PoA Chapter Thirteen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh no. It’s a Quidditch Chapter. Can I just say that Harry wins and skip this one?

It looks like the end of Ron and Hermione’s friendship because they’re so angry at each other. End of a friendship, beginning of a true love marriage. It’s often hard to tell the difference. They both involve so much hostility.

Yeah, I’m sure sex will clear all this constant bickering right up.

I have to say that even though Ron’s wrong? Crookshanks has been trying to attack Scabbers in plain sight for months, so it’s ridiculous for Hermione to claim that Ron's just got something against Crookshanks when what he's always had against Crookshanks is exactly this, that he's always trying to attack his dang rat. Ron just doesn’t know the real reason. Even if Hermione doesn’t think Crookshanks really did it she ought to show she’d feel sorry if he had, and in general have sympathy over Ron's injured and lost pet.

But then, this is the book for wizard pet owners blaming the victim and being proved right about it in the end.

Hermione's not even trying to prove Crookshanks didn't do it with logic or evidence or something. She really does seem to just be saying that he can't be accused of something because she likes him. Which is pretty much the way the justice system works in the Wizarding World so I guess that's why she eventually goes into law.

I wish I could just appreciate this as proof that Hermione's not really logical or fair at all when it comes to these things, but I don't think that's quite what I'm supposed to get out of this.

Oliver announces that Ravenclaw's playing Cho Chang as Seeker—shouldn't they have the same Seeker as always like everyone else?

Cho's had some problems with injuries. That's because she's weak, Oliver. Doesn't have the spine to really be a match for Harry.

Oliver seems like he's going to say something about Cho being a good Seeker, but then dismisses it by once again alluding to the fact that her broom can't possibly win against Harry's super broom. Which is still not unfair at all.

Harry gets on his broom for the first time and confirms that yes, he's now just about quadrupled his skill by riding a better broom.

The team cheers for Harry every time he catches the Snitch. Or more to the point, they cheer for the broom that's just given them a ridiculous advantage.

Oh, and apparently the Firebolt is so good it makes the rest of the team better too. They're inspired by "the Firebolt in their midst."

At least now we can see where Harry’s "Dementor problem" comes in handy. Wood can allude to it and make it seem as if Harry’s still got some sort of challenge in the game. Iow: Sure he's essentially been given a sports car for a bike race, but what if another bunny rabbit hops onto the track and he has to swerve? The suspense is killing me!

That must be why it still doesn't occur to Oliver to make sure the Dementors are kept off the field, or plan to call a time-out if they come near it. Oliver's too much of a good sport to call interference, but not enough of a good sport to eschew the Firebolt. It's a very specific level of sportsmanship.

Madam Hootch falls asleep while chaperoning, which is weird and out of nowhere.

Harry sees eyes in the darkness that he mistakes for the Grim, but it's really Crookshanks. Actually it presumably really was the Grim, with whom Crookshanks is hanging out. Clue!

Everyone in the school comes over to fawn over Harry’s broom, without a resentful eye in the bunch. And certainly no accusations that Harry's showing off by bringing his broom to breakfast. It's a well known fact that Firebolts are powered by Weetabix.

Percy says something funny to Harry, and Harry naturally takes no notice of it.

Oh wait, here comes the resentful eye. Malfoy comes over to have his face rubbed in the Firebolt. He makes a lame joke about it needing a parachute in case of Dementors; Harry makes a lame joke about Malfoy needing an extra arm on his broom to catch the Snitch. The Gryffindor teams laughs uproariously. Fun reader activity: Imagine the reaction of the school and the narrator if Draco Malfoy got a Firebolt and brought it to breakfast.

Malfoy returns to the rest of the Slytherin team and they put their heads together, probably asking Malfoy if it was really a Firebolt. The Slytherins can't actually walk over to Harry themselves like everyone else, so they just lurk in the shadows like a big, ugly mob with Malfoy as a messenger.

I can't imagine why people doubt that the Slytherins really did come back to fight in DH even though it's not in the text.

Harry takes off his school robes and sticks his wand in his tee-shirt. That sounds uncomfortable and difficult to reach.

Also, Harry wears tee-shirts under his robes now.

Ravenclaw’s only got one girl on the team. Because Gryffindor's always a leader in tolerance. They're the non-sexist house too! Right, Nu!Ginny?

This despite the fact that everyone who really loves Ginny treats her in a paternalistic fashion.

