Philosopher's Stone Chapter Six

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

On the way to Hogwarts!

 

Philosopher’s Stone Chapter Six

 

*Harry does some reading of text books for the first time.  It is also the last time he does so with any kind of eagerness. 

 

*Dud’s tail has got to be removed my non-magical means since Hagrid couldn’t be bothered to get rid of it.  This is another way the Dursleys are treated differently to other muggles.  Not only are they spared mind wipes, but they are given constant reminders of the existence of the magical world they would much rather forget.

 

*JKR had forgotten the layout of King’s Cross Station.  The sign for platform 9 ¾ has been placed on a wall a short distance away from the other platforms as its location in the book is totally inconsistent with the way the real platforms are positioned.  They have also bolted half a trolley to the same wall :p  Makes you think you are really in the Potterverse.

 

*Naturally Hagrid cannot be relied on even for the simplest thing.

 

*The conversation Molly is having with her kids is strange.  Surely she can’t have forgotten that the Hogwart’s Express leaves from platform 9 ¾ seeing as she was there the previous summer...?  Perhaps she is as innumerate as JKR.

 

*What must it be like to have twin sons who don’t have distinct personalities?  Molly must really have trouble telling them apart.

 

*Ron is the quintessential sidekick.  It is readily apparent that he will never be the sex magnet that Malfoy will become. 

 

*The Twins are uncharacteristically helpful in assisting Harry with the trunk.  Perhaps they only become really horrible as the series develops.

 

*Ron immediately greases up to Harry on the grounds of his being Harry Potter.  Just imagine how differently the series would have progressed if it had been Ron and not Draco who was unaware that Harry was the Boy Who Lived on first meeting him.

 

*Oh don’t worry Ron, in my estimation you will at least compare favourably to Fred and George in the end.

 

*It clearly must be a passive-aggressive gesture on Molly’s part to give Ron Charlie’s old wand.

 

*Why is Ron shocked that Harry can say Voldemort’s title?  Surely he realises that Harry was just that awesome, even from birth?

 

*Again, those horrible sandwiches must also be a sign of Molly’s displeasure.  She really ought to get over it.  She has had her Mary Sue (to be) daughter now after all, can’t she give Ron a break for being born a boy and a stereotypical sidekick?

 

*Chocolate Frog cards remind me of collectable football player stickers.  And they are equally dull.  Still, they are the most advanced children’s recreation the magical community seems to have.

 

*It’s Dumblesnore.  I wonder how Harry would react to the card if he had been introduced to the magical community by the Malfoys.  I began an AU fanfic on that topic as a matter of fact. 

 

*Great idea, the every flavour beans including flavours that are unpalatable.  I suppose the horrible flavours must be for Gryffindors to dare each other to eat them.

 

*Here’s Neville, the might have been.  Push off Neville, Harry Potter’s the centre of this universe.

 

*Ron’s spell for turning Scabbers yellow does not sound remotely like any other incantation we read in the series.  I suppose the fact that Ron doesn’t realise it is a fake is an indication that he is not all that bright?

 

*I can imagine that I would be very much more provoked by Hermione rudely butting in and insulting me than I would have been by Draco in Diagon Alley.  And surely any gruesome girl must be much more irritating by very definition than a kid who is just a bit snobbish but not actually provoking in any way?  I suppose we have to infer that Draco went wrong by reminding Harry of Dud at the beginning and the rest is just in the script.

 

*I suppose Ron might have unwittingly strengthened Harry’s prejudice against Slytherin house had that ship not already sailed.

 

*It must’ve been a powerful dark wizard to get round Gringotts?  Arthur seriously overestimates Gringotts security in that case.

 

*Ron explains the rules of Quidditch to Harry.  The ensuing conversation really ought to have unfolded like the very funny excerpt from a fan fiction that another member posted on my commentary to the previous chapter.  What a joke the position of Seeker makes of the entire sport!

 

*Enter Malfoy again.  Too late Malfoy, you already reminded Harry of Dud.  And you didn’t introduce him to the magical world or buy him his first birthday present so his views are set in stone.  It’s no good pointing out that Hagrid is riffraff or insulting the Weasleys now.

 

*JKR couldn’t be bothered to write out this entire vignette in a logical fashion, so Wormtail bites Goyle and then Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle just evaporate.  It is odd as JKR could not have known when writing this that her work would be made into a video game which is a medium where this kind of thing can happen.

 

*Oh come on can’t you see Hermione’s angling for a fight much more than Malfoy was?

 

*Hagrid’s in charge of the entry ceremony to Hogwarts.  Whose great idea was that...?

 

*It is ominous to be thrust into the same boat as both Neville and Hermione.

 

*We’re at Hogwarts!

Comments

Re: Oh dear, memory

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

If it isn't conscious then it's more disturbing, IMO. The association should leap to mind, not automatically suppress itself. Petunia is shown bleaching out some shapeless old stuff of Dudley's for Harry, turning the clothes gray. That made enough of an impression that it was specifically noted. Why is there no answering echo in the SWM scene?

Maybe because he's so traumatized by what he found out about his loved ones--and his enemy? It's clear he was ecstatic about seeing his dad, as well as Sirius and Remus. Then he found out Dumbledore and Remus had lied to him while that awful Snape had been telling the truth all along: James really was a POS (not POA ; )) and thug. Even worse, he had to have backup for his bullying, which made him a coward as well. So much for Gryffindor courage! He was just like Dudley! Aaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!! While Harry was absorbing that, he found himself feeling sorry for Snape, which he never expected. Then along came Harry's mom to rescue Snape, and she turned out to be a better man than any of the boys.

What did his mom do after that? She made fun of Snape's gray underwear--which was just like Harry's. Sure, he called her a bad name first, but she still chose a particularly intimate way to hit back. It's not as if she called him a "greasy git," like everybody else, and told him to wash his hair instead of his underwear. She used the one insult that applied to both Severus and her son. Maybe Harry was reeling too much from all these shocks to consciously absorb that last, ugly little detail.

Re: Oh dear, memory

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Lily really does not come out of it well at all now we know that Snape was a girl hood friend of hers. If he had been just a stranger and in a gang of budding Death eaters then her intervention would have done her some credit - in 2003 I inferred that she had a sense of duty to live up to her prefect role even if it compromised her popularity in Gryffindor. If Snape had been *just* a budding Death Eater it would also have excused her smirking when he was suspended and her umbrage at his calling her a mudblood.

However, from the shocking mess of the Prince's Tale, we learn that Snape was in fact her childhood friend, so it indicates she was a pretty nasty person. She most likely would not have intervened at all if the Marauders had been picking on anyone else.

Re: Oh dear, memory

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

At the same time he still had empathy for the kid being teased, even if it was Snape. Teasing is an obvious, OTT thing to be done to someone but gray or graying clothes is a life-long shame one wears under the skin.

I think, in this case and in the others we've discussed, Rowling didn't think things through. She has stated that she never re-reads and it appears she tosses things in just to ramp up the moment - Petunia blanching those clothes, for instance, purposely shaming Harry. There's no association in Harry because the incident meant nothing to the author other than to make the Dursleys into petty monsters yet again. There's no real link between these incidents and Harry's actual life in the Potterverse, they're just sympathy grabbers.