Questions left unanswered?

[Psychee]

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Ms_Necole wrote:
I thought it was Petunia who was the non-maggical person doing magic. I thought this becuase she was able to write to Dumbledore and as the young Snape said no muggles could write to Hogwarts. That made sense to me too because I remember reading in the earlier books that Hogwarts is hidden completely to muggles.

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There was nothing magical about Petunia's letter. Snape thought that the Ministry just monitors Muggle mail, found the letter and sent it to Hogwarts.

Honestly, JKR told us that Petunia was not magical at all.

[Psychee]

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Ms_Necole wrote:
...grandfather and the reason he get the invisibility cloak. My question is though, what was so special about it? Did Mad-Eye Moody have an ivisibility cloak also?

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Harry's invisibility cloak renders him perfectly and completely invisible, the cloak itself is impervius to damage and does not age nor develop imperfections over time.

There are other invisibility cloaks, and they are expensive, but they are not impervious to damage and their invisibility properties wear off as they age. They also apparently render their wearer completely invisible -- just close enough to work.

[Elderwand]

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hihi wrote:

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joyd wrote:
This has been making me crazy...i just got this out of the accio-quote.org website:

"Do we find out more about James Potters' family history in the next books?
JKR: Yes, you do..."


When??? Who are they? Why don't Grandma and Grandpa Potter ever help or even acknowledge Harry at all??? Weren't they a great wizarding family? Were there no cousins? anyone??

Also, totally parenthetically, wouldn't it have been in the HRH character to use a nickname for voldemort when they found out the trace on the name? So unlike them to use the whole "you know who" thing...call him Riddle, for example.

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I think she meant Lily and Harry.

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No, there is family history, though ancient, which shows James was a descendent of Ignotus Peverell, hence why he has the Cloak. It also shows that Harry and Voldy are vvv distantly related through the father of the 3 brothers....

[Elderwand]

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Psychee wrote:
Delores Umbridge... she had a Horcrux but she didn't receive it until sometime after she sent the Dementors to get Harry on Privet Drive. We truly do not know when she actually received it...

I don't think she was made more evil by wearing the Horcrux... what do other folks think?

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Why is it that when DD wore the ring, he suffered a major curse because it was a horcrux, but Delores Umbridge suffered nothing from wearing the pendant....I don't recall now whether thy had to break the horcrux or whether RAB had already done this....did RAB receive a curse from uplifting the pendent originally, or was this what Kreacher experienced when he was underwater in the cave..?

[Elderwand]

I thought it was the remaining part of Voldemort's vv damaged soul...

[Elderwand]

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amm1 wrote:

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Psychee wrote:
Could we also conclude that the reason he didn't tell Harry this was because Harry had to eventually believe that he was going to his death to save others? And if so, why?

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Yes, but I don't think I can explain why it had to be that way. I haven't had enough sleep. To put it in a nutshell, I believe JKR was going for - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

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Exactly! And love, as Dumbledore once stated, is the greatest magic there is.

[Elderwand]

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ellymarch wrote:
Harry's had to be a conscious choice to die for his friends. Perfect Scripture quotation! While never explicitly stated, many of the actions characters take in these stories exemplify the teachings of Jesus. (as well as the teachings of other great religions.)

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Yes, JKR has made no secretof her admiration of CS Lewis and Tolkein, who used Christian symbolism liberally and were both great writers with strong Christian faith.

If you want to get into the answers to much of the symbolism portrayed in the books, I recommend John Granger's site:

http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/

And yes, he has starters for 10 regarding the HP & Deathly Hallows up on his website already!!

[Psychee]

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Mistress_of_Eternity wrote:
... however, why was it that Dumbledore could see Harry through the cloak?

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We do not know why Dumbledore could see through the cloak. He is able to see other invisible things, though, like the invisible writing he read on the cave wall.

Mad-Eye could also see through the cloak with his magic eye that could see the invisible.

[Psychee]

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Elderwand wrote:
Why is it that when DD wore the ring, he suffered a major curse because it was a horcrux, but Delores Umbridge suffered nothing from wearing the pendant....I don't recall now whether thy had to break the horcrux or whether RAB had already done this....did RAB receive a curse from uplifting the pendent originally, or was this what Kreacher experienced when he was underwater in the cave..?

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The ring did not curse him because it was a Horcrux. The ring was made into a Horcrux and then it was further protected by a curse for anyone who wore it. Then it was buried with all sorts of enchantments to keep it from being found.

