Natural Magic??

[Guest]

[Morrisap]

Before Harry went to Hogwarts, he did magical things accidently like releasing the snake at the zoo.  
I know that Snape blew sparks from his wand once when he got mad but how come things don't just happen at Hogwarts like they did before the students came there?
Like Harry blew up Aunt Marge when he got mad but he has never blown up Snape or Malfoy when he got mad.  Is there a spell or enchantment at Hogwarts to prevent this?

[Nienna]

That's a very good question!

I wonder if anyone has thought to ask JKR that one?
I imagine that the teaching staff must have some kind of protection from the students, otherwise they'd be hexed, jinxed and charmed to oblivion when their angry pupils lost control.
Perhaps it's as you say ... the powerful enchantments surrounding the castle and grounds give protection to those who teach there?
Maybe the answer can be found at the Leaky Cauldron or Mugglenet, as these sites uncover all manner of interesting bits and bobs to do with all-things-Potter?

Just my two knuts worth ...

[rns91294]

Yes, this is a good question.  Although, I am shocked that more stuff didn't happen accidentially with Harry prior to knowing the truth.  He couldn't stand the Dursley's treating him like they did, so it is a shock that letting the snake out was one of the very few things that happened. You would think the whole family would have blown up like Aunt Marge prior to Harry knowing anything about magic.

[Nienna]

Perhaps it was more a case of him not knowing he was a wizard which kept him from doing these things in the first place?
JKR did give more instances of him unconsciously doing magic (leaping over dustbins and ending up on the school roof, his haircut, the shrinking sweater), but I bet there were lots of very minor things which happened which weren't worth commenting on.
Oh, another good one Harry did was when Uncle Vernon had hold of him and he suddenly let go of him as though an electric current had passed through him!

Maybe JKR will reveal more of them in the last two books?

[ferdinand_the_yak]

That was in OoTP right? Just after Harry cracks his head on the windowframe *ouch*. For some reason, I think that fact might play an important part in the next 2 books (getting all Galadriels Waters on you all )

[Nienna]

Yep it was!
JKR does say that Harry will become even more powerful in the next books, so you could say he'll be 'crackling with energy'!
Makes me think of an electric eel! LOL

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well I think Harry has been getting more powerful over the years thats why Aunt Marge got it and not the Dursleys previously. Its true that there may have been many things that happened before he knew he was a wizard which he probably thought where just strange things that happened to anyone.

Can someone warn me before they come up with ideas as to what might happen. As I am trying to stay away from them because I tend to beleive them all and worry about them (like Lupin and James body swap, that JK has now said never happened, that worried me). Silly me  

[EmmasOneandOnly]

I have thought about one thing the most...

JKR hasnt mentioned the Weasleys Ford Car in a while what if that saves them again

[Morningangel-Iola]

The same with Sirius's motor bike she said we should be able to work out what happened to it, but I'm at a loss. Maybe the car and it and living in the forest together.

[kbmum]

The last we heard of the bike was that Hagrid was taking it back to Sirius, but as we know, Sirius was off searching for Peter.  So.....the bike might still be with Hagrid or on the Hogwarts grounds.

I have another theory about the Aunt Marge incident.  The Dursleys never spoke about Harry's parents, which means that they never said anything derrogatory about them (except for when Hagrid first met Harry and told him he was a wizard).  Aunt Marge was saying terrible things about the Potters' characters in front of Harry.  Then Aunt Marge blew up.

[Morningangel-Iola]

Yes. But hadn't Marge bad mouthed them before? Was it when she was talking about Lily that the glass blew up, I do wonder if Aunt P might have a tiny bit of magic (JK said someone would use magic when forced to or something, not a very good quote sorry) but I am probably wrong.

[rns91294]

I definitely think there is more to Aunt P than we know so far.

[Anna]

I definitely think there is more to Aunt P than we know so far.

There is that mysterious promise she made to Dumbledore...

