Harry arrives at the Burrow in the middle of the night, welcomed by Tonks, Mollywobbles, some very hot soup, and plenty of awkward tension. The next day is spent catching up with the Weasleys and Hermione–after all, there isn’t much to do at the Burrow, unless you like cooking and chickens! And finally, the trio receives their OWL owls, and Harry learns there’s just definitely no way he will be able to become an Auror now (and we totally all believe that too).
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Remember when Uncle Vernon bought the rifle in Philosopher’s Stone and Hagrid grabbed it and bent it and it went off accidentally? That’s how Harry knows what gunpowder smells like! (It’s very distinctive and sulfuric.)
OK so I have a tendency to write comments in answer to questions as they come up – the OWL grades are based on UK GCSE/A-level grades (fun fact: the GCSE, taken by 15/16 year olds, used to be called the Ordinary Level, or O-level – J.K. Rowling did not do a lot of work in inventing these wizard exams.) The GCSE grade scale was recently changed to a 1-9 scale, but for a really long time was on an A*-U scale (A*, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and U for Ungradeable). A* is pretty hard to get. An A is a very good result. A B is decent, and a C is the last “passing” grade. The benchmark for basic qualifications allowing you to leave school after 16 is a minimum of 5 GCSEs with at least a C grade. It’s not a 1-1 mapping of grades – at the time that J.K. Rowling attended school in the UK, I don’t think the A* was being used as part of the grade scheme, and I’m not sure if U was either. But I personally like to think of U as being the equivalent of a “Troll” grade on an O.W.L.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/719124/Grading_new_GCSEs25.6.2018.pdf
Aww, I’m really sorry that you don’t have the same Dora and Remus headcanon that I do. In Fernwithy’s fic Shifts that’s a companion to Book 5, they had an actual relationship and then in Shades (the companion to Book 6) Remus broke up with Tonks for her own protection. In Shades, Tonks is visiting Molly because Remus wrote her a break-up letter and left it at the Weasleys since he didn’t trust owl post.
Mrs. Weasley’s greatest ambition would probably be to get Percy back in the family… or simply kick Fleur out!
The Weasleys are the one harbouring Harry who is number one on Voldemort’s hit list. Shouldn’t security be way tighter? The kid should be getting his own personal security!
Alice: “When there is a time of fear it’s easy for some people to take advantage of other people.” You guys recorded this over a year before COVID-19 plagued the world and unfortunately that’s exactly what we’re seeing. A couple of days ago my parents’ friends of 30+ years had their jewelry store looted (1 million dollars worth of merchandise) and they got in because the restaurant next door was closed long enough for the burglars to blast a hole through the adjoining wall and steal the safes. Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking.
One of my biggest takeaways from Book 6 is my realization that Harry is no longer angry.
Even though Snape only accepts O students in NEWT Potions, I guess he can’t make the same rule for DADA.