We are absolutely discussing the Book Series, not the films, which are a terrible portrayal of a brilliant saga.

Hear, hear.

Yes, the ocular scale proper is a transparent scale covering the eye, but a transparent scale shedding would still be, wait for it….transparent!

Actually, during the shedding the eye becomes cloudy. So, the snakes eye would cloud over, giving the appearance of one being closed. Another possible theory is that the snake inclined its head in a winking fashion. And the most probable theory is that JK didn’t put enough research into the ocular apparatus of boa constrictors.

“It states in the Hogwarts letter that you can bring an owl, toad, or cat but Ron brings his rat, Scabbers”

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Arnold the Pygmy PUff (Ginny), Lee Jordan’s Tarantula (definitely illegal, but so what). Pahtus ?????? any reptile, bird or mammal that is bigger, more dangerous or more ostentatious than those mentioned.

But realistically, the answer seems to be that, on closer inspection, the letter lists the animals under ‘other equipment’. So this would exclude anything that would give an unfair advantage.

How many times did you guys read each book?

42

What does the oilom think about not eating in a succah for my first date. What with all the good restaurants not having one?

And in Shloime Gertner’s song Besimcha, he randomly says ‘Lipschitz’ in the middle. Why?

Oh, and snakes have transparent scales protecting their eyes, meaning they can’t blink. But these scales can be shed, giving the appearance of blinking.

And in later books when he claims that Snape “never betrayed him and was always faithful”, isn’t that totally excluding the entire first book when Snape was blatantly sabotaging his plans?

Read the Book (caps intended). Snape explains to Bellatrix at the beginning of ‘??? ? that he wasn’t aware of Quirrell being possesses, and in his own words…

“I think you next wanted to know,” he pressed on a little more loudly, for Bellatrix showed every sign of interrupting, “why I stood between the Dark Lord and the Sorcerer’s Stone. That is easily answered. He did not know whether he could trust me. He thought, like you, that I had turned from faithful Death Eater to Dumbledore’s stooge. He was in a pitiable condition, very weak, sharing the body of a mediocre wizard. He did not dare reveal himself to a former ally if that ally might turn him over to Dumbledore or the Ministry. I deeply regret that he did not trust me. He would have returned to power three years sooner. As it was, I saw only greedy and unworthy Quirrell attempting to steal the stone and, I admit, I did all I could to thwart him.”

So this neatly sums up why Voldermort didn’t contact Snape, or vice versa.

I am to conclude that, had Dumbledore’s plan gone as planned, the wand’s allegiance would have passed to Voldemort when he removes it from the tomb, just like the latter says at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Well, Harry says to Dumbledore’s portrait a short time later that he will die with the Elder Wand unconquered, just as Dumbledore was going to, and thus ‘it’s power will be broken’. And Dumbledore smiled and nodded. So Voldermort, when claiming that by removing the wand against Dumbledore’s wishes he took possession of the wand, he was, quite simply, lying.

And this is further proof that Dumbledore trumped Voldermort in virtually every category, including that one path Voldermort thought he alone had trod further than anyone.

The boa constrictor at the Zoo winked at Harry during their conversation. As snakes don’t have eyelids, it is impossible for them to blink, for their eyes are protected by transparent scales

So your problem is that the talking snake shouldn’t have been able to wink. Still, good ????.

Can someone please listen to ‘Daddy Come Home’ (I don’t think I can force myself through it once more), and tell me what on earth is being said towards the end, when I am convinced he says, “I hope my Daddy dies”.

And I’m not even going to get started on the high part.

In the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the foreword, by Albus Dumbledore, reinforces the claim that JK Rowling is a chronicler, as opposed to an author. As such, would she not be in violation of the International Statute of Secrecy and liable to be obliviated, or at the very least threatened with a spell in Azkaban (assuming muggles can be imprisoned there)

A knighthood is a step below a peerage. I wasn’t going to be presumptive enough to elevate myself to a Lordship. Although DukeVoddmort has a certain ring to it.

Regarding the second issue, this would seem to be similar to ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? which is ?? ??? ???? because the Torah says ????. So by an elf an actual nesinah should not be necessary as long as the elf acquires the clothes and the owner had intent. Aaaiii, Lucius Malfoy did not have intent to free Dobby. So efshar we could say that you don’t need intent to free, you just need intent to give.

Intent is not the key here. It is true that were this a matter of ????? ??? it would be invalid, but, as you have previously acknowledged, her book, her rules. And her rules state that there has to be a presentation, kabbolah, call it what you will, of an article of clothing. Therefore, handing a ??? to an elf will free it, as that is the requirement. There need be no intent.

But when there is no direct handing over of said ???, then the modus operandi of presenting the clothes is by wishing them to have it at the time they pick it up, this being another form of the master ‘presenting’. For without the master’s intent in that ????, there is no ‘presentation’ in any form.

Question 10:

Why by the Quidditch World Cup do they have to queue up for water, it the Aguamenti charm could work just fine? (And it wasn’t just for Muggle freaks like Mr Weasley!!)

Really? They were trying to act like muggles, and spells were forbidden on the campsite.

[Further points to ponder – Is Magic a psychological, physical or spiritual power. Logic would dictate a blend of all three, or perhaps some sort of bonding power between those elements (bear in mind the need for one to visualise, understand a spell and preform the correct physical movements to elicit a physical or other reaction). Understanding this is the key to understanding many of these questions, particularly those involving magical theory and perception]

*cracks knuckles*

Question 7:

??”?

And it’s worth remembering, Crouch was a certified madman.

But whatever Voldemort’s problems were, he wasn’t the certified madman Crouch was. He wouldn’t have let through such a plan.

