Philosopher's Stone Chapter Nine

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Harry is chosen to be the Gryffindor Seeker and sneaks out at night to fight Malfoy

The Midnight Duel

 

*Harry never thought he would meet a boy he hated more than Dud – until he met Draco Malfoy.  All that has happened is that he has met Draco Malfoy nothing else!  Harry can certainly go mad with hatred on a bare minimum of provocation. 

 

*The idea of Malfoy is enough to make Harry speak “darkly,” when discussing flying.  Although Harry is totally uninterested in those around him and never ever even learns the names of all the Gryffindors in his year, he still takes in every detail of Draco’s little Munchausen stories with helicopters, just so it can drive him near crazy with hatred. 

 

*Oh shut up Finnigan, it’s obvious Harry is only interested in Malfoy!

 

*Sorry Ron, you will never be a magnet for Harry the way Malfoy is even at eleven...

 

*I got picked on for having a west ham bag (I knew and cared nothing for football - my gran had got it for me...).  Commiserations Dean.

 

*At least Neville will become more heroic than Harry is someday... still not much of a status though.

 

*And how is Hermione less provoking than Malfoy?

 

*Yes Malfoy, Dumbledore and Voldemort between them ensured Harry has no real family.  But it is your post Harry is really obsessing over.  He must stare at you with his binocular vision across the Great Hall without pause through every meal.

 

*What use is a Remembrall if you can’t remember what you’ve forgotten? :p

 

*Ah a pretext to attack Malfoy, even if it is a ropey one... aw why did that old harridan have to interfere?  I bet Harry wishes she were in plaster.  She could see Harry ready to tear out Malfoy’s throat so she interfered!  Goodness me, isn’t our designated hero a little savage?

 

*Dumblesnore is observing Harry and Malfoy and taking it all in.  At the end of this book he will draw the parallel between Draco and Harry with Snape and James Potter, without telling Harry that he, Harry, is analogous to young Snape.  Snape resented that arrogant little berk, James Potter, in part because James, like Malfoy had that indefinable air of being well cared for as a little boy - the air which Snape and Harry conspicuously lacked.  I wonder how the plot dumping old coot enjoys watching Harry and Draco as they grow older?

 

*Twenty broomsticks would indicate that there are a total of twenty Gryffindor and Slytherin first years... but it is best not to tie JKR down to any point involving numeracy.

 

*The school brooms are really no use for Quidditch.  The quality of a player in JKR’s world usually depends on how expensive their equipment is... unless they are Harry of course, but just wait for it...

 

*Madam Hooch has yellow eyes like Scrimgeour.  Ollivander has unusual eyes too.  It may have been an interesting aspect of magical phenotypes if JKR had been better at world building.

 

*Harry has an intuitive grasp on how to handle a broomstick.

 

*Right from the first, Malfoy’s failings cause Harry delight. 

 

*Malfoy laughs at Neville’s mishap.  How would Harry have reacted if Malfoy had had any mishap?

 

*Parvati and Pansy knew each other before Hogwarts it would seem, but they will very soon have severed all ties if they haven’t already done so, because of the enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

 

*OK so Hermione criticises Harry for flying because it will get them all in trouble even though Malfoy is already flying... Not 100% sure how the reasoning works there, but once again she is being more provoking than Malfoy, if one were to take a purely objective view of the situation.

 

*Harry is like an idiot savant when it comes to flying a broomstick. 

 

*I’ll bet Malfoy is worried.  Harry really is prepared to knock him off his broom!

 

*In that light, Malfoy’s throwing the Remembrall to distract Harry is really in the spirit of self-preservation.

 

*I wonder what McGonagall would have said if she had been calm enough to finish her sentence?  Probably something like: “how dare you – might have broken your neck – you are a true Gryffindor!”

 

*Since Harry is new to the magical community it is a real fear for him that he might actually be chucked out for such a trivial matter as this and be consigned to Hagrid’s kind of drudgery.  Oh for the year when he can come close to disemboweling Malfoy and only get detention involving clerical work (foreshadowing...)

