PoA Chapter Twenty

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The image of all of these guys coming down the stairs is pretty hilarious and creepy at the same time.

As they creep awkwardly back in the tunnel I find myself thinking it’s too bad they don’t have cell phones. Then I think this probably would have been a good moment for Lupin or someone to send a Patronus to Dumbledore to tell them to have people there to meet them outside the tunnel. Too bad Patronuses don’t work that way yet.

Sirius makes no effort to prevent Snape’s head from bumping along the tunnel. Which is understandable at the moment, but I’m sure Snape’s been described doing things gently in that kind of circumstance. This is the kind of thing that seems like JKR making some subtle point but in the end I don’t think she is. It’s just funny when Sirius or the Twins is petty this way.

Some sort of explosion takes place in Harry’s stomach when Sirius asks to live together. For a moment I fear Harry’s going to do something really messy and wonder if the Shrieking Shack has a working loo, but it turns out he’s just overcome emotionally.

Oh Sirius, you’ve totally done it now. You want to actually be Harry’s family? Dumbledore’s not having that!

Oh look, the full moon. Good thing you all knocked out Snape since he would have no doubt been yapping about it for the past fifteen minutes, thus keeping Lupin from leaving the Shack with you all.

And certainly keeping Lupin from chaining himself to people with broken legs. He might as well be chaining himself to a hickory-smoked ham.

Anyway, without Snape obviously Lupin’s going to forget about the full moon and being a werewolf tonight. He’s been too busy rushing through the tunnel where he almost killed somebody as a werewolf to the house that was built to house him while he was a werewolf, reuniting with his friends at school who became Animagi to hang with him while he was a werewolf and confessing how he’s a werewolf until he was interrupted by the guy he almost killed as a werewolf who’s yelling about how they tried to kill him in the very tunnel that connects to this very house with this very werewolf who btw forgot to take his werewolf Potion tonight.

Maybe he should have written it on his hand.

Btw, apparently Lupin can walk around just fine under the full moon if it’s covered by clouds. Which would indicate that all he has to do to get around his curse is to stay indoors and away from windows for three nights a month. Or carry a parasol.

Actually, I feel like the moon coming from behind the clouds should probably be a Jabootu thing. In werewolf movies the moon always rises by emerging from behind the clouds that part like a curtain and begin the transformation.

Go Peter! Look, I’m sorry, I know he’s evil but the guy’s a survivor!

I wonder if Peter had remembered the full moon and was waiting his chance, in fact. Rats have to think about these things.

Harry trying to cast his Patronus here while Sirius cowers is pretty great. Nothing bad to say about this bit, really.

Well, except that I’m not sure why Sirius is a man here. He was last seen as a dog and he said Dementors don’t bother dogs. Did he turn into a human just as they snuck up on him Stealth Monster style? There’s a hundred of them and you can feel the coming a ways off.

Harry’s using the thought that he’s going to live with Sirius to cast his Patronus. Nice the way that Dumbledore’s excellent plans for Sirius in OotP effectively take away that greatest hope for both of them (meaning Sirius and Harry) here. Not in this book, I mean, but later.

Really, the whole way that Dumbledore inserts himself as Harry’s awesome mentor and father figure is one of the ickiest things in the series. I guess because it’s not even presented as something he’s doing on purpose, but it plays like a barely-conscious impulses that show so clearly through the character. (Choices show who we are.) Sirius is like the anti-Dumbledore, and he dies trying to be Harry’s family and escape Dumbledore’s horrible home for him.

Dumbledore puts Harry in a horrible family too. But he does tease them for ten minutes so that makes it okay.

Seriously, let’s review: Dumbledore takes James’ invisibility cloak when the family’s in hiding, which might have helped them a little. He intentionally places Harry with a family that hates him (making him a little underfed but not a pampered prince!). He gives evidence against innocent Sirius. He doesn’t curb Snape’s behavior or try to make peace between them. He insists Sirius live in the childhood home of his nightmares. And he apologizes…for being the guy who’s so squishy about Harry he gave him the house cup and didn’t tell him he was planning to have him killed because he wanted him to be happy.

The Weasleys are damn lucky they’re loyal enough that Dumbledore didn’t feel threatened by them, and that they had so many children he could feel relatively secure that Harry couldn’t get too much personal attention from them no matter how much they wanted to give it.

Harry and Hermione could very well have died here. Harry’s not even supposed to know how to do a Patronus. I mention it because of what it says about the safety of the school that Molly had such faith in at the start. The place is literally crawling with soul-suckers that eat students as easily as convicts, and Dumbledore’s making faces about how frustrated this makes him really doesn’t make him any less in charge.

Of course, had Harry and Hermione been eaten I’m sure everybody would have talked about how it was their own fault, really, for being out past curfew. The Dementors are only following their instincts. Nothing unsafe about it if the students would just do what they’re supposed to do. Didn’t they listen to the instructions about not going out after dark?

Short chapter this time. The next one’s going to be interminable, though.

Things that happen twice:
First mention of a unicorn, I think. Harry apparently thinks they’re bright. They’ll show up for real in the next book.
No the use of a Patronus to call ahead and tell people you’re coming, something that will be pretty standard starting in I think GoF.
Peter escapes pretty much the way he escaped the first time.
The whole walk back from the shack echoes the Prank.
The Patronus galloping through the woods is reminiscent of Snape’s silver doe in DH.
Ron’s out, then Hermione’s out and Harry faces things alone, reminding me of PS/SS.

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Sirius asking Harry to live with him
Status: Not fired. Albus bent the muzzle of the gun to prevent it.
If you thought Harry might get a happy ending with Sirius, stop.

Something exploded in Harry’s chest
Status: Fired!
That was his chest monster hatching in his stomach, from which it will migrate to his chest in HBP.




Atomic Grenade
Hermione has no idea what Peter did to Ron. Always handy with the atomic grenade, that Peter!

The Cricket Rule / Day-for-Night
Don’t think any of these are going to remind Lupin he’s walking around under a full moon as a werewolf, though…

Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
…even though Snape just reminded it of him a few minutes ago.

One Radio Rule
No, really, Lupin. Don’t use that Patronus to make sure there’s a guard waiting to take Peter on the other end of the tunnel.

Spring-Loaded Cat
Peter finally gets back at Crookshanks by spring-loading him right off the ground and knocking him out.

Jabootu Score: 6

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Other authors make mistakes too. The background of a character changes slightly. Some years disappear from a timeline. Whatever. With Rowling the problem is the plot of different books depends on her world working differently each time, and when she changes the rules we are not supposed to notice it wasn't like this all along. Also, her 7 books are supposed to be a single story where there are many characters we learn about from different angles in different books - and we never get a complete picture in one place. We are clearly meant to patch information from different books, but between contradictions and hints that never get fleshed out (or things that get fleshed out just a bit and inconsistently) the outcome is incoherent.