Unresolved Mysteries from the HP series!

[Ginny Malfoy]

I thought it might be neat to start a thread (sorry it's so long!!!) not only listing the mysteries we still have after reading book 5, but what speculations we have about them--do share your thoughts! I have read several books about the series, including Galadriel Waters' books, and they raise some interesting questions. Such as:


[1] Where was Voldemort's wand and who had it during the 12 years he was "gone"? Remember, the wand that killed the Potters is also the one that killed the gardener (Frank), Bertha, and Cedric according to book 4. We know Wormtail used the wand to kill Cedric, but how did the wand get back to Voldemort when Voldemort dueled with Harry?


[2] Who is Florence? In book 4, when Dumbledore conjures up a memory of Bertha and how she spied on a male student kissing Florence and he (the male student) put a hex on her, who was the male student and who is Florence? Is Florence important? I think the male student might be Snape...


[3] Why was the order of the shadows when Voldemort's and Harry's wands met in book 4 changed in later editions? Who died first, Lily or James? Why is the only thing James said to Harry at that time was "your mother is coming?" Why was Harry's parents house destroyed the night they died? Was Voldemort looking for something? How did everyone know what happened at the Potter's house as it seemed instantly communicated?


[4] Who else does Dumbledore thinks is getting stronger? In book 4, during the Pensieve chapter, I think, Harry asked Voldemort if "he is getting stronger" and Dumbledore replies "Voldemort?" Who else could Dumbledore have in mind?


[5] What happened to the other male who was with the Lestranges in the Pensieve? We know that Crouch, Jr. escaped and what he later did, and when Voldemort speaks to his Death Eaters in book 4, he says there are two faithful Death Eaters (the Lestranges) in Azkaban...so what happened to the fourth guy?


[6] Who is the "wealthy owner" of the Riddle House? And since I think it's Lucius Malfoy, does the fact that Lucius Malfoy donates a good deal of money to St. Mungo's ensure that the Longbottoms never recover? Does that also relate to the Devil's Snare being delivered to St. Mungo's to silence the Ministry worker?


[7] How did the shadows (in book 4, during Voldemort's and Harry's duel) from Voldemort's wand know that the portkey is set to travel back to Hogwarts and how did it get set to do that? Notice that Voldemort seemed to fear these shadows...does this fear and the rumored title of book 7 (Harry Potter and the Forest/Fortress of Shadows) mean that perhaps the ghosts may help to fight Voldemort? Maybe Voldemort will get shoved through the Veil! (or maybe not...just a random thought)


[8] How did Fred and George know, in advance, the final outcome of the World Cup? Did they use a time-turner? If so, how did they obtain it? How powerful are Fred and George?


What do you think of each of these? I know there are definitely more (and I hope you'll add them), but first, I'm really curious as to what you think of the 8 listed above. Reading the neat posts at this forum certainly has made me think! Looking forward to reading your thoughts...

[Ferrus]

Some people get really worked up on basically nothing!!

1 No idea... but wormtail knew that voldie was going 2 da potters so he might have picked it up and hidden it werever he hid his wand before acusing Sirius...
2 Whose Florence?!?!?!?!?!?!? well... I suppose ol´ JKR had to put SOME name in that bit... could´ve equally been Ermintrude or something like that....
3 I reckon (and take me as a heretic if you want to) that JKR made a mistake... ´cos in book 3 its pretty definite that James snuffed before Lily... ´course could play some really interesting bit in some future book...
4 NO idea...
5 Mabye he died, lots of prisoners do die in there...
6Who knows... who knows...
7 I found that bit really wierd too... I don´t think the false moody would have been thick enough to make the portkey two-way... But because the portkey was illegal (in book 5 they say that the ministry watches portkeys) he had to do it...
8 Fred and George were simply very lucky and quite clever (if Irland had the best Chasers and Bulgaria the best Seeker... well, it sounds like a safe bet.)

