Fortnightly Foray Into the Fandom: Dragons

[rita_skeeter]

*throws balloons* FFIF is back, by popular demand! For the first time after Book 7, we will once again be looking deep into a topic within the HP world.

And our first one for this year will be Dragons.
We have seen throughout the series that dragons can serve many purposes. How do you think the first one was dicovered? By who and in which country? How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood? What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]? And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

As usual, this discussion is completely open to your own interpretations and interests. You do not need to answer all or even any of the questions! The idea of posting questions is to start you off and encourage you all to delve deeper into the subject. Particularly good posts in here will earn 5 or perhaps even 10 points, so make your contributions well worth it!

HP Lexicon - Dragons

So get posting and sharing ideas!

This discussion has been extended, so it will finish on Sunday 30th.

[Danielle_Malfoy]

We have seen throughout the series that dragons can serve many purposes. How do you think the first one was dicovered? By who and in which country? How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood? What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]? And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

Please excuse me as I am new to this. (Soon to be Hufflepuff)

I think that Newt Scamanders great great great great (A lot of greats) grandmother
discovered the first dragon in Sweden.
Dumbledore observes like he usually does and he knows nearly everything.
Twelve Uses Of Dragons Blood
1) Sting Reduction. (OotP, Chapter20 Page 374 Uk Version) Hagrid uses dragon meat to reduce the sting when he comes back from the giants. So the blood drips on his face./Wound Healers/Painkilling Properties
2) Potion Uses.
3) A secret ingredient in Firewhisky?
4)Plant fertiliser?
5)A Tangy sauce Dumbledore likes on his meals
6)Understanding The Language of Birds? (Fawkes Perhaps) (O_o I know he's a phoenix)
7)Cures Blindness
8) Increases Bravery,
9)Core in a wand?
10) Drinking it makes you knowledgable and know things you shouldn't,
11)Metaphorphagi (Sp) mut drink it to recharge? (i ran out of ideas)
12)Oven Cleaner


Charlie Weasley studies dragons and their environment and tracks evolution and breeding etc. He could also collect parts of dragons for potion makers and other people.
We know dragons are dangerous and untrainable (as much as Hagrid would like to think so) but I have always thought of some of them as intelligent and others as stupid; not that this makes much difference

Hope this was ok?

[solemnlyswear_x]

I'd think that dragon blood would probably have some restorative properties that would be useful at St. Mungo's. Plus, I'd think it would be used in different types of potions, and maybe some other household products like the oven cleaner. It's also cool that the rest of dragons are very helpful too. The heart, horn, and eggs are just among the few things that are found throughout the wizarding world. What, I wonder, makes them so beneficial? The fact that they're magical creatures, maybe?

With Charlie, well, I'm sure a lot of time goes into studying the creatures and their habits/appearance/general behavior/etc. Besides that, control of dragons, like we see with Hagrid and Norbert, and maybe some breeding. I was surprised to see that there were only ten different breeds. I'm not sure why, but I'd always assumed there would be more.

The Lexicon article also mentioned dragon reservations, which are really interesting to me. I'd assume that different sort of dragons go to each depending on what sort of climate they like to live in. What type of schooling would be necessary to get a job working there?

- Melissa

[hermybabay82]

Originally posted by rita_skeeter
We have seen throughout the series that dragons can serve many purposes. How do you think the first one was dicovered? By who and in which country? How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood? What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]? And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

I'm new to this so bare with me, please. First, let's break those questions up.

How do you think the first one was dicovered? By who and in which country?

Modern Muggle scientists believe that the 'legend of the dragon' was originally based upon ordinary snakes and similar creatures coupled with common psychological fears amongst disparate groups of humans. Still other Muggles believe that descriptions of the 'mythical' creature arose from the history of dinosaurs and archosaurs. This last line of thinking is roughly supported by the naming of the Komodo Dragon, a species of the Monitor lizards. If Muggles truly knew how close they were to reality with this idea it would shock them!

