2014-02-16, 06:48 PM
Okay, first question. Fred and George do not exactly seem to have watching their little brother sleep as a high priority. There are 280 students at Hogwarts if you use Harry’s dorm as a representative sample, and that’s likely a low estimate, as Harry was born in the middle of a war, which was showing no sign of stopping. Harry’s dorm, therefore, is probably not as populated as other dorms. Rowling seems to have taken population trends into account, as Ron comments in the fifth book (I think it was the fifth) that the sorting seems to get longer every year. There would be a small baby boom after a long, repressive, war, and that appears, so it’s reasonable to assume Harry’s dorm isn’t at full capacity. When you take into account that Hogwarts also has many staff, lots of ghosts, and that the map, if it shows ghosts, and Mrs. Norris, likely also shows all house elves, the thestral herd, pets, all the centaurs, etc. It’s unlikely that Peter Pettigrew would’ve been noticed by the Weasley twins in that mess, especially considering that Peter Pettigrew didn’t become significant until we knew about his role in the death of Lily and James Potter. Before then, he was one of many people that the death eaters supposedly killed when the Weasley twins were three or four years old. Not someone that they would be likely to take note of.
Here's some well written paragraphs about the Marauder's Map: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/38336/what-kind-of-beings-are-shown-by-the-marauders-map
Chall also makes some points on this, although it’s worth noting that Peter was the least talented marauder by a significant amount, so he likely wasn’t as involved in the creation of the map. In addition, Lupin was able to see Pettigrew on the map when he confiscated the Map from Harry.
As for the bank, goblin culture is very centered on the correct ownership of valuables, and so it was thought that no goblin would ever dare to help a trio of wizards break into a Gringotts vault. Also, I don’t know where you’re getting “one spell” from. There was a magical artifact from literally-freaking-death-himself, multiple disguise spells, polyjuice potion, and lots of knowledge of the inner workings of Gringotts involved, plus manipulation, as Hermione was posing as Bellatrix during a time when confronting a death eater instantly made you a target. That’s hardly “three teenagers and a spell.”
As for Voldemort using a nuclear bomb, Tom Riddle was born in 1926. His first year in Hogwarts was in 1938, and the first research done on nuclear weapons, which I believe was part of the Manhattan Project, was done in 1942. Tom Riddle valued his wizarding heritage, so it’s very likely that by the time there was significant knowledge on the topic of atomic bombs to be found in London Tom Riddle had complete immersed himself in the wizarding world and wouldn’t have been up to date with muggle technology. In addition, he would be far too proud to use muggle technology to beat Harry.
As for a portrait of Tom Riddle, Chall is mostly correct. Portraits show what the portrait “knows” of its subject, so to speak. They can be enchanted to mimic their subject’s behaviors. Headmaster portraits are taught by the headmaster which they portray to hold the opinions of that headmaster so that they are better able to guide the headmaster’s successors. Any portrait of Tom Riddle in Hogwarts would have been painted while he was young and would’ve been an innocent, yet clever and charming, schoolboy, matching the painter’s most likely impression, unless Riddle taught it to be an evil, heritage-obsessed, manipulative… thing.
Here's a source for almost all of the Harry Potter information (specifics, like birth years) that I had to google to answer this: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Here's some well written paragraphs about the Marauder's Map: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/38336/what-kind-of-beings-are-shown-by-the-marauders-map
Chall also makes some points on this, although it’s worth noting that Peter was the least talented marauder by a significant amount, so he likely wasn’t as involved in the creation of the map. In addition, Lupin was able to see Pettigrew on the map when he confiscated the Map from Harry.
As for the bank, goblin culture is very centered on the correct ownership of valuables, and so it was thought that no goblin would ever dare to help a trio of wizards break into a Gringotts vault. Also, I don’t know where you’re getting “one spell” from. There was a magical artifact from literally-freaking-death-himself, multiple disguise spells, polyjuice potion, and lots of knowledge of the inner workings of Gringotts involved, plus manipulation, as Hermione was posing as Bellatrix during a time when confronting a death eater instantly made you a target. That’s hardly “three teenagers and a spell.”
As for Voldemort using a nuclear bomb, Tom Riddle was born in 1926. His first year in Hogwarts was in 1938, and the first research done on nuclear weapons, which I believe was part of the Manhattan Project, was done in 1942. Tom Riddle valued his wizarding heritage, so it’s very likely that by the time there was significant knowledge on the topic of atomic bombs to be found in London Tom Riddle had complete immersed himself in the wizarding world and wouldn’t have been up to date with muggle technology. In addition, he would be far too proud to use muggle technology to beat Harry.
As for a portrait of Tom Riddle, Chall is mostly correct. Portraits show what the portrait “knows” of its subject, so to speak. They can be enchanted to mimic their subject’s behaviors. Headmaster portraits are taught by the headmaster which they portray to hold the opinions of that headmaster so that they are better able to guide the headmaster’s successors. Any portrait of Tom Riddle in Hogwarts would have been painted while he was young and would’ve been an innocent, yet clever and charming, schoolboy, matching the painter’s most likely impression, unless Riddle taught it to be an evil, heritage-obsessed, manipulative… thing.
Here's a source for almost all of the Harry Potter information (specifics, like birth years) that I had to google to answer this: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page