 

*Yes Wood, here is a new Seeker.  He has the kind of versatile talent that changes as the plot demands – the other teams will helpfully play worse so that he can win your matches in adversity.  Before we sneer at JKR’s apparent lack of writing skill, don’t forget that Frank Richards/ Charles Hamilton who inspired her, used the same device of players who had the kind of talent where opposing teams, even consisting of older boys, would play worse in order for the protagonist to be man of the match.  JKR’s take on this is let down by Quidditch being such a joke of a game.  It really draws attention to the artificiality of it all to create a position where Harry will be the only player on the team who even matters...

 

*Curiously McGonagall (or Dumblesnore) is going to get Harry a superior broom.  I suppose this is a display of favouritism on Dumbledore’s part that will make Harry more likely to commit suicide by dark wizard on Dumbledore’s orders.

 

*McGonagall remembers James Potter fondly.  Remember in 1997 we actually didn’t know that she was much older than James?  That isn’t revealed until Prisoner of Akaban.  On that topic, we also didn’t know Malfoy has silver blond hair until Prisoner of Azkaban was published either.  I actually assumed he had black hair to begin with.

 

*Fred reveals that Gryffindor hasn’t won the cup since Charlie left and in Prisoner of Azkaban JKR overreached herself by letting McGonagall say that by this time they hadn’t won for seven years... And yet Charlie is supposed to be only three years older than Percy who in Philosopher’s Stone is a fifth year... the definitive oh dear Maths.

 

*No such luck Malfoy, Harry is still at Hogwarts and will be pursuing you for years to come.  Just wait till sixth year :o

 

*I don’t know Harry, Malfoy displayed something resembling courage in the air when you were the one with supernatural flying skills who was prepared to kill him...

 

*Appease Harry, Malfoy.  Offer him the chance to kill you tonight, that will calm him down for the present.

 

*Ron explains that a second in a duel takes over if the combatant dies.  I wonder what the look on Harry’s face was that Ron noticed at that moment?  Was it a hungry sort of look?

 

*Here is someone much less welcome even than Malfoy or the twins... just gets worse and worse when trying to eat in peace, doesn’t it Ron?

 

*Hermione’s priorities are right according to the logic of Gryffindor house – recklessness and brutality are OK... as long as it doesn’t cost house points!  More of this later...

 

*Malfoy exerts a grip on Harry’s mind doesn’t he?  It can only be called pathological.  Harry can barely even remember the names of Dean, Seamus and Neville who share the dormitory, but he is now hallucinating that Malfoy’s sneering face is looming up out of the darkness...  What kind of hallucinations will he get in Half Blood Prince I wonder.  Incubi that resemble Draco seem too tame somehow...

 

*Oh great.  Hermione’s latched onto them and won’t go away.  Is this foreshadowing?

 

*I wonder how many points McGonagall gives to one of her own first years for answering Transfiguration questions correctly?

 

*The Fat Lady and Sir Cadogan really are a worse than useless idea!  Gryffindor’s entrance security is the most ridiculous out of all the houses.  They’d let a wanted fugitive in if he knew the password, but won’t admit first years who don’t... I suppose the risk must fit the ethos of Gryffindor house.

 

*Ron doesn’t know the curse of the Bogies, but I suspect Ginny has quite a precocious talent for it ;)

 

*It’s a trap.  Malfoy has arranged for Filch to be waiting for them.  Too bad little Harry is not as degenerate as his sixteen year old self who will stoop to attacking the old squib in a surreptitious manner!

 

*Eleven year old Malfoy is the best schemer in the series – except perhaps for Dumbledore.

 

*Fluffy’s door can be opened by any first year.  So all that prevents students from being eaten by the monster is Dumbledore’s weak and cryptic warning...

 

*Peeves’ loyalties shift to the Gryffindor kids at the last moment. 

 

*It wouldn’t have been so bad if Hermione had been expelled...

 

*And Harry’s worked out where the Philosopher’s Stone is hidden.  I wonder how many students in total worked it out over the course of the year?  It really doesn’t seem to be all that difficult.