The history of sexism in the WW is kind of interesting, actually. There are some clues that they don't have the same history as Muggles since magic should be an equalizer. But when it comes down to it we usually get the exact same slightly old-fashioned stereotypes as you'd get in a Muggle story: few girls on the sports team, double standards in romance, no girls in the Slug Club back in the 50s etc.

Cho's a head shorter than Harry at 13? I never realized she was supposed to be so tiny.

Harry develops a chaste crush on Cho immediately. Gotta set this up for GoF! Work it, JKR!

Harry effortlessly outpaces Cho to the Snitch, but is set off-course by a bludger. Fred vents his frustration at the guy who hit it by hitting a bludger directly at him. Kind of like Crabbe will do to Harry later, only when Crabbe does it it's after the game's over and super super obnoxious. Also when Fred does it it’s funny. (But not as funny as when Super!Ginny plows into Zachariah Smith! The scurvy coward!)

McGonagall yells at Lee for commenting on the brooms instead of the Seekers, but since the last few chapters have made painstakingly clear that this really is a broom competition he actually is doing an accurate commentary. Cho’s Cleansweep having no chance really is what's going on in the game. (I can hear Malfoy in the stands now: "Now we're not even allowed to say that Potter's got an unfair advantage?)

Because of her bad broom, Cho actually shows herself a far better and smarter flier than Harry does in the whole series. No informed attributes here.

It sucks that she'll therefore need to be outclassed by super!Ginny in HBP, even though Cho's good flying skills are an actual character trait and Ginny's are just part of her general Ideal-girl-for-Harry-ness in HBP.

Fred yells at Harry for being a gentleman and orders him to knock her off her broom if he has to. Again, this is exactly the kind of behavior that's been established as the mark of a terrible sportsman when Slytherin does it.

I notice that mostly because of the people who used to try to claim that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle dressed as Dementors on the field are guilty of attempted murder. As if they could make Harry faint just by just putting on black cloaks. And as if Fred didn’t just make clear that falling off your broom is a normal part of Quidditch.

It's a "low, cowardly trick" because they're Slytherins, but it’s actually not a bad distraction tactic to dress up as a Dementor here. If Fred, George or Ginny had done it it would no doubt have been considered quite plucky and clever and a good show all around. It might even have been funny in a slightly less nasty way when they wound up in a heap.

But let's pretend that Harry actually overcame something to catch that Snitch. Our poor little underdog hero!

Actually, props to JKR for playing it as the afterthought that it should be. It's just a little extra cherry on the sundae for Harry, really.

Harry’s carried off on everyone’s shoulders, because the rest of the team might as well not have even been there, as usual. They should really be carrying the Firebolt on their shoulders.

No signs that Ravenclaw resents this loss. Yet we know they house some sore losers, right Nu!Ginny?

Getting back to the animal theme, Ron says he won't forgive Hermione because she won't admit she's wrong. Which handily makes Ron the one in the wrong. But I'd think the real issue isn't that she insists her cat is innocent but that she shows no sympathy for people about their dead pets.

Ron's woken by Sirius standing over him with a knife. That must have been pretty exciting for Ron. Again, one of the weaknesses of this book is that the actual story isn't happening to Harry, it's just going on near Harry. Those of us in Harry's pov have to be contented with Quidditch matches.

Percy pins his Head Boy badge to his pajamas. Awww.

How exactly does McGonagall always hear noises in Gryffindor? Where does she live?

McGonagall immediately says that Sirius couldn’t have woken Ron, because he couldn't get through the portrait hole. Did she actually just say that? Sirius is the only person to ever escape Azkaban. That's kind of his thing. But he couldn’t get through this kind of idiot security?

Neville gets blamed for the break-in. Yup, no reason to look any further up on the chain of command there.

Things that happen more than once:
Harry wins a Quidditch match again.
Second Dementor on the field, only this one's fake so Harry hears nothing at all. It's like how in Jaws you know the first shark on the fourth of July is a fake because there's no theme music.
Owner of pet that seems to very clearly have done something wrong claims pet is innocent and doesn't apologize for it.
Sirius has gotten into the Tower again.
Somebody's declared the single hero of the Quidditch game--in OotP it's Ron.
Harry digs Quidditch chicks.
Ron gets angry at someone for reasons that seem to imply a genuine emotional hurt that this issue merely brought up, but it's set up so that it will be resolved by Ron admitting he was wrong on a technicality.
Harry sees the Grim again.

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

The Grim
Status: Totally fired. Bulls-eye.

Harry totally wants to date Cho
Status: Fired. But only as a practice shot before Ginny.