Dragons, as the wizarding world knows them, were originally discovered in ancient Mesopotamia by the little known wizard, Ormus of Tigbiden. As legend goes, it states that he was so shocked by the size of the beast that at first he had thought he was hallucinating due to heat exhaustion. After much research after this large discovery, ancient wizards were able to trace back the origins of this massive and magical creature to the time of the dinosaurs, which many had assumed long dead. Apparently some species, all directly linked to each other as flying, fire-breathing behemoths with an especially ill temper (some more than others) survived the destruction of the other dinosaurs, which leads us to believe that they are exceptionally intelligent, self-preserving creatures.

How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood? What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]?

What we know of Dumbledore is that he was a very inquisitive youth while at school, always studying and writing, even going so far as to be announced Gold Medal-Winner for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo while still at school. Which leads me to wonder when, exactly, did he make his discovery of the twelve uses of dragons' blood? Was this what gained him the Gold Medal at the International Alchemical Conference? I feel that this was exactly what gained him that award.

Keeping that in mind, during this time Dumbledore's main focus was on expanding his mind and becoming a great Wizard, which he does eventually do but not without some sacrifice. I believe that he had planned on attempting to locate something that would help Wizard-kind and in doing so realized that dragon meat was used as an old remedy for physical topical injuries and that is how he came to work with that particular substance. Little did he know that he would discover so much from that one item.

Along with healing properties, dragon blood is also used in many complicated potions. It also has uses as an oven cleaner, memory enhancer (when diluted though one has to be careful with this as it can also have the reverse affect when not used correctly), plant restorative (for carnivorous species), strengthening agent for materials, memory retrieval, wand varnish, knowledge enhancer, calming agent, energy restorative, and levitating enhancer used by broom manufacturers to steady their racing brooms.

Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

Well, most dragons pretty much take care of themselves. One of the main problems that we Wizards face in regards to dragon colonies is the possibility of Muggles discovering their existance. Most dragon keepers have the job of casting Muggle repelling charms and other protective spells around the colony to keep Muggles from stumbling into this dangerous area, although there are times when slip ups occur - but the dragons usually take care of that problem themselves.

As hard as it can be keeping the Muggles out of these colonies, it is even harder keeping the dragons in. As we all know, dragons are not tameable creatures and most are kept on sturdy chain leashes in order to keep them from flying out. Of course when one does get loose it is the dragon keepers duty to retrieve the rogue dragon and bring it back into the colony as safely as possible.

Other than smaller trivial duties, such as cleaning living areas, retrieving food for the creatures, and doctoring any injuries they may incur, there isn't much more to being a dragon keeper.

The passage in italics was taken directly from Wikipedia's page on Dragons, as well as most of the information regarding 'Muggle's' information was gathered there. The name Ormus of Tigbiden was thought up by my brilliant friend, Sammy/MissyQuill.

Edit: I just thought I would add that I've challenged Sammy/MissyQuill to write a humorous poem or drabble involving Ormus of Tigbiden's discovery of the first known dragon! *squee* As payment for her agreeing to do the challenge, I have agreed to attempt to convert as many people as possible into becoming fangirls (or fanguys for you guys out there) of Ormus of Tigbiden! If you would like to join in this 'movement' (for lack of a better word), just take a look at the banner in my siggy regarding the character or just type the words in your siggy. If you use the banner, remember no hotlinking and keep your siggy size in mind also.

Fantastic, in-depth post. 10 points. I'm really impressed!

[GringottsVault711]

Existence of Dragons

I don't really see dragons as having been 'discovered', exactly. I think for that to happen they would have had to originated on an uninhabited continent. But, given that certain breeds of dragon are native to geographical areas that have been populated by humans for centuries (most notably China, Scandinavia, Britain, Central/Eastern Europe), I imagine that the existence of dragons is something humans have always been aware of.


