PoA Chapter Ten

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Ginny brings Harry a get-well card that sounds far too adorable to have been made by the chick who shows up two books from now as Harry's ideal girl.

Harry now remembers the Grim as accompanying near-fatal accidents. If you’re as confused as me about the first one, Harry now remembers himself being almost run over by the Knight Bus as a near-death experience. There is a lot of examples in the book of how people make this prophecy stuff work, I will say that. Which is weird given it turns out this entire series turns on a bunch of people following a prophecy.

Malfoy’s now doing imitations of Harry falling off his broom until Ron throws a crocodile heart at his face. Okay, that makes me laugh. (The crocodile heart.)

Hmmm. Ginny will be doing imitations of Harry falling off his broom in HBP. She’s definitely studying Malfoy for tips on how to get Harry’s attention. (Note that Ginny will do her imitations after yelling at Dean for laughing at Harry’s fall to begin with.)

When Lupin returns, the class erupts in complaints about Snape having the gall to give homework as a substitute. The really are being ridiculous about this here. They might as well complain that Snape had the gall to teach instead of entertain them making balloon animals all period.

Remus naturally dismisses the assignment he gave. If they doubted that he was one of them.

Seeing the Hinkeypunk, a little wispy creature in a box that squeaks, I can see why the kids were disappointed in having to study werewolves.

Why exactly is Dumbledore so mad about the Dementors on the Quidditch field? I know he’s trying to keep Harry safe so he can kill him in his own time, but it’s not like Harry doesn’t risk a fatal fall every time he plays Quidditch. Maybe he should yell at those guys whose job it is to bash iron balls at his head while he’s 50 feet in the air.

Btw, the Dementors were at the Quidditch field at the same time Sirius was and thus were kind of doing their job.

In case it wasn’t clear already, Lupin assures Harry that the Dementors affect him more than anyone else because he’s had all these horrors in his past. Horrors he’s far too young to remember, actually. I have to say that what happened to Neville’s parents was worse. In fact, if one were making a case for Harry having faced a lot of horror, I'd say it was at the Dursleys.

People recently claimed that we didn’t know how old the characters were when the movies were cast, but this chapter keeps stressing how young Lupin is. Though I don’t know how Harry manages to figure out he’s young despite the grey hair and lines.

Lupin says most prisoners at Azkaban go mad within weeks. A shame that after this book people will come bopping out of the place no worse for wear all the time. Sure Bellatrix is a nut but she appears to have been that way before Azkaban as well.

Lupin says Sirius must have found a way to fight the Dementors. I wonder if he’s considering that Sirius might be innocent?

Hermione’s looking forward to shopping for her parents’ Christmas gifts at Hogsmeade. Not that she’s going home to see them for Christmas. And the thing is, I would never see this as being a bad thing (of course we want her at school) except that it actually does culminate in Hermione mind wiping them both.

Btw, I saw a still from DH where Hermione's in her Muggle room. It makes me nervous they might actually include the mindwipe.

Harry’s been riding a school broom since he lost his. It’s slow and jerky. It’s kind of strange to me the way Quidditch really is a game about equipment, and JKR both gives Harry the best of it and frowns on the Slytherins for their own brooms.

I mean, if Harry's having this much trouble on a school broom shouldn't he feel a bit silly about beating all those other kids who are forced to ride it? It's hardly fair.

Fred and George give Harry the Marauders map since they "know it by heart." Um, guys? It changes every time you look at it. The people in it move.

Don’t suppose they thought to use it to look for Sirius Black at all.

Harry briefly considers whether he should use a map since he can’t tell where it keeps its brain, he naturally decides to use it. I’m proud of Harry for considering it for a second, though.

Once in Honeydukes, Harry thinks about Dudley’s piggy face if he could see where he was. I’m going to give Dudley the benefit of the doubt and say he prefers candy that doesn’t sound like it was all designed to cause internal injury or nausea.

Ron mistakenly thinks Harry’s learned to Apparate. You can’t Apparate from Hogwarts, Ron!

I do kind of love the fact that if Sirius really was trying to kill Harry he probably would have been in that passage since he does know about it. Harry's using a map Sirius himself made to find it, innocently thinking that means Sirius could never ever know about it.

Ron points out that Harry is safe in Hogsmeade because there’s all these other people around, even though Sirius’ big crime was killing a whole bunch of people on the street in broad daylight to get to one person.

Hermione then brings up the far bigger reason Harry shouldn’t be in Hogsmeade. He hasn’t got a signed form!

