COS Chapter Five: "The Whomping Willow"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Harry spends six weeks of the school holidays at the Dursleys’ house, and for the rest of the year he’s a massive celebrity who can basically do whatever he likes because of something that he can’t remember and had nothing to do with. Doesn’t sound to me like he’s got much reason to be jealous of Ron.

* Is the fact that dinner contains all Harry’s favourite things a coincidence, or did Mrs. Weasley deliberately design it that way? If so, is she already trying to snare Harry in order to get her hands on some of his money? *Grins at the thought of MoneyGrubbing!Molly*

* Somehow I can’t imagine the Malfoys being so disorganised.

* “Muggles do know more than we given them credit for, don’t they?” says Mrs. Weasley, the big joke being that they don’t, it’s all magic. Wizards rule!

* The Weasley parents let Fred and George take fireworks to school? Christ, it’s no wonder they’re so badly-behaved.

* Also, couldn’t they just take the kids to the station, then later mail them the things they’ve left behind?

* Still, the foreshadowing of Ginny’s diary is nicely done, though, so I forgive JKR for this minor plot hole.

* Is it really necessary to run into the barrier? Surely standing casually near it and then slipping through when nobody’s looking would be less likely to attract attention.

* Yes, Ron, of course all those grown-up, fully-qualified wizards on Platform 9 ¾ aren’t going to be able to figure a way of getting back. *rolls eyes*

* “The Dursleys haven’t given me pocket money in about six years,” says Harry, implying that they did until he was six years old. I wonder what he bought then that made them decide he couldn’t be trusted with his own money?

* That flying car plan has got to rate as one of the stupidest in the books, and as you can imagine, it’s up against some stiff competition.

* If Harry and Ron had really become invisible, they’d be blind, although to be fair to JKR this little problem with the laws of physics isn’t exactly unique to her.

* The description of the car flying above the clouds is good. Really brings out the wonderment Harry and Ron must be feeling.

* Any guesses as to which city they’re seeing? I was thinking it might be Birmingham or Manchester or somewhere like that, but the “wide, purplish moors” would seem to imply that they’re further north than that.

* Pumpkins aren’t particularly juicy, so it must take a lot to get enough for the whole school to drink. I can’t imagine why wizards drink pumpkin as opposed to, say, orange or apple juice.

* An impact hard enough to raise a golf-ball-sized lump on someone’s head would knock most people out, but Harry is a Gryffindor, and therefore above trivial injuries such as concussion.

* Wonder if there’s meant to be any Freudian symbolism in Ron having a broken wand? :p

* I probably shouldn’t ask why charming a car to make it fly would make it gain sentience.

* Harry looks through the window into the Great Hall, and the reader is treated to a rare sighting of the elusive Hogwarts school hat.

* Now I'm imagining watching a Springwatch-type programme set in Hogwarts, where the presenters set up hidden cameras around the school in the hope of getting a glimpse of one of the school hats.

* “For a few horrible seconds”, Harry had worried that he’d be put in Slytherin. One of the clearest indications in the books that we’re meant to think of being put in Slytherin as a sign of great evil.

* Harry seems to show a remarkable knowledge of colours here. I doubt I’d be able to recognise aquamarine when I saw it.

* The narrative voice pauses to bitch about how “everyone” hates Snape for a few sentences, inexplicably omitting to mention that he saved Harry’s life last year.

* BTW, I highly doubt that Snape was disliked by “everyone outside of his own house (Slytherin)”. In my experience, children tend to quite like the sarcastic teachers.

* Unless by “everyone” Jo means “everyone who matters”, i.e., Harry, Ron and Hermione.

* Snape’s suddenly appearing behind them like that is pretty funny.

* So how is it that the Evening Prophet can interview these Muggles, write the story, print the paper, and send it up to Scotland in less time than it takes Harry and Ron to fly directly from London to Hogwarts? If I were doing Jabootu scores, this would definitely be a case of offscreen teleportation.