[Ginny Malfoy]

[quote="The_Giant_Squid"]Some people get really worked up on basically nothing!!/quote]

Are you trying to say I get worked up on basically nothing? Thanks, Squid!

Florence is the girl that the guy was kissing that Bertha saw while she was at Hogwarts. She may be no one special and it may just be an example in showing that Bertha was a busybody. Then again, if the guy WAS Snape, can YOU imagine him kissing or being kissed by anyone?!

[Ferrus]

Hehehe...

Are you trying to say I get worked up on basically nothing? Thanks, Squid!

just trying to pass on the point that its probably irrellevant who Florence was (its just JKR´s attemp at showing how Bertha was a schooll, but knowin JKR maybe it isnt that unimportant...)


It would be really funny if Snape DID go out with somebody

[Mistress Siana]

I've heard that rumour about Snape being the one to kiss Florence as well...If that's the case I'd find it most interesting why he would put a hex on her...I mean, they were just kissing, why would anybody be that eager to keep it a secret?

The Riddle house...I understood it the way that Voldie himself is the whealthy owner...Lucius is too young, I think.

Fred and George are really worth a second (and third and..) thought. They really seem extraordinarily powerful, as does Ginny, I think.

[Mistress Siana]

Sorry for double posting, but I forgot I wanted to add some more open mysteries to the list:

9) Where did Lucius Malfoy get Tom Riddle's diary from?

10) Why does DD hire inadequate teachers like Lockheart (sp?), Quirrel Umbridge etc although he must have known better?

[Centaur Lord]

Alright, i dont have a lot of time so im just going to answer the one that is annoying me the most....#3.
In the third book it is clearly stated that James was killed before Lily. Harry knows this because the dementors forced him to relive it. James tried to hold off Voldemort to give Lily some time to run for it, but obviously it didnt work too well.
Anyway, as for the rest of those...Some of them are pretty interesting but others are...hard to believe. Maybe its just me, but i cant picture snape kissing anybody! Out of these, i think the best is who had Voldemorts wand. I never thought of that before, but its very interesting...

[Ginny Malfoy]

Sorry for double posting, but I forgot I wanted to add some more open mysteries to the list:

9) Where did Lucius Malfoy get Tom Riddle's diary from?

10) Why does DD hire inadequate teachers like Lockheart (sp?), Quirrel Umbridge etc although he must have known better?

[9] Wow! This IS a doozy...Lucius made no secret, in CoS while in Knockturn Alley, that he has all sorts of dark items at his house (therefore, all the reason to sell them during the raids). But I'm stumped as to how he got Tom Riddle's diary. The only thing I can figure is that if Lucius is the "wealthy owner" who now owns the Riddle house, that it was in there somewhere, but even I'll admit that's a long shot!

[10] My best guess on this one comes from a quote, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Not to say Lockhart or Trelawney are enemies per se, but similar to Bertha Jorkins, it's better to know where these people are and what they are doing, than to have them out of sight where they are vulnerable to people who could manipulate them or use them to harm others. Lockhart under the Imperious Curse could be quite deadly with his knowledge of memory charms, and Trelawney with her prophecies could be someone Voldemort would want to use to gain the information he wants. That's the best I can figure!

[Ginny Malfoy]

Alright, i dont have a lot of time so im just going to answer the one that is annoying me the most....#3.
In the third book it is clearly stated that James was killed before Lily. Harry knows this because the dementors forced him to relive it. James tried to hold off Voldemort to give Lily some time to run for it, but obviously it didnt work too well.
Anyway, as for the rest of those...Some of them are pretty interesting but others are...hard to believe. Maybe its just me, but i cant picture snape kissing anybody! Out of these, i think the best is who had Voldemorts wand. I never thought of that before, but its very interesting...

Sorry to double-post! I, too, agree it's nearly impossible to believe that Snape would kiss or be kissed by anyone, but then again, it was that part about the hexes that made me think it was him. The fact that JKR deliberately didn't tell us who the guy was makes me think it was someone we know. Probably not a big deal in the septology, but then again, I've thought that about other stuff and been wrong!