Typically, Harry has come to Hogsmeade without a coat.

Rosmerta is a "curvy sort of woman" with a pretty face. Ron, at least, probably isn’t looking at her face.

The hardest thing to believe in this chapter is that any of these relatively normal people would want to go for a drink with Hagrid.

Finally people have a discussion about Sirius that includes that they’ve all known him since he was 11. Oddly, no one brings up that his whole family are Slytherin dark wizards and that his younger brother was also a DE.

Luckily, Madam Rosemerta doesn’t know how a Fidelius charm works. Don’t hold it against her. JKR isn’t quite clear how it works either. It changes in every book.

Dumbledore was still worried when Sirius offered to be Secret Keeper, because you know how angry Dumbledore gets when he’s not the keeper of every single secret ever told.

It still annoys me that Hagrid took Harry since he had orders for Dumbledore even though Sirius was apparently Harry’s legal guardian.

McGonagall now feels a little bad about being impatient with Peter. Not so bad she won’t be just as bad to Neville.

Btw, Peter was fat. Which I’m sure has nothing to do with his moral character. But everything to do with his lack of talent.

Fudge worries about Voldemort with his most trusted servant and shudders to think of it. You’re right to shudder, Fudge. Voldemort + Peter + Barty = a villain the entire British WW will have to work hard to keep in power.

Things that happen twice
Harry deals with a second object that can interact with people--and he (or JKR) actually remembers the warnings he gave about it.
I think we’ve got a competitor in the race for "most convenient eavesdropping moment" here, but DH is still in the lead.
Harry gets a second singing card from Ginny, which is presumably validation that the first one was from her too, if that wasn’t already obvious. This is the way Ginny I showed affection.
Apparently the Whomping Willow also gravely injured people. Clearly the same mind that decided to plant that on school grounds hired Hagrid and vouched for him having no responsibility whatsoever for the time that animal went after a student.


It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!

It's the Grim!
Status: Fired. Nicely woven back in here!




Jabootu Score: 0

Shocking, I know, but it’s mostly because nothing really happens, but Harry gets two really important things so you have to appreciate that.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

Considering how pretty much everything previous generations did (that we hear about) screwed up the world for this one, the Map really should have led Harry to disaster eventually. I was fond of the Red Hen theory that the Map tracked souls, and so wouldn't show an army of Inferi marching into Hogwarts, but there's all sorts of possibilities. Lupin admits the Map might try to lure you out somewhere dangerous because the makers would have thought it was funny - that has potential too.

I also think Fred and George must be trying to unload the Map for some reason, because you're right, their excuse about having memorized it is bogus. Too bad we didn't get any misdirection on that front; it would have been pretty cool if at some point we started wondering whether Sirius had Imperiused them to help get Harry out of the castle. Or maybe if he did, so he could explain things to Harry and have him catch "Scabbers" before Peter even realized Harry was on to him.

The teachers not mentioning anything about Sirius's family is just silly. Mentioning his Dark Arts-loving Slytherin family would have fit in perfectly with the "evil traitor DE Sirius" story. So I have to assume that either a) JKR just forgot to put it in, and would think she totally did write that if asked, or b) she hadn't invented the Black family history yet. Both sound equally likely.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well a likely fanwank might be that --without ever letting anyone know about it-- the twins have somehow got some kind of scrying/predictive method that they are using to their own advantage, and have determined that this is *the* opportune moment to ingratiate themselves with Harry.

Well, they came up with that "Ireland wins, but Krum catches the Snitch" prediction in GoF. So they must be doing *something*. Maybe they are just very good at Arithmancy. Nce that someone got some use out of it.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Lupin admits the Map might try to lure you out somewhere dangerous because the makers would have thought it was funny - that has potential too.

Did he really?

*blink*

Soooo... how exactly did young Severus find out how the willow worked?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I do love that moment when Lupin warns Harry about the map luring him outside because they would think it was funny. I hadn't thought of it, but it sort of ties into Sirius's wanting Harry to leave the school in OotP and all that, when he talked about how James would have thought it was fun.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Lupin admits the Map might try to lure you out somewhere dangerous because the makers would have thought it was funny - that has potential too.

When Harry gets over his doubts regarding the map the book says:

Then, quite suddenly, as though following orders, he rolled up the map, stuffed it inside his robes, and hurried to the door of the classroom.

Harry was possessed by the Map!

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

Btw, I saw a still from DH where Hermione's in her Muggle room. It makes me nervous they might actually include the mindwipe.