The locket was protected with the potion and the inferi and the cave. There was no curse on the locket itself. The horcrux inside it was protected by an enchantment that required a parselmouth to open the locket. Once opened, the soul chunk had to be killed by the sword with the basilisk venom in it.

[gniff]

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Psychee wrote:
Thanks for the thread!
8. Why didn't the Order and the "seven Potters" have disillusionment charms on themselves as they were leaving Privet Drive?

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Because placing that Charm on Harry would have activated The Trace. They could, perhaps, have placed it on the others and let Harry wear the Invisibility Cloak, but they couldn't put the D.C. on them anywhere near Harry.

But neither Dumbledore nor Snape wanted them to do this, because it would have told Voldemort that someone knew of his plan to ambush Harry. The risk was necessary to preserve Snape's position with Voldemort.

[Psychee]

Here's an addition to my questions list:

How did Peter Pettigrew ever get sorted into Gryffindor? It seems to me that he had all the qualities of a Slytherin, taking care of himself first, latching onto more powerful people, etc...

[gniff]

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magickfroggie wrote:
2. What was the point in McGonagall telling Filch to go and get peeves? She never tells us how peeves is supposed to help or why she wants him.

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I think it was a way to get Filch out of the way. Catching Peeves is a snipe hunt, especially for a Squib.

[gniff]

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Elderwand wrote:
Why is it that when DD wore the ring, he suffered a major curse because it was a horcrux, but Delores Umbridge suffered nothing from wearing the pendant....I don't recall now whether thy had to break the horcrux or whether RAB had already done this....did RAB receive a curse from uplifting the pendent originally, or was this what Kreacher experienced when he was underwater in the cave..?

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Well, for one thing, the locket's soulbit and Dolores probably got along just fine. She is the perfect saddle for a bit of Voldemort's soul. Remember that the locket tried to strangle Harry when he dove for Gryffindor's sword, and would have succeeded had not Snape's Patronus led Ron to the spot.

For another thing, they locket already had the protection of that green potion. The ring depended on a curse placed directly upon it.

Message Edited by gniff on 07-25-2007 01:36 AM

[ravensilverlig…]

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pedsphleb wrote:
I think there are a couple things that play into Harry surviving.

1. In literature and mythology great power is given to innocents who willingly sacrifice themselves without fear of death. If you read Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron, Gurgi willingly throws himself into the Cauldron to save all of his friends even though he knows that any living thing that enters the Cauldron will immediately die (the Cauldron makes an army of living dead). Thus the Cauldron is destroyed, but Gurgi is somehow brought back to life. There's also another example but for the life of me I can't put my finger on it.

Chronicles of Narnia - Aslan agrees to take the place of one of the brothers (i forget names, sorry) who betrayed the siblings to the white witch. He is executed, but because he is innocent, the stone table is destroyed, Aslan does not die, and time itself works backward. Is that the one you can't put your finger on?

[bertie-botts]

Yes! Along the same lines, I always wondered why the Weasleys' and Lupin's clothes always looked shabby. Why couldn't they just magic them to be nice and new?

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mlejoy wrote:
here's my burning question throughout all the harry potter books

if they can mend broken bones, re-grow bones, heal snake bites, heal wearwolf slashings, and various other human and magical afflictions...

WHY THE HECK CAN'T THEY FIX THEIR EYES SO THEY DONT NEED TO WEAR GLASSES??? hmmm?? lol

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[potionsmistress]

I think the "child like thing" Harry encountered before meeting up with Dumbledore was the piece of Voldy's soul that was destroyed. Didn't it appear to be suffering? Also didn't Dumbledore tell Harry not to help it? That would make sense if it was a piece of Voldy's soul.

[Psychee]

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bertie-botts wrote:
Yes! Along the same lines, I always wondered why the Weasleys' and Lupin's clothes always looked shabby. Why couldn't they just magic them to be nice and new?

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The glasses thing I understood, but I never understood this one. If so many things can be repaired with "reparo!", why can't the threads of the shabby garments be repaired to look new as well?

Another question I had was where does Harry get all his Muggle clothes? The jeans, the jackets, the trainers, and so forth. He only got rags at the Dursleys.

[PattyBNUChick]

And WHY with a vault full of gold at Gringotts did he keep Uncle Vernon's old socks! Yuk!

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Psychee wrote:

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bertie-botts wrote:
Yes! Along the same lines, I always wondered why the Weasleys' and Lupin's clothes always looked shabby. Why couldn't they just magic them to be nice and new?

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The glasses thing I understood, but I never understood this one. If so many things can be repaired with "reparo!", why can't the threads of the shabby garments be repaired to look new as well?