Harry dreams about following a silver thing with hooves.
Status: Fired in this book, but you can’t help but think of Snape’s Patronus reading it now.




Day-for-Night
Hootch falls asleep just so Harry and Ron can have a romantic nighttime fly together.

Designated Hero
Harry and Gryffindor win a game pretty much entirely because they have better equipment and we’re supposed to cheer for him especially loudly for it.

Idiot Picture
Sure Sirius Black escaped from an inescapable prison and we think he’s after this one kid to kill him. But Harry’s perfectly safe. The painting of Don Quixote’s idiot British cousin will protect him!

Monster Death Trap Proviso
Special mention, because in this case nobody’s even tried to catch the monster once yet, despite the fact that he's already made clear where he's desperately trying to go.

Offscreen Teleportation
McGonagall, where did you come from? Where do you always come from?

Jabootu Score: 5

Comments

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but what does Nu stand for in Nu!Ginny? New? I googled, but didn't get the connection.

Oliver announces that Ravenclaw's playing Cho Chang as Seeker—shouldn't they have the same Seeker as always like everyone else?

I guess he thought she wouldn't play because of injuries. The only time serious injuries in this game are mentioned & naturally it has to be a girl. Harry would never miss a game!

Oh, and apparently the Firebolt is so good it makes the rest of the team better too. They're inspired by "the Firebolt in their midst."

Which retrospectively demonstrates how bad the Slytherin team is. In CoS they couldn't be inspired by a new broom for each(!) to win.

Madam Hootch falls asleep while chaperoning, which is weird and out of nowhere.

May be she resents being told by DD to chaperon a practice, out of her usual work hours, just because of one student & finds it unnecessary since Harry is surrounded by other players.

Fun reader activity: Imagine the reaction of the school and the narrator if Draco Malfoy got a Firebolt and brought it to breakfast.

LOL! I just did.

The Slytherins can't actually walk over to Harry themselves like everyone else, so they just lurk in the shadows like a big, ugly mob with Malfoy as a messenger.

They know how the rest of the school, especially Gryffindors, view them and aren't so eager to be surrounded by gleefully malevolent (to them) crowd. At school I wouldn't approach the clique of unpleasant, hateful to me people either. Draco naturally is the one to go both because of his relationship with Harry and Draco's character. (Imo, he would've crossed to see another boy's broom too).

Also, Harry wears tee-shirts under his robes now.

And Draco tells Ron to tuck his shirt in in OoTF too! Shirts under robes are definitely canon, even if it may seem strange. In the movies they do too. See the picture of Slytherins in shirts:
http://www.premiere.fr/var/premiere/storage/images/cinema/photos/diaporama/images/harry-potter-et-le-prisonnier-d-azkaban-harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-2003__31/5956048-1-fre-FR/harry_potter_et_le_prisonnier_d_azkaban_harry_potter_and_the_prisoner_of_azkaban_2003_diaporama.jpg

The history of sexism in the WW is kind of interesting, actually.

Imo JKR didn't work it out at all. First, she tries to describe gender-blind society with 2 women founders of the school, women ministers, etc. Then she either wanted to say smth about RL sexism or just desperately searched for ways to somehow add pepper to G/H romance. I would find it interesting, if I saw the plan, instead of this strange mixture.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

---“Hermione's not even trying to prove Crookshanks didn't do it with logic or evidence or something. She really does seem to just be saying that he can't be accused of something because she likes him.”

I still like PoA – maybe I should stay away from this site...
This is the ridiculous attitude that turned me against Hermione, after really liking her - but she’s only the first character I learnt to hate. She was followed by Harry, Dumbledore, the Twins (see this Quidditch Match), McGonagall (sob) etc. - all for the same reason. It’s an early demonstration of one of the things I find most difficult to stomach about the Harry Potter series. Two people can behave in the exact same way, but will be treated (and *presented*) completely differently, depending on their relationship with Harry. Even worse, we’re genuinely expected to react differently according to that presentation. Previously I said it was dependent on the colour of their tie, but Zacharias Smith ended DH a cringing coward, throwing children behind him in his desperation to escape danger. All because he *dared* to ask for proof from Harry in OotP. Yet he was a Ravenclaw – not a filthy Hun. I mean filthy Slytherin.

Seamus escaped with merely being ignored by JKR (good news for anyone’s characterization) in the last two books, because he had the good sense to apologize for trusting his mother over that odd chap he shared a dorm with. Otherwise he’d have no doubt ended the series a traitor. Or a child murderer. Or a werewolf. Or whatever punishment JKR thought suitable for a non-believer. Oh ok, and because his tie was red and gold.