To be fair, this was never my main point. However, Crouch did attempt to kill Harry in his office after the resurrection, against Voldermort’s express wishes (we can assume they were in place at the time). So Crouch could have been a tad more flamboyant than was needed.

Question 6:

We now understand that Harry’s ability to see Voldemort in his dreams comes from the fact that a part of his soul belonged to Voldemort, and when Harry’s emotions were weak Voldemort “took over”, and therefore he saw things from Voldemort’s point of view. Why then did he see the dream in the opening chapter of #4 from behind, so that he couldn’t see the figure in the chair (Voldemort)? Why did he see another dream from the point of view of an airborne eagle? Surely it should have been from Voldemorts point of view?

My opinions on this matter have been quite clear. It can be argued that up until ‘??? ? Voldermort was mainly a spirit, and as such was not tied down to a body as from then onwards. Therefore, since it is not apparent that Voldermort himself was anything more then a mere shadow, as he himself said…

I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost. . . but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know… I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal – to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked … for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it. Nevertheless, I was as powerless as the weakest creature alive, and without the means to help myself… for I had no body, and every spell that might have helped me required the use of a wand… (‘??? ?)

At those points in the series, it is highly probable that Voldermort was not much more than a consciousness, inhabiting the area around him, and indeed, nearby animals such as that eagle. And whilst he may have had some semblance of a body, it is unclear his mind was confined to it.

This would explain why the ‘outside view’ visions are only up until his resurrection.

Hmmm. Are there two separate ways of freeing? It seems very strange to say that either by mistakenly giving or by intentionally leaving clothes one can free an elf. Surely either a maisah nesinah or a kavono leshachrer should be good, but not both!

Its not a choice between a ‘maisah nesinah or a kavono leshachrer’. In both cases there is a ????, with the ??? coming to the hands of the elf. However, the House-Elf must, in Dobby’s words, ‘receive clothes’. The key lies in the word ‘receive’. The ???, in this case the elf, must be ???? clothes from his master. This ???? could either be through a ????? ??? ????, which does not require ????, or a ????? ?? ??? ????, which in order to be a ???? must be ?????. As in both cases the requirements of the elf ‘receiving’ clothes has been met, so there is no problem with the two separate forms. The ??? is ???? on ????? ?????, not ??? ?????.

And so on…

Question 4:

Why did Harry have to be the one to locate and destroy the horcruxes? I’m sure others (e.g. Kingsley, Moody et al) could have done a much better job.

Harry upon discovering the final plan…

How neat, how elegant, not to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked for slaughter, and whose death would not be a calamity, but another blow against Voldermort. (‘??? ?’, ?? ????)

This justification aside, there are numerous reasons why Harry had to be the one who carried out the work.

Firstly, the culmination of the plan, as many do not realise, was that Harry had to sacrifice himself willingly. This had the dual purpose of killing the Horcrux inside him, and extending the protection of Love over all Voldermort’s enemies.

This is evident in the Battle of Hogwarts, where after Harry’s sacrifice (despite it not actually being ?????), all spells Voldermort casts, including the numerous silencing spells, ????? the Body-Bind curse on Neville, are easily broken. This being Dumbledore’s fail-safe, that Voldermorts power is broken whether Harry survives or not.

With this in mind, this is why Harry must be the one to confront Voldermort, the proverbial ‘sacrificial lamb’. Moody or Kingsley would not be able to carry out this final act, as they did not host Horcruxes.

And secondly, it has to be noted that the only reason Dumbledore permitted Harry to include Ron and Hermione in the plan was that they had proven themselves trustworthy (‘?’ ??? ?). The plan had to be confined to a small group, because were it to be revealed, Voldermort could easily foil the plans. This explains why Harry (who we already have proven must be an integral part of the plan), could not enlist the entire Order to help destroy Horcruxes, as it would mean that only one person had to be broken for the plan to fail.

And perhaps thirdly, it could be that Dumbledore was playing on Voldermort’s arrogance, entrusting the most important task to three teenagers, and allowing him to focus his efforts on tracking down the Order, and not see Harry as a real threat until it’s too late.

These reasons are not mutually exclusive, and to sum up, the key seems to be that only a carefully nurtured, guided (by Snape too) and determined Harry, confident that the alone is the answer, can bring about the desired conclusion, as explained above, of a final sacrifice bringing about the true downfall of Voldermort.

Question 2:

???? ?????

In the seventh book we are introduced to the “trace”, a means by which the Ministry can track underage magic. Yet this is at odds with earlier books where the Ministry is not able to determine if an underage wizard did magic; they can merely determine that magic was performed in a certain place (e.g. Dobby in the beginning of the second book).

Shteit ?????, that the trace can detect magic performed in the vicinity of an underage wizard, but not who by. This is why it was why at the beginning of ‘??? ? they are unable to transfer Harry through spells, as casting spells, even by overage wizards, would result in activating Harry’s trace. Therefore they used modes of transport upon which the trace didn’t work i.e. charmed objects such as brooms and potions. So in the case of Dobby, it would be traced to 4 Privet Drive.

And yekke2, old question. Pashtus PAA is right, although it’s not so ????, especially as all the Elves are doing is picking them up. So Dobby in his time at the Malfoys could have just picked up some clothes. And can all House-Elves not work with clothes? ???? its ???? on ??? ?????.

So unless his chavrusa is repeatedly hugging him, there’s no risk. And if he is, he should stop for a whole other reason.

But generally, smokers smell of tobacco no matter how hard they try.

And what’s to say she didn’t abandon her principles, a by-product of being deeply unhappy as a result of her failing marriage (as The Great One herself revealed recently).