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Luna Lovegood Luna Lovegood

and the Watch of Doom and the Watch of Doom

Endnotes

Chapter Six

by

James E. Pettis

  1. Finsbury Circus — the largest park within the City of London, only a short walk from Natwest Tower.
  2. Dinner — It is still common in rural America, and apparently in England as well, for farmers to eat dinner, the largest meal of the day, around midday.  Additionally, in Devon it is still the custom to have Afternoon Tea.  I couldn’t find any reference to a persistent custom of Elevenses (Morning Tea).  In Rowling’s books it seems that all wizards and witches live by classic traditions that moderns normally do not, particularly with regard to clothing and technology.  I mean, why not use ball point pens and paper?  Anyway, I chose that the Lovegoods would have a “late” dinner (noon rather than eleven a.m.) and also a traditional Devon Afternoon Tea around three.  Elevenses, I believe, was generally restricted to the upper classes.
  3. Pwyll’s Bag — A legend from the ancient Welsh Mabinogion, Pwyll made an appearance at his rival’s wedding feast.  It was the custom for kings to grant boons at their wedding, and the destitute Pwyll asked only that his modestly-sized bag be filled with food.  This was granted, but the entire wedding feast was not sufficient to fill the bag.  Pwyll’s rival, in order to save fact in front of his guests, agreed to stand atop the food in the bag to fulfill the boon.

    Pwyll lifted the mouth of the bag up over the man’s head, tied it off and beat his imprisoned rival with a staff until he agreed to surrender all claims to his throne, his wife and his wedding feast to Pwyll.

  4. The Color of the Ceiling — the color is described by Rowling as “peacock blue.”  Since I had no idea what that was (and I suspect many readers along with me), I felt the need to describe the color in a way that I could clearly picture.
  5. The Fountain — A description of this fountain can be found on page 127 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Second Edition, “The Ministry of Magic.”  Copyright © 2003 by J. K. Rowling.  All rights reserved.  Published by Scholastic Press.  ISBN:  0-439-35806-X.
  6. Quetzal — properly pronounced kets · all.
  7. The “Sorcerer’s” Stone — Cedric Diggory related this story to them one evening.  The Diggorys have been friends of the Lovegoods since before the death of Venus, and occasionally they invite each other for Sunday Dinner.
  8. Harry under surveillance — Although no one saw Dobby, it seems that someone from the Ministry is watching Harry’s house, probably for his safety.  In the third book, Fudge is aware that Harry has left his home and awaits him at The Leaky Cauldron even though Harry is not using magic to travel.  Additionally, it explains why Sirius did not contact Harry at Privet Drive.  Later, when Harry has fallen out of favor with the Ministry, he is no longer under their protection.
  9. The Warning Notice — This note can be found on page 20 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, “Dobby’s Warning.”  Copyright © 1999 by J. K. Rowling.  All rights reserved.  Published by Arthur A. Levine Books.  ISBN:  0-439-06846-4.
  10. Overview — of the Detection system.  In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we see Harry receives a warning notice almost immediately — certainly in under two minutes.  As we know, Dobby was the actual culprit.  However, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Mundungus Apparates and dis-Apparates near Harry without Harry being cited with illegal magic use.  Later, Tonks casts a spell to levitate Harry’s trunk, and again he is not cited for misuse.  In the same book, Harry is cited for his use of a Patronus (after several minutes) even though he cast this spell outside of the house.  Clearly, the detection magic involved can differentiate when an adult wizard is present and when not, even if it cannot determine who actually cast any particular spell — otherwise, Harry would have been blamed for Mundungus’ and Tonk’s magic.  It can also trace magic near an underage wizard or witch even when they are not at their place of residence.

    The point of this chapter is to explain how this works, and also to place the story solidly within the context of the second book (finally)!  Not inconsequentially, it gives Xenophilius another story for The Quibbler and Luna inside information on one of Harry’s difficulties.  Since Harry didn’t even know of Luna’s existence before the fifth book, it will be interesting to see how Luna, somewhat anonymously, observes Harry’s activities and even interacts with him indirectly throughout the school year.

If you would like a response to your comments or have questions, please e-mail your questions or comments to me at the address email@life-after-harry-potter.com.
 
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