I don't see how Hogwarts would have any British competition--you would think that Ron, at least, would have know about it in GoF, when Hermione talks about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Also, isn't the letter from Hogwarts the determination of whether a wizarding child has the capability to enter their world? Neville's relief at getting into Hogwarts leads me to think that there were no other wizarding options for him.

Is there a United States of America in the Potterverse?

I get the impression it's this world, with magic, so yes.

Don't forget the group of witches (from Salem, IIRC) who attended the World Cup match.

How come Dobby and Kreacher could?

Man, I got so many people telling me I'd screwed up by having House elves apparate in my fanfic. But it seemed blazingly clear to me from canon that House elves MUST be able to apparate in Hogwarts, and that there was no conflict. I was filled with righteousness when I read that bit from JKR.

Kathy, I assumed that Hogwarts was sort of like West Point or the Naval Academy. So they're the military's institutions, right? But there are all sorts of other below-them military schools like Valley Forge Military School (for one age) and Citadel (for another). While from WP or NA or the Air Force Academy, you go directly into the military, that with the lower tier schools you don't.

So Hogwarts is The School but, in my head, not The Only School and there is also a lower tier school.

I dunno why, but there you have it.

The comment from JKR in that interview about how the wizarding and Muggle wars can feed off of each other, especially in conjunction with Grindelwald, is adding more fuel to a plot bunny I've had for a few months now.

I'm sure it's probably been used by plenty of other writers in the fandom, but so far, I've got Dumbledore defeating Grindelwald with the use of a magical device he gets from a Polish Jewish wizard who uses the device to hold traces of all those wizards/witches who Grindelwald has killed or led to be killed, and this helps to defeat him. I'm thinking of using some historical figures, namely Jan Karski to bring the item from Warsaw to London when he reports to the Polish government-in-exile and Churchill.

I might make passing mention to a Polish/Eastern European school for my main character to have attended, but that's still to be decided.

I really should start working on this before my bunny eats itself...

Oooh, nice Bunny.

I'd vote a Golem, myself, if you want to go with a Jewish/Central European magical device of attack/protection.

Go. Write.

I've threadsucked, both here and in Literary, and I'll definitely catch up. I'm sorry for jumping into an ongoing conversation while ignoring it, but I just wanted to unentangle some thoughts, before reading others and being able to respond to them. It's just that this whole idea keeps running in my head and I'm trying to quiet it down by writing it up, or something like it. Anyway:

Many books ago, in "Philosopher's Stone", we were introduced to the mirror of Erised, the one in which you don't see yourself as you are, but yourself as you wish you were, the fulfillment of your deepest wish. Then, a few books later, we saw in "Order of the Phoenix" (though didn't really saw them used) mirrors which were supposed to be used for communication, one of them given as a present to Harry from Sirius. But, in my mind's eyes, there are way more mirrors, reflections, echoes and the twisted form of all of these, in the characters and events themselves.

Now, I've never studied anything that can be remotely considered as literature in any level that is more than "please memorize what your high school teacher read aloud from the exam manual", so I may be so completely stating-the-obvious here that my posts should in fact be in whitefont for all those who thought they may read actual content, but these things are wondering around in my head, so I might as well try to un-entangle them on screen, if only for my selfish benefit alone.

There are the obvious parallels, with Harry and Voldemort, that have been going on pretty much from the start, but became much richer and deeper in this book. Especially since they are now tied stronger than ever to what I see as one of the main threads of emotional and moral importance in the whole series, that of our choices being what makes us who we are, more than anything else. In "Chamber of Secrets" it turned out that Harry can speak to snakes, much like Voldemort, and his scar gave him insight to Voldemort's emotions and thoughts in "Order of the Phoenix", just to name a few. They are both orphans, and - as silly as it may seem - both their parents were killed by Voldemort himself, in various stages.

In this book we learn that they both grew up without knowing about their special abilities, and both were told about them before they turned 11, and were invited into Hogwarts. The chapter in which Dumbledore tells the boy Tom Riddle about his abilities and future possibilities mirrors and negates the one in which Hagrid does the same for Harry, in "Philosopher's Stone". Harry's joy at the connection he found, at not being the one that stands out and belongs to nothing, is the complete opposite of Tom's reaction, trying to calculate what he can get out of this, making deals with Dumbledore, trying to hide past deeds. It has to come out of Hagrid and Dumbledore being so different, as from Tom's orphanage being quite different from number 4 Privet Drive, but still, most of the difference comes from the personality of the child himself.

