PoA Chapter Seventeen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up but judging by the title this is a chapter where actual important stuff happens that relates to the title of the book and everything!

Harry’s mind has gone blank with shock. Do I need to make a joke about that not being a change for Harry?

It actually took me a minute to remember what that line was talking about. It’s one of the weird things about this Buckbeak story. It’s the classic “Keep the animal from being put to sleep” story only the kids have no actual emotional investment in keeping the animal alive. Yeah, they care about Hagrid but they also know he’s irresponsible in this area and they usually have to pay for it. It’s not like any of them have any attachment to Buckbeak that justifies minds going blank with shock.

Hermione, especially, just spent the whole book being singularly insensitive to peoples’ dead pets as if she just didn’t get the problem. Suddenly she’s transfixed with horror at the idea and choking at someone daring to put down a wild animal.

Ron’s rat runs away, followed by Crookshanks, followed by Ron, followed by Harry and Hermione. The last two can’t run under the invisibility cloak, so they hold on to it, “streaming like a banner.” Which is weird because it’s streaming like an invisible banner.

Ron’s getting dragged into the willow is pretty good. The leg-breaking is pretty harsh!

Basically the whole trip through the tunnel with the animals leading them is pretty good. Yup, I was right. This is the good chapter. This whole section is the reason I always think this book should be my favorite and yet it’s not.

Why is there furniture in the Shrieking Shack? Wouldn’t a padded cell look be more appropriate for its purposes? Or just a doggie bed, wee wee pads and chew toys?

I guess Sirius could have turned into himself before carrying Ron upstairs, but it’s just too funny to imagine Ron getting dragged upstairs by a big black dog, bumping his head on every step. Sucks to be Ron.

Sirius Black emerges from the shadows. Hey, that’s the guy from the title! Glad to see you, FINALLY!

Sirius disarms Harry and Hermione. So he’s the master of their wands now, right? *rolls eyes*

Sirius reminds us that he’s, well, who he is by commenting that it was “brave” of Harry and Hermione not to run for a teacher when their friend was dragged into a tree by a large animal. Even if it plays right into his seemingly nefarious plans for them it was the right choice.

Ron vows that if Sirius wants to kill Harry he’ll have to kill them too. I mention this only because I’m pretty sure Steve Kloves expelliariumsed this line of Ron’s and presented it to Hermione along with every other admirable thing he could get his hands on in this movie, so I’ve heard.

Harry hulks out, daring Sirius to kill everybody in the room. I’m sure Ron, at least, appreciates this line of trash talk.

The description of Harry forgetting he’s small, skinny and 13 and only wanting to hurt Sirius without caring if he gets killed in return, is probably the essence of goodness according to this series. This is courage in its purest, least diluted form. And Slytherins can’t ever have it because even in their most angry moments they’d probably still be afraid of something.

Harry hears a voice in his head telling him to kill Sirius. Years ago I read a theory about how the voice in Harry’s head directing him to do something in GoF was Ginny’s because she was his true love. So now every time Harry has one of these “voice in the head” moments I imagine it’s Ginny. And certainly this is something HBP!Ginny would order him to do here, at least.

Harry can’t kill Sirius. Too bad he’s not meeting him a few years from now where he’d be able to throw a few Crucios. You know, just to assure us that he can and thus is even more heroic when he shows you mercy.

Lupin arrives to save the day! And I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten anything important…

Lupin expelliariumses everybody’s wand. So now he’s the master of everybody’s wand. Or just the one Sirius was using? Or just the ones where the people who owned them were holding them. Something like that.

Harry feels like a failure for not killing Sirius since now he’s going to be handed over to the Dementors. Yeah, that’s…not sure what the problem is there, Harry. That’s worse than being killed.

Lupin hugs Sirius like a brother. Harry and Hermione are all, “OH NO HE DIDN’T!”

Lupin hugs Sirius like a brother. Or in slash terms, Lupin hugs Sirius like an old lover with whom he will be having sex again as soon as possible.

Oy. Lupin, following Sirius’s lead, decides to hug Sirius before explaining everything, so now he has to fight through a chorus of “Shut up!” and “I trusted you!” before he can explain everything. Explain first, emote later, people!

Hermione reveals she knew Lupin was a werewolf. Lupin tells Hermione she’s the cleverest of witch of her age he’s ever met. Frankly I’m surprised the whole school wasn’t buzzing with the rumor that Lupin was a werewolf. Wouldn’t everybody notice those symptoms if they knew werewolves existed? Particularly if the guy’s name was Remus Lupin?

Lupin, continuing his usual method of discipline, watched the Trio leave the castle because he was afraid they might, but didn’t go out and get them.

Peter’s not very good at being a rat. I’d like to see somebody try to keep a real rat in his pocket under these circumstances.

But that’s not a rat, it’s…Peter Pettigrew! Dun dun DUNNN! Okay, admit it. Best reveal in the whole series.

Can’t wait till Snape gets here, though.

Things that happen more than once:

The Trio takes the same long walk down the tunnel as Snape took all those years ago.

