hezzabeth @ September 23 2003, 17:33:56 UTC

The spelling and grammer is way to good for a_slytherin thats for sure.

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 17:57:58 UTC

Why do you say that? If Blaise (in this case, it would be he) tried, perhaps he could do that, especially since some people change tone offline.

That said, it's clearly not slow writing, it looks like the e and f are pretty connected in "left", so whoever did it would need to be able to spell properly or plan out what they are saying.

zorb @ September 23 2003, 19:09:10 UTC

What we really need are handwriting samples from all eligible students to compare. *nods and leaves it for someone else to do*

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 19:39:18 UTC

I don't think that's handwriting I've seen before, I would remember the gs. Not much in the way of research, I admit.

Anonymous @ September 23 2003, 19:53:13 UTC

Harry's handwriting (http://www.livejournal.com/community/nocturne_alley/102254.html)

Ron's handwriting (http://www.livejournal.com/community/nocturne_alley/137515.html)

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 20:35:44 UTC

Oh! Thanks! Clearly not Harry (thin vs. long, and it's not easy to make the sort of natural ease you see in Lisa's letter long when you have thin handwriting). Not Ron either, I would venture. Though there are some similarities, it's not stylistically similar. Also, the R is all wrong.

Now, if only someone were to do handwriting analysis and tell us their personality... that would be amusing...

dragynville @ September 24 2003, 12:46:44 UTC

But can we go by that? Since the Head Boy is trying to keep his identity secret, wouldn't it logically follow for him to disguise his handwriting (or perhaps have a trusted friend write it?), especially if he's going to be doing his communicating through notes?

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:06:48 UTC

Try disguising your handwriting. This is no mean feat, and there are often ways of writing letters that you just can't really write, and usually, though not always, it's slower, at least if you need to differ a lot from your normal handwriting. This doesn't feel like something Ron would have done. Perhaps Harry, but I am inclined to think that such a difference is unlikely.

And no we can't go by a handwriting analysis, I don't think we could anyway if it were accurate, maybe even this is fruitless, but it would be amusing.

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:40:39 UTC

Something in the Harry handwriting I noticed: that's not handwriting, just a handwriting font. So it cheats. Alack, Alan.

small_rodent @ September 24 2003, 16:32:45 UTC Draco

I found some of Draco's handwriting... it's mostly script, but the capital R in this entry is a little similar to the R in the note... maybe :P

The Ts in Potter here don't look very much like the Ts in the note, though... the crossbar is slanted the wrong way.

hezzabeth @ September 24 2003, 01:52:24 UTC

Well I also assumed it was'nt Blaise because that would be far to obvious.

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 17:53:17 UTC

Hmmmm, that is rather just_harry in tone. He can spell, but he is deliberatly not imposing or demanding, like a number of Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors I could mention. I think the tone feels a little forced, but it's not something that I could see Ernie writing, for example. Clearly not Draco, Crabbe or Goyle, either. So if it's a player character I feel it's probably Harry, Neville or Blaise.

Mullarkey has a cute cat.

dragynville @ September 23 2003, 18:43:40 UTC

Yeah, that seemed very just_harry voice to me too. Especially that "upon" (like his famed 'alot').

I hope it's a player character because, otherwise, that's rather like those murder mysteries that introduce a new character in the last chapter who turns out to be *gasp* the murderer.

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 19:19:06 UTC

Upon is a real word, though. He's saying Crabbe was "beating on". "Beating up on" doesn't make sense anyway.

dragynville @ September 23 2003, 21:17:01 UTC

mehh.. I was thinking of the common vernacular, but that's an American one anyway. :p

sistermagpie @ September 23 2003, 20:23:27 UTC

I honestly can't j_h doing this. I'd think he'd just not take the job if he didn't want to do it. I can't imagine him sending notes to tell Lisa to do something he should be doing himself as Head Boy.

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 20:45:30 UTC

Point. Then again, besides Blaise, who might take the posistion and yet have incentive to hide the fact that they are Head Boy?

Ron, to avoid hurting Hermoine's feelings, perhaps? Yet I don't see Ron as a head boy, much less a hiding head boy, even if he wanted to avoid hurting feeling, so meh. The only other options I see are Harry and one of the NPCs.

My NPC money is on Rincewind.

Anonymous @ September 23 2003, 23:45:32 UTC

Ernie is paranoid enough to think he'd need to do this

onthehillside @ September 23 2003, 18:40:53 UTC

I just can't see just_harry going through the trouble of putting it under a DADA text. If it had been sent by owl maybe, but as it is...

