would throw marital infidelity and illegitimate children into what is, after all, a children’s book. At least, I hope not.

  The only way I could imagine Snape having a child is if there were once a Mrs. Snape and then a Snapelet, and both were killed by Voldemort, thus driving Snape back to the good side. But even this gives me the creeps. And didn’t shadowquill once propose this?

• 21 shadowquill // Jul 3, 2007 at 2:57 pm

  Urk, speaking of odd sons I read an article in which someone argued that Dudley was Pettigrew’s son. It was mildly interesting, but I’m not convinced at all and I hope that any revelations about Snape will not be too “Star Wars”. Rowling herself has admonished her fans (playfully) for reading much too much Star Wars and drawing too many parallels between that series and this one, so I don’t think having a revelation like that would be her style. Then again, who knows? She said she’s never deliberately mislead someone in an interview, but we all know that merely means she’s never lied and that she’s more than willing to drive us mad with clues.

• 22 Mia // Jul 3, 2007 at 3:21 pm

  I don’t believe that Snape has children, there are no hints in the books and I don’t see what it would possibly contribute to the plot. Draco does look like Lucius Malfoy, at least they have the same hair- and eye-colour. And there are no other likely candidates. Anyhow: Snape and Narcissa? Alice Longbottom? Petunia? This would turn the story into a soap opera. It’s just too cheesy.

• 23 Reyhan // Jul 3, 2007 at 3:35 pm

  What’s driving this conjecture is JKR’s statement that Snape doesn’t have any daughters, Snape’s unusual and unprecedented gentleness with Narcissa, his willingness to take an Unbreakable Vow to help Draco, and his attitude of almost helpless solicitude with Draco. Obviously, he has some emotional investment with both mother and son. There has to be some kind of backstory there. It may not be a matter of Star Wars, but just a general interest in the welfare of two people he cares for because he’s just a caring kind of person.

• 24 Mia // Jul 3, 2007 at 4:42 pm

  Yes, Snape does seem to genuinely care for Draco, but I hope it’s not because he’s been in love with Narcissa, or even worse, because Draco is his son. Args!

  Snape is a horrible teacher but I believe he’d protect his students from Voldemort. He was shocked when he saw Cedric dead in Harry’s memory, at least he went paler than usual. And he’s been protecting Harry and his friends, Voldemort would probably kill him if he knew it was he who alerted the Order in book 5.

  So in my opinion it’s not out of character for him to take the Unbreakable Vow to save Draco’s life. Draco is a student whom Voldemort is about to destroy after he’s recruited him as a Death Eater. Snape’s own backstory and experience as a Death Eater might play a role in this as well, he knows exactly what Voldemort is capable of.

• 25 korg20000bc // Jul 3, 2007 at 6:06 pm

  I wonder if the Dursleys could have had another child before Dudley who was a wizard/witch?

  Matthew

• 26 Rena // Jul 3, 2007 at 6:25 pm

  Mrs. Weasley, Shadowquill and Mia, you all made good points. Reyhan, Draco’s resemblance with Lucius is mentioned in Book 2 when we first meet him at Flourish & Blotts:

  The man who followed could only be Draco’s father. He had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold, gray eyes.

  Grey eyes, like Salazar Slytherin as the Wizard of the Month for June on jkrowling.com (With a silver locket, as I would like to repeat. See -> http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/founders.html. The HP Lexicon, however, recently added this line to their founders page: “Canon, or artistic license? Until we hear from Rowling, Lightmaker’s images cannot be considered canon.” Very wise, I think. But wouldn’t JKR approve everything showing up on her website?)

  If this doesn’t mean anything, it might also not mean anything that Godric Gryffindor is portrayed with green eyes.