This whole flaw in the series has made me really doubt JKR. Not as a writer – duh! I mean as a person. How can she not see this is wrong? Is that what she teaches her children - it doesn't matter how you behave, but whose side you're on? It’s what she’s teaching everybody else’s. I’d better leave it there, but it’s disturbing. The story could have been just as easily told (actually far better told) without this nauseating bias. Except JKR wasn’t up to it 80% of the time.

---“ Cho's had some problems with injuries. That's because she's weak, Oliver. Doesn't have the spine to really be a match for Harry.”

Maybe she’d been crying, got her hands wet, couldn’t hold on to the broom and slid off? Then cried some more when she landed. Oh, if only there was a fiery, sporty character, who adores Quidditch as much as Harry, (lots in common), yet never gets upset (not in front of Harry, anyway) even if she falls 150 feet to the ground. I hope one appears soon!

Hogwarts has lots of spare brooms - shouldn’t the matches all be played on identical ones? They could be updated every 5 to 10 years, from bequests from wealthy benefactors. I presume that’s how the professionals handle it. Please tell me *they* all have to have the same broom, or at least brooms that are on a par, if it makes such a difference? No wonder Charlie went into Dragon Whispering – better than struggling along with a ‘Pauper 2000’ or whatever he was using.

---“ That must have been pretty exciting for Ron. Again, one of the weaknesses of this book is that the actual story isn't happening to Harry, it's just going on near Harry. Those of us in Harry's pov have to be contented with Quidditch matches.”

Stop complaining – if you think this is bad, re-read Half Blood Prince!* Here, JKR was kindly preparing us for year six when so much good stuff happens off page. Harry might as well have been home-schooled that year, but then we wouldn’t have had the mystery of who the Half Blood Prince was, that gripped both the Trio and the readers. Except it didn’t.

* Azkaban to Deathly Hallows is too much of a jump; we needed to be eased into missing all the good stuff gradually.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

But then, this is the book for wizard pet owners blaming the victim and being proved right about it in the end.

This shows the natural superiority of instinct over reason. Animals are instinctual. If they don't like someone, it's because there's something wrong with that person. Humans, on the other hand, try to adopt the reasonable attitude that others are good until proven otherwise.

See how nicely that works? Buckbeak attacked Draco because Draco is inherently bad. Crookshanks could just smell the traitor on Scabbers--just like Scabbers attacked Goyle because Goyle is bad.

Going back to the Marauders and Snape: It was James and Co's ability to get in touch with their animal selves that clued them into Snape's inherent badness. SWM? They were just being like dogs who can tell the bad guy immediately.

This despite the fact that everyone who really loves Ginny treats her in a paternalistic fashion.

Heh. Ain't that the truth, though? We were supposed to laugh at Ron and his protectiveness in HBP, right? But all her family treat her that way, starting with Percy in CoS, and ending with the whole Ginny has to sit in an empty room during the big fight scene in DH.

I guess I can see her family doing that, but it was a bit much when Harry fell in line with them. This, with the girl who broke up with someone because he helped her climb into a high doorway.

Ron's woken by Sirius standing over him with a knife. That must have been pretty exciting for Ron. Again, one of the weaknesses of this book is that the actual story isn't happening to Harry, it's just going on near Harry. Those of us in Harry's pov have to be contented with Quidditch matches.

I believe it's in the next chapter that Ron cashes in on this moment by telling everybody the exciting story. And Harry notes that this just makes Ron more pathetic because Ron has to embellish the story to make himself look like a hero. Unlike Harry, who never has to do his own PR.

Percy pins his Head Boy badge to his pajamas. Awww.

Also, given the number of times that Gryffindors get roused from their beds due to a crisis, Percy is just being pro-active. Chances are he'll be needed to herd everyone over to the Great Hall and dole out sleeping bags again.

[oryx_leucoryx]

How exactly does McGonagall always hear noises in Gryffindor? Where does she live?

Doesn't Severus live in the dungeons, close to his class and to the Slytherin common room?

So either Minerva lives close to Gryffindor tower, or close to the Transfiguration class. And she may have some kind of alarm system in the Gryffindor common room. In any case, in OOTP Neville knows how to fetch her when the presence of an adult was needed. (But then, Neville has sense, he would know.)

Neville gets blamed for the break-in. Yup, no reason to look any further up on the chain of command there.