I have my money on erniemacmillan, what with his comment
here and the unnecessary "security" arrangements.

petitesl @ September 23 2003, 18:51:26 UTC

Ernie would be the kind of guy to want to keep something secret (except as Head Boy he might advertise it to promote Hufflepuff-ness) but in general he hasn't shown himself to actually be that good at secrecy.

onthehillside @ September 23 2003, 19:18:26 UTC

Very true.

I just can't see j_h going through the trouble of hiding the letters. That doesn't make sense to me.

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 19:36:46 UTC

Ernie doesn't seem likely, especially because
A) IN YOUR FACE and
B) "Recently" "You ought" and various other turns of phrases are spectacularly un-Ernie.

But then, I'm a partial to J_H and Blaise, and I can see the DADA text as a Blaise thing.

tabiji @ September 24 2003, 11:26:39 UTC

OR, it could be Neville, and the reason for all the secrecy/security could be because certain people have been spreading rumors about him being an Evil Overlord ?

(or, more seriously, maybe something to do with the memory block?)

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:19:26 UTC

Would you believe me if I told you that an Evil!Neville scenario didn't even occur to me for the longest time? I don't know who I am anymore.

tabiji @ September 24 2003, 20:29:16 UTC

You whaa- ???

OH MY GOD THE EVIL!NEVILLE HAS KIDNAPPED PIPE AND PUT A LOOKALIKE IN HIS PLACE!

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 20:34:30 UTC

Thank God he kept the icon.

I would've been pissed.

vellum @ September 23 2003, 18:55:50 UTC

lisa's icon! CAT! CAT! CAT!

::dies::

steph_hime @ September 24 2003, 03:04:44 UTC

What is with the cats? They're trying to warn us about something!!! We should get rid of Lilitou for security reasons.

bobbery @ September 23 2003, 21:03:37 UTC

Was Crabbe beating up Draco because he didn't make the team?

Anyway, who is Head Boy? It can't be Blaise, just because Blaise is too much fun as a mystery, though the 'I discovered' sort of mushed together made me think of it. I would think Draco would have much nicer handwriting, yet I can see him turning Crabbe in secretly if it was Draco who Crabbe was beating on. Neville is... why? I don't see any reason of Neville having to be Secret Head Boy. I'm hoping for Dean or Terry, just because they are currently nowhere to be seen, and I want them back.

dragynville @ September 23 2003, 21:26:24 UTC

Oh! I forgot about that.. he said he was going to too.. hmm. O.O

Just where is Terry anyway. Has he even been mentioned since July?

bobbery @ September 23 2003, 21:27:57 UTC

Cho saw him in the bookstore somewhat long ago, but not that long ago. But they have both been gone for too long, I say. I don't really think either of them is the Head Boy. My bet is on someone in Slytherin...

notapipe @ September 23 2003, 22:48:18 UTC

But why would A) Draco lie, B) Draco not flaunt his position and C) Draco get appointed Head Boy after the past?

I refuse to rule out Blaise, it's the only one that makes sense.

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 01:52:00 UTC *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Someone was saying that Blaise as Head Boy would be a copout in an earlier thread. And I've been thinking about it. And I rather think that finding out Blaise was a boy would simply show that everything was beginning. All the revelations that are undoubtably to come would actually start off pretty damn stylishly if it began with Zabini's gender.

I mean there is so much that is unresolved. WHERE IS boot_boy FOR ONE. Narcissa posting pictures of the boy-who-is-not-Draco and forgetting Draco's birthday. All of the skeleton's in the Malfoy's closet actually. The non-pregnancy of Narcissa. The kidnapping of portrait-Draco. The missing portraits in general. What exactly does Gunther do for the Malfoys? Hera Peligroso (too lazy to get correct spelling)

Why was Draco writing to Sally-Anne Perks' parents? Is there really a house-elf conspiracy against him? Who has been sawing at his bed?

WTF - TBWRHIWMTTAATTKOTAH

Where is Hagrid?

The water-stain the night of the sleepover at Dogear Wryde. The unfinished Astronomy project. Why Draco was fine.

What was with the plant covering the hole on Draco's bed?

Err... Soblessa.

Why wasn't Draco taken out of school before the DE Attack? Did Lucius know about the attack at all, even? How high up is Lucius in the DE hierarchy?

Why was Goyle at school all summer? Why didn't his parents notice?

Where does Harry go at night that Ron needs to make "Harry-shaped pillows" every night. Draco's hideout?