Given that the movies tend to edit out the characters' more abhorrent behaviour, I can see them leaving the wipe out and just helping her parents to hide.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Or showing the paternts *agreeing* to the mind wipe.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Makes me wonder what will become of the 'gallant' Cruciatus. Yes, the movies constantly whitewash the kids, as well as Dumbledore. I bet Lily will turn out completely saintly too. (And since the werewolf debacle does not exist in movie canon, Sirius has been whitewashed already too.)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yup, if they were going to show it I've no doubt they would clean it up just that way.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

Fred and George give Harry the Marauders map since they "know it by heart." Um, guys? It changes every time you look at it. The people in it move.


It would make more sense if Harry got a box of his parents' personal effects (Why didn't he ever get anything of theirs? Only a bit of the house was blown up) and then a mysterious sheet of parchment fell out of one of his father's books.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

Maybe the twins worked out how to copy it.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Why didn't he ever get anything of theirs? Only a bit of the house was blown up

Some fan fiction stories have Lily's possessions inherited by Petunia, who - naturally - either destroys them or hides them away from Harry.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Btw, I saw a still from DH where Hermione's in her Muggle room. It makes me nervous they might actually include the mindwipe.
Judging by the HBP movie, they are going to sanitize it by Hermione explaining things to them and them agreeing to be mind-wiped because it'll be easier to stay in character that way - much more tear-jerking and less horrifying to boot.

I mean, if Harry's having this much trouble on a school broom shouldn't he feel a bit silly about beating all those other kids who are forced to ride it?
YES! As far as I can tell there are only three things involved for a seeker to catch the snitch: speed (which seems to depend on the broom you ride), luck (for looking into the right direction at the right time and not being too far off) and a certain adroitness at grabbing it once it IS in front of your face. In fact, keeper and chaser seems to be much harder where technique and thus talent is concerned.

Good catch about the twins' knowing the map by heart and neither thinking about using it to spot the neferious Sirius Black!

...even though Sirius’ big crime was killing a whole bunch of people on the street in broad daylight to get to one person.
Well, those were muggles. He would be afraid of wizards!

Ron, at least, probably isn’t looking at her face.
Tehee - to make it even better - Harry not only does NOT look at those curves - he notices her sparkly shoes! He's a metrosexual, our Harry.

McGonagall now feels a little bad about being impatient with Peter. Not so bad she won’t be just as bad to Neville.
To be fair, this seems very IC to me. She is the kind of person to dissolve in tears when a bullied housemaid drowned herself without wondering for one second if maybe she should treat the present housemaid any better.

This is the way Ginny I showed affection.
Ha - and where did it get her? I still love mistful's take on Ginny's makeover as a ploy to finally get Harry no matter by what personality.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if anything she'll be helping her parents to hide. Or maybe they'll have her attacked at home and chased to Harry's for all we know. Her parents are such non entities. It's funny that her room looks like somebody actually lives there with stuff on the bulletin boards. I'd almost expect it to be bare except for magic stuff.

It's definitely an IC moment for McGonagall to me. I like it when she gets bitchy that way, actually. It's pretty consistent.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

Harry briefly considers whether he should use a map since he can’t tell where it keeps its brain, he naturally decides to use it. I’m proud of Harry for considering it for a second, though.
My first thought was he had slight misgivings due to knowing a mad murderer was after him, so the cause of his considerations was disappointing and strange. Lupin has great lines in this book: "Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks." But, is he wrong here too since Harry should be the kind of person to gamble to prepare for the ultimate sacrifice?

Ron points out that Harry is safe in Hogsmeade because there’s all these other people around, even though Sirius’ big crime was killing a whole bunch of people on the street in broad daylight to get to one person.
He says "He'd have a job spotting Harry in this", that Harry will disappear in the crowd.

I am sure Sirius's family hasn't been invented yet. Bellatrix will appear only in GoF. May be JKR made her Sirius's cousin while writing the forth book.

Luckily, Madam Rosemerta doesn’t know how a Fidelius charm works. Don’t hold it against her. JKR isn’t quite clear how it works either. It changes in every book.
I am now recapping "The Wandmaker", in which Bill casually mentions he and his father are Secret-Keepers at their hiding places. It's SO jarring as to seem unreal. How could both JKR and her editor miss it? The entire series is centered around that fateful night and Peter's betrayal. In DH JKR even gave us the scene of that night and dealt with Peter, how could she forget? It could only happen if she wasn't thinking of the logic and was in a hurry.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of Sirius's family JKR had worked out here. Even if she had the basics she'd want to hide it until OotP. Or else she may have had something very different in mind.

