Re: Pearlette to Duj
(Anonymous)
In fact, there's a great deal of evidence to the contrary, given that Harry at 12 was able to break his arm from a simple fall (from a great height, yes, but there was no magic inflicting the actual injury and his own magic did not prevent it).
Actually, the broken arm was from the Bludger hitting Harry's elbow. Harry managed to land safely -- despite having one broken arm and one hand holding the Snitch, and "trying not to pass out." I'm not sure how he managed to hold onto his broom!
I'm not sure how that fits into the argument. There was still no magic causing or preventing the injury, but... (shrug)
On the other hand, there's the Quidditch game in PoA interrupted by the Dementors, where the Dementors cause Harry to black out and fall off his broom:
“Lucky the ground was so soft.”
“I thought he was dead for sure.”
[...]
“Harry!” said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. “How’re you feeling?” [...] “You fell off,” said Fred. “Must’ve been — what — fifty feet?”
“We thought you’d died,” said Alicia, who was shaking.
Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot. [...] “Dumbledore was really angry,” Hermione said in a quaking voice. “I’ve never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground.
Wizards may bounce under some circumstances, as Neville did, but clearly no one at that Quidditch game was counting on Harry doing so.
The situation on the toy broom was different because the broom wasn't so dangerously high, but a one-year-old is so much more fragile... I think it's like 00sevvie said: "part of the difficulty that can crop up here sometimes (RE Lily and also many other things) is that in the books JKR veers back and forth between a cartoonish tone (especially in the early books, but also a bit in the later ones) and a gritty 'realist' tone."
Another part of the problem is that while we take the cartoonish seriously when it comes to the Dursleys' behavior, when it comes to this case with Lily, not everyone does. I don't know if we *should* take this case with Lily seriously, but I'm not quite comfortable with being inconsistent on this point, either.
Lynn
Actually, the broken arm was from the Bludger hitting Harry's elbow. Harry managed to land safely -- despite having one broken arm and one hand holding the Snitch, and "trying not to pass out." I'm not sure how he managed to hold onto his broom!
I'm not sure how that fits into the argument. There was still no magic causing or preventing the injury, but... (shrug)
On the other hand, there's the Quidditch game in PoA interrupted by the Dementors, where the Dementors cause Harry to black out and fall off his broom:
“Lucky the ground was so soft.”
“I thought he was dead for sure.”
[...]
“Harry!” said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. “How’re you feeling?” [...] “You fell off,” said Fred. “Must’ve been — what — fifty feet?”
“We thought you’d died,” said Alicia, who was shaking.
Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot. [...] “Dumbledore was really angry,” Hermione said in a quaking voice. “I’ve never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground.
Wizards may bounce under some circumstances, as Neville did, but clearly no one at that Quidditch game was counting on Harry doing so.
The situation on the toy broom was different because the broom wasn't so dangerously high, but a one-year-old is so much more fragile... I think it's like 00sevvie said: "part of the difficulty that can crop up here sometimes (RE Lily and also many other things) is that in the books JKR veers back and forth between a cartoonish tone (especially in the early books, but also a bit in the later ones) and a gritty 'realist' tone."
Another part of the problem is that while we take the cartoonish seriously when it comes to the Dursleys' behavior, when it comes to this case with Lily, not everyone does. I don't know if we *should* take this case with Lily seriously, but I'm not quite comfortable with being inconsistent on this point, either.
Lynn