If I've annoyed anyone by the books I read or the theories I have, I sincerely apologize. That was never my intent. I just thought it'd be fun to think on some of these unresolved details. The part about James and Lily and who died first...what interested me most is that later editions of GoF were altered. I also have some new things for people to ponder:

[11] It is stated in these books that JKR intended to have a character in book 4 that would be Ron Weasley's cousin, but for storyline purposes, she omitted this character. Why? How close a cousin was she going to be? Could Luna be his cousin and he just doesn't realize it? Unlikely, I'm sure, but I wonder if we won't be introduced to Ron's cousin later and whether or not we'll know right off the bat if she is Ron's cousin?

[12] How about this Mark Evans? I'm not saying he is related to Harry in any way, but the fact that he is 10 years-old in book 5 makes me think he may go to Hogwarts in book 6 for the first time. Will Harry interact with this character?

[Centaur Lord]

If I've annoyed anyone by the books I read or the theories I have, I sincerely apologize. That was never my intent. I just thought it'd be fun to think on some of these unresolved details.

LOL...Sorry if that was the impression i gave but i wasnt really annoyed at you. The thing that annoyed me was that i wanted to answer all of them, but i didnt have time, so i just picked one that i REALLY wanted to answer.

[Jotomicron]

I'll just ansewer ome of the questions cause I don't have ideas to write about on the others...

[4] I don't have the english version, but in the portufuese one, the words are:

- Professor - asked Harry finally -, do you think he's getting stronger?
- Voldemort? - asked Dumbledore, (...)

Then Dumbledore fixes Harry and starts reading he's thoughts. Before this, DD is taking some of his thoughts and putting them into the Pensieve. I belive he could be thinking about Grindelwald, Voldemort and Harry. I really think DD thought that Harry was refering to himself, like... "professor, amd I getting stronger?" Does this make any sense to you? Lol
Another thing. Why putting "Professor" in italic? At least in my version, it is italic... Why?
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[8] Fred and George... There's more about them than the eye meets (I think that's the correct expression). How could they be so smart, but so lazy at school? Their heads are very powerful indeed: if they are intelligent, but they didn't learn it at school... Wow!
__________

[9] Malfoy has lots os dark objects in his house (CoS: Draco M. says it to Harry and Ron while they are under the effect of teh Polyjuice Potion). As we saw in OotP, Malfoy is one of the greatest supporters of Voldemort so Voldemort could have made sure someone would deliver the diary in Hogwarts 50 years after his 7th year! Just my though here!

[Ginny Malfoy]

If I've annoyed anyone by the books I read or the theories I have, I sincerely apologize. That was never my intent. I just thought it'd be fun to think on some of these unresolved details.

LOL...Sorry if that was the impression i gave but i wasnt really annoyed at you. The thing that annoyed me was that i wanted to answer all of them, but i didnt have time, so i just picked one that i REALLY wanted to answer.

It's not a problem...I just honestly thought that people were annoyed with me for making such a long post and/or what I wrote. Thanks for clearing that up!

On topic, I really like what people have speculated so far...I hope more will, too!

[Athena Appleton]

Ginny,if you've read the WWP books, you know the theory of why Neville is so forgetful... who put a memory-charm-gone-bad on him?

[Aberforth]

In answer to 5), I think it was Rabastan Lestrange that came in with Bellatrix, Crouch jnr and Rudolphus Lestrange. Rabastan is Rudolphus' brother. According to HP Lexicon all three Lestranges were present in DoM in OotP. [/url]

[Aberforth]

[13] (just thought of this one now whilst setting up the OWL results thread)

Why does Hermione not know the OWL grading system?

She has read every book there is and quotes Hogwarts: A History at least three times every book, yet she doesn't know what results she is aiming for in her exams. Give me a break!!!

She gets the grades wrong somewhere in OotP when talking with HP, RW, FW and GW, and the issue of a "T" for Troll comes up.