  There is definitely a necessity to explain Snape’s relationship to all of the Malfoy family, I think. His gentle behaviour towards Narcissa, however, never touched me as having any emotional relevancy. He is a brilliant actor. I was touched much more by the fact that he never said nasty things about Lily (with the exception of the mudblood quote in his worst memory). Therefore I prefer the interpretation of Snape being in (unrequited) love with Lily. But – me being an incurable Good!Snape-believer – this doesn’t prove anything at all!

• 27 Martin // Jul 3, 2007 at 6:29 pm

  Thanks for a great Pubcast Travis. I do agree Harry will meat Snape, Draco and Wormtail and all of them will help Harry in some way. Anyway, I doubt the trio will surround Voldemort and attack him. What interest me the most is what will Wormtail do; why would be Harry glad he spared Wormtail?

  I do not expect Wormtail to openly resist Voldemort. Wormtail has never been extremely brave; he wants to save his live first thing. I think he will neither duel Dark Lord, nor save Harry in front of Voldemort nose. Still there are at lest two ways how could Wormtail being very helpful to Harry.

  Wormtail could save badly hurt Weasly. Wormtail spent many years in the family; they cared about him very well. Ron and Ginny are two of three people who are closest to Harry, saving one of them would be sufficient repayment to Harry. Wormtail is not a kind of person who fight powerful wizard when his chances are poor, but saving hurt person whilst powerful wizard are too busy hunting and fighting each other is something different.

  Wormtail might play very significant role in destroying Vodlemort. Again, I do not think Wormtail will duel Voldemort, but there is another way: Wormtail could tell Harry where a horcrux is. Does Wormtail even have a chance to know where is let us say the cup? I guess he might. What do you think?

• 28 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 3, 2007 at 7:19 pm

  Rena, if you’re suggesting that the Malfoys are descendants of Slytherin, I don’t think that’s possible, since Marvolo says that he and his two children are the last living descendants of Slytherin, until Tom Riddle Jr. came along. Unless there’s someone else we don’t know about, which of course is very possible.

  Now Matthew, your comment interests me strangely - what, or who, are you thinking of??!! (Because, after all, I’m the one who asked Travis to comment on who might be the one to do magic late in life. I for the life of me can’t think who that might be.)

• 29 Reyhan // Jul 3, 2007 at 10:37 pm

  Another interesting line of conjecture, Mrs. W.

  In response to the rumour:

  “Aunt Petunia will start exhibiting magical tendencies.”

  JKR responds:

  “No she won’t. Aunt Petunia has never performed magic, nor will she ever be able to do so.”

  So she’s out (unless JKR has found a new way of saying one thing and meaning another). There aren’t that many other candidates. The Muggles or Squibs we know are: Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge, Dudley, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Argus Filch, and Arabella Figg.

  Am I missing anyone?

  The likeliest candidates are Filch or Figg. Neither would be too much of a surprise. Unless JKR has something really huge up her sleeve.

  Matthew, your suggestion that the Dursleys had a child before Dudley is intriguing. But who could it be? I suspect very strongly that there’s something about Dudley. Some awful memory which the Dementor brought back. But what?

  Rena, I don’t know if Snape is such a great actor. He just treats almost everyone with condescending sarcasm so it’s difficult to know when he feels anything different. I can’t remember him showing tenderness to anyone before.

• 30 Subaash // Jul 3, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  What if Wormtail saves Trio from Grayback and use his silver hand to kill him? (JKR shot only the theory of wormtail killing Lupin with his silver hand).

• 31 Mia // Jul 4, 2007 at 2:53 am

  I suspect very strongly that there’s something about Dudley. Some awful memory which the Dementor brought back. But what?

  Reyhan, JKR replied to the question “What did Dudley see when he faced the Dementors in book five?” - “Ah, good question. You’ll find out!”.

  So there definitely has to be an awful memory that the Dementors brought back. What on earth can that be? Does Petunia know? Does it have to do anything with the “appalling damage” she and Vernon afflicted upon him? Or perhaps Dumbledore was just referencing to how they spoiled the child.

