Knockturn Alley: The Official Harry Potter Book Thread (Black Highlight (HTR) Spoilers - Beware!)

Harry Potter is an easily accessible cross generation book series and I think that's the biggest reason why Rowling is a billionaire. ;p

 

Obi-Zahn, that was hilarious!! Quoting out of context at the right moment = teh lol

 

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I was wondering, since Neville didn't have much of a role in DH, what was even the point of noting that the Longbottoms fit the prophecy as well? I guess just to illustrate that the prophecy was prescriptive rather than descriptive.

 

Neville did behead Nagini, and was organizing the resistance at Hogwarts!

And that he could have been the one in the prophecy means that Voldemort could have chosen him, but didn't, he chose Harry, he made the prophecy come true. Voldemort's choices led to his downfall.

Also, if Voldemort chose Neville, would Snape have turned to the good side? Would he have asked Voldemort to spare Lily, giving her that choice, and her choice that gave Harry the blood protection from her love, which leads to both of Voldemort's falls? Probably not. But it was also Snape who chose to give the prophecy to Voldemort. Snape's fate seems to have been as much tied to the prophecy as Harry's and Voldemort's.

 

Snape might not have turned to the good side; however, I bet Alice would have made the same sacrifice for Neville that Lily did.

 

Ah, but would she have the choice? I don't think so. You see, just dying for your child doesn't matter - James died for his wife and son, too, and his death didn't protect them. What mattered is that Voldemort offered Lily a chance to live - which she refused and instead chose death to protect her son. THAT created the blood protection for Harry. And who persuaded Voldemort to give Lily this chance? Snape. He wouldn't do the same for Alice, ergo Alice's death wouldn't create this sort of protection for Neville, and all three Longbottoms would simply die.

 

I was actually thinking about that myself. What I was thinking was that if Harry wasn't chosen, then Lily and James would have still been alive by default. This is where I see two alternate branches branching off. One Severus Snape eventually may have made up with Lily, and eventually made a light friendship with James, Sirius, and Remus (Not sure about Peter), and would have become sort of a surrogate uncle to Harry. He would have been much nicer to him, no matter what house he ended up in.


The second alternate path I see is that Snape remains evil, never goes to Dumbledore, never becomes Potions Professor at Hogwarts, and the world is plunged into darkness.


Niether of these are plausible, but its fun to think about.

 

Exactly. Snape really put the prophecy into action.

 

Yup, and doubly so: One, because of Snape's information, Voldemort set out to kill baby Harry; two, because of Snape's plea for Lily, Voldemort gave her the choice which led to Harry's blood protection and survival. Two seemingly contradictory things, but that's how prophecies usually are.

 

The German publisher of the books had a contest to choose the cover for DH. The winner was announced -- they have clearly outdone themselves i having the abosolute worst covers in world:

[image=http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/1048553830_875b74b43b_o.gif]

 

Tom looks like a perv.

 

And it just ocurred to me -- it's clearly the final duel. What's the snake doing there?

 

It's not the final duel. That takes place in Hoggy-warts and not in the forest.

 

Also it shows Harry with no wand, clearly giving himself up. Way to spoil everyone... And that the cover is incredibly ugly goes without question...

 

You know, the more I read, the less the Fidelius Charm makes sense. When Harry and crew arrive at Shell Cottage, Bill explains the recent applications of the charm. If we accept that the whole crew arrive before the charm was performed, we still have two problems. First, Bill tells us that the other Weasleys have been moved to Muriel's and that Arthur is their secret-keeper. If that's true, Bill shouldn't be able to reveal that information. Additionally, if a person protected by the charm (as presumably Bill and Arthur are) can also be the secret-keeper, why the hell wasn't JAMES the s-k for the Potters? It would be 100% impossible for them to ever be found.

 

James couldn't be the secret keeper because the secret was the location of him and his wife. No one would be able to see him so no one would be able to be told.

The Fidelius Charm is a huge continuity error in the books. It's really confusing, and no, there's no logical way to work it out. She changed the rules. That's all.

 

just keep in mind, they are fun books but ultimately pretty silly, and you'll be fine. start looking for plot holes and you'll never find the bottom.

 

Well, that's sort of my point. If James couldn't be Secret-Keeper, why could Arthur and Bill? It's a bit of an annoying mistake; it would work if one was S-K for the other, I suppose.

 

Yeah. For example the wizard duels in OOTP and DH. If these were realistic, wouldn't the Death Eaters just be shooting AKs all over the place? Instead we see them actually bothering to physically duel "with sparks shooting out of their wands" and junk like htat.

 

Just finished Half-Blood Prince, so far this is the first book that has even remotely lived up to the hype, very good. I still think Rowling draws stuff out far too long though. And writes a lot of unnecessary stuff. (i.e. the entire first chapter about the Muggle Primer Minister was a pain to get through, and added nothing to the plot.)

-The Scummy-

 

Snape kills - oh wait. You just finished.

To spoil the ending to the next one, Harry has a dozen children and becomes Minister of Magic.*




*Not so subtle reference to Trelawney's predictions from a previous book.

 

I don't recall in great detail the bit where Bill tells them about it in DH, but from what I can recall the only problem I had with the whole Fidelius Charm was that the Potter's didn't use DD as their secret keeper (massively stupid). I don't think that the Charm prevents anyone other than the secret keeper from disclosing the location. They can tell someone the location and the person could go where it should be but they wouldn't be able to see the house (i.e. Tom could press his nose against the window but wouldn't be able to see them). It's my understanding that Mad Eye showed HP a piece of paper from DD that had the location of the headquarters on it, not because he couldn't physically tell HP himself, but because if he did HP still wouldn't be able to find it.

Although, now that I think about it, I'd have to go back and check the part were the Minister of Magic grabs hold of Hermione when the disapparate and apparate on the steps of their hideout. Was she the Secret Keeper after DD's death? She seemed to think that he'd be able to find it again since she brought him, IIRC.

 

I don't understand secret keepers.

 

Yes, upon DD's death, all those who had been told about Grimmauld Place became Secret Keepers. Thus, when Hermione brought the minister to the doorstep and within the scope of the Fidelus Charm, she divulged the location to him.

 

Once the Secret Keeper dies, everyone who was told of the location then become secret keeper.

And house-elves break the normal wizarding rules for magic, so it's very possible they can even apparate into Shell Cottage while it's being protected by the Fidelius Charm. But they probably wouldn't be able to find it again, after they left, unless they were told by the secret keeper.