Snape as Draco's godfather.

I really doubt Lucius Malfoy would want some greasy half-blood loner to be his Drakey's guardian. Lucius and Snape are probably just business associates.

 

Huh, I actually accepted that as canon even though it is not true.

 

Not really, not according to Narcissa anyway :

There's also this from the last chapter of GoF , which suggests the friendship was not one-sided :

 

Probably because Snape is a very talented potioneer and Malfoy came to him whenever he needed assistance obtaining something.

 

I don't think they knew he was half-blood.

 

Neither of those are particularly relevant, though.

Depends on your reading of HBP, but to my mind that seems to indicate that he wasn't suppressing the knowledge/trying to avoid it coming out. And Voldemort knew, IIRC, so I doubt it was too hidden.

Edit: Derp, Stokbrood is right. For some reason I was thinking the Prince part was the muggle, rather than the opposite :duh:

 

I think they did, the wizarding world is so small that all pureblood families know each other. If someone's last name is't recognized by Malfoy, it's probably safe to assume that they're at most a halfblood.

 

It's canon. Christ, Jesus, etc. isn't. I'm not sure Harry has ever used it, but Hermione has. They are also surrounded by wizards who use it. Is it really that odd to pick up slang from other people especially when you've been in that world for a few years? The majority of students have at least one parent who is a wizard so they would be raised around it.

 

Regarding Merlin as a curse: I think this should be used sparingly, but I don't mind seeing it where Harry or Hermione say it -- as long as they have been in the wizarding world a suitable amount of time. It's one of those signs that you're acclimating to a culture that you begin saying their words instead of what you grew up with.

For example, people who find themselves living in the American south for years often end up saying y'all. They probably hate themselves for it once they realize it, but it still happens.

Anyway, Harry and Hermione being absorbed by this awesome world and losing their roots is really rarely addressed in canon. Then again, you got the sense that neither of them truly enjoyed their childhoods (although Hermione certainly loved her parents enough). Going to Hogwarts, if it was truly real, would be so amazingly disconcerting that you would probably spend the first feast just staring awe-struck at all the magic. For someone like Harry, who has only seen magic used on Dudley and in Diagon, Hogwarts would have been like stepping off a spaceship onto a new world... that has inhabitants almost exactly like you except for the quirks... and then staying there long enough to understand and even develop those quirks.

 

It took me under 6 months of working with a person who pronounced "idea" as "idear" to go from thinking it sounded incredibly stupid to sometimes saying it myself. Harry and Hermione certainly shouldn't talk like purebloods on the train to Hogwarts their first year, but even just by the end of the year I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

There's another way to pronounce idea?

 

I wasn't very clear, sorry. Muggle-raised kids in their first (or even second, really) year using "Merlin" reads weird to me.

On the subject, I thought that an odd exclamation like "Merlin's beard" was canon, but I seem to read "Oh Merlin" more than anything else.

 

This. I didn't think about it until you said this, but overuse can really be a problem. It isn't used that often in canon and most often it is used by Ron. Ron even comments on it when Hermione uses it because it is so rare to hear her swear.

 

Didn't he once refer to Merlin's balls (the "balls" part was censored, though, to keep it PG-13).

 

He said "Merlin's saggy left" before being cut off.

 

That's what I'm talking about!

 

Dan and Emma Granger. Just no.

 

What other name?

 

Read an interesting fic once where both of Hermione's parents were named after Shakespeare characters as well, which is how they first met and why they called her Hermione. Dan and Emma, just try harder, author, just try harder.

 

I don't really mind Dan and Emma. I read one where Hermione was conceived after a particular ranchy play of Midsummer night's dream. MY hated peeve with them is Mr. Granger in SAS. And Harry being afraid of him. Wat. The kid literally stared down a 60 foot basilisk, then Hippogryph,dragon,acromantual,troll,sphinx and countless other monsters and he is afraid of a Muggle? makes no sense to me...