Harry doesn't like Terry Boot. Is there more to this?

Who are the three people M.B. had sex with? *leers*

Why did Ron and Hermione break up?

Why didn't Harry want to go home when Seamus was at Dogear Wryde? Why doesn't MB like Seamus? Were Dean's suspicions completely uncalled for? (In re: MBs three requests of Dean, did Ireland = Seamus?)

Weasleycest?

More obviously, Neville's memory block. ALSO: Why is Pipe still a nEVILle theorist?

The wedding-speech. Why didn't Harry finish writing it.

WTF was Snape doing over the summer? Is Snape a spy. Who was he in love with. Lederhosen??

That goddamn'd NrAged cat icon. *shakes fist in wrath... towards.. uhh... Britain*

Why is Harry the only Gryffindor who likes eggs? HMmmmMMmm???

Is 22 diks ever really enough?

Oh God, there's so much more too, but I'm done for now.

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 02:05:26 UTC

Err... requests of Terry. MB/Dean would be a completely different story that would make me choke on my pepsi like mad.

noirenails @ September 24 2003, 04:13:25 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

pictures of the boy-who-is-not-Draco

When was that? I haven't been here nearly long enough. Though I've read almost every single NrAged and N_A post there is. It seems even I can miss some things.

tabiji @ September 24 2003, 12:02:53 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

The picture in your icon! There's been speculation due to this thread, a thread where she gets Draco's age wrong, and there's another thread somewhere where Narcissa referred to how long it had been since there was a baby at the manor, (can't find it now, but some nraged speculation here) that has had a lot of us thinking that Narcissa has another son, younger than Draco, and probably illegitimate. There are some MAJOR skeletons in the Malfoy closets!

I've been digging around in the archives...will post 'em when I find them.

noirenails @ September 25 2003, 02:16:21 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

*slaps self* I forgot that Draco's thread. Am st00pid.

thessamunga @ September 24 2003, 07:01:29 UTC

OH MY GOD HAHA (Y) CRACK, CRACK!!!!!

darththalia @ September 24 2003, 10:49:28 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

WTF - TBWRHIWMTTAATTKOTAH

The Boy Who Really Hates It When Millicent Tries To Act As Though ... um ... um .... OK, I can't continue, but that's the best I've come up with yet. Anyone have a link for this thread? potterstinks' memories aren't helping, although they are highly amusing. I did find TBWUTBPBEDHWFTIFTROTPSNHSHFTHAWP, however. The Boy Who Used To be Prefect But ....

Where does Harry go at night that Ron needs to make "Harry-shaped pillows" every night.

Do you know when Ron said this? I don't remember it. I'm totally impressed that you came up with this whole list.

silvernatasha @ September 24 2003, 11:14:43 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

The Boy Who Used To Be Prefect But Eventually Decided He Was Far Too Important For The Role Of...?

Eventually we will get to the bottom of these acronyms. I hope.

darththalia @ September 24 2003, 15:36:52 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Good start. Hmmm...

Eventually we will get to the bottom of these acronyms. I hope.

Me too. They drove me crazy for days when they first appeared.

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:28:35 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Actually we got all but a couple letters of that in the nraged Decoding thread, then the stars dried up.

The Boy Who Used To Be Prefect But Everyone Decided He Was Far Too Intimidating For The Rest Of the P____ So Now He Spends His Free Time Having A____ With Potter.

Seriously, it will consume you and us all, don't let it. Let it rest.

Anonymous @ September 24 2003, 22:23:15 UTC

Prefects?
Analsex?

*runs*

corsiva @ September 25 2003, 05:32:07 UTC

!!!!!!!

Oh God lets all hope that is it!! WOOHOOOOOOOO

*goes back to semi-lurkdom*

tabiji @ September 25 2003, 00:54:00 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Arrrrgh. Pipe, I do not like you any longer.






(pretend this icon is my version of "beautifully enraged")

notapipe @ September 25 2003, 00:55:30 UTC

*innocent perplexed "what did I do?" look*

tabiji @ September 25 2003, 01:00:36 UTC

You had to remind us of the horrible and tragic Day the Stars Dried Up.



It will eat my soul. I refuse to take the bait...even if I do have a really good idea for that "A".

snowballjane @ September 25 2003, 05:40:20 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Was 'proles' ever suggested for that p?

::is sucked in to swirly vortex of code cracking::

Anonymous @ September 24 2003, 14:21:39 UTC TBWRHIWMTTAATTKOTAH

TBWRHIWMTTAATTKOTAH

`Kot` means cat in my first language (Polish)
It scares me.

