non-contradictor

Here you go: source: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/...and-scores-more

JKR interview spoilers below. Oh yes. I've read that, and a good deal of the resultant screaming that is now occurring within the fandom. Personally, I think it makes Dumbledore's blindness regarding Grindelwald make a lot more sense, and while I'm surprised that she chose to take that angle, I don't think it's completely out of the blue as some people are claiming. There were a decent number of people who read DH and thought there was a definite Dumbledore/Grindelwald subtext. I, of course, was too busy wondering whether Harry was going to die to notice. I also think it's f

I believe I referenced liking Atlas Shrugged in one of my essays, and I also listed Semifinalist in the Anthem essay contest as an accomplishment, but that's as far as it went. FWIW, I'm currently a Freshman at Caltech. I think that what you write about in your essays partly depends on the college you're applying to, but for the most part I wouldn't make Ayn Rand or Objectivism the focus of your essay. I don't think mentioning it in an essay where it's relevant, (mine, I believe was on the importance of passion for what you do), is a problem, but in essays where Ayn Rand or Objectivism are the

Well, for one, if Dumbledore had survived the year, things would have been even worse for Draco than they were. For another, like Dumbledore says, he'd prefer Severus to do it rather than fall into Bellatrix's or Greyback's hands. He also probably predicted that the school would fall to Voldemort eventually with him dead, and hoped that Severus would be able to protect the students. I mean, like Harry says, sending Ginny & co. into the forest with Hagrid is a pretty tame punishment considering he's supposed to be a cruel evil Death Eater. I also think that Dumbledore intended either for

Okay, so, I said I'd write more on Dumbledore once I'd given myself some time to digest DH, so here it is: Re: The Ariana business. I've read some good discussions of this part of the Dumbledore backstory, particularly this one, where the author rants about discusses whether or not Albus' resentment of Ariana was believable. She concludes that it is, citing her own experiences with a handicapped sibling as an example. I agree with her conclusion. I don't think it remarkably earth-shattering to find that a brilliant teenaged Albus, having a handicapped sister, would have resented her at l

Haha, I noticed that about as soon as I'd typed it, because I'm rereading the book and I was in the Godric's Hollow chapter. I didn't notice the first time I read it, because I've taken it for granted for a while now that Lily and James died in 1981.

The general fandom consensus is that this book takes place in This is based off of Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party. If there's another way to derive a date, I haven't yet found it.

Think so.

I also stayed up all night reading it with my two friends. It involved a lot of frustrated noises, pounding the floor, gasping in shock, and asking "what page are you on? Can you believe....?"

I'm playing the online version, and it just asked me what the national dog of France was. National dog? There was no answer for "who cares."

1. Riddle killed the Gaunts before he opened the chamber. He used their murder(s) to make the diary. He was 16 at the time. source: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timelines/timeline.php 2. Dumbledore can't kill Voldemort, and I'm pretty sure that Voldemort did try to hit Dumbledore with Avada Kedavra. Also remember that the unfogivables are Dark Arts, which Dumbledore probably wouldn't use on principle, same goes for the rest of the Order. I also gather that Avada Kedavra in particular is pretty difficult to cast, and is therefore not extremely practical for firing off quickly. It's also poss

Probably best. We won't really know until the book comes out anyway, and maybe not even then. Thank you, though, and I hope he snaps out of it as well. I've read some fan stories where he doesn't, and he always ends up either killed by Voldemort or suicidal. Not a happy prospect, and if JKR tried to make him fatalistic and happy it would be even worse for being unbelivable.

You're welcome. Oh, I don't know. I see HP prophecy as a sort-of magical guesswork. It may be right more often (or a lot more often) than normal guesswork, but it's still guesswork and not 100% accurate. Though I do agree that as such, it's pretty much useless, because all it'd do is give you a major headache trying to figure out which bits to ignore/follow etc. Harry'd have been much better off if he'd never heard the darn thing, in my opinion, and things would have turned out pretty much the same. But it does make things more interesting.

Ooo, good call. I forgot to note one assumption on my part: That crackpot prophecies (anything Trelawney says while not in a trance) are false prophecies, and are therefore not recorded in the hall of prophecy. I base this on Dumbldore's assertation in PoA that Trelawney has only made two "real" predictions, but this is not very concrete evidence, I admit. However, it does suggest that Dumbledore does distinguish between real and false prophecies, and I think that is what he is doing in HBP, even though he does not state it. He and Harry have a close relationship. He probably knows that Harry