(Anonymous)
Indeed, in CoS when the twins experimented with stuffing fireworks down a salamander’s gullet, JKR played the scene for laughs.
Good thing it was in CoS. As the book says, "Fred had “rescued” the brilliant orange, fire-dwelling lizard from a Care of Magical Creatures class." If it had happened in PoA, when Harry's class at one point had a lesson on salamanders... well, it might have confused the theme about only evil people (i.e., the Malfoys) hurting Hagrid's pets. Er.
The idea behind feeding a firework to a salamander is presumably that since salamanders live in fire, they won't be hurt by the heat. Right? Except the problem with explosions isn't just (or even primarily) the heat -- it's the concussive force. I guess the explosions were very *weak* explosions, since the salamander was "whirled wildly around the room" rather than blown up.
Also, the firework in question was a Filibuster firework -- one of "Dr. Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks." Heat wasn't an issue; they could have fed it to a non-heat resistant animal just as easily.
But I suppose it "sounds good," feeding a firework to a salamander rather than to, say, a cat, which has no affinity to "fire." Also since fewer readers are likely to care about lizards than cats.
Lynn
Good thing it was in CoS. As the book says, "Fred had “rescued” the brilliant orange, fire-dwelling lizard from a Care of Magical Creatures class." If it had happened in PoA, when Harry's class at one point had a lesson on salamanders... well, it might have confused the theme about only evil people (i.e., the Malfoys) hurting Hagrid's pets. Er.
The idea behind feeding a firework to a salamander is presumably that since salamanders live in fire, they won't be hurt by the heat. Right? Except the problem with explosions isn't just (or even primarily) the heat -- it's the concussive force. I guess the explosions were very *weak* explosions, since the salamander was "whirled wildly around the room" rather than blown up.
Also, the firework in question was a Filibuster firework -- one of "Dr. Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks." Heat wasn't an issue; they could have fed it to a non-heat resistant animal just as easily.
But I suppose it "sounds good," feeding a firework to a salamander rather than to, say, a cat, which has no affinity to "fire." Also since fewer readers are likely to care about lizards than cats.
Lynn