PoA Chapter Seven

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Malfoy returns to class acting as if he’s the survivor of some heroic battle. Which only Harry actually is, btw.

Even more shocking, Malfoy is marginally interested in girls when he plays the part of stoic sufferer to Pansy. Draco’s such a Mama’s boy.

Snape tells the class to settle down and Harry and Ron indignantly think about how if they’d walked in late they’d have gotten detention because Malfoy’s allowed to get away with anything in Snape’s class. Okay, hold on. No he isn’t. Nobody is. The Trio’s actually probably got a worse record in Snape’s class than Malfoy does—he likes Snape so he behaves.

And here, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Even if Snape would have given detention to Harry and Ron here, he’d have been wrong to do so. So it’s not like Malfoy’s getting away with anything.

Malfoy does display enough intelligence to annoy Ron. But that doesn’t take much.

Draco drawls to Snape that he needs something else done so Harry has to do it. If I was Harry or Ron here I’d have started laughing too by this point. Draco’s being a dick, but just the little stinker kind. Ron and Harry react to him like he’s being evil.

This book is generally a favorite because the Sirius reveal is great. But that gives JKR the problem of having no real villain, since Sirius isn’t trying to hurt Harry and neither is Peter. So she comes up with the Buckbeak story instead. Only the Buckbeak story is a non-issue, because it’s basically the story of an inept guy given a teaching position through favoritism who shouldn’t be hiding behind a bunch of kids to save his ass anyway. And that means the villain role falls to a kid whose crime is making a mistake in class and being unsympathetic about the consequences. Even the innocent animal isn’t innocent since it attacks Draco for the same reasons everyone else in canon does.

Harry’s shaking with anger now because Draco says his father’s made complaints about Hagrid. Even if I didn’t like Draco I couldn’t think of this as some huge injustice that Hagrid’s job is in trouble, especially when I know Hagrid is a bad teacher who can’t be fired because of Dumbledore.

This is why the series often depends on seemingly unimportant things like loving Hagrid. If you don’t see Hagrid being fired any differently than Harry sees Trelawney being fired, it’s hard to get worked up.

Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

Seamus reports Sirius has been sighted by a Muggle who thinks he’s just an ordinary criminal. Which he actually is. Okay yeah, he’s a wizard, but get over yourselves, guys. There are Muggles who have killed more people at once than Sirius.

I love the way Malfoy’s such a pariah amongst the heroes that whenever he’s needed as part of the story he’s always got to be forcing himself into a conversation between people who are glaring at him and wishing him dead.

Luckily Malfoy’s face is always twisting into various positions of “malicious,” “mean,” “nasty,” and “malevolent” so we know they’re just reacting to him like the cowardly demon he is. He should really be perched on Harry’s shoulder like an imp.

Can’t help but imagine what Ron and Harry look like from Draco’s pov. I suppose various stages of “morally outraged,” “righteously angry,” “heroically protective,” and “Crucio-level indignant.”

Draco’s bad jokes always have to over-played so Harry can notice (as if he’s not always checking Draco out), but give him a really dramatic moment and the boy knows how to play it just right. He draws Harry into the truth about Sirius “quietly,” “breathing” his lines instead of speaking them. And people wonder why H/D is so popular?

Still, why is Draco the only person telling Harry this story? Besides the obvious meta-reasons? Just like in GoF, Draco’s actually surprised that he knows more about Harry’s life than Harry does. Presidents of the fanclub probably often do!

Also, Hermione pops in and out of the scene after class, because she just Time Traveled. Despite knowing that Time Turners exist, and that they live in a world of magic, it doesn’t occur to Ron to think Hermione’s done anything magical. After all, it wouldn’t be OOC for her to have started Apparating early. (If Hermione heard that theory we all know she’d tell them you can’t Apparate inside Hogwarts.)

Lupin tells them to put away their books, which by now we know is code for “good teacher.”

Lupin mentions Filch, whom the narrator tells us is constantly waging a war against the students. By grumbling at them as he cleans up their messes.

Can’t wait until Harry starts heroically hexing the guy in a few years to put him in his place. Uppity squib janitors are the worst!