Another question I had was where does Harry get all his Muggle clothes? The jeans, the jackets, the trainers, and so forth. He only got rags at the Dursleys.

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[wee]

1. Who was the non-magical person who did magic under desperate circumstances?
Weren't we told several times that Andromeda married a muggle, Ted Tonks. That is why she was erased from the Black family tree. When Harry arrives at the Tonks's house after his run in with the Death Eaters its says on page 64 of the american edition, "Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth, your arm. I'm Ted, by the way, Ted Tonks" I guess it is possible he could have simply muggle set bones...but put a tooth back?

2. What happened the night the Potters died? Who informed Dumbledore? Why didn't Dumbledore get the child himself? Why did he send Hagrid? When did Wormtail retrieve Voldy's wand?
I'm pretty sure Dumbledore had his ways of knowing what happened inside and out of the house. Perhaps a headmaster painting...or perhaps the Deluminator.

3. Where is Voldemort's old body buried?
I'm pretty sure it dematerialized...like Sirius's or...Yoda

4. What do those silver instruments in Dumbledore's office do? How does his watch work? How was he "watching Harry more carefully than he would know"? How did he know to send the owl to Petunia in the kitchen?
How did he know how to send the owl? He's Dumbledore! And he and Petunia had been in contact before...

5. Are any of the Death Eaters besides Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Wormtail dead?
I believe so because it says Voledmort screamed when Bellatrix "hist last leutentant died" (forgive my atrocious spelling)
6
. How did Fenrir Grayback get out of the castle and able to come back to fight again after he was seen unconscious after being hit over the head by Trelawney's crystal ball? He woke up!

7. Why was the Sorcerer's Stone in Dumbledore's possession at the start of the story?
Start of the series? Because Nicholas Flamel asked him to guard it because Dumbledore thought Voldemort may be out to get it

8. Why didn't the Order and the "seven Potters" have disillusionment charms on themselves as they were leaving Privet Drive?
That would have defeated the purpose, they wanted to distract and confuse the Death Eaters

9. Where were the Dursleys taken and how are they?
If she didn't mention them, I'm guessing their fine.

10. What did Dudley see when the dementors attacked him -- why did he hear scary voices?
Does this really matter? He was a marginal character and despite his turn toward kindness, his role is less than important in this chapter of the story

11. Why were the house elves not using elf magic when they joined the fight?
I thought they were?

12. Where was Sirius' motorcycle stored all these years?

13. What was the career path of all the principles of the story after the fighting was over? Did the three heroes return to school to finish their seventh year?
I doubt they'd need to. I'm sure they were given honorary NEWTS for their obvious displays of amazing magical abilities in the fight. Finishing off Voldemort has to prove one's worth more than an exam.

14. Why did JKR tell us that Harry might get a new pet?
Because she thought he might, maybe she was going to write in another pet after she killed of Hedwig. Maybe the dragon lol
15. Did Umbridge ever get punished?

16. Where's Fluffy and why wasn't he fighting?

17. Why wasn't Victor Krum fighting? Where was Madam Maxine?
They probably didn't get the memo...after all, they probably weren't in Hogsmeade, the Forest, or inside Hogwarts

18. Did the elves ever get more freedoms?
Let's assume that with their new-found popularity and ability that Hermione started up a foundation or Ministry department to bring more equality to house elves.

19. How did the Durmstrang boat appear inside the Lake? Is there a connecting waterway?
Magic

20. What happened to Florean Fortescue?
My guess is Voldemort killed her

21. What did James and Lilly do for a living?

22. What are the twelve uses of dragon's blood?

23. How was Dumbledore able to see invisible things?
It never says that Dumbledore could see invisible things. He tells Harry in book 1, "I don't need a cloak to become invisible." When he winks in the corner of Hagrid's hut at Book 2, he's probably just being intuitive. He may have seen footprints, heard voices, or seen them scramble into the corner. At the very least, as he found the chain to the boat in Book 6 he stated, "...it has known magic..." I would assume that he could sense when and where magic was taking place and, "being wiser than most men" figured out who was in the corner.

24. How did Dumbledore learn how to understand Parseltongue?
How did he learn how to understand/speak Mermish, Troll and Gobbledegook? He's the best wizard of all time...I'm guessing he was a quick learn.

25. Which teachers are married? I can't see any of them being married, its like a Catholic school...they are nuns and monks lol

[pigwidge]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned or not or if I just read to quickly....

But how was Voldy able to fly?????