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]

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.