Snape leaves the teacher’s lounge when they come in, taking care to get in a last shot at Neville for letting Hermione help him in Potions. Well, really so that Lupin has a sense of what’s going on with Neville so he can give him some of that confidence that is the basis for all ability in good people.

Lupin might have thought he was out of practice humiliating Snape but 20 years later, Moony’s still got it!

Harry finds it hard to answer with Hermione bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet and waving her hand next to him. Hee! Hermione was so cute. A little young for 14 (which she would be by this point) but still.

I once did a post on how books 3-6 are like one book for each house? And this one’s totally the Gryffindor book, so there’s a big theme about courage. Hagrid’s class required some already, but now we’ve got a Boggart, which is pretty entirely about being able to laugh at fear.

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

I love that Harry can’t even think of how to make a Dementor less frightening. Because Nazgul rip-offs are just so terrifying they can’t be funny. Start with a pair of tap shoes and a hoodie and work from there Harry, jeez. Family Guy got a whole character out of it.

Heh. That reminds me of a LOTR fic. I think it was called “The Littlest Nazgul” where Frodo did become a wraith. The other Nazgul were annoyed at having to get him a black pony, and the fact that he called the pony Mushroom.

Seamus’ greatest fear is of course a banshee. If you cut Seamus open every Irish stereotype in the world would spill out.

Lupin’s boggart was the moon, of course.

And again with the courage theme, Harry’s still obsessing over his humiliating faint on the train and thinks Lupin kept him from facing the boggart because he didn’t trust him not to faint again.

I’m going to give some props to Lavender here for wondering why Lupin’s afraid of crystal balls. And JKR for calling attention to it without really calling attention to it.


Things happening twice:
While Ron and Hermione don’t get why, Harry becomes actually interested in Draco when he starts talking about taking action in revenge for your family, which will happen again in HBP.
Harry will also have the urge to show off for Cho the same way Malfoy is here. It just takes him a couple of years.
A Boggart shows up again in OotP.
Neville seems to have as much trouble as Draco when it comes to listening in class, and Potions has been known to also cause violent accidents. Only here it’s not Neville’s fault.

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Lupin’s boggart
Since Lavender brings our attention to it, and we hear about everyone else’s, it’s got to be something.
Status: Fired with a mighty bang!
Malfoy’s cryptic remarks
He says if it were his family he wouldn’t just go to school like a good boy.
Status: Fired—he actually would take some action.

OMG, Hermione didn’t get to face her boggart!
What if she has to face one in the future?
Status: Fired, but harmlessly. I can’t remember if it’s at the end of this year or during her OWLS, but she can’t do it right. She should have just thought to make McGonagall’s face break out in pustules that said “Old Maid” or something.





Misdirected Answering
I know the Boggart class was an elaborate set up for a couple of things, but I don’t remember Boggarts ever really being important. Especially once the big tragic scene in OotP points out that adult fears tend to be a lot harder to make funny.

Jabootu Score: 1

Comments

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"Still, why is Draco telling Harry this story?"
I haven't read PoA for a long time, but from what I remember Harry learns the (false) story of Sirius when he eavesdrops Minerva and co at The three broomsticks. What does Draco tell him in this chapter?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Iirc, Draco is basically the one who implies that there *is* a story. So Draco knows it (the basics, at least) but he doesn't actually say it. He just hints darkly at it and says Harry's got reason to be going after Sirius.

[eri1980b.livejournal.com]

Ah, the good old days, when I could have respect for Lupin even if he's taking a swipe at Snape in his first lesson. I never noticed it before but on rereading he comes across a bit passive agressive or is that just me? Also, hothing mentioned to Harry by Lupin or anybody else for that mater about Lupin's relations with Harry's family etc. One could almost say he was distancing himself from the whole affair.

Actually, what is Lupin actually teaching here? Is it DADA or is it just a masterclass on how to deal with Dark Magical Creatures? In fact, I would say a lot of this shold be covered in COMC but of course Hargid can't do it.

