Discussion WMG / HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality

Santa Claus

Because in a world where magic exists, why not?

Nicholas Flamel

No idea how he knows James, but he's one of only a handful of characters around with a) a reason to research the Cloak of Invisibility, and b) the intelligence and presumed skill to pull off the stuff he's accomplishing as of Chapter 21 evidently under Dumbledore's nose.

• Don't forget: Santa Claus is also known to a good many people as St. Nicholas... Heck, he's been around so long he probably started he legend of ol' St. Nick, or at least helped it along... (Fun fact: there really was a Nicolas Flamel, who lived in France 600 years ago... and his tomb is empty.)

Santa Claus and Nicholas Flamel.,..at the same time.

• That's what NF and his wife have been doing for all those 600-odd years. He just keeps memory-charming everyone every year into believing they bought the presents. The legend of Santa coming down the chimney is because he uses the Floo Network - also solving the typical inquisitive Muggle child question of how Santa enters houses without fireplaces: he Apparates, or Floos to an electric fireplace.

Filius Flitwick

Being another of the handful of people with reasons to research the Cloak of Invisibility, and also acting out of what he feels is a debt owed to the progeny of a couple of his greatest students.

• Harry also makes note of Flitwick's big bushy beard at least twice. Dropping hints like that is a good imitation of Rowling and seems to be in the author's style.

Xeno Lovegood

If I remember correctly, didn't he have an obsession with the Hallows?

Remus Lupin

Apparently the last Marauder alive and free, he would be in a good position to know about James's exploits and have the Cloak. Getting other intel on the notes, not to mention repeated access to Hogwarts, is another story. (Although it's possible this could explain the Map going on the fritz.)

Dumbledore and Voldemort

• There are two note senders.
  • The unsigned note with the cloak was from Dumbledore, just as in canon. The note tells Harry not to give the cloak to Dumbledore because Dumbledore would keep it. Dumbledore then proceeds to ask for the cloak...and gives it back. This leads to Harry trusting Dumbledore much more than if none of this had happened. So really, it's all just Dumbledore being a Manipulative Bastard.
    • Or Dumbledore honestly believing, as he does in canon, that he cannot be trusted with the cloak.
  • The second note (from "Santa") is from Voldemort. Voldemort is a Manipulative Bastard even more so than Dumbledore and the note makes a point of telling Harry not to trust Quirrel based on reasons which Harry is guaranteed to discount, while giving him some valid reasons not to trust Dumbledore and Snape. I'm not sure how Voldemort knows about the cloak (either he deduced the knowledge or got it from Harry's mind through Occlomency), but if he knows that Harry is a horocrux and is planning on protecting (and recruiting) rather than killing him, then the Occlumency lessons could possibly be used to prevent Dumbledore and Snape from finding out once Harry knows the truth.
  • The third note (also from "Santa") is from Quirrel. Either he's trying to resurrect and the card is a Portkey to the Tom Riddle Sr's grave, or the offer is legitimate and Quirrel's actually trying to help. There's a remote chance that the cards don't do anything (or take him somewhere safe) and Dumbledore simply wrote the note in an attempt to appeal to Harry's paranoia (i.e. to make him even more afraid to leave the castle).
    • The pack of cards is Schrödinger's Gun: it could be any of the above depending on what the plot requires.
      • The gun had been fired the cards were sent by Dumbledore and would send harry to a safe house that he could cool off in until Dumbledore came to pick him up, ensuring that the easiest way for Harry to escape Hogwarts would be to a safe place and one that Dumbledore knows. This would let him get Harry if he ran away from him and find him if harry ran from someone else, like voldemort.

Sirius Black

• I mean, who else knows as much about that stuff as he does? And we don't know what's up with him yet - maybe he broke out of Azkaban ahead of schedule. (And was there a passing mention that Scabbers, aka Peter Pettigrew, was dead? I can't remember...)
  • There was indeed. Draco questions Ron about where the famous Weasley rat is and Ron responds that it's "buried in the backyard." The "greatest pet story ever" is glossed over due to Ron leaving shortly after their argument. It's entirely possible in this universe that Sirius Black faked his death and killed Pettigrew successfully. It depends on just what the pet story is though.
    • Chapter 29 elaborates the matter, Bill tried to kill Percy's rat, thinking that he was Pettigrew, since the entire story is told like a joke, it is possible that is just a jab at the original source, or a serious foreshadow
    • Word of God in one of the Author's Notes says that for Peter Pettigrew to be hiding as a rat among an enemy family would require him to be holding the Idiot Ball, and since no one is ever holding the idiot ball, Pettigrew was not hiding as Scabbers in MoR.
      • Why would it? It would allow him to gather intelligence, and no one would think to look for him there. If this was canon, it would let him gather knowledge on Harry. If he means in MoR, where everyone is several times more competent than in canon, then yes, it would be kinda dumb.
  • We still don't know what the "malfunctions" Fred and George observed on the Marauders' Map were. A person they believed was dead or safely imprisoned — such as Pettigrew, Black, or Voldemort himself — showing up on the Map would be consistent with this.
    • One malfunction is intermittent: this is probably the occasional appearance of two copies of Harry when he uses his Time Turner. However, since Millicent also has a Time Turner, she should also show up in two places sometimes, which makes it less likely that this is the correct interpretation. The other malfunction may be the appearance of Tom Riddle's name next to Professor Quirrell at all times; Fred and George would have no idea who that is, of course.

Peter Pettigrew

• Assuming that he faked his death just as in canon, he is at large. Since the Potters trusted him to be their secret keeper, they could also have entrusted him with the invisibility cloak. The note also mentions that he has gotten good use from the cloak over the years. Only Pettigrew and Sirius would have unusual need for invisibility.

Aberforth Dumbledore

• Knows Dumbledore better than anyone; has probably faked his own death

Mr. Hat and Cloak

• Anyone who can successfully pull off a 6 layer Gambit Roulette is a prime candidate.

Harry Potter

• He's been exposed to the power of time travel at the tender age of 11, decides to improve on the 6-hour model Time Turner, and uses it to give himself the cloak to create a Stable Time Loop

Regulus Black

The portkey the note sender sent Harry drops him off 'somewhere in London' according to Quirrel. 12 Grimmauld Place, perhaps, or near there? Plus, it's entirely possible that Regulus is not in fact dead in this timeline, since he died via Horcrux destruction and the Horcruxes are elsewhere than canon. He could have defected from the Death Eaters in another way and eventually faked his own death when he was in danger, with Sirius's (and by extension James's) help.

Hagrid

A Hagrid with considerably more on the ball than Rowling's Hagrid would still want to protect Harry but would keep his distance if that's what Harry wanted. Also, Robbie Coltrane has played both Hagrid and Father Christmas.

"Was answered in latest chapters" - not at all. There's nothing that indicates any answer to that question, up to and including chapter 85.

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Remove "why Harry can't tell anyone how to produce a human patronus"? I agree with the troper who felt that this is too explicit in the fic to be considered a guess.

Edited by 140.247.147.146