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Post by Author By Night on May 8, 2009 7:37:21 GMT -5
In the story I've (sort of) started, Colin is going to try to use the ambiguity about his mum to try to get back into Hogwarts after he's expelled for being muggle-born. He's going to get a little help from an ex-professor. That sounds interesting, but weren't muggle-borns more than expelled? I thought they were actually interrogated/arrested. (Sorry - I like your idea, I really do.
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Post by dancingpony on May 8, 2009 12:33:52 GMT -5
Yes, I believe they were interrogated by the Muggle born registration commission -- but I don't recall reading that they were automatically imprisoned. There were "wandless" wizards out begging, presumably because their wands were confiscated after the interrogations. My assumption is that muggle borns were ordered to face the commission. If they showed up for their "appointments," their wands were taken and they were set free to fend for themselves on the fringes of the magical world. If they failed to show up for their appointments, they became criminals and were on the run . . . facing imprisonment or death if they were caught. That leaves open the possibility of someone going in front of the commission and somehow convincing the members of the commission that he/she really did have magical blood and hadn't "stolen" his/her magic.
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Post by Author By Night on May 8, 2009 17:16:08 GMT -5
Oh, okay! That actually makes a lot of sense, then. I hadn't thought of the wandless homeless man we saw in TDH.
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Rugi
Third Year
Norberta's Chief Cook and Librarian
Posts: 33
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Post by Rugi on May 10, 2009 6:56:06 GMT -5
I was talking to Vega about this, and I think that the Voldemort-lead Ministry hadn't reached a state where they would have been able to imprison/kill every muggle-born wizard - they had a lot on their plate at that point. I think they started out crippling them (by taking their wands) in order to eventually move towards get ridding of them in a more permanent way.
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Post by vegablack on May 10, 2009 23:48:52 GMT -5
The wandless homeless man had lost his children and blamed the loss on Bellatrix. That sort of gov't provides a nice place for the cruel, violent, and sociopathic to exercise their proclivities without punishment. I could see Muggleborns being killed in incidents both to make a point, to frighten and cow, or to give pleasure to the assailant and no one investigating or caring.
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Post by queenie on May 27, 2009 0:40:31 GMT -5
Help! I'm an Animagi but Now I want to Raise a Family - What Do I Do??
I was just wondering about if female Animagi are allowed to transform during pregnancy. We only know of two female Animagi in-canon -- Rita Skeeter and Professor McGonagall -- and two in supplementary material: Lisette du Lapin from 'Beedle the Bard,' and Morgan Le Fay from the chocolate frog cards.* Of these women, we only know that Morgan Le Fay had children, and we don't know if she had Mordred before or after she mastered the transformation. I wonder if an experienced, pregnant Animagus (Animaga?) could make a full transformation, including her unborn child, or if would depend on the trimester, or if those would simply be nine months when she cannot transform. Maybe, even before she knows she's pregnant, but when her body has realized it, she simply cannot transform - her body won't allow it. The only thing that I can make sense of is, a woman can't transform for the first time and be pregnant.
This came from me speculating about Dora Tonks. In my personal canon, Dora's attempting to master the Animagus transformation by the time we come to book 6, so that she can help Remus during the full moon, not to mention that her Metamorphmagus abilities would probably make it a bit easier for her (there was a long discussion on this back at SQ.) But it makes sense to think that when she got pregnant, her work would have to be stalled.
* By the way, I always thought that the cards were INSIDE of the chocolate frog - that you bit into teh frog and found a card inside, and then cleaned the chocolate off. Not that the card was outside of the frog. I had an odd imagination.
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Post by vegablack on May 28, 2009 13:29:59 GMT -5
My thoughts and to be honest they are just thoughts, because I don't think anyone can know unless JKR makes a statement, is that you could not transform safely during pregnancy. I believe that includes the use of polyjuice potion. What if you transformed into an animal that doesn't carry live young, like a bird or a reptile? What if you took polyjuice potion and transfigured yourself into a twelve year old boy? Without a uterus where would the transfigured fetus go? I can not believe this would be safe for a fetus.
Remus says that Werewolves are rarely fertile. I believe the transformation process would probably make pregnancy difficult or impossible for a female.