Yes Draco's being a complete numpty in this chapter but really, is he any more different than what any other kid would do in his situation. My nephew kicked a lamp post playing football the other day and managed to wangle a day off school because of it. I just don't get the "evil" vibes I think we are supposed to be getting.

On Neville's fear of Snape - didn't we all have a teacher that scared the bejeesus out of us? I still remember mine and he was terrifying right up until sixth form when I realised it was all a front to get through the working day and really he was a pussycat. I was even brave enough to tell him so. That is how I've always read this situation; Neville's too scared of Snape to see that he is just another person like everyone else after all.

How come Malfoy is the only one bringing up Sirius' relationship to Harry? Seriously, wizards don't gossip? Ok, Hermione won't know and Ron may have been silenced by his mum but Seamus and Neville would have heard something! Maybe they just didn't like Harry enough to care to tell him...

"Heh. That reminds me of a LOTR fic. I think it was called “The Littlest Nazgul” where Frodo did become a wraith. The other Nazgul were annoyed at having to get him a black pony, and the fact that he called the pony Mushroom." - I NEED to read this fic! I have had such a crappy day and this made me laugh out loud.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I never noticed it before but on rereading he comes across a bit passive agressive or is that just me?

Passive-aggressive is Remus' style. We will see more examples of that in the next chapter when Severus brings him the potion. I'd say even his way of guilt-tripping Harry into giving him the Map and refraining from further sneaking to Hogsmeade is done in a passive-aggressive way.

On Neville's fear of Snape - didn't we all have a teacher that scared the bejeesus out of us? I still remember mine and he was terrifying right up until sixth form when I realised it was all a front to get through the working day and really he was a pussycat. I was even brave enough to tell him so. That is how I've always read this situation; Neville's too scared of Snape to see that he is just another person like everyone else after all.

Yes, I had one of those too. I found it unpleasant to sit in his class. Part of it was his body language, part of it were his tirades about what was personally wrong with each one of us and another part was the way he quizzed us on details with tangential bearing to the topic. One day I talked to him after class and told him how I felt. I think I managed to surprise him a bit. He gave me a long lecture about the difference between physical fear and moral fear and how inferior I was to fear him that way. Somehow that put an end to the problem.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think Lupin's very passive-aggressive--I sort of love it about him. Unfortunately in later books I think it tips too far with Harry calling him out for abandoning his wife and kid by volunteering for the war effort (which is incredibly weird). But in this book he comes across to me more as a guy who is always pleasant because he doesn't think he has the security to be anything else so it's become part of his personality, but he finds little ways to let his hostility out.

Lupin is teaching DADA. Third year seems to be all about the monsters.

This is definitely one of the examples that shows why I could never consider Draco a real bad guy. He's being a total little stinker but I just feel like at some point it should tip over into being funny. Maybe I've just watched way too many TV shows where eventually this kid would be an accepted member of the group--like yeah, he's a pain in the neck, but he's *our* pain in the neck.

Yeah, I definitely think Neville's fear here is making Snape more scary than he is. Not that he doesn't have reason to do that. Snape does yell, he insults him, he puts him on the spot. I completely sympathize with Neville. He's just not actually in danger. I think as an adult he would laugh about how Snape used to terrify him.

I remember Frodo and Mushroom getting stuck in a shrub at one point.

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"How come Malfoy is the only one bringing up Sirius relationship to Harry? seriously, wizards don't gossip?

I wanted to ask this question for some time: Is "character X doesn't know something that logically he should have known a long time ago" a common element in children literature? or is it just JKR that's notorious for doing that?
Is there anyone here who's an expert in children literature and can answer this? thanks.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Wait, so Neville being afraid of Snape meant that Neville was really expressing a fear of his family? Or--oh, I think I see. You mean that Neville was exceptionally scared of Snape because he'd been conditioned to expect violent treatment from people trying to make him perform well magically. Snape gets frustrated and yells and Neville has good reason to think he'll next be tossing him out the window?

Part 1

[oryx_leucoryx]

And here, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Even if Snape would have given detention to Harry and Ron here, he’d have been wrong to do so. So it’s not like Malfoy’s getting away with anything.