* Why would someone travelling from London to Scotland go via Norfolk? Do wizards just like the countryside there?

* Harry hasn’t thought of what effect his stupid actions will have on others. Well, colour me shocked!

* No idea what the “large, slimy something suspended in green liquid” is there for. Probably to add to the atmosphere.

* I’m surprised McGonagall is so angry. One would have thought that, as a Gryffindor, she’d prize reckless action without any thought.

* Harry told the story as if he and Ron just happened to find a flying car, making them look like a pair of criminals as well as a pair of idiots, and continuing in the long tradition of lying to save the arses of adults who really should know better.

* Harry’s being worried about Gryffindor losing points is rather sweet. It’d be interesting to see how the hourglasses in the Great Hall show Gryffindor being on negative points, though.

* One detention each sounds like a pretty inadequate punishment, TBH.

* Is it possible to conjure up food out of thin air, then? If so, wizards could pretty much solve world hunger without any problems at all. That they don’t makes them look rather selfish and insular.

* “Breaking the law? Cool!” Seems Twinkly’s favouritism has given the Gryffindors something of an entitlement complex when it comes to breaking rules. At least Percy and Hermione have the right idea.

* If there are only five second-year Gryffindor boys, and the same amount of girls, and this number is about right for every House and every year, then there would only be 280 children in Hogwarts in total. Which would seem to contradict slightly the description of Hogwarts as a huge castle, or the dining hall as larger than the Dursleys’ house. Oh dear maths/architecture/consistency/worldbuilding…

* Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy goes to sleep in the Slytherin dorms, muttering, “Stupid Potter with his stupid broomstick and his stupid flying car and his stupid ginger boyfriend, he can do literally anything and get away with just a detention.” Little does he realise that he will be proved right in Year 6, after a certain incident in the bathrooms.

 

Comments

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

And it almost seems a bit cheesy to use Salem because on some level thats so commercial and common to think of when thinking of witchcraft.

And to me shows how utterly clueless JKR is regarding American history and culture...

Salem, Massachusetts would be the last place any real magikal folk would build a school to train wizards and witches; I mean, why would they build a school smack in the middle of a community settled by people who were cultist Christian fundamentalists, and who started hanging (and in one case, pressed to death) their nonmagikal neighbors because they suddenly started seeing the Devil under every rock?

Even after the witch trial madness subsided, I still don't see any reason for a wizarding school to have been built there.

As a student of American history, specifically colonial history, if there were any wizarding schools in America (and I agree with you, there would have been more than one), my money would be on schools in the colonial era in: upper New York State, the Philadelphia/Delaware area, and/or the Carolinas/Georgia. I'd also perhaps go with something in northern Maine, by the Canadian border.

From 1800-1850 I could see additional schools in the deep south (Mississippi or Alabama), and perhaps the upper peninsula of Michigan. From 1850-1900 I'd then see additional schools in New Mexico or Arizona, in California, and in the pacific northwest. I could also see a school in Hawaii. I think each region would have a different "flavor" of magik to teach, and perhaps even have institutions of higher learning where wizards and witches could learn different specialties.

At least that's my theory for the very nebulous fiction on American magikal history that is tickling the back of my brain... LOL

Re: Stupid train

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

In fairness, we don't know that the Witches' Institute is IN Salem (or that it is actually a school) - maybe it was named in memory of the massacre.

As for American magic, there would also be Native American wizards, vodou practitioners, etc. and maybe few or no wizards in the Muggle regions.

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

As for American magic, there would also be Native American wizards, vodou practitioners, etc.

Oh, most definitely...which I is why I theorize so many regional schools, as each region would have the "flavor" of it's particular geographical area, including the magikal traditions of the native peoples of that region...a school in Mississippi would have a somewhat different curriculum to a school in Oregon, or a school in Hawaii...


and maybe few or no wizards in the Muggle regions.

I actually think that many witches and wizards could have easily "hid in plain sight" in major Muggle communities like New York, Chicago, etc.

