History WMG / BedknobsAndBroomsticks

Rather obvious, really. One can only assume something went wrong with that muggle-born-recording book; the Ministry never noticed, possibly because, being calm and collected, the young Miss Price showed very little accidental magic that could have set off the Magic Trace. Miss Price only started doing magic when she began to follow Emelius Browne's correspondence course, and by that point, the Ministry had more important things to do than investigate an unregistered magic user, especially considering Miss Price's careful discretion meant she was no immediate threat to the Statute either way: ''this was right in the middle of Grindelwald's War, the most devastating magical conflict the Wizard World had known until Voldemort came along''. (''The Spells of Astaroth'' was written before the [[TheMasquerade Statute of Secrecy]] was inforced, and, by the time it was created, was believed lost until it turned up in the hands of the Librarian.) Emelius Browne was a muggleborn as well, and he did receive a Hogwarts Letter — but his parents, while not as abusive as the Dursleys, thought it was just nonsense and he never actually went to Hogwarts; though he didn't really believe it any more than his parents, the letter (and what it entailed: him being a wizard) was the source of many a childhood fantasy, and what ultimately inspired him to become a stage magician. None of his spells worked for him at first because of a lifetime's rustiness in magic.

Rather obvious, really. One can only assume something went wrong with that muggle-born-recording book; the Ministry never noticed, possibly because, being calm and collected, the young Miss Price showed very little accidental magic that could have set off the Magic Trace. Miss Price only started doing magic when she began to follow Emelius Browne's correspondence course, and by that point, the Ministry had more important things to do than investigate an unregistered magic user, especially considering Miss Price's careful discretion meant she was no immediate threat to the Statute either way: ''this was right in the middle of Grindelwald's War, the most devastating magical conflict the Wizard World had known until Voldemort came along''. (''The Spells of Astaroth'' was written before the [[TheMasquerade Statute of Secrecy]] was inforced, and, by the time it was created, was believed lost until it turned up in the hands of the Librarian.)

Rather obvious, really. One can only assume something went wrong with that muggle-born-recording book; the Ministry never noticed, possibly because, being calm and collected, the young Miss Price showed very little accidental magic that could have set off the Magic Trace. ''The Spells of Astaroth'' was written before the [[TheMasquerade Statute of Secrecy]] was inforced, and, by the time it was created, was believed lost until it turned up in the hands of the Librarian. Miss Price only started doing magic when she began to follow Emelius Browne's correspondence course, and by that point, the Ministry had more important things to do than investigate an unregistered magic user, especially considering Miss Price's careful discretion meant she was no immediate threat to the Statute either way: ''this was right in the middle of Grindelwald's War, the most devastating magical conflict the Wizard World had known until Voldemort came along''.

[[WMG: Substitutiary Locomotion is the same spell as [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Piertotum Locomotor]]]]

* Either of these WMGs would explain why Miss Price describes stealing the animated Star as transferring it "from one world into another."

** Alternately, there ''is'' no "real" Island of Naboombu, because the Star created it as a pocket dimension ''inside the book'' to ensure humans couldn't easily sail there one day and interfere with the animals' development. The book was never written, but was spontaneously generated (complete with bogus backstory about a sailor landing there) by the Star's magic.

** Alternately, there ''is'' no "real" Island of Naboombu, because Astaroth created it as a pocket dimension ''inside the book'' to ensure humans wouldn't sail there one day and interfere with his animal creations' development.

* It also explains the way everyone's clearly looking at each other with a 'are they with you- nope' glance when the bagpipers start playing. After all, most of them were English soldiers, so what's a Scot doing there.

[[After the War, Carrie went to [[Television/TheWorstWitch Cackle's Academy For Witches.]]]]

[[After the War, Carrie went to [[Television/TheWorstWitch Cackle's Academy For Witches.]]

* This is an excellent WMG, explaining a LOT about this Bookseller character. Also, why did all that "Brown wanting to buy the book and the bookseller saying that the coin was fake" thing happen ? Astaroth had hidden his (recently recovered, complete for a few hours only) book where no one could find it: among a BUNCH of other books, with the thought of course that no one would be interested in it. When Brown wanted to buy it, he refused, arguing (a lie) that the coin was fake, and wanted to keep the book, by force if necessary. He failed and the book was broken in two halves, before the sorcerer could have reread the book.

* This is an excellent WMG, explaining a LOT about this Bookseller character. Because otherwise, he's quite mysterious… How does he KNOW about Substitutiary locomotion ? Also, he is never defeated while he outright attempted to murder the heroes, which is quite unusual for

Which is why, in the 1940s, he's working as a sinister and very mysterious Bookseller in Portobello Road.

