"thinking too hard" ahoy!

(hmmm... I need a Harry Potter icon that isn't silly, isn't Snape, and isn't text.)

Or: how to frustrate a Ravenclaw.

Has anyone ever managed to work out a Hogwarts class timetable? I've tried several times and I'm starting to think that this is just one more area where JKR sucks at maths and timelines. I just can't figure out where people are supposed to be when, and there seems to be either too much or too little in a day. This is one of the things that annoys me about very amateur fiction -- details that don't fit together the way you expect them to. Verisimilitude, people. Yes, I am suspending disbelief on a lot of things to even read this in the first place, but it still needs to be internally consistent. Unless you have established that time just doesn't work the same way in this world (and then, why a Time Turner anyway?), this kind of class schedule just doesn't work.

The most direct descriptions we have are, of course, of the Trio's schedules. In OotP, on the first day of term, they have History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and then double Defense Against the Dark arts. It's explicitly stated that Harry's brain shuts off after the first 10 minutes of History and that he basically doodles for the next hour and twenty minutes. Okay, so a class period is 90 minutes long. Good. Then they go off to double Potions -- which is also stated to be 90 minutes (Snape says that's how long they have to brew their Draught of Peace)!

So does "double" refer to their being there with another House of students, and not the length, I thought maybe? It would be pretty implausible if double classes were 3 hours long, since that would make this day's schedule 9 hours of classes even exclusive of lunchtime and any time to get from class to class. But then in other places it's mentioned that the double classes are indeed longer.

I really get lost in all this. I think maybe it isn't work-outable and JKR is just plopping down whatever sounds good to her (and annoys her pet Gryffindors the most) without thinking about whether it is actually a schedule someone could really do (sans Time-Turner, anyway). *humph*

"thinking too hard" ahoy!

(hmmm... I need a Harry Potter icon that isn't silly, isn't Snape, and isn't text.)

Or: how to frustrate a Ravenclaw.

Has anyone ever managed to work out a Hogwarts class timetable? I've tried several times and I'm starting to think that this is just one more area where JKR sucks at maths and timelines. I just can't figure out where people are supposed to be when, and there seems to be either too much or too little in a day. This is one of the things that annoys me about very amateur fiction -- details that don't fit together the way you expect them to. Verisimilitude, people. Yes, I am suspending disbelief on a lot of things to even read this in the first place, but it still needs to be internally consistent. Unless you have established that time just doesn't work the same way in this world (and then, why a Time Turner anyway?), this kind of class schedule just doesn't work.

The most direct descriptions we have are, of course, of the Trio's schedules. In OotP, on the first day of term, they have History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and then double Defense Against the Dark arts. It's explicitly stated that Harry's brain shuts off after the first 10 minutes of History and that he basically doodles for the next hour and twenty minutes. Okay, so a class period is 90 minutes long. Good. Then they go off to double Potions -- which is also stated to be 90 minutes (Snape says that's how long they have to brew their Draught of Peace)!

So does "double" refer to their being there with another House of students, and not the length, I thought maybe? It would be pretty implausible if double classes were 3 hours long, since that would make this day's schedule 9 hours of classes even exclusive of lunchtime and any time to get from class to class. But then in other places it's mentioned that the double classes are indeed longer.

I really get lost in all this. I think maybe it isn't work-outable and JKR is just plopping down whatever sounds good to her (and annoys her pet Gryffindors the most) without thinking about whether it is actually a schedule someone could really do (sans Time-Turner, anyway). *humph*

fanfic follies

OK PEOPLE STOP HAVING SIMULTANEOUS ORGASMS, IT IS SILLY AND TAKES WAY MORE PLANNING/ATTENTION/CONCENTRATION THAN ANYONE IS GOING TO HAVE ON THEIR FIRST TIME WITH THE LONG-SOUGHT-AFTER OBJECT OF THEIR FORBIDDEN AFFECTIONS, KTHXBYE

</capslock>

...

And of course, true to form, my brain continued on to overthink this perfectly fine, amusing, ranty statement:

actually... i suppose usually the problem is that females take so much more stimulation, so if they're both male, especially teenage boys, maybe it's relatively more likely. still kind of, i dunno, overdramatic.


Oolon Colluphid says:
yup
Oolon Colluphid says:
but really, if you can't be overdramatic in fanfic, where can you be?
Arethinn says:
on stage?
Arethinn says:
hopefully not "harry and george in mutual wank: the musical" however!

(no subject)

"The Dark Lord is gone, Lucius is finally out of prison, and the Malfoy name is in the toilet. But Lucius knows just how to redeem it...."

[quote marks sic]

Let me guess. It involves Moaning Myrtle?

(no subject)

"The Dark Lord is gone, Lucius is finally out of prison, and the Malfoy name is in the toilet. But Lucius knows just how to redeem it...."

[quote marks sic]

Let me guess. It involves Moaning Myrtle?