*is scared*

darththalia @ September 24 2003, 15:37:50 UTC Re: TBWRHIWMTTAATTKOTAH

It's a conspiracy.

serpensortia @ September 24 2003, 12:27:02 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Curiosity killed the cat ;) Which..er...makes me think of this actually...

That goddamn'd NrAged cat icon.

Just a thought.

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:37:08 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

\m/

Hagrid is around. He looks after animals and stuff.

Wedding-speech is unresolved? That was the fine night. Unresolved my arse. Also I could have sworn Ron flat out stated the Harry shaped pillows were so Harry could have late night adventures with Draco, you know, the Draco Crabbe or Goyle said was never ever there?

I thought Soblessa was dead, how is that unresolved?

But this list r0x0rz. And not just because it pimps the H/D plebe pr0n.

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 16:48:04 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

I only saw mention of Hagrid.. like... once.

Yes well, not so much unresolved as unconfirmed. I WANT IT CONFIRMED DAMMIT.

But what was the point of Soblessa? Was there one?

You just like it because you got mentioned twice.

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 16:59:09 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Lupin mentioned him recently, Lilitou was with Hagrid for a while at the end of summer.

Why must she have a point? What's the point of Nott? Or Morgan? Or Flitwick? They don't have journals, so must they be unresolved mysteries?

I didn't actually notice the nEVILle mention. Did you notice elswehere in this post that I am losing my nEVILle skillz? I can answer your question though: it is fun.

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 17:03:50 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

I know Lupin mentioned him. Nancy linked it to me. I don't remember Lilitou being with him, though.

I didn't say she must have a point, I was wondering if she did. Geez Pipe. I didn't say the other characters were unresolved mysteries, and you gotta admit the whole Soblessa situation was a little weird.

No? Should I bother to reread your comments to note the lack-of-skill? And ya, I knew the answer. But your nEVILism is too much fun to overlook.

notapipe @ September 24 2003, 17:07:06 UTC Everybody super-sonic gotta keep your feet back off the ground

Okay, that's good. Notoriety is good.

snowballjane @ September 25 2003, 05:39:07 UTC Re: *plays unsolved mysteries theme song*

Who was following Snape and Cho in Tahiti? Was that ever revealed?

tabiji @ September 23 2003, 21:21:32 UTC

Since Lisa didn't get her note until lunch, we can probably take that to mean she doesn't have any Tuesday morning classes with the Head Boy. According to the seventh year schedules:

Gryffindor: Potions / Divination or Arithmancy
Ravenclaw: DADA / Divination or Arithmancy
Slytherin: Potions / Divination or Arithmancy
Hufflepuff: Free / Divination or Arithmancy

We can deduct that the Head Boy is not a Ravenclaw, and since Lisa probably takes Arithmancy, he probably has Divination. Crabbe saying that he wants to pound Draco. for dogging his Quidditch skills don't really rule out the other houses, but it could be that the Head Boy saw this in Slytherin.


PS this is the third time I'm trying to send this. LiveJournal can blow me.

frito_kal @ September 24 2003, 06:04:49 UTC Handful of handwriting notes.

This is likely to mean nothing - but, better said and unsaid, right?

Whoever wrote the note is most likely right handed. If you look at the capital H, the slash is longer on the right side, suggesting that it was written from left to right. This is extremly awkward for someone who is left-handed - suggesting that the note was written by a righty.

The lower-case t's, tops of the capital I's and the dot over the i in detention are also left-to-right.

The commas also have a very slight pull to the right at their bottoms.

Anonymous @ September 24 2003, 07:32:32 UTC I think Harry's the head boy...

He's my favoured candidate now we've seen this note.

It's written in his style, as people have already pointed out - calm, confident, but not dictatorial. Also, it's clear the head boy did try to give Crabbe a detention himself via the earlier note in the DADA book. He only passed on the detention job to the head girl because Crabbe couldn't read his note. And apparently he can't approach Crabbe directly because, for whatever reason, he wants to stay anonymous.

I agree that "beat upon" is an interesting stylistic clue. "Beat up on" would be the more usual way to say it in the UK, so it looks like the words have been compounded - wrongly, as J_H has a tendency to do. Very subtle ploy by his player, if this is the case.