  Yet Aunt Petunia was “oddly flushed” when Dumbledore made that remark. So maybe she did something bad to Dudley that she was ashamed of. That woman seems to harbour some dark secret… is it something Dudley found out, something that shocked him? She knows about Voldemort and Azkaban but Vernon doesn’t have a clue. Oh dear. Just 16 days to go until we find out…

• 32 korg20000bc // Jul 4, 2007 at 6:51 am

  When Dumbledore is talking to Harry about Merope he said that she was so distraught about Tom Sr leaving her that she lost her powers. Could the damage that the Dursleys have done to Dudley be that they have stifled his magic or made him so ashamed of his magic that it has left, denying him his righful place in wizarding world?

  Matthew

• 33 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 4, 2007 at 7:56 am

  You all have really got me thinking. The fact that the dementors affected Dudley is, I think, significant, because I don’t think Muggles react to them, other than to feel depressed). What if the damage the Dursleys inflicted on him (aside from the obvious) is that, as Reyhan once suggested, Dumbledore agreed to somehow delete Dudley’s magical powers in return for the Dursleys’ taking care of Harry? Here’s my spin on that: only Petunia knew that Dudley had magical tendencies. Vernon was, and is, clueless.

  But I can’t quite work it out. Can you take a baby to St. Mungo’s and have him “de-magicked?” And why would Petunia necessarily want to have Dudders de-magicked anyway? It would seem to me that here would be her chance to get back at her sister for having something she didn’t (meaning Lily had magical powers and Petunia didn’t), and in Petunia’s petty mind, it would be a good thing. I’ve also idly wondered how it is that Petunia knows so much about the wizarding world, given that everyone in her Evans family but her is a Muggle, and that once Lily married James (fairly young), they probably had no contact. And I think we have to assume they are true Muggles, with no wizarding background, or the magical world would know about them.

  But I really think that whatever it is, Vernon knows nothing about it. Only Petunia is in the know, and has been in touch with Dumbledore besides the first letter that Dumbledore left with Baby Harry.

• 34 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 4, 2007 at 8:03 am

  Oh - perhaps Dudley’s awful memory is of being de-magicked? That would hurt, I’m guessing.

• 35 korg20000bc // Jul 4, 2007 at 9:00 am

  I am absolutely sure that Dumbledore would not be part of a deleting of someone’s magic abilities- especially a child’s.

  I think he would be shocked by the suggestion.

  Matthew

• 36 Michael // Jul 4, 2007 at 9:55 am

  I do as well. But Jo has said there is nothing special about Dudley. Yes he’s a bullying git, as Ron puts it, but if Jo has said that he isn’t special (in regards to the plot) I can’t imagine that he will be sprouting magical powers soon.

• 37 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 4, 2007 at 12:21 pm

  Ah, well, if JKR has said that Dudley is nothing special, then that’s that, I guess. But I do want to know why the dementors affect him.

  So who do you think will be the person who can will do magic late in life?

• 38 Mrs. Weasley // Jul 4, 2007 at 12:22 pm

  Sorry, that should be “Who do you think will be the person who will do magic late in life?”

• 39 Mia // Jul 4, 2007 at 3:49 pm

  Hmmm… since Rowling has shot down Petunia and Dudley as potential candidates, I guess one of the Squibs will do magic: Arabella Figg or Argus Filch. I don’t think that a Pureblood Muggle could do that and the two at least have magical ancestry. There must be a highly dramatic and emotional situation, I believe, for one of them to do the trick.

• 40 Reyhan // Jul 4, 2007 at 4:40 pm

  About Dudders, in 2000 JKR says:

  “You should keep an eye on Dudley. It’s probably too late for Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. I feel sorry for Dudley. I might joke about him, but I feel truly sorry for him because I see him as just as abused as Harry. Though, in possibly a less obvious way. What they are doing to him is inept, really. I think children recognize that. Poor Dudley. He’s not being prepared for the world at all, in any reasonable or compassionate way, so I feel sorry for him. But there’s something funny about him, also. The pig’s tail was irresistible.

