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

Re: two

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

Your argument seems to be because there are things he could be doing to Neville that he doesn't, and because he picks on Harry, he's not a sadist. But it's proof enough of sadism to pick on a clumsy and insecure kid the way he does. He doesn't know that Neville is "lazy." All he knows is that he's a bumbler. Picking on bumblers is sadistic. And some bullies do pick on those they see as uppity or a challenger--like Harry.

As for "I see no difference," I think it's obvious he was referring to Hermione's teeth and not the difference between the Slyths and the Gryffs. I wasn't even aware anyone read that differently.

Re: McGonagall calling Neville stupid, yes, she sometimes bullies Neville too. Everyone does, really. The wizarding world is full of bullies. Snape is just more of a bully than the rest.


Seriously, this is the *only* supposedly personal remark any Snape-hater can come up with to illustrate his 'sadistic nastiness'. The *only* one, in *seven* books.

Untrue. I'm not a big Snape-hater--I enjoy his character till book 7--but I do think he's a bully and sadistic. And off the top of my head: he threatens Neville's pet (which is what I was thinking of when I called him cruel; if you don't find that cruel, perhaps you should get a grip on the concept of cruelty), he calls Hermione an insufferable know-it-all for answering a question, he threatens a 14-year-old boy with Veritaserum. More generally, he terrorizes Neville to the point where he's the kid's boggart. Neville is used to being called names and mocked, yet Snape still terrifies him--precisely because there's a difference between Snape and the ordinary meanness.

Re: two

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

he calls Hermione an insufferable know-it-all for answering a question

This is coming up in the next chapter, isn't it?

The thing is... Hermione's determination to answer every question she can is bad for any class she's in. No, I don't think Snape handled that situation as well as he might have, but Hermione *was* in the wrong.

Think about how Hermione is likely to affect the class dynamic: She will have the answer to all of the questions. She will want to be the one to answer all of the questions. If you're one of her classmates, and you don't know the answer to a question, or you don't have time to prepare as thoroughly as you might... well, Hermione will be there! It makes it a little easier for everyone else to slack off.

I wouldn't think that any of the teachers at Hogwarts would let the other students depend on Hermione to carry the whole class, but I do get the impression that they let her answer more than her share of questions, and that can be bad for a class.

So, in the scene later in this book where Snape teaches a DADA class, Snape deliberately doesn't call on Hermione, presumably because he doesn't want her to dominate the class. She speaks up anyway. That was actually inappropriate behavior on her part. She knew perfectly well that he was aware she had the answer, and that he had decided not to call on her.

(All of this really does bring back someone's point -- Sistermagpie's? -- that if Hermione were confronted with a magical creature that would attack you if you corrected it, she'd be in serious trouble.)

Name-calling isn't a good response on the teacher's part, certainly. Considering that it's Snape, though... well, at least it's an effective way of getting her to give the other students some room. I wouldn't call this one of his worst moments, personally.

And keep in mind: whether those students *want* that room to participate or not, they need it, in order to benefit from their classes the way they should.

Re: two

[oryx_leucoryx]

Name-calling isn't a good response on the teacher's part, certainly.

It isn't nice, but it isn't uncommon (or at least wasn't). Teachers insult students. Some common ones from my days: "are you here only to keep your seat warm?" "do let us know when your spaceship lands" "what did *you* have to drink today?" In 5th and 6th grade (ages 10-12) my class teacher's favorite insult was 'it is a testament to the poverty of your character that ...' If the teacher knew hir stuff and was effective in teaching the insults did not diminish our respect, or even love, for said teacher.

Re: two

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

Sure, I agree that it's bad. And the thing to do in response is incredibly easy: just don't call on her! Say, "Someone other than Miss Granger, please." End of story. I've had several Hermiones in my classes and teachers were very able to handle them in this way. Even the nasty ones!

Re: two

[oryx_leucoryx]

I have a hard time getting up in arms about Severus' classroom manner because it was very similar to that of teachers I learned to appreciate and respect. Here is what I wrote about my most-Severus-like teacher:

My physics teacher from grades 9 to 11 was my Severus Snape. He insulted us collectively and individually. He made fun of our names. He ignored my raised hand until I got the message that he knew I knew and he wanted to hear someone else. He made sexist remarks ('the girls shouldn't bother to write this down, it won't help them anyway'). It was hard at first, but we learned to shrug him off. By our second year with him we laughed his remarks off. I tutored several of the girls in my class and we ended up earning very high grades (like Severus, my teacher graded fairly, regardless of his classroom remarks). In retrospect I believe his insults were his way of spurring us on. It worked. We respected him despite the insults because he knew his stuff and we learned from him. Until dementia claims my brain I'll know my high school physics.

Re: two

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

You may have learned from your teacher's bad behavior, but it was still bad behavior. People often say they learn from adversity; that doesn't excuse those responsible for the adversity. Also, whether insults and bigoted comments can be laughed off is highly context-dependent. What works in one context might not work in another. It's pretty clear that Snape's behavior does not work for most of his Gryffindor students and I do not accept that there is something wrong with them on that account. If one of the girls in your class objected to your teacher's sexism, there wouldn't be something wrong with her.