An innocent prisoner seems to be punished for a crime. That seems to be the whole idea with Buckbeak. He’s not an animal, he’s a person innocent of a crime and being executed for it. Except that Buckbeak actually did attack Draco and Sirius didn’t kill the Potters or anyone else. I guess it comes down to the book’s belief that “he started it” or “he looked at me funny” or “he wanted killing, your honor” really is a solid defense.

Harry’s inability to kill Sirius when he’s finally got him where he wants him is like Draco (who already set up the parallel earlier) not killing Dumbledore. Only Harry’s freezing says good things about his character where Draco’s hesitation just says he’s a pussy.

Harry’s carefully praised for being brave over being smart.

He’s an animagus! Just like Rita in the next book!

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Sirius is a pale-eyed dog
Status: fired and you didn’t even know it was a gun. I suspect Sirius and Draco having the same color eyes was a clever hint to their connection by blood.

Who’s that dog and why’s he hanging out with Crookshanks?
Status: Fired, neatly.

Is this Sirius Black guy ever going to show up?
Status: Fired, finally.

Scabbers’s missing toe
Status: Fired, surprisingly.

Snape’s poisoning Lupin
Status: Fired, lycanthropically.

Harry wants to kill Sirius
Status: Not fired, thematically.




The Cricket Rule
Day-for-Night
Chirping up a storm by now.

Idiot Picture
What is it with Gryffindors and explaining things quickly? Honestly Sirius, holding on to the story is what got you put in Azkaban to begin with! After all these years you’d think you’d want to spit it out fast.

James Bond Exposition Rule
Sirius is very committed to the opposite of this in this chapter, making sure not to say anything to explain his true position to Harry, even while Harry’s attacking him.

Not to be undone, Lupin then yammers on about how he got his job as a teacher instead of explaining the same stuff Sirius refused to explain.

Light Bulb Moment
“But then…why hasn’t he shown himself before now? Unless…unless he was the one…unless you switched…without telling me?”

Misdirected Answering
No really, the psycho murderer will just sit here next to the kid with the broken leg as the moon rises in the sky and Snape rushes through the tunnel. Go head, Lupin, and tell us how Dumbledore totes made you a teacher even though you’re a werewolf because he’s just that tolerant. And how’d you get the idea for the Marauder’s Map? And why’d your friends call you Moony?

POV Shots
Harry and Hermione run through the tunnel following Crookshank’s fuzzy tail.

Spring-Loaded Cat
All that training of Crookshanks’s has been for this scene.

Jabootu score 8

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

The book mentions that the sun is just setting bellow the horizon as the chapter begins. Since it is the full moon, when the moon is in opposition to the sun relative to the earth, this should be when the moon is beginning to appear on the opposite horizon. At least it would have had Hogwarts been on an open plain. Mountains may create some delay. BTW according to this detailed timeline it is now around 9:30. They have Remus transforming at almost 11:00. This looks way too late. Supposedly cloud cover is to account for the extra delay but the theory of werewolf transformation in the Potterverse becomes rather convoluted. It seems they transform when the full moon is generally visible in their local area, regardless of whether they themselves are exposed to moonlight (or Remus wouldn't transform in a closed room with curtains on the windows).

Hermione, especially, just spent the whole book being singularly insensitive to peoples’ dead pets as if she just didn’t get the problem. Suddenly she’s transfixed with horror at the idea and choking at someone daring to put down a wild animal.

Hermione is angry and frustrated that her research got disregarded.

Hagrid's hut isn't on the Marauders' Map. Neither is the Shrieking Shack itself, only the beginning of the tunnel is. So these minutes, when it is already past sunset, when Scabbers is running from the hut to the tunnel, is when Remus, who has yet to take his potion, decides to leave everything and go after Peter. Note that Remus was watching the map because he expected trouble of some kind. Though the trouble may happen in a place that was off the map (suppose the kids tried to interfere with the execution and got caught?) And the event likely to cause the trouble - the execution - was scheduled for sunset. So why not go to Severus and ask for the potion right after dinner (after all, he makes an entire cauldron of it the first day it needs to be taken so it should be ready and waiting), before he sat to watch the map? What was he thinking?

And BTW, why did the Marauders leave those places off their map?

Why is there furniture in the Shrieking Shack? Wouldn’t a padded cell look be more appropriate for its purposes? Or just a doggie bed, wee wee pads and chew toys?

It's Dumbledore making a statement about Remus' humanity, a statement belied by the state of said furniture. Unless you think the Marauders brought the furniture in, so they could use the place as a club-house at times other than the full moon.

Sirius disarms Harry and Hermione. So he’s the master of their wands now, right? *rolls eyes*

And he does so with Ron's wand. So he mastered that one too. Oh, but he wasn't planning to keep the wands so it doesn't count? Do the wands know that? Does Sirius have to cross his fingers when he disarms the kids to prevent them from losing mastery of their wands?

The description of Harry forgetting he’s small, skinny and 13 and only wanting to hurt Sirius without caring if he gets killed in return, is probably the essence of goodness according to this series. This is courage in its purest, least diluted form. And Slytherins can’t ever have it because even in their most angry moments they’d probably still be afraid of something.