  And in 2004, in response to the question:

  “Is there more to Dudley than meets the eye?”

  She answers:

  “No. [Laughter]. What you see is what you get. I am happy to say that he is definitely a character without much back story. He is just Dudley.”

  That seeme to take care of Dudders being any kind of wizard. And btw, Matthew, I completely agree with you about Dumbledore refusing to be party to that kind deception. I think I said that soon after I first floated the theory. If I didn’t, then I do now.

  But that still leaves the awful memory. And doesn’t explain why he reacted so badly to the Dementors. And why should we keep an eye on him?

• 41 Rena // Jul 4, 2007 at 5:23 pm

  Mrs. Weasley, referring back to your comment #28, you are right. Marvolo said they were the last descendants. But if he only counted the direct line of “pure-bloods” – the products of inbreeding – as descendants, and we do not, there could be a relationship between Salazar Slytherin and the Malfoys as well. And if Lily and Harry should indeed be related to Godric Gryffindor, there could perhaps be the chance of reconciliation between the houses through the descendants of their founders.

  There might be no significance to it at all, but I can’t get this eye colour thing out of my mind. I still have a problem, though, how Lily could possibly be related to Godric Gryffindor although her parents were both muggles. I think it is also possible that the character and the choices are the only things that count for being a true Gryffindor or Slytherin, not the blood. But choices do not change your eye colour, do they? Oh, except for Voldemort.

• 42 Martin // Jul 4, 2007 at 6:26 pm

  Rena,

  Malfoys do not speak parseltougue.

• 43 Mia // Jul 5, 2007 at 2:37 pm

  Rena, I also noticed Godric Gryffindor’s red hair and green eyes. Very suspicious. And Lily could be a descendant even though her parents were both Muggles. She was a witch, so there have to be wizards in her ancestry. The Gryffindors probably weren’t pureblood fanatics and if they married Muggles then the magical genes might have skipped some generations.

• 44 Reyhan // Jul 5, 2007 at 3:21 pm

  Mia,

  I’ve said the same thing on the Around the Common Room post (#47) Harry’s connection to Gryffindor might be through his mother.

  Funny about the wizarding genes missing a generation, isn’t it? Especially if they’re as strong as that (Lily was seen as a very talented witch). Also, what happened with Petunia?

  If Harry has Gryffindor blood in him, and if the Heir of Slytherin has Harry’s blood in him, doesn’t this mean that Voldemort now has both, and the two bloodlines have in one sense merged?

  Could this explain the “gleam of triumph” in Dumbledore’s eye?

  I actually hope I’m wrong about this interpretation, btw, because of how it happened.

• 45 Mia // Jul 5, 2007 at 4:23 pm

  Reyhan, I believe there’s something wrong with Rowling’s genetic theory anyway, because if “magic is a dominant and resilient gene” like she stated on her homepage, then according to Mendel’s law there should be much more wizards in the world, don’t you think?. But the wizarding community is very small…

• 46 Rena // Jul 5, 2007 at 5:06 pm

  Mia, when I read your comment #43 it immediately reminded me of JKR having said something about “dominant magical genes”. It took me about 20 minutes to find the quote, because I thought it was in some interview. I should just have hit the refresh button to see that you already posted it

  The skipping of generations is quite possible, I think. But you are right with Mendel’s laws. I always had problems with JKR’s statement that there are about 1000 students at Hogwarts. One common room and one table in the Great Hall for about 250 Gryffindors? Maybe Arithmancy just isn’t her favourite subject.

  Reyhan, your suggestion for the reason of Dumbledore’s “gleam of triumph” sounds interesting. He must have seen something positive in what happened to Harry – in spite of how it happened. Do you have any ideas about what the merging of bloodlines could have done to Voldemort?