Oh god, yes. Bill and his father being Secret-Keepers. It's like...did no one tell the Potters of this possibility?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Lupin has great lines in this book: "Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks."

And a poor way of being their surviving friend is to be around their son while transforming into wolf-form. (At the very least Remus should have remained in the Shack when the rest left for the castle.)

But, is he wrong here too since Harry should be the kind of person to gamble to prepare for the ultimate sacrifice?

But only at the right moment! (ie only when he is facing Voldemort, because otherwise how does 'either must die at the hand of the other' come true?)

Re: Fidelius Charm: One attempt at reconciliation I have seen is that the Potters didn't have the Fidelius on their home but on themselves - they were invisible and unthinkable to anyone that was not in the secret, as long as the secret held. This matches Filius' description. If so they had to have someone else as a Secret Keeper because if it had been one of them it would have been hard to share the secret. (Still possible via note, but notes are more risky than telling directly.)

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"Btw, I saw a still from DH where Hermione's in her Muggle room. It makes me nervous they might actually include the mindwipe."
Nooooooo please please don't do it WB! or at least have her parents give their approval to the mindwipe.
BTW, do you have a link to that still?

"Fred and George give Harry the Marauders map since they "know it by heart." Um, guys? It changes every time you look at it. The people in it move"
Maybe they meant that they know all the secret passages by heart?

"It still annoys me that Hagrid took Harry since he had orders for Dumbledore even though Sirius was apparently Harry’s legal guardian."
Why would they let a crazy murderer on his way to Azkaban come anywhere near baby Harry even if he was his legal guardian? I fail to see what's annoying about Hagrid taking Harry.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I do--here's the link.

http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/new-harry-hermione-deathly-hallows-promos-featured-film-wizardry-book-71788/index2.html#post9230357

I do think they meant they knew the passages by heart. But how often does even Harry use it for that? You'd think the twins would get a lot of use out of knowing who was where when!

Why would they let a crazy murderer on his way to Azkaban come anywhere near baby Harry even if he was his legal guardian? I fail to see what's annoying about Hagrid taking Harry.

Because I don't think they knew that at the time. It was more like DD swooped in to take Harry regardless since Hagrid first mentions Sirius as just a friend of the Potters. Knowing (or thinking you know) he's a murderer--that's a good reason. But I remember not having the idea that that's why he originally took him.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Lupin says most prisoners at Azkaban go mad within weeks.

That's just Remus exaggerating again. In OOTP he would claim the Order was outnumbered by DEs 20 to 1, when 2-3 to 1 was a better approximation. Weeks, years, what difference does it make? (But Barty Crouch was dying within a year or so. Also, the Bellatrix we see in the Pensieve had already been exposed to dementors. Barty was begging not to be sent back to them. I suppose high risk prisoners were watched by dementors even before their trial.)

Re: Map: So how did it end up with Filch? Did he confiscate it from the Marauders, or did they leave it to someone else when they left school and it was confiscated sometime in the intervening years?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's surprising to think the Marauders would let the map rest with Filch if he confiscated it, really.

I feel badly for Remus--like, is he exaggerating or is he always supposed to be telling the truth but then the worldbuilding can't back him up?

[oryx_leucoryx]

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!

What about Dumbledore's 'a number of useful spies' - one of whom tipped him off about the impending attack on the Potters? We know where that tip-off came from, so in that sense the gun fired, but we never learned of any other spy *for* Dumbledore. Just like we never learned what his 'sources' that reported of Riddle's presence in Albania after PS were. Is that a semi-fired gun? Did Rowling forget about the other spies or was her intent to portray Fudge as pretending to have more information than he actually had?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Good point--yeah, the whole spy network seems to almost be fake. We know Snape is, but most of his important info seems to be about plans for Harry.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Okay, can you explain this whole 'Jabootu Score' thing? Where's the instructions for what it means? Is it a case of the lower the better? The Wikipedia can't tell me what it is!!!

Ginny will be doing imitations of Harry falling off his broom in HBP. .. Note that Ginny will do her imitations after yelling at Dean for laughing at Harry’s fall to begin with.

Oooh, nice!!! She's such a considerate and thoughtful girl ... but in HBP everything she does is golden.