Re: Stupid train

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Would there really be so many magical traditions? British wizarding magic, other than elements of Herbology, Potions, and Divination (and possibly Arithmancy, given how little we know about it) has pretty much nothing to do with any British or European magical traditions I'm aware of, and Beauxbatons and Durmstrang seem to teach pretty much the same stuff.

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Well, we first have to ask the question as to just what wizards and witches would immigrate from Europe to the Americas or to Australia or South Africa, etc. -- and why?

Also keep in mind that these theories of mine are regarding my own ideas regarding magikal communities in the world, and aren't utilizing Rowling's world of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons and Durmstrang... ;-)

It seems to me that not unlike their nonmagikal brethren, any wizard or witch who was in a basically comfortable position economically and politically would not have any reason to immigrate. So that leaves those in the magikal community that are on it's lowest levels; I would think that those whom Rowling describes as "squibs" would also have more reason to immigrate.

So you'd have a magikal population coming to America that was probably already predisposed to "throwing over the traces" regarding established tradition from the old world.

I think that initial schools in the colonial era probably would have been more akin to the existing European schools...but again, with distinct regional differences. A school in upstate New York would utilize both Dutch and English traditions along with the magikal lore of the Algonquin, Iroquois, and other native peoples of the area (and if we believe Whitley Strieber, the occasional UFO aliens who stop by! LOL)

A school in Maine would have a curriculum that was both English and French, in addition to the native traditions of that area. A Philadelphia school would be more "cosmopolitan", because in the colonial era Philadelphia was a bigger and more international city than New York -- you'd have English, French, German traditions along with the native traditions distinct to the area.

A school in the Carolinas or Georgia would have some Spanish influence added to English and native traditions; a school in Mississippi or Louisiana would have English, Spanish, French, native American, African and Caribbean influences.

In the southwest you'd have more Spanish and native American influence; in California you'd have Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Alaska and the pacific northwest would have Russian and native american, and Hawaii would be a world unto it's own! LOL

In my world I also see the various American magikal schools evolving to be very different types of schools even amongst themselves -- some would evolve into types of prep and/or finishing schools, some would be more vo-tech, others would be what used to be called "ordinary" schools, schools designed to teach students to become teachers themselves...

Anyways, that is my vision of The History of Magik in America, and I'm sticking with it! (until I come up with a better theory, that is!) LOL

Re: Stupid train

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Fair enough - it just seems that your theories are applicable to a world with more flexible metaphysical rules than the Potterverse seems to have.

Though I do have to take issue with the suggestion that American wizarding schools would incorporate the native traditions - given that wizards seem on the whole to be more conservative, insular, and xenophobic than their Muggle counterparts, they'd probably despise the natives even more than the Muggle colonists. I think the native magical traditions, whatever they were, would by the time the books are set have almost entirely died out due to the immigrant wizards persecuting the natives.

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Fair enough - it just seems that your theories are applicable to a world with more flexible metaphysical rules than the Potterverse seems to have.

Definitely. Even within Potterverse I see an American magickal community being much less rigid and bureacratic than the European community Rowling presents.

But in my view of a world-wide magikal community, I see it overall as being much less corporate, bureacratic, and rule-bound than what Rowling apparantly sees. But that may be due to my associating with a bunch of Wiccans back a couple of eras ago -- they tend to be a fairly anarchistic bunch! LOL


Though I do have to take issue with the suggestion that American wizarding schools would incorporate the native traditions - given that wizards seem on the whole to be more conservative, insular, and xenophobic than their Muggle counterparts,

Remember, I'm positing a world separate from what Rowling has posited, so I don't think that wizards and witches in the Old World would necessarily be any more, or less, "conservative, insular, and xenophobic" than their nonmagikal counterparts...

Which isn't to say that immigrants did NOT have conservative, insular, or xenophobic streaks -- just look at the prejudice each new wave of immigration incurred.

But I look at it this way; if *I* were a witch in England in 1740, what would be an incentive for me to immigrate. If I'm fairly well-off, there is none.

