Comments on: Cornelius Fudge & Aragog

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:55:56 +0000

@Amanda – About the paintings… That’s something that’s always fascinated me too. I imagine that portraits of a person retain at least some amount of their personality, as Harry and others have conversations with peoples’ portraits, and we know that portraits of the same person hanging in two different locations can be traveled between…

I like to think that’s the case, anyway, because I’ve always had this idea of George having portrait of Fred (RIP :( ) made and hanging it on the wall at their shop so he could still have conversations with it. Haha

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:47:15 +0000

I think the strangest thing re: Fudge arresting Hagrid again is that Hagrid is not still IN Azkaban. I mean if people really believe that he opened the Chamber of Secrets and killed a student, would he really only be punished by getting expelled? You’d think he’d have served some time in jail. I guess he was a minor, but still.

Perhaps expulsion would be much more serious in the wizarding world, considering that they really couldn’t do anything without a wand and proper education.

By: May

May — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:32:16 +0000

I agree with what Ari said. Dumbledore is pretty much observant enough to notice the three cups of steaming water. The way he’s been keeping an eye out for Harry – well, he’s probably deduced enough from his observances that Harry and another one of the trio were in Hagrid’s hut that night. Also, since Dumbledore can make himself invisible even without the cloak, he could also probably see through invisibility cloaks. Just my assumption, though. :)

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:39:41 +0000

Re: How Dumbledore knew how Harry and Ron were there: I like the explanation that Ari came up with; if Dumbledore saw the three steaming mugs when entering (which he probably did, because he seems to be very observant), it wouldn’t take long for him to understand that there’s two more people in there, and what two people usually visits Hagrid, and can dissapear so fast…?

Re: The car/objects with their own will: I also like the theory about the car having a bit of Arthur’s personality. I used to think it was the Forbidden Forest that made it all wild and living, but then I realized it does behave like something with a mind of its own in the beginning of the book, as well, before it goes into the Forest. Although I think whatever magic is in the Forest may have made the car more independent than it would have been otherwise.

John, you mentioned what other things could have a kind of will of its own, but I think there are lots of objects at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world where the case seems to be the same – there’s staircases that goes to different floors on different days, books that behave like they are more animal than object, suits of armor in the castle that moves around – some of these things may be bewitched to do certain things, like the teaport Mr Weasley mentions in the beginning of the book, the one that sprayed boiling water over Muggles, but I think some of the things may have either developed a will/mind/whatever over time, or perhaps been influenced by the creator or the one performing the spell.

This makes me think of the paintings, how they move and how that works – does the person that is being portrayed behave like the person they are supposed to look like, as in photographs, or do they become their own indivuduals like some of the paintings in the castle seem to be? And how does that happen – is the character on the painting behaving like the artist that made them, as maybe is the case with Arthur’s car, or like the artist’s imagination of what they would be like..?

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:13:55 +0000

It’s interesting to read about the students thinking there are werewolves in the forest. To me it’s clear that there obviously aren’t since they would be human for the majority of the month. It just shows the prejudice against people who just happen to be werewolves for one day a month.

By: Nimra

Nimra — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:48:22 +0000

I think she specifically said bathroom because Moaning Myrtle was killed there.

By: hpfan

hpfan — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:49:10 +0000

I was reading this book again today and I realized for the first time that for the time Harry has the diary, there are no attacks. Once the diary is stolen from him, an attack occurs almost immediately afterwards. We all know the reason for that, but that little fact never clicked in my mind until today.

By: Megan

Megan — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:04:46 +0000

She says the bathroom thing because of moaning Myrtle (: Last time the Chamber was opened Myrtle saw the Basilisk and if you look straight at it is kills you but if you see it through something or through a reflection you only get petrified.

By: K. Davis

K. Davis — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:40:38 +0000

@Casey
I think it’s completely possible that Dumbledore’s spell could have seen through the cloak. This is not, after all, the only time that someone does. In GoF, Moody/Barty Crouch sees Harry through the cloak at the Three Broomsticks using his magic eye. It might be an inconsistency with what is written about the Cloak in DH, but I haven’t read it in a while so I’m not certain.

By: Lewis

Lewis — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:05:10 +0000

what happened to the Ford Anglia???

There are several more times that we enter the forest (think Grawp, thestrals). Either the car is extremely rude in not saying hi whenever HRH enter the forest, or something has happened to it.

Whaddya reckon?