Harry Potter Respect Thread

[Estrecca]

WTF?

That's what a number of people are likely to think and, to be honest, not entirely without reason.

Harry Potter is perhaps the best known fantasy series in existence (say what you will about Lord of the Rings, but HP is both more modern and with a much larger online presence). It is also widely liked and widely used in debate.

However, people don't respect it much. Perhaps because of partial ignorance of the source, perhaps because it is 'cool' to deride Harry Potter (much in the same way, though not to the same extent Twilight is despised) .

In any case, here is where I drop quotes about the described effects and capabilities of assorted stuff from the Potterverse that could be of interest for versus or scenarios involving the Wizarding World.

Because, if we can have respect threads for Superman, why not for Harry Potter?

Yes, I am doing this before starting the Samurai Jack thread. Sorry, but I am a bit burned after finishing the Aku thread, people.

INDEX

In Which I Read
Harry Potter Prequel
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Chapters 1-2
Chapters 3-4

[Estrecca]

IWIR - Harry Potter Prequel

Summary: After making muggle policemen chase them for a quarter of an hour, Sirius and James allow themselves to be cornered in a dead end alley, troll the muggle police for a bit and then escape after knocking out Death Eaters that were also behind them.

Car lifting spell

But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.
The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying - actually FLYING - up the alley on broomsticks - and at the same moment, the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.
Fisher's knees bucked; he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him, as FLUMP - BANG - CRUNCH - they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.

Working together, Sirius and James can easily generate enough force to upend a patrol car.

Also, Death Eaters don't seem to have good brakes in their broomsticks.

Sirius' motorbike

'No helmets!' Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. 'Exceeding the speed limit by - by a considerable amount!' (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) 'Failing to stop for the police!'
[...]
There was an earth-shattering crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into the air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.

The bike's land speed is higher than a policeman thinks possible for a motorbike, but not so high that they lost the police car. That might be just James and Sirius acting like idiots by having a laugh at the expense of the poor dumb muggles, however.

[Estrecca]

IWIR - Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone, chapters 1-2

Summary: Wizards celebrate the death of the Potters and Albus Dumbledore abandons a baby in the doorstep of a supremely unpleasant family. Ten years later, Harry's vaguely Dickensian existence is disturbed most severely by a conversation of a snake and an instance of accidental magic.

McGonagall - Possible magic use in cat form

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar—a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn’t realize what he had seen—then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.

I see two possible scenarios here.

1) The map is magical and can be made invisible by its owner. Or something functionally equivalent, like a summonable map.
2) McGonagall used magic as a cat to make the map disappear.

The third scenario (McGonagall turns into a human, makes the map disappear, turns again into a cat) seems out of character, what with the presence of muggles around, and nearly impossible considering the small window of opportunity.

Shooting stars

“Well, Ted,” said the weatherman, “I don’t know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they’ve had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early—it’s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight.”

Here we have a rain of shooting stars that spans from southern England to Scotland, specifics unknown, but which McGonagall believes to be the work of Dedalus Diggle.

Since the specifics are unknown, I guess it is not impossible that this was just a matter of a drunk wizard flying around with his broom, shooting sparks around as he goes.

Dumbledore - Possible silent apparition

Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn’t so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.
A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you’d have thought he’d just popped out of the ground. The cat’s tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.

Self-explanatory. This would seem to be a case of apparition being used without the usual "pop" sound that oft comes with it.

Dumbledore - Put Outer

He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again—the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.

Quote is self-explanatory in terms of function. This thing was IIRC stated to be a unique device created by Dumbledore, when it shows up again in Deathly Hallows.

McGonagall - Animagus Transformation

“Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.”
He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

Self-explanatory. The first animagical transformation in the series and the last I'll be mentioning for McGonagall, unless there is something I've forgotten about the whole matter.

Hagrid - Size

If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild—long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.

In lieu of a better description, Hagrid would seem to be roughly 3.5 meters tall and 2.5 meters wide, though some of that might be his coat.

Sirius - Motorbike

“Hagrid,” said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. “At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?”
“Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir,” said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. “Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I’ve got him, sir.”
“No problems, were there?”
“No, sir—house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin’ around. He fell asleep as we was flyin’ over Bristol.”

About the motorcycle, there is little to say except that it has flight autonomy for at least trips in the order of 150 kilometers.

Dumbledore's not reacting to the mention of Sirius Black, whom he believes at this point to be a traitor to the Potters, though, is quite startling.

Canon marches on, I guess.

Dumbledore - Put Outer

Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.

Self-explanatory again.

Harry - Accidental magic

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn’t been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left “to hide that horrible scar.” Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.

Self-explanatory. Probably related to the branch of magic used by the Metamorphmagi.

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley’s (brown with orange puff balls)—The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn’t fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn’t punished.

As I remember, there are shrinking spells that probably can duplicate this kind of effect pretty well.

On the other hand, he’d gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry’s headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he’d tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.