In chapter 9 he will take points off Harry and Ron for being late. Of course they won't be returning to class for the first time after being injured.

Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

Well, he did give Neville an unpleasant scare. OTOH if Neville in his 3rd year still didn't figure out a pet had no place in Potions class then I can understand Severus arriving at the conclusion that only shock treatment would do the job.

A couple of fic recommendations with relevance to this point:

Lessons in Safety by bohemianspirit (Severus/Charity drabbles)
Pedagogically Effective - Charity delivers Severus' message to Neville.

Also, Hermione offers to fix Neville's potion, then whispers instructions to him - how much is Hermione's overbearing 'helpfulness' a factor in Neville's ineptitude?

Still, why is Draco the only person telling Harry this story? Besides the obvious meta-reasons? Just like in GoF, Draco’s actually surprised that he knows more about Harry’s life than Harry does. Presidents of the fanclub probably often do!

Yes, with the remark that in Harry's place he'd want revenge it is clear Draco knows what the accusations against Sirius were. Including his personal betrayal of the Potters, not just that he killed 12 Muggles and a wizard in one curse. Perhaps Lucius took an interest in who was accused as a DE when he made his plea of Imperius - he needed his story to be believable to Crouch Sr and the rest so he had to know what they knew and thought about the various prisoners.

Also, Hermione pops in and out of the scene after class, because she just Time Traveled.

She is also starving because it is much later in the day in her subjective timeline.

Lupin tells them to put away their books, which by now we know is code for “good teacher.”

In contrast with Umbridge who tells them to put their wands away. But in HBP when Severus remarks on Hermione's quoting of the textbook he is evil.

Remus is described as looking much healthier than he did on the train. However this is Thursday September 9th. Friday November 5th is a full moon (when Remus will be absent from class). Counting backwards he should probably be absent for his transformation. One of many calendar anomalies in this series. (Also, in November DADA is on Friday and Monday, here it is on Thursday.)

Re: Part 2 - The Boggart lesson

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hogwarts must have plenty of dark enclosed spaces. Harry and his friends spend much time sneaking around - in closets, secret passages and the like. Yet the only times they come across Boggarts are when Remus needs them for lessons or in the Triwizard maze. I call BS. I don't believe Remus when he says that Boggart moved into the wardrobe in the staff room the previous day. IMO he owl-ordered it or something and put it in the staff room. The story is for dramatic effect. Choosing the staff room over the DADA classroom may have been done with the intent of provoking Severus.

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

I agree with marionros that Neville's exaggerated fear of Severus has its roots in the way his loving family treated him. Boggart!Severus is reaching inside his robes, presumably for his wand. When does Severus hex students - except as a Defense exercise? Also, note that when Remus suggests to Neville to think of his gran his reaction is that he does not want the Boggart to turn into her. IMO if Neville didn't have Severus to fear his Boggart would be either Gran or Algie. Which would place him in a no-win situation - either he is defeated by his family or his has to ridicule his family - in front of his friends.

I love that Harry can’t even think of how to make a Dementor less frightening.

In the Triwizard maze he sees a dementor, but decides it is a Boggart when Harry's Patronus causes it to trip over its robes. A bit of reversal of logic there.

I’m going to give some props to Lavender here for wondering why Lupin’s afraid of crystal balls.

In chapter 11 Trelawney reports Remus fled when she attempted to crystal-gaze for him. Totally scared of crystal balls.

Re: Part 1

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Right--it was the fact that he was coming from the infirmary that made me think he shouldn't get points. If he was just coming in late he should get points taken off. (And I wouldn't be surprised if Snape played favorites there and didn't take them off either.)

Also, Hermione offers to fix Neville's potion, then whispers instructions to him - how much is Hermione's overbearing 'helpfulness' a factor in Neville's ineptitude?

This just made me realize something interesting (to me). I often use the analogy with Buckbeak and Draco that it would be like putting Hermione in front of an animal that didn't like being corrected. She might not be able to stop herself. And here we do have a similar situation. I don't think it's purely protecting of Neville here, though she does want him to get it right. I think it's almost impossible for her to watch him struggling through this without piping up.