And anyway, except for Draco they are giant hulks so they have no justification for being afraid. (As if that means much against magic.)

Hermione kicks Sirius to force him to let go of Harry. This is a counterexample to those who say Hermione before DH wasn't good at thinking on her feet or in a fight.

Crookshanks nearly became the master of Harry's wand.

Harry raises his wand to kill Sirius. And what was he going to do with the wand? Cast a Jelly-leg jinx? Oh, maybe use Wingardium Leviosa and then drop him on the floor or bash his head into a wall?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Remus's forgetting his potion is just going to get more hilarious as the night goes on. I mean...as you say, what was the man thinking? I can sympathize with JKR trying to give him a shock that drives it out of his head, but once you know that he's forgotten--particularly since Snape will show up and remind him right away--you just start thinking he's an idiot.

I do wonder with MWPP left those places off the map. Maybe they ran out of room on the parchment. Or they didn't want anybody to know Remus was in the Shack in case the map was discovered? Or maybe they were being helpful for plot purposes.

Harry raises his wand to kill Sirius. And what was he going to do with the wand? Cast a Jelly-leg jinx? Oh, maybe use Wingardium Leviosa and then drop him on the floor or bash his head into a wall?

That is kind of hilarious. Put his eye out, I guess.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Harry raises his wand to kill Sirius. And what was he going to do with the wand? Cast a Jelly-leg jinx? Oh, maybe use Wingardium Leviosa and then drop him on the floor or bash his head into a wall?

That is kind of hilarious. Put his eye out, I guess.

Nah, shove it up his nose. It worked for Harry before!

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Meh. I think the shack was just an abandoned building on the outskirts of the village that Albus acquired for the purpose and had the tunnel to it built. It was probably already the local "haunted house", and he just capitilzed on the reputation. I expect the furn was already there, and probably so rickety that no one else wanted it.

Well, you never hear about the *shack* having been built for the purpose of housing a werewolf (pretty good trick of managing to build a new house and have it *immediately* be rumored to be haunted).

[oryx_leucoryx]

And of course it had the advantage of being located outside of Hogwarts. So if anyone asked, Dumbledore could swear under Veritaserum that there never was a transformed werewolf on school grounds. Which is the only advantage the Shack had over a locked room in one of the dungeons. But the arrangement was ridiculous in any case. Why not lock Remus in wherever he was? Or if he was walked off grounds why not floo/Portkey/send him by Knight Bus home for his transformations? OK, I suppose the last two would attract attention and side-along wasn't invented yet. Still, I think flooing (from the village if not from school) should have worked.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

About moonrise -

Where I come from (North America), and, presumably, throughout the world, the moon is often VISIBLE in the sky while the sun is up! Discussing this with my sister, we came to the conclusion that sunshine must counteract moonshine - or something. But, if all it took to keep Remus from transforming was the absence of moonlight, why did he ever transform in the shack?

I'd say the theory of werewolves in these books is indeed convoluted.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

I think that the moon can only appear in the daytime sky in the new moon end of the cycle, because it's only then that the moon is on the sun's side of the earth. At full moon, the moon is on the opposite side of the planet from the sun, so it would only appear at night. If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase and scroll down, you'll find a table that lists when the moon is in the sky during the different phases.

However, you would think that werewolves could *theoretically* avoid transforming simply by traveling around the globe to stay in daylight once a month. Or by going to the appropriate polar region, during certain times of the year, since in summer there are days that last months there. (According to Wikipedia, "In Svalbard, Norway, the northernmost inhabited region of Europe, there is no sunset from approximately 19 April to 23 August.")

It might be tiring, but the wizarding world's transportation is better than Muggle transportation. It should be possible, and probably less tiring even than transforming *with* Wolfsbane. Remus apparently found transformations debilitating even with the potion.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I can imagine the moon-avoidance tourism to some places. At least during the northern summer. I suppose the werewolves would need to start a colony in Antarctica for the northern winter? It could be a place to meet werewolves from around the globe. They might create a niche in magical international commerce or diplomacy.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Where I come from (North America), and, presumably, throughout the world, the moon is often VISIBLE in the sky while the sun is up!

That depends on the point in the lunar cycle. On full moon the moon is exactly opposite the sun and therefore it should be visible from sunset to sunrise. On the new moon the moon is between the earth and the sun, it rises with the sun and sets with it. The waxing crescent rises progressively and sets progressively later than the sun, the first quarter rises at noon and sets at midnight and so forth. See Lunar phases on wikipedia.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

So why not go to Severus and ask for the potion right after dinner (after all, he makes an entire cauldron of it the first day it needs to be taken so it should be ready and waiting), before he sat to watch the map? What was he thinking?

Yeah, but Lupin had this passhole thing going on, whenever Snape brought him the potion, he'd just ignore it and leave it there on the table. Didn't want to give Snape the peace of mind of drinking it so that he knew a mad werewolf wouldn't come after him. *kicks him* So of course he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of doing and asking for it.

Crookshanks nearly became the master of Harry's wand.

Lol, just like Voldemort should've been worried that Nagini would technically be the master of the Elder Wand after he sicced her on Snape, but whatever...