Comments

Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

I know that Racist!Draco seems to be received wisdom for many, but reading about his helicopter stories in this chapter, I couldn't help but think that, if one looks at his actual actions, as opposed to what JK Rowling wants us to think about him, Draco doesn't actually seem that racist, at least by wizarding standards. For a start, he seems to know more about Muggles than most other Purebloods do (he knows what helicopters are, for example, and I think he mentions ballet somewhere else in the books, which is more than the Weasleys seem to know), and it would be a bit odd for someone who thinks of Muggles as inherently inferior to bother learning about their culture. Secondly, although he calls Hermione a "Mudblood" several times, we never see him using it on anyone else IIRC, and he's never shown bullying any Muggleborns for being Muggleborn, suggesting that he dislikes Hermione personally rather than because her parents were Muggles. Finally, his attitude towards members of staff doesn't seem to be overly influenced by their family: he doesn't seem to have any problems with the part-goblin Professor Flitwick; he has a good relationship with the Squib Filch (unlike Harry, who repeatedly hexes him in front of a laughing audience); and Snape, his favourite teacher, is half-Muggle. Bearing in mind that the WW seems pretty racist in general -- even the "good" characters think of Muggles as being like children, and Hagrid uses the term "Squib" as an insult (arguably worse than "Mudblood", as Squibs have a lower status in wizarding society than Muggle-borns do, and therefore suffer more from prejudice) -- I think that Draco's attitudes towards Muggles and other races aren't particularly bad compared to other wizards'.

(Also, I'm not sure if this is the right place to raise the question, but apparently a lot of fans thought that Draco/Hermione was a likely 'ship. I never saw it myself, but I'm quite curious to know what the evidence was, and I was wondering if anyone had a link to an essay on the topic?)

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Yes, Draco shows much less contempt for muggles than the muggle born Hermione does, that's for certain. He also displays significantly less contempt for non human magical creatures than Harry does.

Another ff.net member suggested that a lot of readers envisioned themself as being Hermione before the character became a monster. I expect alot of them also imagined Draco as being a young Tom Felton. Hence the ship.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

He does shout "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" when the chamber is opened. But even that is 12-year-old bravado rather than genuine bigotry.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

And he also says petulantly that he wishes that he could help the Heir of Slytherin and that Hermione would be the next to go, but again, he was twelve years old at the time and probably really didn't know what he was talking about. Serving Voldemort in HBP was a huge wake-up call for him. It was shown that his detractors were right about him in the sense that he was all talk and no walk in regards to his racist beliefs. And yet those same detractors will use that scene to justify their belief that he was evil all along and that it was naive to hope that he would redeem himself.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

I have no link as to the Draco-Hermione shipping, but - apart from what the above posters said - off the top of my head I'd say:
- Hermione is the only girl (as far as we know) Draco ever bothers to insult, who really seems to get under his skin
the same applies to Hermione - Draco is the one to make her lose her temper (she slaps him - most uncharacteristic of her)
- Hermione's parents being dentists, going to France and skiing as well as her general behaviour suggest an at least middle class upbringing, which would make her much better suited in a posh surrounding like Malfoy Manor than amidst the chewing with open mouths Weasley clan whose vulgarity even I found off-putting while reading it and I'm certainly less prissy than Hermione comes off.
- in pre-DH-days when Draco's redemption seemed just a matter of how and when but not a matter of yes or no (nobody believed JKR was going to be as ridiculously deterministic as she turned out in the end) in combination with her obsession to pair everybody off at a very young age indeed made it necessary to come up with a suitable female for Draco - and there just weren't many to chose from: Ginny was obviously going to be the reincarnated Lily and thus Harry's girl (as disturbing as it is)- so that left Hermione and (to a lesser extent, but at least she was more than a mere extra) Luna. Following the usual trope of pairing the most dominant representative of two opposing camps (and as Draco wasn't a girl which would have resulted in him/ her being with Harry) that made Hermione the much more likely candidate for Draco.
- the "brain thing": Hermione being the brain of the trio doesn't need any explanation. Apart from her momentary transformation into Lara Croft during parts of DH even her more aggressive actions before were more of the detached rationalistic sort (e.g. cursing Marietta via a document is a much more hands-offish method than divising something like tongue-tying her as soon as she tried to blab.). The same applies for Draco: he too seems to be quite good in class, especially in Potions - even in Slughorn's class who definitly did not favour him (because he favoured someone else as we all know)he still remained one of the top students. And in CoS Lucius stresses that Draco had been bested by a Muggleborn - obviously something unexpected and it reads as if Draco was bested just by Hermione and not by half the other students as well. Draco comes up with the Potter stinks badges that change colour and reading and even if Hermione uses the protean charm first (but didn't invent it), Draco doesn't seem to have difficulties in using it as well. Just like Hermione his way of aggression is mostly verbal or distant (see his ways to try and kill dumbledore).
- Their ambition. If Slytherin is supposed to be the House of ambition, Percy certainly is not the only Gryffindor who "has been sorted too soon". Just imagine: Hermione and Draco in the Ministry, working as politicians? No big stretch. Hermione and Ron doing anything together apart from hanging onto Harry? Um, no...
So yes, I'd say there are several arguments for a Hermione/Draco ship - and hardly any for Ron-Hermione.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! :)

