Skip to main content

harry potter - What 50 rules did they break by making the polyjuice potion?


Hermione states that they are breaking about 50 school rules making the polyjuice potion. Do we know any of the rules being broken?



Answer



Although it's not clear what rules Hermione was referring to, we can see what rules they actually broke:



  • Entering the restricted section of the Library and, presumably making a potion that the Potions-Master considers too advanced




Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it’s bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library.’




  • Lying to a teacher in order to remove said book from the library



‘Er – Professor Lockhart?’ Hermione stammered. ‘I wanted to – to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading.’




  • Having boys in the girls' lavatory




Hermione had overridden Ron’s objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy.




  • Stealing from Snape's private stash of potion ingredients



‘D’you realise how much we’re going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of Boomslang, that’s definitely not in the students’ cupboard. What’re we going to do, break into Snape’s private stores? I don’t know if this is a good idea …’





  • Leaving a fire unattended (except for a ghost)



‘Well, as the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days … I’d say it’d be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients.’




  • Causing an explosion in the Potions class




Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred’s Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket and gave it a quick prod with his wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only seconds, Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Goyle’s cauldron.




  • Having a girl in the boy's dormitory



Harry and Ron, the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione, who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both. ‘Wake up,’ she said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window. ‘Hermione – you’re not supposed to be in here,’ said Ron, shielding his eyes against the light.




  • Drugging Crabbe and Goyle




‘How thick can you get?’ Ron whispered ecstatically, as Crabbe gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbed them. Grinning stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large mouths. For a moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of triumph on their faces. Then, without the smallest change of expression, they both keeled over backwards onto the floor.




  • Stealing their shoes



They also stole their shoes, because their own were far too small for Crabbe- and Goyle-sized feet.






  • Impersonating Crabbe and Goyle (obviously)




  • Stealing clothes





‘Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry,’ Hermione said, holding up a small sack. ‘You’ll need bigger sizes once you’re Crabbe and Goyle.’





  • Sneaking into another house's common room



‘Oh yeah – pure-blood!’ said Malfoy, not listening, and a stone door concealed in the wall slid open. Malfoy marched through it and Harry and Ron followed him.



My instinct says that doing certain spells without permission, removing dangerous books from the library, impersonating other pupils and sneaking into other houses' common rooms is probably what Hermione is driving it.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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.

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...