I wrote a whole post once, actually, on Hermione's pattern of sabotaging things subtly. Her helpfulness is often a problem.

Re: Part 1

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

OTOH if Neville in his 3rd year still didn't figure out a pet had no place in Potions class then I can understand Severus arriving at the conclusion that only shock treatment would do the job.

I intend (one day!) to write a fic depicting the first time Professor Longbottom faces a class of second-years handling Mandrakes carelessly. Surely by then he will have realized that Snape had a damn good reason to crack down on pets and other distractions in potentially volatile conditions.

Re: Part 1

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

One of many calendar anomalies in this series.

*** They have a special ward at St Mungos for Muggles trying to make sense of JKR's timelines, you know.

JKR herself doesn't risk anything as she never did any timelines for her books

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

RE: Hermione's boggart. We know what she said to her friends, not what she had really seen. I find it hard to believe she would be helpless in face of McGonagall, when we just had an entire chapter of Neville(!) successfully confronting Snape. VoxM apparently felt the same and wrote a good short fic "The Only Thing We Have To Fear", describing her take on what Hermione saw and her subsequent conversation with Lupin. Highly recommended: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/445344/1/

Especially once the big tragic scene in OotP points out that adult fears tend to be a lot harder to make funny.

Yes, in VoxM's fic Lupin says "Sometimes those fears are things that one cannot ever come to terms with." But Catlady in her "Lupin's Boggart Class with the Third Year Slytherins" short fic did succeed to have kids have adult fears and (mainly) deal with them believably. Unfortunately, I couldn't find her profile on fanfic sites, but I have the fic in a word document. If somebody wants, it can be e-mailed.

Draco drawls to Snape that he needs something else done so Harry has to do it. If I was Harry or Ron here I’d have started laughing too by this point.

LOL! I just imagined the scene. Sistermagpie, one could create a good humor fic or a comedy film with Draco-type character being all annoying and your-type character laughing at it. Poor Draco would be lost for words at the sight of Trio laughing and taking their turn to tell others this story in a funny way, a bit like Draco loves talking about Harry's visits to Madam Pomfrey, only not viciously and with true humor. Are there books/movies like that about YA or are most child protagonists indignantly (& boringly) serious? The only character I can imagine laughing in that situation is Emily Starr from Montgomery's series. That's why she was more interesting than Anne Shirley, who can laugh too, but not in this way. Would love to get recommendations and see more similar characters.

Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

I re-read the chapter and Snape did sound scary here. I bet there is post-HBP essay somewhere "From toad poisoner to DD's killer - Snape's progression through the series".

I once did a post on how books 3-6 are like one book for each house?
I don't remember seeing it. Can you give a link, please?

[oryx_leucoryx]

See My Slytherins for a Slytherin Boggart lesson. I don't know if it is the same one you were thinking of.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't have any trouble believing Hermione's boggart. It wasn't McGonagall, it was McGonagall telling her she'd failed all her classes. But thanks for the link to the fic!

I'm trying to think of characters who laugh in that sort of situation...I can't think of any off-hand in children's books but there must be some. I mean, Draco's being such a drama queen I'm sure kids would laugh at it too.

I re-read the chapter and Snape did sound scary here. I bet there is post-HBP essay somewhere "From toad poisoner to DD's killer - Snape's progression through the series".

LOL! I'm sure it's out there. What's funny is I mostly think of this scene as inspiring all the people who talk about Neville being rude by bringing his toad to class at all.

Found the link: http://sistermagpie.livejournal.com/98360.html

I totally didn't realize in writing it that PoA was Gryffindor until someone pointed it out in the comments so it's there now.

Hilariously, I come to the conclusion that since the books go PoA (Gryffindor), GoF (Hufflepuff), OotP (Ravenclaw) and HBP (Slytherin) the seventh book might be about unity! Bwahahahaha!

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the referral to the story, it's a great little friendship piece!

(I recall reading another story along the same lines, only aligned on a H/Hr romantic axis.)

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

*** So did I. As well as it showed how Snape should't be let near eleven-year-old students. If you're bad at something, being ridiculed and humiliated isn't the way you start to learn.

