Prof. Tarma Amelia Black

The door can be opened by asking it to open. Not telling it, not compelling or forcing it, but merely asking. It opens into a room which is about 40 feet across, with 6 sides to it. The walls are a pale cream in colour. The floor is midnight blue. The ceiling appears to be a reflection of the sky outside, however it may be. In the room itself is a beautiful fountain of white marble, circular in form, the outer edges of it at least 20 feet across. The outer rim is two feet high, then it's the liquid in a pool. In the centre of the fountain is a large tree, shaped somewhat like a fir tree with broad and heavy branches. Water, so fine it appears made of sparkling and glittering winds, flows from the needles of the tree, hovering iridescently in the air for a moment when released from the fir needles then floating downward towards the fluid in the pool. The air in the room is soft, fresh and lightly scented with what seems to be peony fragrance, pure and oddly heady for such a light scent.

Ooooohhhh. Wow. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* I think I have to go to 'and now for something different' because that's a wow. Okay. Um. You walk into the Department of Mysteries and see (and feel and hear) mysterious things that you absolutely don't have any kind of connection to (that you are aware of) and you don't even have any words to describe. Then, off to the left, you see something which looks oddly familiar. Really familiar. So familiar you don't think it belongs in here! That's a telephone box! It's not the usual orange-red colour; it's sort of an odd blue colour. It seems to have a bit of a light at the top and you realize it's not a telephone box so you wander closer and see the words on it "Police Public Call Box". What's this here for? To make a Muggle phone call to the police? Curious, you walk closer and notice that the door is ajar a little bit. So you go to the door and nudge it open a little bit. Then you look inside ....

" .... The Egyptians made models out of wax or clay -- servants to do every kind of job they could imagine in the afterlife. ..."

melting chocolate

pot

I think maybe Grawp was looking for Hagrid because he was aware of the ruckus in the forest and wanted it gone. He might have wanted Hagrid to either 'fix it' or 'do something/anything' to relieve any concern that Grawp might have about what was causing the ruckus without having any idea of what that might be. He was used to being bullied and possibly had no idea that he, himself, could be probably very effective in helping to relieve, or at least change, the situation.

Which member would Harry have chosen to help rescue Sirius? I think he might have considered Angelina Johnson. He's used to her being in charge -- what with her being Quidditch Captain. Then again, maybe he wouldn't have chosen her, because she's used to being in charge, and Harry wasn't all that good at following directions (and he also liked being in charge -- whether he was good at it or not, he liked it). So forget Angelina. But I think he wouldn't have chosen Cho Chang. Uh, no, but he might have wanted to. Since you are asking for a 'singular' person, I'll say Lee Jordan.

Jedi. Ooops. I mean, of course Cherry cheesecake or apple fritters?

I've not brought anything in recently. Sadness! Look what I found! YES. You've not had any explosions in here for a while ...

My mouth started watering already ... I'd bring finger food. Chips! First off is a constant supply of BBQ potato chips Specifically, Lays BBQ potato chips. *drool* Then, more chips, just plain / salted -- with guacamole sauce!

I think Hermione was absolutely correct to question Harry's 'vision' about Sirius. He's jumped to conclusions before and made decisions based on erroneous adding up of 'facts' which meant that what he did was, as least in part, the wrong thing to do. Why 'let' him be the one to make contact? Because he's yelling at them, and being extremely angry, and impatient of anything but what he thinks is happening. He's also the de facto leader of the group. (I do remember, though, when reading this book, that it was so obvious to me he was contaminated somehow with Voldemort's thoughts and thoughts-masquerading-as-feelings and he had little or no immunity to that --- and it seemed very strange to me that no one in the book thought that that was why he was acting out in such a strange manner (well, maybe/probably Dumbledore did, but he had other reasons to keep out of Harry's way), quite unlike how he'd been in the first books. I even wrote about that in the HOL forum, but responses were ... uh Tarma uh that's not really possible. Then later on, in the next books, yep, that is what was going on. )

Lumos + Sectumsempra - Avada Kedavra 4 Crucio 20 Expelliarmus 2 Lumos 10 Obliviate 5 Sectumsempra 8

How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence? That was the time of the infamous Christmas party which lasted 3 days. Evidently some new foods and drinks were created, inspired by the short and cold days, and people were tired of being cold and without day light hours. So a lumos-inspired spell was created to emulate a large sun which hung in the sky so that when the real sun went down, everything was still lit up on that final, third night. Unfortunately, though, this 'sun' which was created was so large that, even though the party was held far far away from Muggle towns, it could still be seen. This created havoc and terror -- the Muggles thought it was the end of days. So wizards had to be sent to all the towns and put people to sleep, making sure they were warm and safe. Then, when the 'sun' finally disappeared the next day (it lasted for a very long time, much to the surprise of those who made it), obliviators had to be sent to all the towns and do massive memory charms. Measures introduced to prevent a recurrence was a promise that whoever did it again would get to take care of ALL the Muggles involved, all by themselves.

I'm impressed you all remember all the initials of all the tests! I think the one I remember most was one taken in elementary school for which no one had any 'preparation'. It was something which measured native intelligence, I think, and was sort of the jump off point for whatever classes we would be put into from then on. I didn't break it, truly. Someone else, probably Trina, broke it. 😏

I actually got a score, so am posting while I have it. 😈