• 47 Reyhan // Jul 5, 2007 at 9:40 pm

  Rena, I can only speculate like this: Voldemort had a choice of many people - enemies - he could have chosen for his rebirth. Wormtail, in fact, urged him to use someone less high profile. He picked Harry because he thought it would make him stronger. Dumbledore’s reaction suggests that this was a mistake.

  Originally I thought this was because Lily’s blood was the antithesis of his, had some quality related to love and old magic and would work on him like Holy Water on a vampire. This is obviously not true. Time has passed - two years - and Voldemort is still kicking. So there has to be another way it’s bad for him.

  We know it’s not immediate. Is it a long term process? My guess is that something has to happen to trigger the bad effect. At some point, the Evans/Potter blood has to prove a fairly serious handicap for Voldemort. What has to happen? What does he have to try to do?

  The possibility that Harry is related to Gryffindor adds a little more information for conjecture. Perhaps it’s the “Gryffindor” quality of the blood rather than the Lily/love/old magic quality which makes it so important. In that case, perhaps the effect will kick in when Voldemort tries to destroy something close to Gryffindor. And finds that he can’t.

  I think there’s something missing in this line of conjecture because Voldemort has been able to hurt Harry, and if Harry has Gryffindor blood then wouldn’t he be the closest to Gryffindor and shouldn’t the effect have kicked in?

  The other line of conjecture having to do with the shared blood concerns speculations that the four houses need to re-unite to defeat their common enemy, as indicated by Gryffindor’s Hat. By sharing Harry’s blood, Voldemort seems to have himself re-united Slytherin and Gryffindor. Which can’t be a good thing for him, surely.

  I can’t see further than this. And all this is very, very tentative.

• 48 Martin // Jul 6, 2007 at 8:24 pm

  Many interested thing happened at the end of PoO:, Sybil made a prophecy; Sirus Black turned to be innocent; Wormtail get indebted. There is something I did not find interesting, when I finished reading, but now I think it is absolutely stunning.

  Behaviour of Severus Snape puzzles me the most. I would have expected Snape to keep his mind calm and blank. Yes, sometimes even best of us lost their nerves but Severus is very special case, he managed to hookwind either Dumbledore or Voldemort. Why Was Severus so angry? Because of loss of order of Merlin? Ridiculous. The answer is obvious Snape hated he hated Black. But still, he was highly accomplished occlumencer. What upset Severus Snape? Why did he loath Black so much?

• 49 Rena // Jul 7, 2007 at 4:23 pm

  Reyhan, thanks for sharing your ideas. Here are some of my thoughts.

  I think you are right, that probably it is either a long time process or a triggering event is needed. If the first is true, can we be sure that it hasn’t already begun? We haven’t seen Voldemort in the last book. We only had second-hand information as to his (alleged) trust in Snape, his orders for Draco and his instructions for the Death Eaters not to kill Harry. So, how is Voldemort doing now – does he feel a bit sick already?

  Or perhaps Harry becoming of age will be the trigger. The combination of Lily’s and Dumbledore’s Old Magic protecting Harry will cease to work quite early in Book 7. And this might have some weakening effect on Voldemort.

  Another thought that has nothing to do with magic at all: What if the blood of Slytherin is incompatible with the blood of Gryffindor? This is a paragraph from Encyclopaedia Britannica about the Rhesus factor:

  The Rh antigen poses a danger for the Rh-negative person, who lacks the antigen, if Rh-positive blood is given in transfusion. No adverse effects occur the first time Rh-incompatible blood is given, but the immune system responds to the foreign Rh antigen by producing anti-Rh antibodies. If Rh-positive blood is given again after the antibodies form, they will attack the foreign red blood cells, causing them to clump together, or agglutinate. The resulting hemolysis, or destruction of the red blood cells, causes serious illness and sometimes death.

  A Rh-negative Voldemort might have been busy producing antibodies against the blood of a Rh-positive Harry during the last two years. The next time he gets in touch with Harry’s blood, it will be poison for him. This would, of course, only work if his rudimental body already contained his original Slytherin-Gaunt-Riddle blood, and we have no evidence for that. Probably it only contained a mixture of Unicorn blood, Nagini’s venom and some potion ingredients.

