Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 16

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Harry: Oh, woe is me! Ron has disappeared and abandoned me! Me! The Chosen One!

Hermione: I’m ignoring you.

[They move around a few more times over the next few weeks]

Harry: And Christmas is drawing ever nearer but still we have no leads!

Hermione: Harry, I found a strange symbol in Beedle the Bard.

Harry: A strange symbol?

Hermione: Right here. [Hermione shows Harry a symbol that Harry recognizes as the same one Xenophilius Lovegood wears]

Harry: Aha! That’s the same symbol Luna’s father wears!

Hermione: Great. So…what about it, then?

Harry: Well, that mark was worn by the Dark wizard Grindlewald!

Hermione: Grindlewald, huh? Then why is it in a book of children’s stories?

Harry: I don’t have the slightest clue! [Pause] But, anyway, I say we go to Godric’s Hollow. It’s the only lead we have.

Hermione: Sure, why not? We might even find the sword of Gryffindor while we’re at it.

Harry: What? What makes you think that?

Hermione: Well…Gryffindor himself was from there. Hence why it’s Godric’s Hollow.

Harry: Aha! Dumbledore and I share our birthplace with the great founder of Gryffindor! No wonder I’m the Chosen One!

Hermione: If I hear the words “Chosen One” one more time…!

Harry: You’ll what?

Hermione:  [Thinks for a moment] Never mind. I was bluffing.

Harry: That’s not all! I remember Auntie Muriel saying Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric’s Hollow!

Hermione: Wow, this place is looking more significant by the second! Let’s go!

Harry: Yes!

Hermione: But first we need to make sure we can disapparate under the Invisibility Cloak and procure disguises.

Harry: You’re no fun….

[But soon enough their affairs are in order, and they Polyjuice themselves and go to Godric’s Hollow]

Hermione: I just realized—it’s Christmas Eve, isn’t it!

Harry: That it is! And look at all this snow!

Hermione: Yes, apparently global warming hasn’t touched wizarding villages.

[In the center of town is a war memorial, which upon closer inspection contains a statue of Harry’s family]

Harry: Wow! They built an entire statue in tribute to my family and me!

Hermione: Harry, don’t do anything to attract attention!

Harry: I’m sorry, but…an entire statue dedicated to me and my family!

Hermione: Stay focused. Let’s start by searching by your parents’ graves.

[In time, they do find some important-looking graves]

Hermione: Harry, Harry! It’s the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore!

Harry: So it is! It looks as though Rita Skeeter got at least one thing right! Oh, why did my angel Dumbledore never speak of this?! Did he not love me after all?!

Hermione: Harry, stay focused!

[After a time, they come upon a very old, weathered tombstone]

Hermione: Could this be it? [Peels away some moss] Harry, Harry! Look at the symbol it’s got on it!

Harry: Symbol?

Hermione: It’s the symbol from the book!

Harry: Oh my fuck!

Hermione: It says Ignotus Peverell.

Harry: Never heard of him. Oh, well. Can we get back to looking for people I know?

[And after a time they do indeed come upon the graves of Lily and James Potter]

Harry: I see that these stones are made of pure white marble, as befits the family of the Chosen One. [Cries] Oh how awful, that my parents are dead! They’re pushing up daisies under the ground right now!

Hermione: Well…maybe they’re alive and well in some afterlife?

Harry: But they’re not here with meeeeeeeee! Only the suddenness and completeness of death is with me now!

Hermione: Harry, I’m right here.

Harry: Whyyyyyyyy did they have to die?! Why am I meant to face this alone?!

Hermione: Harry, if you keep this up you’ll attract attention.

Harry: But what am I supposed to do?! Here I am at my parents’ graves!

Hermione: Here’s something to lay on their grave. [Conjures up a wreath of roses]

Harry: Thank you. [Lays roses on his parents’ grave] Say, if you can conjure this thing, how come you can’t conjure food or money?

Hermione: What, you don’t like being a tortured martyr who endures all manner of hardships in service to the Great Dumbledore?

Harry: But still…!

Hermione: Come on, we’ve done everything we can here.

[So they leave the cemetery]

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hermione: It says Ignotus Peverell.

Harry: Never heard of him. Oh, well. Can we get back to looking for people I know?

Well, he sort of did, when Marvolo mentioned the Peverell coat of arms that was supposedly on the stone.

Harry: Thank you. [Lays roses on his parents’ grave] Say, if you can conjure this thing, how come you can’t conjure food or money?

There could be a law of magic that conjured organic matter, whether plant, animal or other has no nutritional content, but instead Rowling insists that food somehow can't be conjured but living things can. ARGH for lazy, unthinking writing.