"- in pre-DH-days when Draco's redemption seemed just a matter of how and when but not a matter of yes or no"

Having Draco fall in love with a Muggleborn could have been a good way of making him re-evaluate his prejudices and having him come over to the good side. I'm not sure that that subplot would very well if we only got to see it from Harry's viewpoint, though; it would really require telling from Hermione and/or Draco's POV. Mind you, I suppose Rowling could have brought in more viewpoints as the series matured (HBP and DH both start with chapters from outside Harry's POV, and she could have included more of these). *sigh* So many missed opportunities...

"So yes, I'd say there are several arguments for a Hermione/Draco ship - and hardly any for Ron-Hermione."

I think that EarlyBooks!Ron and EarlyBooks!Hermione could have conceivably gone off together, before Rowling made one of them a ridiculous loser and the other a borderline sociopath. As it is, they seem so unsuited for each other that I can only assume Hermione's keeping Ron doped up on love potion all the time (which would be IC for the girl who can wipe her parents' memories and permanently disfigure a fellow-student's face).

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Going back to the talk in favour of Draco, one can see from the series that he probably isn't all that judgemental about people's appearances. Pansy is described as being really plain, but I get the impression she and Draco went out with one another for a while??

I think that Half Blood Prince should have been largely from Malfoy's point of view rather than Harry's. He had a much more interesting storyline than Harry did that year. And it goes without saying that Deathly Hallows should have been completely different in every respect to the trainwreck that actually got published!

Consigning Draco to the Hermione ball and chain is much too horrible a punishment for such misdemeanours as he was actually guilty of...! Far better to have been killed by Harry in chapter nine than to eventually suffer such a fate as that. Don't suppose I am trying to be funny in this instance - that is the fate I would genuinely prefer if I were in the Potterverse and presented with a choice of the two. It is no wonder that Harry was suicidal at the end of Deathly Hallows. Death by dark wizard would be a picnic compared to spending months at close quarters with Hermione.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"Going back to the talk in favour of Draco, one can see from the series that he probably isn't all that judgemental about people's appearances. Pansy is described as being really plain, but I get the impression she and Draco went out with one another for a while??"

Well, they definitely seemed to be going out during the train scene in HBP (Draco had his head in her lap, and she seemed to expect him to hold hands with him when they left the compartment). I'm not sure when they started dating, but they went to the Yule Ball together in Book 4, so I'd guess it was sometime around then.

Interestingly, in <url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=22>this (rather smug and self-righteous, IMHO) article, Rowling implies that Pansy is the sore of girl who judges other people on appearances ("Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons"), which seems rather odd given that she is as you say rather unattractive. Mind you, though, I've never got why Pansy's given such a hard time in the books (yes, she said some nasty things about Harry in an interview, but she's never tortured anyone or disfigured anybody's face, which is more than you can say for the good guys). Apparently JK based Pansy on some girls who used to bully her at school, so perhaps she's unable to think about the character in a reasonable way. (Which coincidentally is why, if I ever write fiction, I'll avoid basing the villains off of people I know in real life.)

"I think that Half Blood Prince should have been largely from Malfoy's point of view rather than Harry's. He had a much more interesting storyline than Harry did that year. And it goes without saying that Deathly Hallows should have been completely different in every respect to the trainwreck that actually got published!"