  But, to be honest, I don’t believe JKR would take that path. It would be as interesting as Voldemort dying from appendicitis.

• 50 Malene // Jul 8, 2007 at 9:58 am

  I don’t think we will see one to do magic later in life in Deathly Hallows. As far as I know Jo only mentioned this “late bloomer” once and this is the exact quote:

  [i]“In my books, magic almost always shows itself in a person before age 11; however, there is a character who does manage in desperate circumstances to do magic quite late in life, but that is very rare in the world I am writing about.”[/i]
  (http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/0399-barnesandnoble.html)

  I believe she’s talking about Merope here. Marvolo called her a squib on many occasions and Dumbledore said she didn’t do magic until Marvolo and Morfin was sent to Azkaban. And since Jo talked about this in 1999 and therefore before HBP, it could just as well be Merope she was talking about.

• 51 Martin // Jul 9, 2007 at 3:55 pm

  Malene, thanks for link, I have checked the conversation. However your explanation does not suit me: Merope did not start doing magic in desperate circumstances; actually, she did the opposite: she stopped using magic when her son needed her the most.

  Rena I think Rh factor act rather fast, a day is with wrong Rh factor is too much. I doubt this is the way Harry’s blood had affected Voldemort, he had looked in pink of condition before he met Dumbledore.

  On “Snape in Love” post an idea occurred, that Snape was so furious, because he thought Black had betrayed Potter’s and therefore he was responsible for the death of Lilly. I am very keen to believe, but there is one major difficulty: It was Wormtail who betrayed Lilly. Snape did not know indeed, he was to find out at the end of fourth year. However if the theory is right he hates Wormtail as much as he hates Blak. Despite the fact we could find Snape and Wormtail in Spinner’s End, Wormtail assisted Snape. I bet Wormtail was not very happy with such an assignment; he had been a member of the group, which bullied Snape. Now, he is subordinate of Snape. Why did Voldemort create such a couple? Is the theory ruined?

  Actually, I think it is not. I have following explanation: As Voldemort had stated after his rebirth, he do not forgive. He requires thirteen years of repayment: for Severus Snape he prepares worse punishment than crucatius curse: to be every day with a man, who is cause the death of Lilly Potter.

• 52 Dave, the Longwinded // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:17 pm

  See, this is why I love Snape’s character. We feel like we know so much about him, but we really don’t. Ninety-five percent of the time, he’s as mean, cruel, and nasty as nearly any character in the books, save for a few you could count on one hand.

  So, we all conjecture about him as if we understand him in some fundamental way. But we know almost nothing about his motives. The “Snape’s Worst Memory” chapter in (i)HBP(/i) is important, but it doesn’t reveal all that much in and of itself; and there’s very little from other books to provide good, solid context for speculation, especially about Snape’s personal history. All we really know is that the Marauders picked on him, (i)apparently(/i) quite mercilessly, and that this is (b)a(/b) motivation for his treatment of Harry. Then, James saves Snape’s life at some point, (i)apparently(/i) making Snape’s hatred that much deeper due to a perceived debt. But, keep in mind that much of this comes from second and third-hand sources.

  Think of it this way: The moment that Dumbledore invites Snape back into the fold as both a member of the Order and as a teacher at Hogwarts was probably a moment of great existential choice for Snape. And we haven’t seen a single second of that event. And there must be other instances of similar importance in Snape’s life, and all we get is a moment of bullying where the cool kids are picking on the nerdy emo kid.

  I’m not trying to downplay that event, but that can’t (u)the one moment(/u) that defines Snape’s character. And the event is meant to shed more light on Harry than anything else.

  He’s virtually blank in terms of concrete, clear, empirical details.

