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Hogwarts, Hogwarts,
Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare
And full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff.
So teach us stuff worth knowing,
Bring back what we forgot,
Just do your best
We'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot!



1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2: Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3: There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5: Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8: The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9: The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11: Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13: Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Monday, February 13, 2006

The Toads Tacky Tastes

I was just listening to Book 5 on tape again.

I was at the part where on the Friday evening Harry misses Keeper tryouts because of Umbridge's week long detention she touches his arm and his scar sears with pain. But what I was noticing was that just as this is happening, for the second time Rowling notes that Umbridge is wearing a load of gaudy rings.

Now, maybe Sirius was right, maybe the pain had simply to do with some feeling Voldy is feeling intensely that is unconnected, and maybe all that is going on with Umbridge is bad taste.

BUT, maybe (as Granger and we have speculated before) the scar is a horcrux, and what makes the scar hurt is a horcrux connection ... this is what I have speculated before concerning that Dumbledore suspects (and I think rightly) that the snake Nagini is a horcrux and my own observations that both dreams in book 4 involve the snake present (I think as a horcrux channel) and Harry sees the snake's attack through the eyes of the snake itself. And MAYBE one of those gaudy rings is more than simply a ring.

It is merely speculation, but there are a number of coincidentals that should be considered.

1. The line that Sirius and Hermione and Ron use in discounting Umbridge involves her being consciously a death eater or carrying Voldy in her the way Quirrel did in book 1. But maybe Umbridge has the ring unwittingly - and I mean that with an utterly negative connotation ... Many who worship bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake let themselves get connected with bad stuff out of an "the ends justify the means" mentality, hence her willingness to use the Cruciatus ... but maybe her "pure humanity" bigotry has made her think an heirloom from a "pure blood" bigot not such a bad thing to own. Thus it would not be Umbridge personally who is making the scar hurt but the ring horcrux.

2. Rowling mentions the gaudy rings at least twice, rather conspicuously.

3. In book 5 the connection with Voldy as pertains to the legilemency thing is more on the emotional level ... Harry's blood practically boils with anger/hatred when Dumbledore touches him, or he sees visions etc. The scar thing is still a unique and very distinct phenomenon, and one which cannot be explained by Umbridge and the coincidence is a pretty odd one you must admit, of how closely the two are connected - her touch with that hand full of rings, and his scar hurting.

This is part of what makes me suspect so strongly that the scar is an horcrux and that the pain has to do with close proximity/connection to another horcrux and thus another piece of Voldy's soul. Iin book 1 this is obviously the horcrux of the "main part" of Voldemort's soul living on the back of Quirrel's head. I believe it is a riddle: how could Umbridge be carrying Voldemort the way Quirrel was? The answer is in book 6: a horcrux.
posted by Merlin at 10:50 PM


Comments on "The Toads Tacky Tastes"

 

Blogger MommyLydia said ... (February 14, 2006 12:44 AM) : 

I think you're right that Umbridge may have a horcrux, and wrong about Harry's scar being a horcrux.

 

Blogger Merlin said ... (February 14, 2006 1:56 AM) : 

:)
yes, but we shall see in book 7 when John G and I stand victorious

LOL Just Kidding

... but I am most anxious for book 7 to see what he case really is.

 

Blogger Pauli said ... (February 14, 2006 9:24 AM) : 

MBR, can you elaborate and provide reasons why the scar is not a horcrux?

 

Blogger jkr2 said ... (February 14, 2006 11:27 PM) : 

ok. totally just a stupid thought in my head. what if it is harry's soul that was somehow split, and the scar is a residue of that, and that voldemort carries a bit of harry with him.

yep that is stupid.
doesn't add anything to the plot....

but i'll put it out there in case it brings up any other more relevant ideas.

jo

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (February 15, 2006 5:16 PM) : 

If Harry's scar burns in the presence of another Horcrux (assuming he is one himself), wouldn't it have also burned when he handled the diary in CoS?

 

Blogger Merlin said ... (February 16, 2006 1:54 AM) : 

Ahhhh ... now that is an interesting question ...

Going to have to reread book 2 and see what turns up

 

Blogger Pauli said ... (February 16, 2006 8:32 AM) : 

> wouldn't it have also burned
> when he handled the diary in CoS?

Good point. Horcruxes seem to have a somewhat hidden nature. However, remember that CoS happened before Voldemort returned at the end of GoF and the incident with Umbridge occurred in OotP after he returned.

 

Blogger Merlin said ... (February 16, 2006 12:35 PM) : 

Well, MBR has a point in that it did burn with Quirrell ... but Pauli has a point in that when it burned with Quirrel (pre-book-4 return) it was THE Voldy, not just an HC. In other words before the return there may be a larger gap between Voldy himself (as he is on the back of Quirrel's head) and an HC (which might, at that point be a "minor" presence of Voldy's soul).

A point which I have been meaning to bring up and will still bring up as a corrolary in a future post, but will also throw in here, is that Rowling's world is one that is very carefully constructed, the concept of magic she has in the story is one with a distinct "physics" to it that has distinct physio-psychic characteristics.

In the context of the place I was originally considering this it is the question of DD being lifted into the air when hit with the AK curse, and whether this is natural to the curse or whether it indicates that Snape might be using the Levicorpus on him (aka the "DD lives" theory). I think that in "Rowlingian Physics" curses can translate the heightened emotional state of the curser into physical force. In fact, it is necessary ... as Barty Jr (fake Moody) says that you have to know how to do the AK and that any of them in the class could probably hit him directly with it and not do him more damage than a bad fly bite (or something like that). I don't think that when somebody gets hit with the AK they simply slump over dead. Notice that Wormtail/Voldy must "scream it to the night" in order to kill Cedric in the graveyard. Like Dante with Virgil covering his eyes from seeing the gargoyle at the gates if Dis in Dante's Inferno, Harry is protected from seeing the evil because his eyes are shut in agony from the pain in his scar. But when he looks up finally, he does not see Cedric simply slumped or fallen over, he sees him spread-eagled (just like Harry sees DD at the foot of the tower in HBP) ... IE he got "nailed hard" by something with some physio-psychic force behind it.

In the case of the HC matter, I think that Voldy returning to even the the "baby" body increases his power and thus the impact of the HC connection, which is why Harry's scar sears with pain when viewing Voldy's actions through the HC connection with the snake (on my theory), and even more so in book 5 when Voldy has returned to his full bodily stature ... remember that Rowling drops some clues in the responses of Sirius and Hermione and Ron in Book 5, that now that Voldy has returned his scar is bound to be hurting more.

(BTW, from recent listening to book 5, I completely agree with the part of himself Ron hides even from himself, that he is falling in love with Hermione ... it quite simply kicks the skrewt's blast-end how she steps up to the plate in book 5 and starts using Voldy's name, even though it is obvious she is terrified in doing it)

A most interesting discussion, many facets ... and I am definitley going to still go back and look at book 2 and see what is there in the descriptions of Harry's interaction with the diary and in the chamber itself.

PS
for this response my Name is Tevye, in honor of the scene in "Fiddler on the Roof" where the village man are gathered round his milk cart in the village square talking and Tevye has just responded to 2 different men's comments, and a third man's says to him "Wait, a minute! he is right? and he also is right? (pointing first to one and then the other) ... they cannot both be right!" and Tevye replies to the third man, "you know what? ... you also are right." LOL

 

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