The author of the last two books (the one who murdered the real JKR and took her place, just like LaterBooks!Ginny murdered Real!Ginny in between GOF and OOTP) seems to have a knack for avoiding the interesting plotlines and following the boring ones. I'd have quite liked to see Hogwarts in DH -- there'd be the DA trying to stand up to the teachers, Snape doing the balancing act of not being too severe on them but not looking soft to Lord Voldemort, Malfoy feeling conflicted between helping Voldemort and the Carrows and doing what he knows is right... Instead, we got months of Harry, Ron and Hermione camping in the woods and whingeing to each other. *is annoyed*

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"Consigning Draco to the Hermione ball and chain is much too horrible a punishment for such misdemeanours as he was actually guilty of...! Far better to have been killed by Harry in chapter nine than to eventually suffer such a fate as that."

To be fair, Early!Hermione seems quite nice. Yes, she's bossy and a bit of a show-off, but I always read those traits as being due to insecurity more than any serious moral failing. Draco's arrogance also seemed to me to be an effort to mask his insecurity. Maybe they could have helped each other get over their insecurity, and both become better people as a result.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"Going back to the talk in favour of Draco, one can see from the series that he probably isn't all that judgemental about people's appearances. Pansy is described as being really plain, but I get the impression she and Draco went out with one another for a while??"

Also, Harry's still dressed in Dudley's hand-me-downs when they meet in Madam Malkin's, so he'd probably look rather scruffy. Not many eleven-year-olds would try and befriend someone like that, especially not eleven-year-olds from a wealthy family who'd spent all their life living on a country estate.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/I think that Half Blood Prince should have been largely from Malfoy's point of view rather than Harry's. He had a much more interesting storyline than Harry did that year./

I agree, but then again, as so many HP fans have reminded each other time and time again, the series is called "Harry Potter and the..." not "Draco Malfoy and the..." ;)

I mean, I thought that Tom Riddle's background (however contradictory it may have been) was interesting too, but yes, I definitely would have loved to see more of Draco in HBP. I was sorely disappointed when I saw even less of him in DH.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[sunnyskywalker]

Early!Ron was good at chess and could cite centuries-old wizarding laws, so there was certainly more hope for him in general, as well as with Hermione someday. You could imagine that maybe when they're not 11 anymore they'd have more in common because they'd grow up.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[stasia]

This, exactly. It bugs me to see Ron, who at the beginning was a smartish kid (being good at chess takes work), deliberately forced into the Idiot Sidekick mold.

*sigh*

Stasia

Percy!

[oryx_leucoryx]

Percy certainly is not the only Gryffindor who "has been sorted too soon".

Sorry, Percy has nothing to look for in Slytherin. His alternative House is Hufflepuff! He believes that working hard will make people like him, just like Molly does, he acts out of care and loyalty to his youngest siblings (and the rest of his family) and he is humble enough to aplogise to his undeserving family.

Re: Percy!

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

I was mainly thinking of him reading a book about "a prefect's path to power" or something to the same effect - but I admit Hufflepuff seems on the whole more likely - including his being dismissed as boring and uninteresting like the rest of the 'puffs.

Re: Percy!

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

It's Prefects who Gained Power, if I recall correctly.

In reality, I think that lots of people could be happy in more than one house -- you'd have lots of hard-working and intelligent people who could be happy in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, for example, and Percy, being brave, hard-working, intelligent and ambitious, could probably fit in in any of the houses.

Re: Percy!

[oryx_leucoryx]

OK, rewording my previous comment - being loyal and devoted to loved ones is actually a Slytherin trait (Severus, Narcissa, Regulus). But the way Percy shows his devotion is direct - he writes Ron a letter where he tells him exactly what he believes Ron should do, he doesn't attempt to manipulate Ron - which makes Hufflepuff the more suitable House for him.

Re: Percy!

[kitrinlu.livejournal.com]

he is humble enough to apologise to his undeserving family

In my own personal canon, he didn't really entirely mean the apology, he just said it because he didn't want his family to die thinking he hated them, and the only thing he could think of that would actually resolve the situation was his abject apology. I like to think that not long after the events of DH, he cuts himself off from his family again and goes on to have a happy life without them.