And no reason to draw the obvious conclusion - that Sirius had inside help. It could have been a student. It could have been someone else. I bet Severus believed Remus snuck in and stole the passwords.

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Malfoy returns to the rest of the Slytherin team and they put their heads together, probably asking Malfoy if it was really a Firebolt.

I adore that Draco came over for a look. He's so brave! :D

Harry takes off his school robes and sticks his wand in his tee-shirt. That sounds uncomfortable and difficult to reach.
Also, Harry wears tee-shirts under his robes now.

The movies totally pwned the books when it came to wardrobes. I mean, silly sport or no, those quidditch robes were the awesome. :D

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

What's this? You can't post a new review up when we're still bashing out the superiority/candidacy of H/Hr in the last one! :-)

It looks like the end of Ron and Hermione’s friendship because they’re so angry at each other. End of a friendship, beginning of a true love marriage. It’s often hard to tell the difference. They both involve so much hostility.

SING IT, SISTER!!

:-)

I was going to quote and applaud the particularly clever observations in your review which highlighted the quidditch 'sportsmanship' and house hypocrisy, but really, that would incorporate more than half of your review! Suffice it to say that you were particularly on the ball with this one, I loved your comments.

But this line in particular made me laugh out loud:

They should really be carrying the Firebolt on their shoulders.

*guffaws*

Actually it presumably really was the Grim, with whom Crookshanks is hanging out. Clue!

Goodness gracious, so it was! Wow. Maybe we weren't all idiots for enjoying the first few books?

Sad to say, I have to accept that Hermione was something of a hypocrite in not properly examining Ron's claims that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers. Not that she'd ever announced that she was a brilliant girl who would apply her massive intelligence to any and all problems with no bias, but we all know anyway that she was a brilliant girl who should apply her massive intelligence to any and all problems with no bias. Poor girl. Hobbled for the convenience of her author and the plot. Look out, Hermione!! There's lots more of that in the books to come! :-(

Well, it was only Ron, anyway. And Hermione's going to inexplicably lust after him, and wait for him, regardless of all the animosity and insults and betrayals and lack of respect and bitterness and dearth of common goals and interests and so on and so forth anyway. Why bother writing a couple with any of the requirements for a bona fide and loving relationship when you can just make it so with the stroke of a pen anyway?

*pages through handy-dandy JABOOTU reference*

*nods head in agreement at Jabootu scrore*

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Hermione's not even trying to prove Crookshanks didn't do it with logic or evidence or something. She really does seem to just be saying that he can't be accused of something because she likes him.

I don't think it's quite *that* bad. She isn't providing evidence that Crookshanks didn't do it, but she's arguing that there's no evidence that he *did*. Er, except the presence of a few cat hairs of the right color. (Well, cat hair *does* tend to get everywhere...)

When I first read this book, I was more sympathetic to Hermione's position. Could Hermione have kept Crookshanks under control without confining him to a single room for 9-10 months out of the year? Would confining him like that be entirely humane? What about all of the other pet cats that are presumably around? How do students usually keep the pet toads safe from the pet cats?

However, Hermione is utterly unconcerned with Scabbers' fate, and that's pretty cold. Even if she was behaving no less responsibly than any other the other students with cats, she should be sorry that Ron's grieving for his pet.

just general thanks

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

I've been not been commenting when anyone else has already said what I thought, but I just need to make a general comment.

You rock! At least once per chapter, usually more, your comments are snort-coffee-on-the-keyboard funny. The souls that can be knit into sweaters, the very specific level of sportsmanship...

Thanks for the pleasure you're giving me.

And, by the way, couldn't you give us a link to your Sorting Hat Song?

Just chiming in.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

I love that you're reviewing PoA! Even if it's painful.

It's still so bittersweet to look back on this series, and PoA was the book that sucked me in.

Basically everything that's wrong with this book - played differently, it could have been the setup for something great. I *loved* that here was this kids book about a boy's sports fantasy / orphan rescue fantasy that was actually concealing this complex, adult psychodrama. I loved that the heroes were deeply flawed, that the society was deeply flawed. I loved, in later books, the arc that Harry seemed to be following - becoming increasingly detached and disillusioned (and gay). It all could have led to actual growth, character development, constructive conflict.

Damn. This reread almost makes me want to revisit the old Ron is Dumbledore theory and write some fic. As I recall, the theory was officially put to death some time around OotP, whereas for me, HBP was the one that jumped the shark, but post-DH everything's up for grabs, so what the hell.