Neville is bad at potions. Why must it be because he doesn't make an effort, is lazy or doesn't listen, which I've seen claims of too many times. Perhaps he just lacks the necessary skills? Personally I can't see how you can take Potterverse-potions and not blow up a cauldron or two. Just add the ingredients slightly wrong and *bang*. No-one is able to do things perfectly rigth from start.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

I think it's expected to a certain extent that that will happen. As many people have pointed out, Snape is always ready with a counter-potion. He usually knows what's gone wrong, too--even when it's as unexpected as someone throwing a firecracker into someone's cauldron.

In Hagrid's class, he's quite aware of what could happen with Buckbeak--he even warns the kids about it. But he's not prepared when it happens and panics. But, you know, it is his first day as a teacher. I'd cut him a break.

Lupin's the opposite. He's so proactive that he steps in to keep Harry from even trying the boggart, thinking that it'll cause a scene. Because of that, Harry loses out on a learning experience. Fortunately, this is Harry 1.0, the kid who likes to learn, so he seeks out Lupin in order to get extra study.

It's interesting. We get three very different teachers with very different levels of experience and very different styles.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't see anything to indicate that Neville is lazy or doesn't make an effort. I imagine he's got a high level of anxiety throughout the class and still makes mistakes because he doesn't instinctively get it. We know he's forgetful and there again I don't think it's careless but just that he doesn't remember stuff. Like, I've literally been getting ready to go to a meeting in 5 minutes and 20 minutes later I've forgotten it. It's not even that I have a bad memory in all things, it's just some type things I'll make mistakes like that.

I can easily see Neville thinking he's followed the instructions exactly and he's still made mistakes.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

By the time the 3-year summer started up I was convinced that Neville was afraid of *magic*. After all, he'd seen what it could do to people and there wasn't any cure for his parents. And while he might have survived being thrown off the pier without diplaying any, there was no way he could survive being dropped out the window and not be at least severely injured. He didn't use it consiously, but he couldn't keep it from manifesting.

If his problems were only in Snape's class I might have agreed with the majority reading. But they aren't. He's just as hopeless in McGonagall's class, and if his problem is stern authority figures, then he shouldn't have trouble in Flitwick's. And he does.

About the only class he *doesn't* have problems in is Herbology. Evidently he isn't afraid of magical plants. (We don't know about Astronomy or History of Magic where magical expertise isn't required. But a decent memory would be.)

I still think that at base, he was telling himself that if he proved that he was no good at this at all, Hogwarts would let him off the hook and he could go home, and *be* a Squib.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Draco’s being a dick, but just the little stinker kind. Ron and Harry react to him like he’s being evil.

This being one of my sources of frustration with the series. So who cares if Draco's a brat? Just ignore him! Every time that Hermione (so wise! so clever! so mature!) would advise the boys to turn the other cheek I echoed her sentiments. But no, the boys huff and puff and turn purple with rage.

Still, this is one of those things about the books, I think, which *can* be pardoned with the "but it's just a children's series!" excuse.

... I know Hagrid is a bad teacher who can’t be fired because of Dumbledore.

How do you know this, again? Because later on he's taken to Azkaban, despite Dumbledore's protests!

If you don’t see Hagrid being fired any differently than Harry sees Trelawney being fired, it’s hard to get worked up.

And this explains why I really didn't get interested in the series until books 4 & 5. Not only the reliance on kiddie plots (Draco's so MEAN! Snape is so NASTY!) but also, yeah, the hypocritical parallels were hard to avoid sometimes.

Harry will also have the urge to show off for Cho the same way Malfoy is here.

Nice! But I only dimly remember Harry's song and dance for Cho. Can you remind me of it?

OMG, Hermione didn’t get to face her boggart!
What if she has to face one in the future?
Status: Fired, but harmlessly. I can’t remember if it’s at the end of this year or during her OWLS, but she can’t do it right. She should have just thought to make McGonagall’s face break out in pustules that said “Old Maid” or something.

I recall a neat little H/Hr story wherein we discover that she'd dissembled about the nature of her boggart ... that the form it took was really Harry's dead body (of course).