(Wizards seem to have few children. Aside from the Weasley's most families seem to be very small. Even the Dumbledore's only have three children at a historical time when most Muggles would have had six. The wizarding community is much smaller than the Muggle one, though magic would have given them a survival advantage in the premodern age. Wizards may have embraced birth control rather early which would explain a lot, but perhaps magic, the transformations inherent in magic is unsafe for fetuses?)
I write Alice Longbottom and in my personal canon she won't take polyjuice potion during pregnancy or transfigure herself during pregnancy for the reasons I listed.
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Post by birdg on May 28, 2009 14:10:31 GMT -5
I think a lot of it has to do with birth control, wizards allegedly having longer lifespans and the status of women. But, I also think you're right in that some kinds of magic may be unsafe for pregnant witches. Not just transformational but also transportation - would flying a broom above certain altitudes be safe for witches? What about using the Floor Network or a Portkey? I can't see either of those being safe.
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Post by dancingpony on May 28, 2009 15:23:50 GMT -5
I think JKR would have gone totally insane if, as she was writing, she would have thought of all the questions her story might generate. ;D ;D
Those are great points about pregnancy and transformations, though. i actually wrote a very short piece, once,about Tonks learning to transform into an animal to help Remus during his transformations. It was early in their relationship, however,and I never considered how a later pregnancy might be affected.
Now I have to wonder how the Ministry would have reacted to her being prregnant and "out of commission" durung such a critical time.
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Post by vegablack on May 29, 2009 11:47:29 GMT -5
I know I feel sorry for JKR. She was just writing her own story and now everyone wants the information that will help them write theirs.
In my fanon, I'm convinced that certain types of magic is unsafe during pregancy, (as is exposure to certain activities is in our world) I even wonder if the smoke given off by certain potions is safe. Certainly Harry reports being affected by them as he was making them.
I will admit that in my fanon infertility is an issue for a lot of witches and wizards just because so many have only one child, even those who I would think might want more. That I will repeat is entirely my personal fanon.
I think pregancy might be a problem for female Aurors. There job is even more dangerous than cops in our world. (Very few cops have fired their gun or been attacked in the line of duty, though the potential is always there. Aurors seem to be attacked and have to attack others frequently.) They seem to be more like green barets and are the closest wizards appear to have to an army. (Again in my fanon Alice has Neville as an older mom because her job isn't very safe for a pregnant woman and she is commited to doing well at it.) I think being pregnant would have affected Tonks's work greatly.
But I think she was already in trouble with her job because of her marriage to Remus and her work with the Order. She is hiding from ministry officials during the wedding scene. Then the ministry is taken over and she and Kingsley are on the run. She seemed to be in trouble before the fall.
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Post by Mirabelle on May 29, 2009 18:50:21 GMT -5
Skele-Gro is not something you'd want to take while pregnant especially in the early months. Can you imagine what a potion that regrows bones would do to a developing fetus?
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Post by starsea on May 31, 2009 17:08:16 GMT -5
I will admit that in my fanon infertility is an issue for a lot of witches and wizards just because so many have only one child, even those who I would think might want more. That I will repeat is entirely my personal fanon. That's an interesting idea. But Harry's generation was born just as the first war against Voldemort was ending. Very few people would have wanted to have children in such dark times, which may account for the one child families. The birth rate probably rose after Voldemort's defeat.
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Rugi
Third Year
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Post by Rugi on May 31, 2009 18:36:51 GMT -5
That's an interesting idea. But Harry's generation was born just as the first war against Voldemort was ending. Very few people would have wanted to have children in such dark times, which may account for the one child families. The birth rate probably rose after Voldemort's defeat. It would account for there being fewer kids in Harry's class (and the classes preceding his). But it wouldn't account for one child families in Harry's or the previous, say, two classes. If Harry's generation were born near the end of the LV war, why don't they all have a slew of younger siblings? It seems weird that people who would have a kid in the middle of a catastrophic war, wouldn't have more kids after it was over as well. If they were from, say, Charlies's class, it would make sense, the parents had a child, but had no more because the war was getting worse and, by the time it was over, had passed the time when they wanted or were able to have kids. In Harry's generation, however, we have people having a child at a desperate time, and then not having any more. It seems odd.