Clearly the existence dragons, among other aspects of the magical world such as unicorns, leprachauns and witches and wizards themselves, was not always unknown to 'Muggles'. They have a strong presence in the folklore of various cultures. We see a lot of dragons in English, Welsh and Norse "legend", as well as Central/Eastern European mythology. Also, the dragon has a very prominent place in oriental myth. The origin of all these myths all happen to be known locations in which dragons are native to. (What a coincidence! )

However, modernly, the existence of dragons is hidden from the knowledge of Muggles. This is known to be an aspect of the Statute of Secrecy. However, the reason they should have to be hidden along with the existence of wizarding society has never been made clear.

There is the fact that the existence of magical creatures might hint at the existence of a magical creature. However, I don't think Muggles would know dragons to be magical. They would probably never get close enough to a dragon to note their magical properties, and even if they did, would they recognise them for what they are?

I think the greater reason for having to hide the existence of dragons from Muggles is that it is safer for everyone. Dragons are immensely strong and wizards themselves seem to have to take an extreme amount of caution when dealing with them. I imagine it is highly difficult, if not impossible, for a Muggle to have any chance against a dragon, and that the responsibility of dragon-taming and/or -slaying naturally fell on people of magical ability. With magical society retreating under the Statute of Secrecy, they had no real choice except to also hide the existence of dragons, as well as the existence of all other highly dangerous magical creatures. (As well as highly-vulnerable, highly-valuable, or obviously-magical creatures). If they had left dragons exposed, surely it would have been a great source of Muggle distress through the ages, and with the development of modern-day weapons, might have led to a 'war' against dragons, which may have caused much chaos and wiped out the existence of dragons (which would be highly unfortunate as they are immensely useful and contribute a great deal to the magical world.) Furthermore, any attempts of magical people at any point to protect Muggles from dragons (or vice-versa) would have resulted in a breach of the Statute. Therefore, the choice to simply make secret the existence of dragons was a far more simple and beneficial solution.

Uses For Dragon's Blood

I would say Dumbledore discovered the twelve uses for dragon's blood the way any sensible scientist would; by isolating the various properties of the blood, perhaps with some magical equivilant of qualitative analysis, and testing their uses in an extensive trial-and-error experimentation.

I would imagine that dragon is blood is highly powerful and extremely caustic. I don't imagine they are all too seperate from 'oven-cleaner'. If we compare dragon's blood to sodium hydroxide, a key ingredient in Muggle 'oven-cleaner' we can make some guesses as to what properties dragon's blood contains and what it might be used for.

Working with this theory, I'd suggest various uses for dragon's blood could also include paint-stripping, soap production, parchment production, smelting, metal etching, hair styling, tissue digestion, etc; It could also be used as a catalyst for magical reactions, or a neutraliser of certain magical properties. Furthermore, it could be used to imitate the affects of alchemy, by being used in a process that will cause an object to appear gold.

Goblins clearly have some sort of experience with dragons, as at least one dragon is used to help maintain security (thought I'm sure that the most courageous and clever bank-robbing witches and wizards could turn this to their advantage somehow); I imagine it's possible that they are also aware of this property of dragon's blood and have studied the results closely, so as to be able to clearly recognise counterfeited galleons.

Some excellent thoughts; well reasoned. 10 points!

[hpheart]

How do you think the first dragon was discovered?

Time for my extensive imagination to come into play here.
I think the first dragon was discovered in Romania, in or around the reserve where Charlie works. This is because there are two types of dragon that originally come from Romania or countries surrounding Romania(Romanian Longhorn and the Ukranian Ironbelly). This would make it more possible for a dragon to be seen, especially if there are 2 different types so if wizards or even Muggles saw the 2 different types, then they would know that they wern't just seeing things, and wizards would be able to hush it up with a Memory Charm if Muggles did go blabbing around that they'ed seen a dragon.


How did Dumbledore discover the 12 uses of dragon blood, and what are the 12 uses?