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Re: Draco being a brat yes, it is believable that one kid could be mature enough to roll her eyes and ignore Draco where her two friends go into fits of rage. Though of course, kids dealing with Draco also have the advantage of watching him put down by life and the author over and over.

How do you know this, again? Because later on he's taken to Azkaban, despite Dumbledore's protests!

Hagrid's being removed from teaching by Umbridge is one of the signs that things are not Right and Evil has taken over the school. I'm talking about Hogwarts running normally, particularly in this book where the first idea that gets tossed out is the one where Dumbledore declares Hagrid free of responsibility.

Nice! But I only dimly remember Harry's song and dance for Cho. Can you remind me of it?

I think it's a little moment where she maybe meets him in the owlry? He has a brief desire to push back his sleeve and let him casually see a scar or something like that.

[hello-aquitaine.livejournal.com]

"Even more shocking, Malfoy is marginally interested in girls when he plays the part of stoic sufferer to Pansy."

I remember the mad giggle I uttered upon reading that one for the first time - literally a few hours before I witnessed an eerily similar scene between my friend and her boyfriend.

"Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad."

I don't know. I mean, I doubt Snape would bother, but saying that to a kid is evil enough for me. A long time ago my father's idiot colleague made a joke about shooting my dog and I hated him ever since. I kind of like Snape but he's crap at teaching - I don't buy that harsh style since I remember quite well the disastrous effects it tends to have in reality.

“Crucio-level indignant.”

I wonder what future suspects will think about this level of indignation.

"He draws Harry into the truth about Sirius “quietly,” “breathing” his lines instead of speaking them. And people wonder why H/D is so popular?"

LOL! Yes, Draco, breath at Harry some more. He needs some material to bring those three kids into being.
You know, sometimes I suspect that JKR has some subconcious issues with sexuality. How come people who are evil or morally ambiguous and generally not the actual good guys are the only ones scoring so high on sexual imagery (and all that verbal stuff, I don't recall English terms; it's been a while --;)? Draco, Snape, Voldie, Bella, Lucius... They slide in and out of places, lean against things, stroke things, speak in silky tones, breath sentences, drawl and overall send that vibe of lazy sensuality. Ginny, Hermione, Harry, some others are meant to be attractive but there is nothing like that around them, and Snape, i.e., is *stated* as unattractive, but he still scores higher thanks to all those little verbs and adjectives. There is the fact that bad/morally ambiguous people are (surprise, surprise) Slytherins and that's the house of snake - so that's where part of the imagery can come from. But it's all the same since snake is a symbol of both evil and sexuality. (Ergo, Slytherin is a house of wickedness and sex - I bet those little thespians love it).
Apart from sexualised villains there is the whole scarlet woman thing and Ginny's hysterical response to what Ron said... It's as if she was trying to be liberal while her subconcious was screaming "OMG, whores, whores everywhere and the Whore of Babylon leads them!"

"Can’t wait until Harry starts heroically hexing the guy in a few years to put him in his place."

HP series is like that childhood dream about having the means to get revenge on everyone who had an upper hand in anything - popular kids, stronger kids, annoying auntie, janitor who demanded you changed shoes... I hear some children grow out of it. JKR didn't, apparently.

"Seamus’ greatest fear is of course a banshee. If you cut Seamus open every Irish stereotype in the world would spill out."

Same issue as with sexuality. Let's write a book about prejudices and then make sure to use all the ethnic/cultural stereotypes you've heard of because that's what shows how open you are towards others (GoF beats all, of course).

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I mean, I doubt Snape would bother, but saying that to a kid is evil enough for me. A long time ago my father's idiot colleague made a joke about shooting my dog and I hated him ever since. I kind of like Snape but he's crap at teaching - I don't buy that harsh style since I remember quite well the disastrous effects it tends to have in reality.

Actually, I agree. I don't agree that Snape was really going to poison the toad because I just don't think that was the idea. The effect on Neville is the idea, and it obviously put even more stress on the kid who was already stressed out just by Snape standing over him. But if somebody made a joke about killing my pet I'd hate him too! Snape should not be teaching kids.