[Nienna]

Her promise was everything to do with the letter Dumbledore left with Harry on the Dursley's doorstep ... "remember my last!" was the message in the howler she received I believe?
Although this letter has been referred to before we don't actually know the exact contents do we?
Did Dumbledore spell it out just what had happened to her sister and who/what Voldemort was? My guess would have to be yes, because of Aunt P's reaction when she heard Voldie's name ... and the Dementors too?! I also think that Dumbledore may have told her about the protection she could give to Harry through that ancient magic he invoked as she said the 'boy will have to stay' once she'd heard the howler ....
I did think it a revealing passage where Harry suddenly sees Aunt P for who she is ... his mother's sister ... and JKR didn't clarify why Harry saw this either, so maybe there is more to her than we've been told so far?
I'd be inclined to agree with you although I'm sure JKR squashed the rumours that Aunt P was a squib ... can anyone confirm or refute this one for me please?
She certainly knows more than she lets on, even to her hubby!
Perhaps Uncle Vernon has a selective memory over it all, as he appeared not to know about Dementors at all but did recognise Voldie's name didn't he?
(Or maybe she thinks his tiny brain will explode trying to cope with this information!?! )

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well I'm sure Jk said somewhere on her site that THE letter isn't the only one Dumbledore has sent Petunia over the years.

If Mr and Mrs Evans (Lily and Petunia's parents) were indeed muggles Petunia can't be a squib because you have to have at least one magical parents for that (apparently magic is the dominat gene). But it is interesting to note that on JKs site it says Harry is concidered a halfblood because of his mothers Grandparents not her parents or his grandparents. I don't know if this is a mistake but it hasn't been changed when ever I have looked. But if one of the Evans was magical it would make Patunia a squib (and maybe if she was it would explain why she felt like she did about her sister).

[ferdinand_the_yak]

I have never heard that about magic being the dominant gene before... for those geneticists out there, if that was the case, the Evans parents would have to have been double recessives as they were muggles. So how would Lily have been a witch if there were no dominant gene in either of the parents?

I am pretty sure that Harry is to be considered a full blood as his mother was a witch and the same goes for Voldemort - but the talk in the books is that both of them are halfblood (CoS, GoF and OoTP). So maybe if Harry has a child with a witch then that child would be a pure blood? JKR has never specified how many generations are required for consolidation of a pure blood line

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well Hermiones parents are definately both muggles. Maybe there's a mutation to magic or something but then I'm not a geneticits.

Voldmorts father was a muggle (eek he's not going to like me saying that lol)

I have this theory that very powerful wizards have to have some muggle. Like Lord V and Harry and I have a feeling Dumbledore does too. Maybe the inbreeding isn't good

[Nienna]

hmmmmmmmmmmm

Well what about Dean Thomas?
He states that both his parents are muggles (in OotP) yet he's a wizard? How does that happen, through one or other set of grandparents too?

Sorry, I'm just taking the ball and running with it here, but if what you're saying is right then I think that Aunt P really could be 'outed' as a squib!
Won't that be a scene, especially if she really has no inkling that she is!?
Or perhaps she does know and is just denying it to everyone?!

I don't pretend to understand too much about dominant and recessive genes and I get the sneaking feeling that JKR might have slipped up here over Harry's 'half-blood' and who is and isn't a witch/wizard in his family tree. She might not prefer to say in any more detail thinking it would be giving too much information away before some pivotal plot point in the story!

I only hope that JKR ties up all the loose ends in the last two books because it's infuriating not to know what's what!

I don't tend to visit JKR's site too often so I've probably missed that bit of info about the letters Dumbledore has sent to her over the years. I'd still like to know a bit more about them though.

[ferdinand_the_yak]

Overlooking the obvious - well what about Hermione? Her parents are both muggle dentists - I guess that her magic was from the grandparents or some sort of mutation of the genes.

I have always thought that Petunia was a squib... and I am pretty sure that she know about Voldemort before Harry was left on her doorstep. I got this impression from Dumbledore's explaination to Harry in OoTP as well as Petunia's reaction to Harry's explanation about Voldemorts return and the Howler earlier on. Surely Lily would have warned her family or put some sort of protection on them when she know that the Death eaters were after her and James (and Harry, of course). After all, she did specialise in charmwork... Surely Voldemort would have tried to destroy all possible avenues of threat, including the entire Evans line (like he did to the Prewitts and Potters - but not quite;)) and the Potters would have thought of that?

Well we have 2 books left for JK to explain it all to us... bring on July 16!

[Morrisap]

As far as Aunt P. being a squibb, I thought that I read somewhere that JKR answered that question in an interview that Aunt P was not a squibb.  Anyone know where that came from?  I can't remember where  I read it.  It was around the time the last book was released.