Well, as people have said before, Dumbledore was a very clever student, and a very clever man, so he could have easlily found out some of the uses, and didn't he get an award for Alchemy?Gold Medal-Winner for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo.
He also worked on Alchemy wth Nicolas Flamel,as it says on his chocolate frog card.(his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.)He could have worked out some of the uses whilest working with Flamel.

The 12 possbile uses of dragon blood:
1)Potion ingrediant
2)Pain reliever
3)Wand Polish
4)Wand Core?
5)?
6)?
7)?
8)?
9)?
10)?
11)?
12)Oven Cleaner

And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

I think that he would just do the basic looking after, scale lookng-after, teeth cleanng, basic health and such like. He would also make sure if any dragons escape, said dragon could be brought back as quckly and fuss-free as possible

[BertieBotsBeans741]

Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

I think a major part of this is studying the habitat and how dragons act in their environments. Another thing that might be studied are dragon’s feeding habits. Perhaps how often they eat, the quantity of the food they eat, and what they eat. Do certain foods strengthen dragons better than others? Also, migration patterns, are they similar to birds? Do they move around often, or usually call one place home? Dragon keepers might also look into how dragons breed. How often they breed, at what age, and the average amount of offspring a dragon can have in a lifetime. Which brings up the question, of the average lifespan of a dragon, how long they live for. Do they travel in some sort of pack, or are they generally solitary creatures? What kinds of climates are preferable and what kinds of shelter, if any, do they use? Does it differ with the breed of the dragon?

Those are some things that I think a dragon keeper would study and learn about so they have as much information as possible, which will help them in their job.

I also wonder if they have some sort of tracking program. I think it’s a possibility. Kind of like how some animals are tagged, do dragon keepers have similar methods? I imagine it would be much simpler and that magic would be the main component as to not further endanger the keepers. Maybe casting a certain spell. Then they are put into some sort of observation device so keepers can track and note patterns and where the dragons are located.

Other than that, dragon keepers deal with just the basic care of the dragons that are in a ‘captivity’ of sorts. Feeding them, monitoring their daily life. Supplying them with food and water that is necessary. Just basic needs. Perhaps they release them once they have studied patterns and how dragons go about.

EDIT: MQ, I was more referring to GoF when they are being held in a captivity, sort of, for the competition. Everything else I said refers to dragons not being in captivity. Hope that clears up my point.

I'll most likely be back with more. Oh, and thanks for tower-jacking us, I didn't really know this existed.

Brittany

Very good ideas coming through. 5 points.

[MithrilQuill]

Oooh! Cool topic! Thanks for the poke

Existence of Dragons

I don't really see dragons as having been 'discovered', exactly. I think for that to happen they would have had to originated on an uninhabited continent. But, given that certain breeds of dragon are native to geographical areas that have been populated by humans for centuries (most notably China, Scandinavia, Britain, Central/Eastern Europe), I imagine that the existence of dragons is something humans have always been aware of.

Good point, actually, but I think it's possible that they could have at one point been discovered. Although they live in countries where we have humans that doesn't mean they wouldn't have kept themselves away from humans, especially if wizards would try and slay them if they did come into contact with humans. To have survived in the world, I think such fierce and dangerous beasts would have had to know how to keep themselves away from people.


Of course there would have been interaction between Dragons and humans on occasion, but these kinds of encounters would have seemed so mythical that no one would really have believed it other than the person who saw it. So their stories would have been preserved in legend and myth only and few would have believed them to be real outside of the legends.


Then at some point if a Wizard discovered that they were actually real and made that discovery known in the world/wizarding world this could be considered "discovery". And as you said they would have been hidden again from the Muggle world because of the Statute of Secrecy.


Uses of Dragon's Blood


You all mentioned some great points, but I just wanted to add that there must have been some aspect of Dumbledore's discovery/research that involved studying ancient observations and stories about Dragon's blood...(we know Wizards have their own bedtime stories and myths) and using that info to get ideas on where to begin research. Because with any kind of scientific research, especially one involving chemicals, you don't just start reacting them with anything you come across to see what they do...well, unless you're very brave. There would have been a long history of Wizards who did research, or at least recorded observations on, the uses of Dragon's Blood and Dumbledore would have built on that to come to his own discovery.