But if I come from a magikal family like the Gaunts, or even a family like the Weasleys where there are so many siblings that it adversely effects income, then I may consider moving to another land. I can especially see magikal people of somewhat shady character doing this, as they may have figured they'd have a "leg up" in the New World that the Old World wasn't giving them.

And as I mentioned in my other post, those whom Rowling calls "squibs" -- those who carry a magikal gene but don't have overt magikal abilities, would definitely be amongst those coming to the colonies. They may not even have known they carried a magikal gene, but then one day their child or grandchild suddenly starts doing wierd things! LOL

And I don't think that magikal immigrants as a whole would have necessary embraced the native traditions -- but we do see a tradition in American folk medicine where European immigrants adopted and adapted Native American folk medicines, so the precedent exists.

I actually see many of the early magikal immigrants being part of the group of wilderness explorers who decided they'd rather live on the fringe of the frontier and have more interaction with Indian tribes, than deal with "regular folk" in towns and cities...

Again, the only thing my theory has to do with Rowling's universe is the premise that there are wizards and witches, and that said witches and wizards formed some sort of cohesive (albeit mostly secret) community sometime in the past. My view of their world, and how they interact with nonmagikal people, differs in many respects to what Rowling views.

Re: Stupid train

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Immigrant witches and wizards might also tend toward solitary or fringe living out of fear of being persecuted by immigrant Muggles (or whatever you're going to call them) and so be more inclined and, even, more impelled to consort with the native witches and wizards, who may also be persecuted by the ordinary folk from their tribes (or at least held at arm's distance out of fear when they're not needed). The need to band together to repel attacks, the need to commune with like-talented people, would throw the two together, especially if Muggles out-number witches and wizards in the same sort of way as they do in the Potterverse. And there's always the prejudices against Europeans of other countries that might send the Europeans to the natives instead of to a settlement of a different European nation. Like finds like and hybrid traditions are born.

American magikal communities (was: Stupid train)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Except that as a matter-of-course, native Americans rather honored their magikal people, so unless a medicine man or woman went "rogue" -- performing the equivalent of "dark magik", which would only attract European magikal folk if they themselves were inclined in that direction...

Otherwise, European magikal folk in the very early days would probably have found themselves welcomed by the native Americans, definitely more welcomed amongst the Indians than they would have been in the fundamentalist Christian cult communities of New England...

That said -- and remember, I am a native of Connecticut -- there are lots of areas here in New England that the native tribes steered clear of -- much of the eastern part of this state was considered "bad medicine" by the native tribes, and indeed one of our state parks in that part of the state is called "Devil's Hopyard", because the European immigrants agreed that something just was not right in that neck of the woods.

It's also the area where most of the state's vampire legends occur, too, and to this day people claim to hear strange noises and "explosions" in the woods...

So Indians may have had their own version of "dark wizards", who knows?

I think that the American magikal community would be -- and definitely become -- as diverse as it's nonmagikal counterpart. Wizards and witches who gravitated to large cities, where it would actually be easier to be secret, would develop a different culture to wizards and witches who traveled the countryside in a covered wagon billing themselves as a traveling medicine show.

A wizard or witch living West Virginia would probably have the respect of nonmagikal people in the area if said wizard/witch provided the only medical care available for either human or animal...and their knowledge of magik, especially potions, was probably enhanced by spells and potions gathered from native Americans, also from African slaves.

Magikal folk living on the frontier would by necessity have more interaction with native Americans than with other people of European extraction; such wizards and witches may have even preferred living on the frontier for just that reason.

And yes, there would be prejudice on the part of those of European descent who were already here, against whatever group of Europeans from another country were immigrating at that point...

So the descendents of the original English colonists would distrust German immigrants, who in turn distrusted the Irish, who in turn distrusted the Poles, who in turn distrusted the Jews, who in turn distrusted the Italians, etc.

