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?

Hil, it's funny you brought this up, because I'm re-reading Bulfinch's Mythology and was just on the Arthurian section.

I think it would be awesome if the Weasleys...the impoverished, generally disparaged Weasleys...turned out to be descended from Merlin, possibly through Viviane.

"'Pureblood'? Bitch, I'm of THE blood. Suck it!"

she needed a happy memory of her son to drive them off. It's been a great help to her.

Shari, that was so touching. It brings me back to Dumbledore's line, about how it's not less real if it's in somebody's head, or, as the case may be, "just" in a book - it's real enough for somebody to sort their emotions through it, to deal with hardships using the truth of it, emotional truth just as factual one.

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?

Yup. The duel with Grindelwald is dated (in "Philosopher's Stone", IIRC) to 1945. Harry was born in 1980 (the death of his parents was dated to 1981 in "Deathly Hallows"), so his second year in Hogwarts is 1992-3, and fifty years before that is 1942-3.

It brings me back to Dumbledore's line, about how it's not less real if it's in somebody's head, or, as the case may be, "just" in a book - it's real enough for somebody to sort their emotions through it, to deal with hardships using the truth of it, emotional truth just as factual one.

There were some articles floating around at the time of the release talking about kids working through the grieving process due to the death of fictional characters. My friend, who is a school counselor, called it bibliotherapy.

ION, Nilly not only made me cry, she actually made me like the epilogue a little. Bless.

I think it would be awesome if the Weasleys...the impoverished, generally disparaged Weasleys...turned out to be descended from Merlin, possibly through Viviane.

That was exactly my thought, too.

I think it would be awesome if the Weasleys...the impoverished, generally disparaged Weasleys...turned out to be descended from Merlin, possibly through Viviane.

That was exactly my thought, too.

Mere words cannot express how madly in love I am with y'all's spicy brains and this train of thought. I'm just sitting here at my desk flailing.

And waiting for someone to write a fic. Bonus points if it contains fragments of a lost chapter or two from Malory.

Merlin had kids?