Btw, I saw a still from DH where Hermione's in her Muggle room. It makes me nervous they might actually include the mindwipe.

Interesting!! I can't see any way they could establish that it was done with their consent ... so it ends up being a pretty nasty thing that Hermione did, I think? Much as I hate to decry anything that Hermione does. :-)

Harry briefly considers whether he should use a map since he can’t tell where it keeps its brain, he naturally decides to use it. I’m proud of Harry for considering it for a second, though.

It's an improvement on how he handles Hermione's fears about his connection to the Dark Lord Mental Broadcast Network in DH; Harry doesn't think for a second that Voldemort might be repeating his tactics of using the connection against him that worked so well in book 5:

"But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "Harry, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember –"

"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," said Harry through gritted teeth; he did not need Hermione to tell him that Voldemort had once used this selfsame connection between them to lead him into a trap, nor that it had resulted in Sirius’s death.

...

"Harry, you aren't supposed to let this happen anymore!" Hermione cried, her voice echoing through the bathroom. "Dumbledore wanted you to use Occlumency! HE thought the connection was dangerous – Voldemort can use it, Harry! What good is it to watch him kill and torture, how can it help?"

"Because it means I know what he's doing," said Harry.

"So you're not even going to try to shut him out?"

"Hermione, I can't. You know I'm lousy at Occlumency. I never got the hang of it."

"You never really tried!" she said hotly. "I don't get it, Harry – do you like having this special connection or relationship or what – whatever – "

She faltered under the look he gave her as he stood up.

"Like it?" he said quietly. "Would you like it?"

"I – no – I'm sorry, Harry. I just didn't mean – "

"I hate it, I hate the fact that he can get inside me, that I have to watch him when he's most dangerous. But I'm going to use it."

I can't think of a better example of Harry just crossing his fingers and hoping that his author will protect him. His use of the map here is an interesting forerunner of that, although in the last novel it's Hermione who tries to be Harry's conscience/guide, so no points to Harry in that case for any prudence.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL! Okay, sorry, the Jabootu thing. This was started back when we were at the snarkery. it was just an early post that I kept up. It's a site that I think is called Jabootu and it's about bad movies. They have a whole glossery of things, so we made it into a bingo by noting all the times a chapter hit things on the list. So chapters with a high score are more like bad movies.

Yeah, I just can't find any way to make the mindwipe of the Grangers consensual. And at the same time it's totally unnecessary. Would anybody really be worried about the Grangers in the book without it? So it's hard for me to believe they'd want to include it.

I love that exchange with Hermione because basically what he's saying is that yes, he does like it. She's right that he never really tried Occlumency and he's telling her right here that it gives him a chance to know what Voldemort's doing. Not to mention, it's almost the only way he gets through the book.

[va32h.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am the Do-Over lady and thank you for reading and reviewing. The whole experience of writing that story actually made me even more resentful of JKR.

It was really quite challenging to keep the story dramatic and full of conflict, when the HP universe has so many magical fixes. I mean really - all Harry had to do at the end of HBP is go to the Room of Requirement and say "I need all of Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and something to destroy them with. Thanks!" Books over, page one.

So I had to keep coming up with reasons why Harry couldn't do that. Why the trio couldn't apparate on occasions where other travel would be more interesting or move the story forward. Why Dobby or Kreacher couldn't have done whatever the trio couldn't do for themselves.

And getting everything right! Constantly going back to previous books and making sure this thing or that was still available, would be where my story needed it to be (or how to get it there). I mentioned the Int'l Museum of Quidditch in my fic, and made sure it matched up with the description in Quidditch Through the Ages. Any creatures I mentioned in my fic were straight out of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

I figured if I could do that in the course of six months (and without the additional motivation of getting paid to do so!) Rowling certainly could have done so herself. Her refusal to do so is just...it's insulting really.

I think it's very similar to George Lucas and Star Wars. They create a universe, then get bored with it and decide to take it in an entirely different direction, then act surprised and wounded when the fans aren't thrilled about it.

There's nothing wrong with a writer deciding to go in a different direction with their story. But they shouldn't pretend this is where the story was going all along. Clumsy attempts at retrofitting a new idea into existing canon is just insulting to the reader. Just as there is nothing in Star Wars Ep IV-VI to even hint at all the nonsense Lucas gives us in the prequels, there's nothing in the first 6 books that would make even the most careful reader think that the ultimate Voldy showdown would depend on 'wand mastery'.