But each group would have it's own magikal traditions, and even tho each new wave of immigration encountered discrimination, we ended up with a melting pot as subsequent generations intermarried...

So the British tradition would be modified by German traditions, then furthered modified by Irish traditions, Polish traditions, Jewish traditions, Italian traditions...in addition to what was garnered from native American and African slave traditions...

Therefore I can't believe that American Magik would be anything like the magikal traditions of any one other country, or even another region of the old world...it would be a totally new animal.

And when I use the term "American", I also include Canada, and Central and South America...and I think there would be vast differences between U.S.A. magikal traditions and those in Latin American countries...

Hmmmm...one wonders just who of the United States' Founding Fathers may have been a wizard???

;-)

Re: American magikal communities (was: Stupid train)

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Except that as a matter-of-course, native Americans rather honored their magikal people, so unless a medicine man or woman went "rogue" -- performing the equivalent of "dark magik", which would only attract European magikal folk if they themselves were inclined in that direction...

That's a very good point. Actually, one thing I find odd about HP is the International Statute of Secrecy, for this very reason... There are so many cultures around the world in which magic-users were an accepted part of society. The Americas, Japan (Buddhist and Shinto monks, priests, priestesses), Korea (mudang)... In ancient Egypt, there were the magicians and priests, and the Pharaoh's position was not just political but spiritual... So many cultures all over the world should, in HP, have no need or desire for the Statute of Secrecy.

Magical creatures, too. All throughout Asia, magical creatures have a huge tradition in the religions there- and typically good ones. There are dangerous creatures, but the idea of 'demonic' creatures isn't really present in the same way. In Japan the child of a mythical creature and a human has the chance of having spiritual powers- there was a onmyouji said to be the grandson of a fox, I think, and the emperor is descended from a dragon.

Though, I doubt Rowling ever considered the changes that would be made in HP's Asia if dragons were like her monstrous Chinese Fireballs, rather than the dragon kings and such. That would have an effect on the culture, drat it.

In a world like HP with magic very loudly real, and in these cultures where it was highly integrated and had an accepted place amongst them... There should have been a great deal of resistance to any effort by the Europeans to force magic into hiding.

Founding fathers a wizard?

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Ben!

And Abigail A, bless her sneaky little heart....

I'd like to claim Tom, but I really think he was just a run-of-the-mill Muggle genius.

Native traditions post 1692

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Moreover, Europe is the source of the Statute of Secrecy--and the signatories thereto. Post 1692, a witch living in "civilized" Europe is bound by treaty to hide her powers from her non-magical neighbors. THIS IS NOT YET TRUE IN THE NEW (OR OLD) WORLD.

So Anishinabe, Dineh, Seminole, etc. shamans are openly practising among their people. Not separated from them at all. (As is also true in much of Africa and Asia, of course.)

So the other reason for European witches and wizards to immigrate, is to practice among their non-magical neighbors without having to hide what they are.

Grin--now shall we speculate why the Seminoles managed never to lose formally to the full military might of the the US?

Forget Guns, Germs, and Steel! This is more fun.

Re: Stupid train

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

But in my view of a world-wide magikal community, I see it overall as being much less corporate, bureacratic, and rule-bound than what Rowling apparantly sees. But that may be due to my associating with a bunch of Wiccans back a couple of eras ago -- they tend to be a fairly anarchistic bunch! LOL


And I don't think that magikal immigrants as a whole would have necessary embraced the native traditions -- but we do see a tradition in American folk medicine where European immigrants adopted and adapted Native American folk medicines, so the precedent exists.

Yes, but that's because you're talking about real-world magical traditions, which are more flexible and open to this sort of syncretism that what in the Potterverse seems to be a more scientific force. Wiccan magic was influenced by Crowley, who was influenced by the Golden Dawn, who were influenced by the Western esoteric tradition, which was derived from the stuff attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, which was... it's a lot more vibrant and organic than Rowling's stuff.