So it would probably have been a combination of some hints and clues from ancient stories/scrolls etc, and his own patient chemical/alchemical research, and alot of luck!


Dragon's blood could possibly have medicinal properties, like some of you already mentioned. Maybe it could be used in strengthening solutions or something as well. What do you think the side-effects of using it would be?


Charlie and Other Wizards who deal with Dragons


Aside from being a very cool and thrilling occupation I think that one of the main aspects of this job would be to keep muggles and wizards safe from these dangerous creatures and try to keep the encounters between them and unsuspecting people to a minimum.


Also, another important aspect of the job could be to preserve the dragons themselves from extinction. Dragon Slayers in the past must have done the population alot of harm and there's also disease and the humans moving into more and more of the Dragon's natural habitat.


I kind of disagree with Brittany about the whole captivity thing, though. Or maybe it's just that I dislike the idea of Dragons being locked up like that in total captivity. Either way, I think the main function of the reserves is to draw the lines around the Dragon's existing territories and make sure that they're not decreased even more by human activity. On the reserve at the mountain tops or wherever I think the Dragons would be free to fend for themselves, with wizards patrolling the outside of the protected areas to make sure that people don't get in and dragons don't get out.


Nature of Dragons


I was just discussing this with teh Mask the other day, so I thought I'd bring it up. To me this is one of the most interesting aspects of Dragons...


The Dragons we've seen in the Potterverse are very different from Dragons in other fantasy stories. For example Smaug from The Hobbit actually talks and seems to be very intelligent. We also see a bit of evilness attached to that intelligence whereas the ones in HP can't really be blamed for being vicious since they're just unintelligent creatures looking out for themselves. So in a sense their magic in HP is restricted to the properties of their various parts when they die...


In other fantasy stories, like the Pern series we have Dragons that are intelligent, good, and that have a very close relationship with humans. I love those books to death, but I also really like how Jo kept the viciousness there, because the ones in Pern are really tame and nice. (I was about to say fluffy ...>.>)


Another example is the Earthsea series. The dragons in those books are smart and actually alot like humans. Actually they're portrayed as being better than humans in terms of wisdom etc. They generally keep away from people and people are still very frightened of them. I haven't read all those books yet, but I kind of wished the dragons were in the books more since they seem really intriguing and she seems to have struck a balance between the totally tame and the completely wild. (of course the came before HP and the Pern series too I think, so it's not so as if she was consciously trying to strike a balance between those approaches...she was more like a pioneer on that front...)


So what do you think of the way the nature of Dragons is portrayed in HP? Do you think there's more to them than we've seen so far in the books? What is it that actually makes them so "magical"? What other Dragon-related stories have you read?


EDIT: By the way, anything written about Dragons (or Ormus Tigbiden) would be fair game for the Three Broomsticks Worlds within a World challenge. I'm just mentioning it because alot of people had trouble deciding what worked and what didn't for that challenge and I was low on examples at the time...as I said, the world of Dragons would be a good one!

Brilliant stuff, Mithril.

[dragonwings]

Dragons, you say? Why I happen to quite like dragons. *grins* *rummages in library for "Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them* *doesn't find it* Drat. I'll have to wing it then!

How do you think the first one was discovered? By who and in which country?
Well, seeing as they are a) usually rather large b) rather territorial and c) just THERE, I think that it was kind of hard not to discover them! It'd be like living at the bottom of mountain and not realizing that the mountain is actually Mount Everest. But, if a specific person was to discover dragons, I imagine that it would be by a rather odd fellow named Horace Pinkly who lived in Cardiff, Wales (because that's the only place I've been to in Wales). Everyone would know he was crazy, so when he came down from the mountains one day after a weekend camping trip and started telling one about the dragons that everyone knew or thought were there, they wouldn't believe him because he was just so crazy. Then, of course, he would die a premature death right before another naturalist published a book called "Finding Dragons: The Legacy of the King of Lizards" and took all the official credit for himself. Because, that is how the wonderful world of publicity and credibility works!

