I remember reading someone's theory that, in the HPverse, there were native magical people in Britain -- the people who built the stone circles as one example -- and that the Roman wizards, who came with the rest of the Roman invaders, "civilized" the magic into a more formal, controlled system. Which would be why most of the school spells are from Latin, while the creatures with "their own" magic -- the centaurs, house elves, goblins, werewolves, etc -- don't depend on wands or spells for their magic. Also why magical kids are able to do certain things without wands, but then they learn how to control it at school. And why quite a few of the old wizarding families have Latin-derived last names.

Anyway. While my brain was on the magic and Romans track anyway, it ended up at Arthurian legends. And I realized that a pretty significant number of Weasleys -- Arthur, Percy, Ron, and Ginny -- all have names taken directly from the Arthurian legends. And that they're also one of the old wizarding familes without a Latin-ish name. I'm not entirely sure where this train of thought is leading me, but I thought I'd share it.

Also, we've seen them using the "Merlin" swears way more than pretty much any other characters.

t edit: and a quick google reminded me that the Weasley clan also includes a cousin Lancelot and an uncle Billius, which is close enough to Belleus that I'm going to count it.

Nilly, your posts always light up new paths for me.

Just a note about the power of books to give us meaningful things to take into real life:

A friend who lost her teenage son in a car accident a year ago told me she went to a grief counselor because she couldn't shake the horrible images and memories of what they went through during the 10 days between the accident and when he succumbed to his injuries. The counselor told her she needed a positive, happy memory of her son to hold onto and she said, "Oh, a patronus!" The counselor looked at her blankly, but to my friend it was perfectly clear that the horrible thoughts were dementors and she needed a happy memory of her son to drive them off. It's been a great help to her.

I was thinking of the name Kendra and I looked it up. Apparently it's an Old English/Welsh name. Perhaps it doesn't suffer from the same over-exposure in the UK.

but to my friend it was perfectly clear that the horrible thoughts were dementors and she needed a happy memory of her son to drive them off. It's been a great help to her.

I do think dementors are a kind of metaphor for depression and mental illness. It is the most horrible kind of prison to be in.

Hil R - that's really interesting.

Shari - that totally makes sense to me -- or iow, what David said.

I was googling for some info on where The Burrow ought to be, since my knowledge of UK geography is pretty much that I can put London in about the right place, I know vaguely where Liverpool is, and given a map, I can correctly label England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. (That last one, several people in my AP government class senior year in high school could not do.) I'm also fairly certain that I know where the Isle of Man is. But anyway, I ended up with a bunch of information on Ottery St. Mary, and I am now utterly charmed by it. I want to see Pixie Day!

Ottery St. Mary

My first thought was that they must have an awful lot of otters there but when I googled it turned out to be in the Otter Valley so maybe I'm not wrong!

I was thinking of the name Kendra and I looked it up. Apparently it's an Old English/Welsh name. Perhaps it doesn't suffer from the same over-exposure in the UK.

I'd never heard of it prior to the arrival of the Slayer from the land of the rasta lepricauns.

Shari, that's a lovely story - although lovely feels like the wrong word, actually. Touching. (And iirc, JKR based the whole Dementors thing on her own experiences with depression, yes?)

Fascinating points about Roman/Local wizardry, and latin derivations, Hil! V. thought-provoking!

I do think dementors are a kind of metaphor for depression and mental illness. It is the most horrible kind of prison to be in.

Hmmm, I need a Patronus for my apartment. Something to keep the meanies at bay so I can clean the damn place so I don't need the Patronus.

Hmmm, how cool would it be to get a laser that could do one!? A lil light splitter type of thing... I bet it'd sell like hot cakes. Replaceable caps. Kids could use it as a night light to keep the monsters away.

I just started rereading Malory's Le Morte Darthur (I've had this book since I was eleven, and I don't think I've yet read the whole thing -- I tend to get up to the point where Arthur becomes king, and then start skipping around to the stories I like.) Anyway, I noticed a story I'd completely forgotten about before -- King Arthur's war with Emperor Lucius.

Timeline questions: it seems like Grindelwald's time in power at least overlapped with Tom Riddle's school days, yes? If the Chamber of Secrets was last opened about fifty years ago from book 2 (1992ish), then that would make Tom a sixth year (? fifth?) in 1942ish, right? And Dumbledore's duel with Grindelwald was 1945?