harry potter - How on Earth did the Dursleys get off "The Rock?"

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone), Hagrid Tells Harry he "flew" when asked how he'd gotten to the rock, but the two take the boat back to the mainland leaving the Dursleys on the rock in the little shack without transport back to the mainland themselves or Magic to help them get any.

The place is described as being so out of the way that I don't imagine cel service was good - Not that Dursley is ever described in a way that makes you think he had a phone with him to begin with.

So, first, how did they get back off the rock? and second, how is it they didn't kill Harry when he returned to them after his trip to Diagon Alley? After-all their son now has a tail and their experience trapped on the rock must have been harrowing.

Answer

The second question is easy: they were terrified of Harry's protector(s), e.g. Hagrid.

A popular theory is that the Ministry memory-flashy-thingied them to forget that, but that doesn't fly as the tail had to be surgically removed much later, and if MoM was involved, they'd have fixed that along with the memories (and see comment from @balanced mama below dispelling that theory completely).

The first question is harder - the answer is "no canon answer". Nothing in the books, nothing in JKR interviews, nothing (IIRC) on Pottermore. Either the island had some other boat, or Coastguard (or whateverthehell Limeys call it) chanced upon them and rescued them.

Comments

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

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star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...

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