  And a note on the Pettigrew family motto: bear in mind that “sun” and “son” are interlocking symbols in a lot of traditions, one often being a pun playing on the other. Read it as “Nothing without the (i)son(/i)”, and you get the perfect poetic paraphrase of Peter Pettigrew’s ethical dilemma. Both Voldemort’s and Harry’s place as sons to differing fathers, mothers, families, and traditions is a theme of primary importance in the books, and it plays quite nicely into Christian themes, as well.

• 53 Dave, the Longwinded // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:19 pm

  Sorry…don’t know why the html tags didn’t work. There’s supposed to be some underlinging and italicizing going on there…

• 54 Mia // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:21 pm

  Dave, you should use instead of () to make the html tags work.

• 55 Mia // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:27 pm

  Sorry, it didn’t show up. Use the greater-than and less-than sign instead of the brackets.

• 56 Dave, the Longwinded // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:51 pm

  Mia…thanks. Funny enough, I normally do. I’m trying to grade some papers and post this at the same time and screwed up.

  My students love parenthetical asides, but can’t ever seem to get their in-text citations right…go figure…

• 57 Rena // Jul 10, 2007 at 6:18 pm

  Dave, the Longwinded , it is true what you say: we know almost nothing about Snape. One hundred people having read the same books probably “know” one hundred different Snapes. Even his ambiguity is not granted. After the publishing date of the final book JKR could legitimately tell us either “Well, he was on Voldemort’s side all the time, didn’t you know that? He told you, he was” or “Dumbledore always said he trusted him, so, why didn’t you, too?” (However, she isn’t that arrogant.) In either case nobody could complain that there hasn’t been enough evidence.

  The reason why I like conjecturing and speculating about Snape, Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort and all the other characters is that 1. it is fun, and 2. it makes me think about – and sometimes question – my own belief and ethical principals about the opposites and shades of good and evil, love and hate, courage and cowardice, injuries and traumata, body and soul, as well as free will, responsibility, compassion, sacrifice, forgiveness, redemption etc. What is so special about the books is that 1. and 2. work together so very well.

• 58 Rena // Jul 10, 2007 at 6:19 pm

  Ohhh, sorry for the bold text!

• 59 Dave, the Longwinded // Jul 10, 2007 at 8:06 pm

  Rena, I agree with you. My wife and I sit and conjecture all the time, as well.

  But I always feel a little like we’re intelligence analysts at the CIA trying to decipher Fidel Castro’s intentions based a photograph of him smoking a cigar. My best guess is still that Snape has his own agenda, but there’s only as much evidence for that (perhaps a little less) than there is for anyone else’s guess.

• 60 Reyhan // Jul 10, 2007 at 11:52 pm

  Travis, I was about to say to Rena and Dave (the Longwinded) that I find Snape’s allegiance and motives not that difficult to discern, but realized that we have been over this ground repeatedly. It never ceases to fascinate - me at least - but the time is almost upon us when all will be revealed.

  In anticipation, would you consider setting up a post on which we can all formally record our interpretations and predictions about some of the more compelling questions: Snape’s allegiance, Petunia’s secret, if Harry will cross the veil, if he will die, what the 7 Horcruxes are, how to undo a Horcrux, how Harry got his scar, which of the principals will die, who was present at Godric’s Hollow on Hallowe’en 1981, how Harry got his scar, who is Gryffindor’s heir, was Snape in love with Lily, was Lily in love with Snape, what form does Snape’s Patronus take, how Wormtail will pay his lifedebt to Harry, why Snape has a soft spot for Draco and Mom, who will kill Greyback, how Voldemort will die, why Snape AK’d Voldemort, and if anyone who has “died” will come back, to list my top 20.

  It won’t be the first thing on our minds when we read book 7, but after a while we can come back and look at our predictions and laugh, or crow, or shake our heads.

• 61 Reyhan // Jul 10, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  Last comment: I meant to say “why Snape AK’d Dumbledore” of course. Not Voldemort.

  Freudian slip.

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