Note: If you want to read from the beginning, it starts here.

Table of Contents

I want to thank everyone for taking their time to read, specially to those who took the extra time to leave some feedback of their visit. For those who truly enjoyed it, and would like to know more, I now give you the little tidbits behind the story. A kind of behind the scenes look. I wrote the story as Half-Blood Prince had just came out, so the warnings about “spoilers” are about things that tied in with that book. They’re not spoilers anymore.

  • POA is Prisoner of Askaban
  • GOF is Goblet of Fire
  • HBP is Half Blood Prince
  • JKR is J. K. Rowling (I also call her Jo)

Yes, I know it’s just me being egothistical. Just read on if you like 🙂

TIDBITS

  • The story is meant to fit in nicely with the novels. It is set after Harry’s third year (POA) since that was the year that dementors were allowed into Hogwarts. It has to be set before Harry’s year five (OOTP) since that’s the year Umbridge gains control and authorizes flaying, which means Filch is really happy that year.
  • Due to the ending chapter, the story is now set right on the summer between Harry’s third (POA) and fourth year (GOF). There are two contributing factors here: Dumbledore telling McGonagall about the Triwizard tournament, and the joke at the very end (read below).
  • The joke “a troll, a hag and a leprechaun go into a bar…” at the end is the very same that Dumbledore attempts to tell right at the beginning of GOF, when George Weasley exclaims “you’re kidding”. Dumbledore does say he heard it “over the summer”  (yes he does, look it up).  Unfortunately, McGonagall interrupts him (perhaps it was a dirty joke!) and we will never know the punchline.
  • Hagrid fans will have noticed he doesn’t get too many lines. That’s because it’s really hard for me to write the way he pronounces! Hagrid was one of the suspects but you don’t get to see when Snape questions him, just what Snape tells McGonagall afterwards. My excuse is that the story only happens from McGonagall’s point of view, and that we all knew Hagrid was innocent, didn’t we? As a way to apologize to Hagrid, I do give him his dragons at the very end.
  • The greenhouses are outside of Hogwarts. Check the map of the Hogwarts grounds at the HP Lexicon. I did. Also by the map, I’ve put the sun coming out from the Forbidden Forest, it’s located east of the castle.
  • If you really want to know what is on what floor, check the Guide to Hogwarts in the HP Lexicon. It would’ve been impossible to plan the whole mistery plot without it. If you find I made a mistake and put something in the wrong floor, you really need to get out more often.  :p
  • During her explanation, McGonagall says that there’s nothing on consequence on the sixth floor. Actually, JKR didn’t make anything happen there for the first six books. I think there’s a confrontation with Harry and Malfoy on the sixth floor in one the lasts books, I don’t remember.
  • I didn’t make up any of the statues, paintings, tapestries or secret passages. They’re all from the books and, hopefully, in their rightful places. It was real hard… who am I kidding, they were a joy to use.
  • According to Filius’ bio compiled by the HP Lexicon, he was a champion duelist when he was younger. It seemed fitting he had a collection of wands explictly for duels. The battle wands, however, are not canon. If JKR uses them, I want… nothing, go ahead, I’d be flattered!
  • I’m positive I made up the fact that Snape jinxes his chairs to be uncomfortable so that any visitors leave quickly or not. In the past I thought perhaps I read something similar in the books, but I’ve already looked and there’s nothing there.
  • While Filch is getting interviewed, he tries to convince McGonagall of getting rid of Peeves. His pitch about “the guys from New York” was about the Ghostbusters.
  • After Minerva’s explanation on the last chapter, Kingsley says: “there’s just one thing I don’t understand” and everyone replies “one thing?”. These are lines from the movie Clue.
  • Minor HPB Spoiler: The teacher’s notes that Snape finds in his desk were from Tom Riddle’s Defense of the Dark Arts teacher, not from his Potions teacher. So it couldn’t have been Horace Slughorn, he taught Potions. We don’t know who taught Defense of the Dark Arts during Riddle’s time, but for my story I’ve assumed that teacher came from Slytherin.
  • Minor HPB Spoiler: Just before the battle scene, Snape disapproves of using the Patronus charm against a dementor. I didn’t make this up. In HPB, Snape doesn’t give Harry top marks for choosing the charm as the best way to deal with a dementor when Harry’s giving his Defense Against the Dark Arts finals.
  • VERY MAJOR HPB Spoiler: In an alternate ending, McGonagall ended up telling Snape: “Thanks Severus, you’re a prince.” I went with the joke instead. It wasn’t worth putting this heavy spoiler when it added nothing to the plot.
  • Oops. Dumbledore was not Headmaster while Tom “Voldy” Riddle was a student so his paper was not rejected by him, but by the current Headmaster at the time. I’ve corrected this one

WORD ORIGINS

Fortuna Livris Desencatenas
Spell. Opens up the Hogwarts books/ledgers where McGonagall, as deputy headmistress, chronicles all the year’s expenses.
fortuna – latin, means fortune
livris – latin? means book
desencatenas – made it up. I’ve read novels where “catenas” means “chains”, so I added the spanish prefix “desen…” which means to undo.

Luciernaga
Charm. Creates a cold light-emitting ball that follows you around. It’s the spanish word for a firefly bug.

Kilopodium Nefasta
Hex. Increases the target’s weight a thousand times.
kilopodium – kilo means a thousand, podium is a platform where you stand.
nefasta – female of the spanish word “nefasto” meaning awful.

Kilopodium Leviosa
Hex-Charm combo. Decreases the target’s weight a thousand times.
kilopodium – see above
leviosa – from the books, a lifting charm. “Wingardium”, which is said first refers to the feather in my opinion.

Silentio
Spell. I think they used “silencio” somewhere in the books eventually. It silences the surroundings.
silentio – from the spanish word “silencio” meaning silence.

Tenebrius Talyn
A name I made up as the mad architect that built the original Hogwarts castle. “Tenebrius” is from the spanish word “tenebroso” meaning scary. “Talyn” I took from somewhere I don’t recall, but for me it’s rooted from the welsh name “Taliesin” which is supposed to be another name for Merlin, the magician from Arthurian legend. I had planned to use this name in another story that I never finished.

Tugglit
The elf victim.  Say “toggle it” fast. Toggle is a switch or a lever. The name stems from a discarded idea that the book device could be turned off by the elf since he had obtained the pages and his death provokes the device to malfunction. It was just unnecessarily complicated.

Vade Retro Momentum
Charm. The moving target moves in the opposite direction with the same impulse.
vade retro – latin, to go back
momentum – latin, impulse

***
Harry Potter(tm) and all associated materials are property of J.K. Rowling
My thanks go to the Harry Potter Lexicon at http://www.hp-lexicon.org