HP POA Question

[lls_mutant]

First of all, thanks to everyone responding on my earlier post today that had nothing to do with fandom.

Second. Okay. Azkaban is to the North of Scotland, according to the Lexicon, right? So why/how did Sirius traipse ALL THE WAY DOWN TO LITTLE WHINGING to see Harry before going BACK TO THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND? I mean, I came up with what I consider a VERY reasonable explanation, but JKR, you make my head hurt.

Comments

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

Um, I'm not sure why the Lexicon says Azkaban is North of Scotland. I thought JKR just said it was in the North Sea. If it was North of Scotland, why would the Dementors be getting on a train travelling from London to Hogsmeade? *puzzles*

The North Sea reaches down the East coast of Britain, so I suppose technically Azkaban could be as far South as the English Channel, although I tend to think it is further North, based on the fact that the train had been travelling for a while when the Dementors boarded it. (I've always assumed it was off the coast of Northern England/Southern Scotland.)

Anyway, that would still mean Sirius had to travel South to Surrey before he went North to Hogwarts. It makes sense to me that he'd do this, as it's during the summer holidays, so he might has well go to see Harry as hang around Hogwarts before the kids get back to school. The phrasing is a bit odd, as the way Sirius says it makes it sound like a minor detour, rather than travelling in the opposite direction. Hmm, unless he had somewhere else he needed to go in the South of England before he went to Hogwarts? Can't think what that would be, though. Or Azkaban really could be in the English Channel. *shrugs*

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

OK, I found these quotes from JKR about the location of Azkaban on QQQ:

Q. Where is Azkaban?

A. In the north of the North Sea. A very cold sea.

Q.Is the island that Azkaban is on located at the southern end of the U.K. since Black had to pass the Dursley's place on his way to Hogwarts?

A. No, he didn't have to pass the Dursley's place. He just wanted to.

Which don't exactly narrow it down that much! :D

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Well, there's a really easy way around it (Sirius hops on a boat to avoid detection and ends up in the South of Britian), but it's the bit about him making it sound like a minor detour. The Lexicon is generally pretty accurate, so I'm taking their word for the whereabouts of Azkaban, but...

I think JKR just likes to make my head hurt :)

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

I used to take the Lexicon's word on everything, but I've been noticing inaccuracies in it recently, and that was before the Regulus' middle name debacle. (The Marauders year of birth is definitely wrong.)

Having said that, I've just been looking at the Lexicon's explaination for this, and I rather like it (I couldn't find any reference to Azkaban being north of Scotland, just in the North, though). They say:

'That seems odd to us Muggles, but wizard ideas of "shortest route" don't necessarily use the kind of geometry we Muggles take for granted. The Knight Bus, for example, seems to move between destinations almost in alphabetical order.'

It's a good analogy, as there doesn't seem to be any geographical sense to the Knight Bus journeys.

Another thing I thought of is that Sirius says he swam to the mainland, but not specifically the British mainland. I'd assumed he meant Scotland, but he might actually have swum to Norway or Denmark. Since he was avoiding the British MoM, he may well have travelled mostly outside of the British mainland, travelling down through Germany, Belguim and France, across the Channel Islands, then over to Ireland before getting to Scotland via Ireland. (This would fit in with more common boat trips than North Scotland-South England as well.) Using this circuitous route, going to Surrey wouldn't be such a major detour as it at first seems.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Another thing I thought of is that Sirius says he swam to the mainland, but not specifically the British mainland. I'd assumed he meant Scotland, but he might actually have swum to Norway or Denmark. Since he was avoiding the British MoM, he may well have travelled mostly outside of the British mainland, travelling down through Germany, Belguim and France

Oooh - I like this idea! I don't think he'd go to Ireland, but the rest of it could work. If Azkaban is really far north, he could have swam to Norway, made his way to Denmark, and then down through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and then to France and crossed over at Calais on a "Muggle" ferry. (as this was before the tunnel was built). And he might have even stowed away on a ship or even a truck down most of the mainland coast so he didn't have to travel by foot the whole way.

That makes more sense to me than his coming ashore in Northern Scotland or even Northern England.