ContrivedCoincidence much? Absolutely—unless the house itself is [[TheChessmaster influencing the course of events]] to prevent Astaroth's magic from being destroyed. First it causes two books pertaining to Astaroth to come into its domain; then it protects them during the Blitz by making that Nazi bomb never go off; then it manipulates history in such a way that Emelius just "happens" to be in the area, just "happens" to move in, and just "happens" to find the book. All because the house is in a life-or-death struggle to make sure Astaroth's spells eventually end up with the best possible caretaker for them: Miss Price.

ContrivedCoincidence much? Absolutely—unless the house itself is [[TheChessmaster influencing the course of events]] to prevent Astaroth's magic from being destroyed. First it causes two books about Astaroth to come into its domain; then it protects them during the Blitz by making that Nazi bomb never go off; then it manipulates history in such a way that Emelius just "happens" to be in the area, just "happens" to move in, and just "happens" to find the book. All because the house is in a life-or-death struggle to make sure Astaroth's spells eventually end up with the best possible caretaker for them: Miss Price.

ContrivedCoincidence much? Absolutely—unless the house itself is influencing the course of events to prevent Astaroth's magic from being destroyed. First it causes two books about Astaroth to come into its domain; then it protects them during the Blitz by making that Nazi bomb never go off; then it manipulates history in such a way that Emelius just "happens" to be in the area, just "happens" to move in, and just "happens" to find the book. All because the house is in a life-or-death struggle to make sure Astaroth's spells eventually end up with the best possible caretaker for them: Miss Price.

And the house cares about all this, and is magic and sentient in the first place, for a very simple reason: it was built on the site where Astaroth worked. Elementary, my dear wizard.

ContrivedCoincidence much? Absolutely—unless the house itself is influencing the course of events to prevent Astaroth's magic from being destroyed. First it causes two books about Astaroth to come into its domain; then it protects them during the Blitz by making that Nazi bomb never go off; then it manipulates history in such a way that Emelius, the perfect person to rediscover Astaroth's spells, just "happens" to be in the area, just "happens" to move in, and just "happens" to find the book. All because the house is in a life-or-death struggle to make sure Astaroth's spells eventually end up with Miss Price.

And the house cares about all this, and is magic and sentient in the first place, for a very simple reason: it was built on the site where Astaroth's alchemical laboratory used to be. Elementary, my dear wizard.

So how did this early-20th-century book illustrator know about Naboombu at all? Easy: the illustrator had access to a complete copy of ''The Spells of Astaroth'', and thought it was absolute bunk, but decided it would make a good children's book. That, in turn, explains why the drawing of the Star has the actual spell on it: the illustrator, much like Emelius, was just copying fun words out of an old book, and was totally unaware of their true powers.

Professor Browne's real identity is [[MaryPoppins Michael Banks.]] Michael was exposed to magic early in his life, and it's quite likely that he developed it into an act later in life. Add in a case of IdenticalGrandson, and it makes perfect sense.

* It also explains the way everyone's clearly looking at each other with a 'are they with you- nope' glance when the bagpipers start playing. After all, most of them were English soldiers, so what's a Scot doing there.

This implies, then, that the suits of AnimatedArmor are not merely animated by magic, but by the spirits of the dead soldiers who once owned and wore them; this, as much as the age of the armor, would explain why they responded to the ancient, old-fashioned way of speaking the spell words instead of needing the 'modernized' song-and-dance number, because it was familiar to them. This also explains why the armor gradually sinks to the ground when the spell is broken instead of simply dropping, to visually signify the spirits returning to the Other Side as their armor "died" again.

[[WMG: Substitutiary Locomotion is the same spell as [[HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Piertotum Locomotor]]]]

All the items we see under the power of the spell seem to have odd personalities and quirks to them, and for the ones whose owners we know, these seem to relate either to their owners' personalities and quirks or subconscious feelings and desires of those owners. Professor Browne, who is a cheeky fellow but also likes Miss Price a great deal, has a pair of shoes that boot her in the rear; meanwhile she has feelings for him she is denying/suppressing, and her nightgown approaches him to dance (and chases away the vicar whom she is ''not'' interested in). Carrie and Paul, who just want to have fun, are scene dancing and playing with their own clothes--except when Paul is being 'disciplined' by Miss Price's pantyhose (she had just warned him to calm down and stop making a ruckus). Charlie, meanwhile, gets to be on the receiving end of his own troublesome, rebellious nature courtesy of his Sunday pants. Even the vicar, who harbors a not-so-secret desire to voyeuristically pry into Miss Price's life so he can romance her, has his hat go flying inside to investigate.

[[WMG: Miss Price is actually Professor [=McGonagall=]]]

[[WMG: Substitutiary Locomotion is the same spell as [[HarryPotter Piertotum Locomotor]]]]

[[WMG: Substitutiary Locomotion is the same spell as [[HarryPotter Piertotum Locomotor]]]]