Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality

Oh dear lord. It's a wonder Dumbledore didn't go crazy from this.

So there's another secret room that Dumbledore hasn't shown Harry. I wonder what he kept in that one? I think all the major plot items from the canon series have been run through, including the Pensieve.

I find it rather annoying that Quirrelmort was apparently so ecstatic in victory that he completely ignored Dumbledore's wand. Perhaps he was less interested in the lore of the Elder Wand than in the other Deathly Hallows.

And Sirius' body was found amongst the Death Eaters...well, that's pretty damning. I'm still holding out a little hope that Yudkowsky didn't screw up Pettigrew and Sirius' personalities completely, but possible explanations consistent with that are starting to become rather stretched (especially since Sirius didn't have anything to do with the Death Eaters in canon other than his brother, he wasn't a spy like Snape or anything).

(On a totally different note, did Mc Gonagall figure out the thing with the golden wibblers after all? I have to know.)

edited 11th Mar '15 2:15:35 AM by ashnazg

Since Moody had physical possession of the wand, Bones of the line, and the first letter implied Dumble expected to die in battle against Voldemort without him coming into possession of the wand, he must have set up an apparition or portkey or similar to send it and the line to safe keeping in the event. So Voldemort didn't ignore it - it was not there for him to pick up.

What Merlin did was to try and make Magic safer through ignorance. Which is, honestly, painfully daft. What is actually needed is a way to put a global binding on magic users along the lines of the one Harry got, only better phrased.

edited 11th Mar '15 2:18:15 AM by Izeinsummer

Huh. Now that you mention it that makes a lot of sense.

How the hell was Dumbledore able to keep the wand and rod out of the timefreeze anyway? I thought once something was reflected in the mirror, it couldn't leave. Otherwise Dumbledore could just have jumped to the side/apparated away.

edited 11th Mar '15 3:22:35 AM by lendary

He tossed the two things aside and then switched which side of the mirror was getting trapped.

Thinking about it, now that we know Dumbledore has been making moves based on prophecy, I suppose the whole thing about Harry's father's rock was part of that...it's probably already fulfilled its purpose by letting Harry kill the troll and giving him practice in sustaining a Transfiguration. Not results which anyone could have possibly predicted in advance, but if it comes down to "a prophecy said it" then I suppose it makes sense.

(Good question about Hedwig, though. Was the cold-blooded murder of a pet rock really necessary to protect Harry from the evils of owls?)

I find it hilarious that apparently Hermione's hair is unruly enough that the fact can be detected by medical diagnostic magic.

It's also a joke on pony mane combing being very much a thing, on both real and Hasbro varieties.

"If anyone can put me in touch with John Paulson, I would appreciate it."

Someone apparently needs to invest a large amount of capital...

"What is actually needed is a way to put a global binding on magic users along the lines of the one Harry got, only better phrased."

How do you know that isn't what he did? It might explain Magical Britain's otherwise inexplicable lack of curiosity regarding how magic works. They are all under an unbreakable vow they know nothing about.

edited 11th Mar '15 8:14:22 AM by DeMarquis

I really like that idea. Maybe Voldemort was an error? One of the few who wasn't lobotomized and just so happened to be incredibly evil and ambitious.

We have an explanation for the lack of scientific achievement: Wizards grow up learning that magic is inherently superior to anything muggles do, and muggleborns are taken out of the muggle world before they learn critical reasoning skills. The Interdict of Merlin is part of it, but indirectly, as it creates a strong sense of lost glory that can never be reclaimed, so it's better to not bother trying. People get too used to A Wizard Did It as an explanation for their spells, and don't ask questions of how anything works.

Besides, wizards are still making advancements. Apparently part of the problem with modern Quidditch is that Seeker brooms are just too good for the Snitch. The really hardcore reality breaking stuff like transmuting antimatter or carbon nanotubes are too new for wizards to be at all familiar with.

Does anyone recognise that poem? I like it.

Yay, she was alive after all! I thought she was inside the mirror, but this makes more sense. I'm happy for Draco and his mom. It's at least a small thing.

Of course she wasn't in the mirror. there is no such thing as a world inside a mirror.

SOOONO CHI NO SA-DA-MEEE! MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL-FOY!

edited 12th Mar '15 2:41:06 PM by TheHandle

This set of pictures explains so much:

http://squeewentthefangirl.tumblr.com/post/113402976949/hexedh3art-dumbledore-dont-give-a-fuck

For some reason, none of the pictures are loading for me.

What browser are you using, pray tell?

It works on Opera and Firefox, but Chrome really hates squeewentthefangirl.

Chrome. I'll try it in Firefox then.

Incidentally, do you know if this is a bug that's already been reported? If not, I'll try to report it.

Edit: Doesn't work in Firefox either.

edited 12th Mar '15 10:36:47 PM by storyyeller

Works for me. The technical part. The humour... well...

Courtesy link, bitches.

Courtesyier link, bitches. {121}

So... Dumbledore either kidnapped Narcissa to use as a pawn or Narcissa wanted out and Dumbledore used her as a pawn. Considering the whole voldemort thing I can't exactly be pissed but couldn't he have given her a slightly less shitty fake life?

Don't forget tomorrow, 9AM we get the last chapter. Will Harry tell Hermonie the truth? Will Hermonie Kill harry? Will Moody prove paranoid enough? Tune in, same bat-time, same bat-channel!

What the hell???? Snape did what? That doesn't really sound like him. He wanted to pull a Comforting the Widow in canon true, but I highly doubt he'd have gone this far.

I can completely and utterly believe that he'd have gone this far.

that is simple, isn't it? first, her apparent death served as a lesson to Death Eaters not to touch Order's families. second, as a bonus, she could have been used as a hostage if worse came to worst.

and yes, losing ten years of your time by living a meaningless life is terrible. but given the premises, it's hard to come up with a better alternative. in particular, how do you balance happiness of the exile with the possible return back to the previous life?

edited 13th Mar '15 2:13:53 PM by SparklingDude

you want [spoiler:text] but with double brackets[[example: words]]

Also this is totally a callback to the first scene with fawkes and the apparent "death" of the chicken.