Sorry to keep going on about this. I'm from Doctor Who fandom - fanwank is serious business to some of us :)

American magikal history (was: Stupid train)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

fanwank is serious business to some of us :)

Yes, yes it is... ;-)

But I guess I haven't stressed it strongly enough: my theory of American magikal history is purely my own construct, and does not owe or borrow anything from Rowling's Potterverse...

At this point it's just a game I sometimes play in my head; sort of a "what if we look at this particular historical event thru the filter of there really being witches and wizards/warlocks in the world?"

Re: Stupid train

[oryx_leucoryx]

It seems to me that not unlike their nonmagikal brethren, any wizard or witch who was in a basically comfortable position economically and politically would not have any reason to immigrate.

People would emigrate to seek new resources - new magical plants and animals not found in their home countries (I can see people like the Lovegoods doing that, but also the likes of Severus or Neville). People with family issues (like Sirius) would emigrate to stay away from unpleasant family members. People like the Gaunts would emigrate to stay away from unwanted influences. And there would always be those who emigrate for the sake of adventure, and business opportunities created by the others.

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Yes, there would be a few adventurous, "scientific" types like the Lovegoods who would travel to other lands to find new plants and animals, but they wouldn't have necessarily stayed...they would have brought their discoveries back to the old country and written a scientific paper on their discoveries, just as their nonmagikal counterparts did! LOL

But yes, magikal people "with...issues" would definitely be candidates for immigration, because as I said, anyone whose life was comfortable would have no reason to immigrate.

I'm not sure how many "business opportunities" would exist for a wizard or witch in the very early days of colonization -- the 1600s thru the mid-1700s, but I could see a Mundagus Fletcher thinking the colonies could be rich pickings...

I'm looking at magikal immigrants (or those carrying a magikal gene) as a whole being very similar to their nonmagikal counterparts -- and the vast majority of immigrants came here not because they were adventurers (altho some were), nor because of business/investment opportunities (again, tho some did), the majority of immigrants came here because life really sucked back home, and the New World promised opportunities for them and their children that they'd never otherwise have...

Re: Stupid train

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

/In fairness, we don't know that the Witches' Institute is IN Salem (or that it is actually a school) - maybe it was named in memory of the massacre.

As for American magic, there would also be Native American wizards, vodou practitioners, etc. and maybe few or no wizards in the Muggle regions./

It's called Salem Witches' institute so no we don't know that it's a school or that it's even in Salem, massachusetts. Though calling it Salem witches' institute sorta hints that it's in salem, maybe it's another state though. And maybe American is full of witches and few wizards.

Maybe USA is like the Amazon Women of the JKR universe. Maybe all the witches in the USA got together and kicked all the wizards out! Hince there is no Witcraft + Wizardry in the title of the Salem Witches institute.

I just think JKR snaged Salem cause it was easy and she is more than likely never going to delve deeper into it than that.

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

I just think JKR snaged Salem cause it was easy and she is more than likely never going to delve deeper into it than that.

I think it's a case of her being caught off-guard when someone asked her about wizarding schools in America, and she'd never thought about it before. Needing to come up with a quick answer, like many people when they think "America" and "witch", they think of the Salem Witch Trials, hence her answer...

Which, as I said previously, shows her total LACK of knowledge regarding the Salem Witch Trials, because after the unfortunate murders of many of those accused, when cooler heads finally prevailed it was immediately determined that NONE of the executed had ever practiced witchcraft.

Re: Stupid train

[kahran042]

Maybe it's in Salem, Oregon! :-)

Re: Stupid train

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's in Salem, Oregon! :-)

Except that in giving that answer to a question regarding an American school of magik, it is obvious that Rowling was:

a) referring to an institution that's a school

b) and would have no reason to be referring to any other American city/town by the name "Salem", except the one in Massachusetts infamous for the 1692 witch trials

Re: Stupid train

[kahran042]

Yes. I am fully aware of that, and was just trying to make a silly little joke. I apologize.

Re: Stupid train

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

I snagged this information off the Lexicon cause I was curious if there was much else about USA.