[spongebending.livejournal.com]

but instead Rowling insists that food somehow can't be conjured but living things can

What wait?! I know they've conjured animals that are considered food in at least a few countries, some places aren't as squeamish about eating rodents as we are. Can they conjure let's an ivy plant, but not a corn stalk? Or does it mean they can't conjure any prepared food (like a plate of pasta) only? If that's they case than they can conjure food, it's just raw and they have to prepare it.
That being said, wizards don't seem like the type to bother with farming (did we even see a real farmer wizard- Molly had chickens, Hagrid had a vegetable garden I think, but it couldn't be enough to support a whole school). They probably buy from muggles, or have the House-Elves laboring in the fields somewhere, is my guess.

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

They probably buy from muggles, or have the House-Elves laboring in the fields somewhere.

The House-Elves prepare the food for Hogwarts, but we are never told where they get it.

Wizard seem to be parasites living off muggles.

For students in their last year of school, about to become legal adults, Harry and Co. are really clueless about how to take care of themselves.

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

I would think the problem with eating conjured food would be more likely that it either eventually transforms back or it doesn't have the same nutritional value.

Of course, neither of these make 'sense' as far as magical reasoning goes. IF the items revert back on their own, then RatPeter would have been at risk at pop back into a man since animagi are really forms of transfiguring yourself.

There's the possibility that the transfigured 'object' stays that way as long as you devote power to it, but that would not account for such things as fairy tale curses such as the Frog Prince or Beauty and the Beast. Therefore, it is unlikely that things just 'revert' without someone specifically turning them back.

Altho' I suppose, it is possible that it might depend upon just how much power one puts into the transformation? Perhaps one CAN make something permanent with enough power? But it seems more useful if things stay transformed until you decide to change them back.

It's more likely that the nutrient value isn't right. I cannot imagine Ron or Harry (and I'd even have trouble with Hermione) having the knowledge of the molecular breakdown of food, well enough that they could 'make' protein or vitamins. And it certainly doesn't appear to be taught at Hogwarts. That said, if they are fed up enough with mushrooms, I don't see why they cannot change the mushrooms to something else for a different taste, but it still be nutritionally a mushroom. In other words, it doesn't make sense.

Of course, when you think about it more, there appears to not be a way to change somethings taste, otherwise potions wouldn't taste bad. And we have no indications that transfiguring something to look and feel different REALLY changes it. When Sirius is Padoot, he looks like a dog(grim) and is the size of one, but he apparently is still a man despite a somewhat simpler brain that Dementors don't recognize. If an animagus wasn't essentially still human (despite appearances) they wouldn't be able to tun back.

And if a transfigured mushroom, is essentially still a mushroom, no matter if it looks like a carrot, then it probably still tastes like a mushroom and so there's no reason to try to make it something else.


As far as farming goes, yes, they might buy from muggles and if they do I don't see that as any more parasitic than the average muggle buying food from the grocery store. However, if this was a story about a muggle school, we would not assume that are not farms that supply the food the school uses, just because we don't see the farms in the book.

I would guess that since we do know that Herbology is taught, there is obviously a need to grow plants even if just for potion ingredients. I see no reason why (altho' he appears to have done differently in canon) someone like Neville couldn't grow food. There doesn't appear to be farming done at Hogwarts, but that doesn't mean there are not magical farmers. Perhaps Molly might not have a garden because she just doesn't have the talent for it? It's also possible that we don't see wizarding farmers merely because farming is done by people who couldn't afford to go to Hogwarts

Considering rituals of the past were heavily involved with ensuring a good crop, I feel very sure that wizarding farms exist, That's entirely different from making food out of nothing.

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Molly might not have a garden because she just doesn't have the talent for it? It's also possible that we don't see wizarding farmers merely because farming is done by people who couldn't afford to go to Hogwarts

I believe Molly has a garden. Don't the kids get sent out to de-gnome the garden?

JKR has stated that Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in Great Britain.
We learn from Lupin that the Ministry requires all wizards and witches go to Hogwarts.

DD tells young Riddle there is a fund for needing students.

So if there are wizarding farmers their familys at Hogwarts.

Molly could go to the farmer's market, there could be a grocer in Hogsmeade and Harry never noticed

Of course the problem is Harry has the curiosity of a rock. He doesn't know the names of his classmates. Let alone what their family does. If it doesn't effect him directly he doesn't pay any attention. He doesn't bother to see if he can get better glasses (actually made for him rather than the pair that worked best out of the charity bin) clothes that actually fit. (Don't boys that age care about their trainers even if they are not really interested in clothes)


I remember once reading someone saying the reason HP was so popular with fanfiction writing is that JKR did such an incomplete job of world building. There is so much room to fill in the gaps and play with.

[jana-ch.livejournal.com]

Lupin said in Book Seven that the Ministry, under the control of Voldemort, was now requiring that every non-muggleborn magical child attend Hogwarts. The implication was that this was not true in the past. Previously, some families had home-schooled their children, or used tutors, or sent them abroad.