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Post by Mirabelle on May 31, 2009 18:52:33 GMT -5
Was Harry born as the war against Voldemort was ending? I thought it was still raging. Didn't Remus say it was going badly for the Order in the first war? The reason why people were so ecstatic at the beginning of SS is because Voldemort's death was so unexpected--they clearly did not expect the war to end so abruptly. Harry ended the war (or at least that phase of it) but I think the fighting was quite active until October 31, 1981.
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Rugi
Third Year
Norberta's Chief Cook and Librarian
Posts: 33
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Post by Rugi on Jun 1, 2009 4:25:40 GMT -5
Was Harry born as the war against Voldemort was ending? I thought it was still raging. Didn't Remus say it was going badly for the Order in the first war? The reason why people were so ecstatic at the beginning of SS is because Voldemort's death was so unexpected--they clearly did not expect the war to end so abruptly. Harry ended the war (or at least that phase of it) but I think the fighting was quite active until October 31, 1981. I don't think Harry was born as it was "ending" but he was definitely born within a year or so of "the end" whether his parents knew it or not. Which sort of proves my point. If the parents of Harry's class and the classes around his were having children in the middle (so far as they knew) of a terrifying war, why weren't they having them after that war was over and peace was declared?
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Post by vegablack on Jun 4, 2009 19:35:45 GMT -5
Wars are often followed by a baby boom, so one would expect all the pent up demand for children to be met by younger siblings or a larger class following Harry's.
I think JKR may have just wanted to simplify things. But if you take pureblood families who might want to have children to perpetuate themselves you find only small families. Barty Crouch Jr. is an only child. The Blacks have only two children. Draco is an only child, and Theodore Nott appears to be an only child. Neville's parents appear to be only children. (If Frank had siblings surely they would have had some contact with him since their mother was raising him alone, yet we only hear about elderly great aunts and uncles.) Even Tonks is an only child, though a half-blood. Bellatrix is of course, childless. We hear of no siblings for Ernie McMillan.
The Weasley's appear to be unique as members of a large family.
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Post by birdg on Sept 24, 2009 4:30:50 GMT -5
Is it ever explained why charges weren't pressed against Lucius Malfoy for the whole CoS diary business? Do Molly and Arthur even know the whole story of what happened? Is this just one more example of the corruption and cruelty of the wizarding world?
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Post by Mirabelle on Sept 24, 2009 21:07:54 GMT -5
You'd have to prove Lucius gave Ginny the diary and he knew it was dark magic. Neither of those things are going to be easy. It's basically the word of a disgraced house elf and Harry's against Lucius Malfoy.
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Post by birdg on Sept 24, 2009 21:28:10 GMT -5
That brings up something else I always wondered - why aren't Pensieves used more often as evidence in magical trials? They seem to be difficult to falsify - as Slughorn proved - so you'd think they'd make great evidence to back up an eyewitness account.
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Post by vegablack on Sept 25, 2009 9:30:36 GMT -5
The Pensieve question is an interesting point that appears to be a plot hole.
Perhaps the Pensieve requires the co-operation of the person giving the memory. Remember Dumbledore always says that the person allowed him to take the memory. Perhaps there's more than politeness in that remark. Slughorn gave him a false memory because he didn't want to be caught refusing and had a foolish trust in his own ability to fake things. Dumbledore doesn't use the Pensieve against Barty Crouch Jr. Perhaps he couldn't find and remove the memories without the co-operation that he knew he wouldn't get. Probably that co-operation can't be forced. Otherwise the removal of memories would be random and useless.
The Pensieve is even more an invasion of privacy than legilimency which is more impressionistic and an art form and the use of Veristaetum which involves question and answer. Only those things pertinent to the question would be seen. With the Pensieve all would be seen -- what you were wearing, the fact that you picked your nose, was rude to your wife, yelled at your kids etc would be available to the viewer. Information non pertinent to the case would be found and that could be both more embarrassing and more incriminating. Evidence of crimes unrelated to the case and previously unsuspected could be found.
Britain has and invented the right to remain silent and not incriminate one's self. (It's quite old in their history.) Does the wizarding world have it too? The forced use of the Pensieve would be the ultimate violation of that right. (Britain has altered it at times in Terrorism cases. Perhaps the wizarding world did too.)
Barty Crouch Sr. could have used it with impunity. Perhaps the offer was made that torture could be avoided if the accused co-operated with the Pensieve. This at least avoided fearful people under torture making up crap to please an interrogator.
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