Yes, Draco, breath at Harry some more. He needs some material to bring those three kids into being.

LOL!

They slide in and out of places, lean against things, stroke things, speak in silky tones, breath sentences, drawl and overall send that vibe of lazy sensuality.

I have definitely noticed that too. It's one of those things that make you wonder why people are surprised when the Slytherins get written that way. The adjectives alone are always hinting at it. Dudley, Crabbe and Goyle are thuggish. Malfoy is...something else entirely.

And yeah, GoF totally wins on the wacky ethnic stereotypes. Lord.

Time spent recovering from wounds, part 1

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

This chapter reminds me of something I'd been thinking about earlier. Harry's 100% sure that Malfoy wasn't actually all that badly hurt by Buckbeak, that he's just malingering. But is that necessarily so? Would Pomfrey let Draco stay in the hospital wing for *days*, missing classes, if she could heal him perfectly in seconds?

What makes it particularly interesting is that we have two other cases where someone was injured by a magical creature to compare this case to. Naturally, both cases involved two of Hagrid's *other* pets. There's Ron's dragon bite, and Snape's bite from Fluffy.

Let's look at the chronology:

Ron's dragon bite in PS/SS:

Wednesday night: Ron was bitten.

Thursday morning: "Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size."

Thursday afternoon: Ron had no choice about going to the hospital wing, because the bite "had turned a nasty shade of green."

Saturday night: Ron was still in the hospital wing, since he wasn't helping Harry and Hermione sneak the dragon to the top of the Astronomy Tower.

The book doesn't say exactly when Ron could leave the hospital wing, but this shows that it wasn't until at least three days after the bite that Ron was better.

The book doesn't say what day of the week Draco was injured; all we know is that it was the first day of classes. However, the book does say that Draco was in the hospital wing from then until Thursday morning.

So, even if Draco was hurt on Monday, he wasn't in the hospital wing any longer than Ron was for the dragon bite.

Time spent recovering from wounds, part 2

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Then there's the bite from the three-headed dog:

Halloween, a weekday: Snape was bitten that evening.

"As they entered November, the weather turned very cold.... Every morning the ground was covered in frost."

"On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin."

The day before the Quidditch match, Friday, Snape confiscated the library copy of Quidditch Through the Ages that Harry had taken outside.

Later that (Friday) evening, Harry went down to the staffroom to see if he could get the book back, and found Filch changing the bandages on Snape's bitten leg.

That has to be at least a *couple* of days later, if the weather had time to change. It could be over a week.

It's possible that if Snape was getting help from Filch, he wasn't getting any medical care from Poppy. But on the other hand, why *wouldn't* he be getting any care from her? He wasn't after the Stone, and I don't think he had to worry about Dumbledore misinterpreting his actions in checking on the Stone/Fluffy. Even if he *was* worried about what Dumbledore would think, letting Filch know about his injury would be as much of a risk as letting Pomfrey know. Maybe Filch was helping him with the bandages simply because no particular medical skill was needed at that point.

So, it seems like wounds inflicted by magical creatures *usually* take time to heal. Draco may not have been malingering, at all.

Re: Time spent recovering from wounds, part 2

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is a little suspicious that every magical bite is serious enough to need days of recovery (with the worst being Arthur's bite from Voldemort's snake), but we should assume that Draco's attack, which is one of the more serious, is nothing but a scratch and he must be tricking Pomfrey and insisting on staying in the hospital wing. It's one of those things I love seeing taken up in fanfic where Draco and Harry actually become civil to each other because it's so obviously biased on Harry's part.

I mean, not obviously biased because I know how serious Draco's fictional injury was because I don't. But biased in that Harry always assumes Draco can't be too badly hurt as soon as he can. He gets injured a lot but none of it lasts at all in Harry's mind--unlike injuries to his friends or himself. It's so something I thought was a red flag that Harry would have to start to see his enemies as people. Not everyone notices this, I know--I remember having a weird conversation with someone once who was very overly anti-Draco (I mean, she saw him as far more dangerous and wicked than he was) and her view of the Sectumsempra incident was that he maybe cut his arm someplace.