A question hit me this morning as I was listening to Order on my way in to work. Harry was hiding in the flower bed, listening to the news. He was basically “invisible,” I think the text said. So here’s my question:
Why does Harry never use the invisibility cloak at 4 Privet? Surely throwing a magic cloak on wouldn’t register as “use of magic” with the Ministry, would it?
I know…not an incredibly important question.Â
In other news, I’ve received the CD-ROM from Lumos 2006, and I’m looking forward to digging through that a bit. Merlin has already posted quite a bit, having been to Lumos, so I’ll not steal his thunder. But I do plan to develop some of my postmodernism thoughts (based on Granger) and Voldemort thoughts.
Back to more substantial blogging soon.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Deborah
08.30.06 at 2:36 pm
My guess is that Harry doesn’t want to get caught by the Dursley’s with his invisability cloak and have it confiscated, or something like that. Especially Dudley. They always like his “magic” stuff locked away or in his room if possible. Just a lame guess, sorry, I wish I had something better.
I do have a random question for you though that has been bothering me. If the MOM can tell that magic is being done at a specific location, but not necessarily who is doing it, was there someone else magical at the orphanage in which Tom Riddle was staying? I mean, he wasn’t busted when he did magic. I know Harry had been doing weird things that he didn’t get in trouble for before he got a wand. Do you think there has to be wand usage involved then, or is there something else to it possibly? Maybe one needs to be doing actual charms, spells, or hexes? Just wondering.
Travis Prinzi
08.30.06 at 2:51 pm
That’s a good question. My first inclination was to say that accidental magic doesn’t register, or something, but certainly Harry’s blowing up Aunt Marge registered. My guess would be, then, that Tom (and likewise Harry) didn’t know they were doing magic, so minor, accidental magic performed by a person who doesn’t even know he/she is a wizard or witch yet doesn’t count as breaking that law.
Deborah
08.30.06 at 5:11 pm
I forgot about Aunt Marge. Your answer makes sense Travis. Thanks!
Felicity
08.30.06 at 6:47 pm
I’ve thought about Tom Riddle’s underage magic as well because unlike Harry, Tom knew how to control his magic. As he told Dumbledore:
“I can make things move without touching them, I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to.†(HBP13)
My guess is that accidental magic used by underage wizards who live with Muggles (as in Harry’s case) gets a pass until the child starts magical education, begins to develop and control magic, and gets a warning not to use magic outside of school.
Riddle’s case must have been tricky because he was using magic deliberately even though he didn’t know it was magic. He was in an orphanage with lots of children, and the MoM couldn’t or didn’t want to contact Mrs. Cole because they wouldn’t have wanted Tom’s magic exposed to so many Muggles. The wonder is that no one from the MoM visited the orphanage as soon as Tom was deliberately using magic to harm and control (since Tom’s name was on the Hogwarts list via the Magic Quill, so they would know which child was doing it) and arranged an adoption with a wizarding family who could advise and supervise him. Dumbledore knew how to find him to tell him about Hogwarts.
Maybe there’s a good answer or maybe it’s just a plothole.
Deborah
08.30.06 at 9:35 pm
Felicity: You bring up a very good point about Tom using his magic knowingly, without really understanding what it was he was using. I forgot about that. I had concidered that it may have been a plothole, but I was hoping that maybe I had stumbled upon some back story that might be revealed in the final book. Thanks for your insight.
Travis Prinzi
08.31.06 at 7:49 am
Felicity, “plothole” might just be the best explanation, and it’s a rather minor one at that. Certainly not something JKR will be returning to try to fill, with everything else to handle in book 7.