Anyway, if we assume the student getting beat up on was Potterstinks (well, who else could it be?), where did this take place and how did the head boy see it without being seen himself? Blaise and J_H (in his invisibility cloak) are the most likely people to be skulking in the shadows, especially if the cinnamon sticks meeting happened in or near Slytherin (Crabbe says "come and get them", which suggests the dungeon to me). If J_H was down there, he'd be bound to wear his cloak. As for Blaise, I really don't think he's a credible head boy. What merit has he demonstrated for the job? He barely even exists, except to mock the other characters. I know the school staff (and the absent Dumbledore) are an eccentric bunch, but I don't see them choosing Blaise.

The writer of the note has to be someone who thinks Crabbe deserves to be punished for beating up PS, and is determined enough to try to put him in detention twice - once himself, and once via Turpinol. Again, this screams J_H to me. He's known to be protective where PS is concerned (remember how he rallied round unasked when Colin had such a go at PS earlier this year?). Also, I noticed that the student who was beaten up isn't named in the note. It would be typical of J_H not to identify PS, because he wouldn't want to upset him. It's got to be embarrassing for PS to get thrashed by one of his own henchmen.

The only thing that doesn't point to J_H is the handwriting - the note doesn't look anything like his writing in that Snape post someone linked to earlier. Perhaps a rare continuity error by NA? If not, it completely scuppers my theory. Oh well.

What is a mystery to me is why Harry (or anyone else) would not want to be identified as head boy. Maybe I've missed something, but I haven't seen any clues to that one yet.

Dahlia_777

dragynville @ September 24 2003, 12:41:24 UTC Re: I think Harry's the head boy...

The only thing that doesn't point to J_H is the handwriting - the note doesn't look anything like his writing in that Snape post someone linked to earlier. Perhaps a rare continuity error by NA? If not, it completely scuppers my theory. Oh well.

Actually, it doesn't. If it's Harry and he's trying to keep his identity secret, I'd think he would disguise his very recognizable handwriting, especially if he's going to be communicating through notes.

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 20:50:17 UTC

I think the Head Boy is a_player. Or, more of a stretch, intern_alley. Am brilliant.

Bring on the Gold Stars, biznatches.

black_dog @ September 24 2003, 21:32:31 UTC Dean's writing, maybe?

You know, the sample is small, but to me it kind of looks like Dean's writing. Note the e's and the s's and the c's especially. Maybe the n's and r's as well. The u's don't look the same, but it may be fast writing vs. cartoon lettering?

hobaggins @ September 24 2003, 23:38:48 UTC *hums industriously s'more*

The o's, especially the on's [heh, in cyan] and ou's[in green] are not alike. I don't think the c's[hot pink! yeowch!] are similar either. Nor the in's[circles]. The re's[purple].

Those were the easiest to compare. They're notapositivematch.

Good call for looking up the Dean Handwriting though,

Anonymous @ September 25 2003, 00:00:19 UTC Re: *hums industriously s'more*

Another sample of Dean's handwriting (http://www.livejournal.com/users/deanthomas/3214.html) from last year.

black_dog @ September 25 2003, 00:14:02 UTC Re: *hums industriously s'more*

There we go -- those s's, those t's, those o's sometimes joined to the following letter and sometimes not, the h's, . . . the p's m's and y's not so much, but are they really that irreconcilably different? Gah. Still inconclusive. But suspiciously closer than anyone else I've seen.

black_dog @ September 25 2003, 00:32:03 UTC Re: *hums industriously s'more*

Actually, the word "note," in the Crookshanks cartoon and in the Head Boy note, look identical to me.

On reflection, I respectfully dissent from hobaggins, and vote to convict Dean.

tabiji @ September 25 2003, 00:45:30 UTC Re: *hums industriously s'more*

Hmmmmm. Lots of similarities. And with Dean being artistic, he would be more likely to have handwriting that varied, say if he was rushed vs. taking more time to write carefully, or if he was intentionally trying to write a bit differently. Text as part of a drawing could even purposely look different than his regular handwriting does.

black_dog @ September 25 2003, 00:03:44 UTC Re: *hums industriously s'more*

Yeah, you're pointing out real weaknesses in the comparison. I still see an uncanny family resemblance on certain of the individual letters, e s and c especially (compare the shallower "c" in Vincent) which would be statistically odd to find among a small group of possible candidates; and some of the differences in the linking of letter-pairs may be attributable to writing a note vs. lettering an illustration, while some of the decisions have to be made, dubiously, on a single case because of the small sample. It's not compelling evidence, I wouldn't vote to convict, so to speak. But I still call him a credible suspect.