How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood?
I'm guessing that discovering the twelfth use was a total accident! Please tell me that I'm not the only one who can imagine Dumbledore cleaning out his kitchen one day and accidentally spraying his oven with what he thought was oven cleaner, but was actually dragon's blood? Because if no one else can, I might be forced to give in and admit that yes, I AM insane! I think that the first eleven were real experiment though, or things that Dumbledore learned along the way while maybe studying other subjects and such. He was an alchemist after all and he did help Nicholas Flamel make the Philosopher's Stone, and so he should have extensive information and insight on how dragon's blood may be used.

Dragons are either revered or feared in all cultures. In China, dragons were revered as signs from the ancestors and gods and as holy creatures and protectors. To kill a dragon meant eternal damnation and you were basically cursed. Dragons were the symbol of good luck and prosperity and if you were born in the year of the dragon you were pretty darn lucky. There are also several Chinese legends in where the dragons brought rain to the people in a time of drought and were punished by the head god and trapped underneath mountains. The dragons still wanted to help the people though and became the four main rivers in China. In Greece, dragons were a bit nastier. Hercules supposedly slew several dragons, including one (Hydra) that kept re-growing its heads as he chopped them off. In South America, there is the snake/dragon god Quetzalcoatl who was the god of rain and sky, as well as the god of creation. Medieval European dragons, the ones we most commonly associate with dragons today, were the bad guys also. Several saints and knights have set out to slay dragons, therefore, giving harmless dragons like Noberta *cough cough* her bad reputation. Right, Hagrid? lol

My point is, that dragons have fascinated people throughout the ages, in all parts of the world. I believe that people would constantly be looking for ways to harvest these creatures’ incredible power because they have that sort of aura around them that speaks majesty and wildness. It’s like looking at a tiger for the first time and not knowing what it is, yet knowing that it is something powerful, dangerous and sleek. It’s an instinct.

What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]?
I think that the uses range from silly to practical! I think that they were used a lot in potions and medicines because obviously there would be myths about dragon’s blood, and so maybe it was a popular medieval cure and then they found our more about it and began using it in a more scientific and methodical way. I can see it being used in charms as well. Not all magic is only just wand work, or only just potions; sometimes it can be a combination of both. As for the rest of the uses, I can only guess that it would be for more refined reasons in medicinal and magical areas. Like it cures paralysis or something. But then again, they can be pretty silly… Oven cleaner… *snorts*

And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?
I think that he helps keeps the dragons healthy by monitoring their condition if they get sick, and keeping the rest of the herd from becoming sick too. They would obviously do a lot of rounding up and enforcing boundaries so the dragons wouldn’t stray. I can only imagine how hard it would be subduing and capturing a dragon that needed medical aid! They would make sure that there is a constant live food source of course, and just make sure that the dragons are happy and contained. I think that they would study them a lot too, to see if there are any other uses for their body parts and help solve any dragon illness.


While scouring the web for things on dragons, I came upon a very interesting web site! Animal Planet did a special on dragons! I looked at the site and thought that they had come up with very plausible explanations for the existence of dragons. (*sigh* If only, if only...) Here is the link {Animal Planet: Dragons} I would really recommend looking at this site if you love dragons, because the stuff in here is spectacular. There is some really awesome animation and lots of scientific stuff in here along with some mythology and if you are a dragon lover like I am, this site is the site for you. I'm not kidding.

If you did look at the website, what are your thoughts on it?