And that thread, of isolation vs. sharing with one's friends and companions, goes all throughout the books. Harry finds himself friends in Hogwarts, a sort of an adopting family. He feels apart, lonely at times due to his past, abilities, fame or the misuse of them. He sometimes, more than once, feels that nobody can understand him, know what's going on with him, appreciate his courage and dedication. And yet, in the end, at the bottom line, he always turns to the help of his friends or the people around him. It's more obvious to me in "Philosopher's Stone", what with each one of Harry, Ron and Hermione solving parts of the obstacles being put in front of them on their way to the stone, each one playing their strength, collaborating in a joint effort. And that's what the ending of this book looked like, to me, with Ron and Hermione refusing to go anywhere than to Harry's aid, and Harry accepting their offer.

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In contrast, it was emphasized more than once that Voldemort himself trust nobody, shares his thoughts and plans with nobody, or at least nobody he doesn't have to. He chose to isolate himself from everybody else. He started as a lonely child, who didn't really know how to connect to the others in the orphanage. Harry was described as similarly lonely. But while Harry chose to connect to his classmates, especially the Weasleys and Hermione, once he had the chance, Tom Riddle, who communicated in the orphanage through frightening the other kids, continued with his loneliness in Hogwarts. He had his followers, who admired him and did as he had told and later became his Death Eaters, but they are not friends, there was no true connection between him and his army.

And you know who else stands out in his loneliness, throughout the series? Dumbledore. He is another of the more obvious parallels to Voldemort, being practically his complete opposite in every way, starting with being his biggest opponent. The thing that was most emphasized in this book regarding that was, to me, the way they relate to death. Voldemort seems to fear it more than anything else, doing whatever he can to deny himself that fate, while Dumbledore treats it as a necessary part of life, in a way. He accepts death. Not happy about it or welcoming it, but accepts it. Just like it was described, again, in "Philosopher's Stone" regarding Flamel giving up the stone and passing away as a result.

And still, despite all their differences, Dumbledore seems to share Voldemort's loneliness. He is the best wizard of his time, more clever and powerful than anybody around him. He understand what's going on faster than anybody else, and is already planning ahead when they are struggling to realize what's around them. That sort of ability can easily create loneliness. When nobody can understand you, with whom can you share? Dumbledore's isolation is not out of choice, like Voldemort's, but a thing that's forced upon him by the outside world. And with all that, he still never stops reaching out to people. In fact, that's described as his greatest ability.

Dumbledore believes in people. Voldemort appeals to their lesser parts, their weaknesses and fears. It's enough to see how he recruited Peter Pettigrew, how he appealed to him, how Peter returned to him only out of fear of everything else, as an example for this. Dumbledore is exactly the opposite in how he treats people. Snape is the obvious example, but he's just one out of many. I think my favorite is how he made Gryffindor win the house cup in "Philosopher's Stone" by awarding the final points to Neville, for standing up to his friends and finding that courage and strength in himself. He sees the best that a person can do with what was dealt to them by life, and appeals to that. And again, it ties with the possibilities of choice. Since people have the ability to choose, to mold their own path from all those that rest at their feet, they also have that best in them. And Dumbledore is the sort of person who reminds people of that sort of choice.

So Harry and Tom had quite a similar childhood, surrounded with coldness and lack of love, and they chose to do a completely different thing with it. Dumbledore and Voldemort had quite a similar magnitude of talent and wisdom, and they chose to do a completely different thing with it. Upside-down mirrors, all the way. But it's not just them. Nearly every character, every action, has either a parallel, an opposite, or a twisted image - at least, each one that I can think of. In more than one case, there's a sort of a triangle, with two characters or events being the opposite of each other and one that is still undecided or can go both ways or is indeed some of both, in that instance. A bit like a mirror maze, with angles and double reflections, in which each image can be reflected by several other mirrors, in several quite different ways, while still being an image all of itself. I'm not sure my sentences make much sense at this point, sorry. I'll try to clear myself up. (continued...)