I do think Rowling likes her books. Because she hasn't actually thought about them. I participated in the Bloomsbury live chat and asked the question about Harry performing Crucio - that it seemed totally out of whack with previous books' portrayal of Unforgiveables. Her answer was "Harry's not perfect." Clearly to Rowling, Unforgiveable was merely a name, not a concept.

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

OMG I must have a link to the do over, please!!!

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Why exactly is Dumbledore so mad about the Dementors on the Quidditch field? I know he’s trying to keep Harry safe so he can kill him in his own time, but it’s not like Harry doesn’t risk a fatal fall every time he plays Quidditch. Maybe he should yell at those guys whose job it is to bash iron balls at his head while he’s 50 feet in the air.

Btw, the Dementors were at the Quidditch field at the same time Sirius was and thus were kind of doing their job.

I'm sensing a theme here. The people one should be mad at--always--are the ones doing their jobs. Like Snape, for teaching. Oh, I suppose one can do work, as long as one makes it look like something else. A field trip or a trip to the zoo. But work? Going to an office and selling drills all day? So middle class!

People recently claimed that we didn’t know how old the characters were when the movies were cast, but this chapter keeps stressing how young Lupin is. Though I don’t know how Harry manages to figure out he’s young despite the grey hair and lines.

Hmm. How can that be? Didn't we know already that James and Lily were only a few years out of school when they died? And everyone else was pretty much tied into their ages. By the end of this book, Lupin, Snape, and Sirius Black are known to be born within a year of James and Lily. We also knew that Hagrid was in his sixties because of the memory in CoS. Even in PoS, we knew that Snape and James were in the same year, because of Dumbledore telling Harry about how they hated each other from day one.

We don't know any other adult's age. But then we could guess that Minerva was old, and Dumbledore was really old.

Sure Bellatrix is a nut but she appears to have been that way before Azkaban as well.

Maybe she just picked up the baby talk in there.

Lupin says Sirius must have found a way to fight the Dementors. I wonder if he’s considering that Sirius might be innocent?

The impression that I got from the book was that Lupin had had his moments of doubt about Sirius back when everything happened and no one knew who the spy was and then when the evidence against Sirius was so overwhelming... but that he gradually came to realize that the story didn't make sense given Sirius's character. But there was nothing that Lupin, poor, struggling, and halfway under suspicion because of his dark creature condition, could do to go about disproving it.

So, when he was hired by Dumbledore, he was ambivalent about catching Sirius, and yet not brave enough to confront Dumbledore about the possibility of Sirius's innnocence. So, he protected Harry as well as he could, while hoping that Sirius would show up and explain everything.

I think I got that all from the line, "Yes, I knew Sirius Black. Or I thought I did."

That's what gave me the notions that a) Lupin was a thoughtful person, and b) Lupin was a patient person, and c) Lupin had empathy for others, a quality all too lacking in every other person in the books.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I like that view of Lupin. It's still the thing that I really love about the character the most and it's mostly in this book. He really is carrying the Marauders torch of being faithful to their friends and trusting their own experiences and judgment and not thinking Dumbledore needed to know everything. Go Lupin!

On the ages thing, I think it was a comment I'd seen where people were talking about the casting, as if we didn't know Alan Rickman was too old. But since he's too old to be Harry's father, really, it should have been obvious from Book I. Or, that is, he was too old to be his likely father since I thought we always kind of got that Harry had young parents.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Why exactly is Dumbledore so mad about the Dementors on the Quidditch field? I know he’s trying to keep Harry safe so he can kill him in his own time, but it’s not like Harry doesn’t risk a fatal fall every time he plays Quidditch. Maybe he should yell at those guys whose job it is to bash iron balls at his head while he’s 50 feet in the air.

(grin)

Btw, the Dementors were at the Quidditch field at the same time Sirius was and thus were kind of doing their job.

Well, Dumbledore doesn't like it when they do their job.

Actually, I don't, either, but I know what you mean.

Lupin says most prisoners at Azkaban go mad within weeks. A shame that after this book people will come bopping out of the place no worse for wear all the time. Sure Bellatrix is a nut but she appears to have been that way before Azkaban as well.

Also, before this book, with Hagrid.

The hardest thing to believe in this chapter is that any of these relatively normal people would want to go for a drink with Hagrid.

He could've just invited himself along, and everyone else was too polite to say anything.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I totally do see Hagrid inviting himself along. I think that scene stands out because you rarely see Hagrid interacting with people as an adult. He seems like such a child character it's weird when he's suddenly sitting at the grown up table.