Oh, and to answer Mithrill's question...
I'm kind of iffy on the whole dragon personification thing. You see, the way I came up with my screen name is rather interesting. It is NOT because I love the book by Laurence Yepp (I hated it, if you care to know ) But it is because that I when I first starting writing, long before HP fan fic and everything else, I wrote my first original fiction story called "Dragonwings." It was dreadfully fluffy and my main character was too perfect, but it was pretty good for a first attempt in my opinion and I still have a printed copy of it somewhere hidden in my library. The whole plot of the story was about dragons in real life. It was about this alternate world and in this world was this race of people who could become dragons. And there were thirteen head dragons and the thirteenth dragon was the most powerful etc. etc. And so, the job of these dragons was to go into our world and assist us, hidden obviously, throughout history. The thing was, is that instead of keeping the person's personality and instinct while they were in their dragon form, they had a dragon's instinct that was guided and kind of contained by this spirit thing... and yeah, you're all probably very bored by this, but I have a point!

I think that authors have to be very careful when giving animal's personalities, especially mythical creatures. Phillip Pullman's daemons in "His Dark Materials" don't count because they are an extension of a person's soul to put it in simple terms, but dragons in books such as "Eragon" mustn't act too human. We as writers, could give dragon's human characteristics, but in my opinion, we loose to much of that fire and wildness in them that makes them the fearsome and ferocious creatures that they are. We gain a new perspective of their character if they were human (it's like when your dog looks at you with a kind of human expression, like it looks like they're actually listening, if that makes any sense at all, lol) but really, I would miss that part of them that makes them wild. It's like taking the wilderness of the wild. You have a forest and some deer, but you don't have anything really alive and real. I like the way J.K. writes dragons because she keeps them wild, but I still can't help but to wish that the dragon's did have some humanity in them like in "Eragon."

EDIT: Oh! I just remembered my favorite dragon portrayal... Bruce Coville, author of the Unicorn Chronicles does a great job with dragons!

Wow! This is extremely impressive. I think you've earned 15 points. Fabulous!

[cmwinters]

How do you think the first one was dicovered? By who and in which country?

I don't think they were discovered any more than, like, deer were. There are cave paintings in France, dating 20,000-30,000 years ago, depciting gigantic (3 meter long!) serpents, which is nearly statistically impossible for that climate at that time. Yes, some snakes do grow to be 3 meters long (notably cobras, pythons and boas), but they are living in much more temperate climates. France was in the middle of an ice age at the time and not temperate by even the most broad definition of the term. So a 3 meter snake is not only statistically impossible, it's also artistically ENORMOUS, particularly when you take into account that most of the other animals (including the humans) in paintings in the same grottoes are noted by how *small* they are.

</Slytherin-ness>

How did Dumbledore first discover the twelve uses of dragons' blood?

What I'd like to know is how the roughly 150 year old Dumbledore can be renowned "for his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel", when Flamel was 600+ years old and it's well-known that Flamel's alchemy research was into the Philosoper's Stone. It almost sounds like Jo was trying to say that Dumbledore helped make the Stone. Surely that's not what she intended.

Er, maybe he was researching on how to make another Stone, with Flamel?

</straw-grasping>

What could they be [apart from oven cleaner!]?

Oh gosh. Well, oven cleaner is quite caustic, so I'm sure some sort of caustic agent apart from oven cleaner (like, general corrosiveness. Maybe it will eat through some sort of magical corrosion?)

I'm positive one of them is a healing aspect. Ingredient in potions or whatever.

Antiseptic

Definitely an ingredient in some poisons.

And Charlie Weasley is a dragon keeper - what do you think he and others do in their work?

I think the dragon keepers do much like any animal trainer does; possibly rehabilitate the injured/illegally kept ones for potential release in their natural habitat, perhaps teach them to perform tasks (they could be fantastic in aerial defense!) , although I admit I see little use for dragons as, say, service animals. And I just don't see the Wizarding World as a whole all that interested in the behavioural psychology of a dragon versus a werewolf versus a centaur versus a "normal wizard".

"Ormus of Tigbiden's "

Did anybody else read that as "Tiberius Ogden" and end up going straight to "firewhisky"?