Nice theory, but if you look at that interview with JKR, she states that the Sorting Hat is never wrong, meaning (IMO) that it can't be manipulated, either.

I've been hanging out in one of the HP forums over at World Crossing, but I'm thinking about bailing because there are some craxy theories floating around there, including that Dumbledore might have made a Horcrux for himself! I posted that that would go against everything that DD taught and lived his life for. I think that people aren't thinking about what they saying, they just want canon to not be what JKR made it. The very sweet girl who posted that just wants Dumbledore alive again.

yes, JKR has confirmed that the barman is Dumbledore's brother. I believe there was some hint earlier on in one of the books when Harry noticed he smelled of goats, and Dumbledore had made some rather disconcerting comment regarding his brother and goats at some point.

In Chapter 16 of OoTP, I just read the narrator describe the barman at the Hog's Head thusly:

He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

Whereupon I promptly had a retroactive continuitygasm.

Also, how on earth did I miss on my first reading that when Ron got all snarly about his baby sister starting to date, he didn't walk up and down the streets of Hogsmeade muttering or snarling or sulking -- no, he was chuntering under his breath. I'm so in love with that verb and can't think how I didn't notice it before. (Also worth noting, in the same scene Hermione is cheerfully teasey toward Harry about Cho giving him the eye. Not jealous, not pining, just quietly pleased and amused. Again, what books have these other people been reading? Certainly not the ones JKR actually wrote.)

Oh. Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot there's a whole other book since this one. Which I shall probably re-read as soon as I'm finished with this, 'cause now I'm all curious, and also worked up and eager for more continuitygasms.

A good continuitygasm that someone over at the Sugar Quill pointed out--OotP is not the first time we see the Vanishing Cabinet--we see it actually getting broken back in Chamber of Secrets, when Peeves busts it! Between that and the locket in OotP, I'm loving the continuity.

I was trying to remember where the Vanishing Cabinet had shown up before.

I love when reading the most recent book in a series makes me think about rereading the others.

I just finished rereading Blue is for Nightmares a YA book about a girl who has dreams that predict the future. Lots of Wiccan-looking practices ( I am not a wiccan - so I won't disscuss how real they are ) that could be used by someone interested in wicca and spells. I read thru all the reviews of it on Amazon- and no one talked about how evil it was for promoting witchcraft. It is very interesting to see HP being villinized for promoting wichcraft - yet a book that might stir some real curiosity is ignored. ( BTW, it was an ok book. Interesting , but not as suspenseful as I had hoped. how ever all the kids ( that misspell worse than I do ) seem to love it.)

Hi a quick vignette on HP helping to produce the next generation of readers. Just met a seven year old who is three quarters of the way through The Half-Blood Prince.

Good Christ.

That is going to be one traumatized seven-year-old.

Actually so many books I read at that age had characters die - parents, dogs, etc.

Just got an email from my mom on HP6. She found it much less dark than HP5. Sad, but not as dark

and I loved books that could really make me cry as a kid. Now, they need to make me laugh too.

I was also thinking about the cave scene, with the "KILL ME" potion and the ZOMBIES OMG. And the lack of advanced thinking that would allow one to consider the possibility of Snape's being on the good side after seemingly acting so pointedly evil.

But hey. Start 'em out young, eh?

HP6 cave scene and kill me. Maybe they didn't seem that bad to me ( and possibly my mom) , because they are so much a part of the quest myth and fairy tales.

I must have read the real version of The Little Mermaid by age 7. I was crushed and exhilerated by the idea that she would go so far to attempt to see if the one that she loved, loved her. and then die. and no matter how many times I read it the ending never changed.

Just met a seven year old who is three quarters of the way through The Half-Blood Prince.

Hmm. And do they have much of a clue about what's going on?

t /cynical

Sorry, quite possibly unfair - I'd have been wolfing through the books when I was seven, I reckon, and I've taught two 7/8 year olds who were perfectly capable of reading JKR, understanding what was happening, recalling what had happened in previous books and being actively engaged with the texts. But I've also taught a lot of 7,8 and 9 year olds who say they love Harry Potter, and have ploughed through the books, but really haven't been able to understand what happened or to retain the information. They remember what happened in the movies, broadly, but the books? Not so much. Which I find - frustrating. Because you don't want to say "No, you can't take that book out of the library" to a kid who's gagging to take a book out of the library - but when you get him to read you some of the book and it is blatantly clear that he can have a stab at pronouncing the words but couldn't tell you what the whole sentence/paragraph/chapter actually meant...

Hmph. And there are so many many good books that they could be reading, that they could engage with, which would be building up their reading skills so that they could enjoy HP. But HP is a phenomenon like Pokemon & they want to be involved.

However, I hope that your 7 year old reader was one of the minority who really do get it. That's totally cool. Love wee kids wolfing through big books.