A country located in the center of North America and spanning the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the United States is home to the towns of Fitchburg, Salem, and Sweetwater, and is also the natural habitat of the clabbert and the doxy. We also know that Quidditch is not particularly popular there thanks to Quodpot - a game invented by Abraham Peasegood which is played almost exclusively in the U.S. (QA8).

Peasegood, Abraham (1700s)
American wizard who invented the game of Quodpot (QA8).

Fitchburg: With Salem and Sweetwater, Fitchburg is one of the three U.S. towns named by Rowling in the books. It is named as the home of the Fitchburg Finches, who have won the U.S. Quidditch cup seven times (QA8).

Salem: Famous for its seventeenth-century hysteria over witchcraft and witch trials, Salem is today a typical suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. There is still a witches' institute in Salem, though, which we know because Harry walked by their tent at the Quidditch World Cup (GF7).

Sweetwater: The Sweetwater All-Stars are a U.S. Quidditch team that recently gained international notoriety when they defeated the Quiberon Quafflepunchers after a five-day match (QA8). Sweetwater is a small city in central Texas, in the southern United States.

Quodpot (USA) - an American variant of Quidditch invented by Abraham Peasegood. Has eleven players per side and an exploding ball called the Quod. (QA)

Re: Stupid train

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Is it ever specified that the Salem Witches Institute is a school, or that it predated the witch trials? And for all we know, there was a school there and that was what inspired the hysteria in the Potterverse. The anachronistic witch hunting in 11th century Britain apparently didn't actually get any witches or wizards, so maybe the same thing happened in Salem.

Re: Stupid train

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

I got all the info off the Lexicon that I posted so other than that I don't think there is anything else out there to my knowledge.

The real life Salem stuff happened I think in the 1690's but don't quote me cause I am not 100% sure on the dates (need to do a google of it)- we know that Hogwarts was built way back 1000 years ago, I guess at the beginning or right at the start of the 11th century right?

It is interesting to note that the total separation of magical people from muggles in the potterverse happened in 1692 (at least by the lexicon timeline it lists it as that date)

This is what the lexicon had on it about the date 1692: A summit meeting of the [International Confederation of Wizards] takes place. The discussion about magical creatures lasts seven weeks and includes delegations of goblins, centaurs, and merpeople. The result of this summit is the [International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy], which effectively hid the Wizarding community away from the Muggles.

However it also says that when Hogwarts was founded magical people were separating themselves from muggles so it sounds like the above was sort of a treaty signed between magical people of different countires to keep their magical communities a secret.

SALEM (was: Stupid train)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

The real life Salem stuff happened I think in the 1690's but don't quote me cause I am not 100% sure on the dates

There's a timeline here:

http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/timeline.html


According to the above site, girls in the village started falling ill towards the end of January, 1692, and in February the town's physician concluded that the girls had been bewitched. The trials and hangings occured thruout 1692, ending in November when a state Supreme Court was convened to try the remaining accused, and by May of the following year those accused were pardoned.

What it doesn't say is that the state got involved when the girls doing the accusing, having run out of local victims, finally accused the governor's wife of witchcraft, which suddenly gave the governor impetus to remove the trials from the local Salem jurisdiction.

What I also find interesting is that it all started in midwinter of 1692, with the wildest fantasies of the girls being accepted as factual testimony, thruout late winter and thru the spring...

Back in those days, late winter and spring were the usual times one found outbreaks of "St. Vitus' Dance", which are actually hallucinations brought on by ingesting ergot, a rot found on wheat and rye that has been sitting for months in somewhat damp conditions (it can also occur on plants growing in the field if it has been a rainy growing and harvesting season)...ergot contains a substance very much like LSD...

I wonder if those who claimed to have had visions actual did have visions, but maybe the girls had knicked contaminated flour from the bottom of the storage bin to make cakes for their meetings -- notice that on February 25 the slave Tituba was instructed to bake a "witch cake" to enable the girls to identify who is bewitching them.