I think that this one has been identified by Word of Rowling as an accidental instance of wandless apparition.

Harry - Parseltongue

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s.
It winked.
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:
“I get that all the time.”
“I know,” Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the snake could hear him. “It must be really annoying.”
The snake nodded vigorously.
“Where do you come from, anyway?” Harry asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
“Was it nice there?”
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. “Oh, I see—so you’ve never been to Brazil?”

First use of parseltongue in the series, with none of the sinister implications later given to the ability.

Also, mutant intelligent boa with eyelids. Who apparently can read what it says in signs. All things considered, I wonder whether this critter happens to have some magical ancestry somewhere in its family tree.

Harry - Accidental magic

“Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened—one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

Probably an accidental form of the magic controlled by the Evanesco spell.

[Estrecca]

IWIR - Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone, chapters 3-4

Summary: In the aftermath of the disaster at the zoo, Harry starts getting strange letters that his relatives really don't want him to read. Eventually, Hagrid puts an end to the nonsense and delivers an infodump after informing young Potter of his magickal heritage.

Magic mail

I am not quoting the whole part with the Hogwarts acceptance letters (too long), but it is pretty hilarious. Highlights include letters hidden inside eggs, keeping track of the Dursleys + Harry when they drive away from Little Whinging and letters with suspiciously specific addresses such as Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut on the Rock, The Sea.

Some time later, Hagrid claims that it was all his doing, having been authorized to use magic for letter delivery purposes, though I really don't think it's all his doing. Too complex and too neat for Hagrid in my opinion.

At any rate, this shows some ability to magically track Harry and ascertain his specific location with a high degree of accuracy. Seeing that tracking magic is something the Potterverse system doesn't particularly excel in, it is interesting to wonder what was going on here.

Hagrid - Strength

SMASH!
The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.
A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.
The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.

Not a terribly bad feat, but really small beans in comparison to what comes right afterwards.

“Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,” said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon’s hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.

The gun, for the record, is actually a rifle.

Nevertheless, if I remember correctly, the strength requirements to make a knot with one of these and casually at that are pretty high.

Lily Evans - Transfiguration

“Knew!” shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. “Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that—that school—and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was—a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!”

Self-explanatory. Lily was sufficiently good with transfiguration to turn teacups into small animals. Not sure at which point in the series Harry & CO become good enough to do the same.

Voldemort - First Rise

“Gulpin’ gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…”
Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.
“Could you write it down?” Harry suggested.
“Nah can’t spell it. All right—Voldemort.” Hagrid shuddered. “Don’t make me say it again. Anyway, this—this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin’ fer followers. Got ’em, too—some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o’ his power, ’cause he was gettin’ himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn’t know who ter trust, didn’t dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin’ over. ’Course, some stood up to him—an’ he killed ’em. Horribly. One o’ the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore’s the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn’t dare try takin’ the school, not jus’ then, anyway.
“Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an’ girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst’ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get ’em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin’ ter do with the Dark Side.
“Maybe he thought he could persuade ’em… maybe he just wanted ’em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an’—an’—”
[...]
“You-Know-Who killed ’em. An’ then—an’ this is the real myst’ry of the thing—he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin’ by then. But he couldn’t do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That’s what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh—took care of yer mum an’ dad an’ yer house, even—but it didn’t work on you, an’ that’s why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill ‘em, no one except you, an’ he’d killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age—the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts—an’ you was only a baby, an’ you lived.”
Something very painful was going on in Harry’s mind. As Hagrid’s story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before—and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.

Voldemort's first rise to power, as explained by Hagrid.

Also, Harry has badass memory. He was... what? Three months old when his fathers were murdered?

Accidental Magic - Triggers

“Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?”
Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley’s gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he’d managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn’t he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn’t he set a boa constrictor on him?

Presumably there are other triggers, besides these ones here.

Otherwise, Lily Evans' ability to deliberately call upon and control her magic prior to getting her wand takes distinctly sinister overtones.

Hagrid - Transfiguration

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, “NEVER,” he thundered, “—INSULT—ALBUS—DUMBLEDORE—IN—FRONT—OF—ME!”
He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley—there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig’s tail poking through a hole in his trousers.
Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.
“Shouldn’ta lost me temper,” he said ruefully, “but it didn’t work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn’t much left ter do.”
He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.
“Be grateful if yeh didn’t mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts,” he said. “I’m—er—not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin’. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an’ get yer letters to yeh an’ stuff—one o’ the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job—”
“Why aren’t you supposed to do magic?” asked Harry.
“Oh, well—I was at Hogwarts meself but I—er—got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an’ everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore.”

So to summarize, Hagrid:
1) Was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year.
2) Is a bit dumb (no offense intended towards the guy, but he is not particularly smart)
3) Has a broken wand (which he hides inside his umbrella).

So, by all reasonable standards, this kind of failure (wordless Transfiguration that only has a minimal part of the intended effect) should be the worst that could be expected from wizards with a Hogwarts education.