Yeah, Percy's definitely my favourite Weasley. The others? Not so much. I hated that he apologised like everything was his fault and they just accepted it >:(

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

Also, Hermione in the first few books seemed like the most liberal and open-minded of the trio, and therefore the most likely to give Draco (or any Slytherin, for that matter) the benefit of the doubt. (After SPEW, however, I think she's very inflexible and narrow-minded about her beliefs, but that this is partially obscured by the fact that those beliefs are quite liberal. If she were a Muggle, I could just see her as one of those left-wing "The People will be free, whether they like it or not!"-type activists.)

I still prefer Draco/Pansy, though. Their relationship seems like one of the few romances in the books that actually seems believable, along with Percy/Penelope. This probably has something to do with the fact that both of them take place off-stage, so Rowling doesn't have as many chances to mess it up.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the open-mindedness of Hermione. And I've thought of another canon-based indication for Draco-Hermione:
in JKR-land, boys tend to marry their mothers. The Ginny-Lily-parallel is about as subtle as a train crash and Molly and Hermione give each other a run for their money where nagging is concerned.
Now Narcissa is extremely protective of Draco (even risking Voldemort's wrath) - and so is Hermione, although (interesting enough) her protectiveness is mostly directed at Harry instead of at Ron. So the general mind set is there - of course she would have to fall in love with Draco to redirect it.
And Narcissa is described as pretty and elegant - both of which Hermione exhibits at the Yule ball to everyone's (including Draco's!) astonishment. Whereas looks certainly don't hurt, I'd say elegance is the more relevant quality in a future Mrs Malfoy - and it speaks for itself that hermione was able to choose elegant robes whereas for example Ginny's style of decoration even non too sartorial Harry describes as overdone (in HBP).

Gruesome Hermione as evidenced in the text

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Actually JKR is quite brutal in reminding everyone how gruesome Hermione really is. Tke how she describes how tears "leaked" out of her eyes in Deathly Hallows. JKR wouldn't describe Hermione that way if Hermione were supposed to be even remotely appealing.

Re: Draco/Pansy and Percy/Penelope

[kitrinlu.livejournal.com]

Interesting that these are both believable relationships, but neither of them are still going out by the time of the epilogue (at least, according to one or another of JKR's endless interviews). I guess it's only with your one true love that you can have a truly terrible relationship :P

Re: Draco/Pansy and Percy/Penelope

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

Maybe. :) Although in the Draco/Pansy case, it might just have been Rowling saying "take that!" to Pansy (she was based off of some girls who bullied Rowling at school, so maybe she just didn't want to give her a happy ending).

(Still, I'm not sure how seriously we can take JKR's interviews, especially since she ended up contradicting herself quite a bit in them, sometimes in the space of a couple of days.)

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think the house elf issue is another area where Rowling just didn't think through the consequences at all. Their situation really reads as them being brainwashed, whether magically or not, into liking their slavery. It's a much trickier moral issue than she's willing to write- the question of 'is it right to force freedom on people who don't want it?', but with the added complication of them literally not being capable of making that decision for themselves.

It's important in fantasy to really stop and think about the consequences of what's happening. Rowling, unfortunately is...really not good at this. The only other possibility besides brainwashing is that the house elves are a magical slave race who genuinely love being slaves, which is just very squicky.

This probably has something to do with the fact that both of them take place off-stage, so Rowling doesn't have as many chances to mess it up.

Sadly, that seems to be the main rule with HP.

Re: Yet another example of my shameless pro-Draco bias

[oryx_leucoryx]

the same applies to Hermione - Draco is the one to make her lose her temper (she slaps him - most uncharacteristic of her)

OTOH as we shall see in the next chapter, Ron is the one who can make her cry for hours on end.

But yes, I think Draco's issues are with Hermione specifically rather than with Muggle-borns in general, and this shows he has been paying attention to her. It does bother him she has better grades than he does. But he only makes a bigoted remark at her after she accuses him (truthfully? falsely? We never find out and neither does she) of buying his way into the Quidditch team.

Apart from her momentary transformation into Lara Croft during parts of DH

Lara Croft!Hermione is sometimes explained in SSHG stories as the result of secret training sessions she had with Severus during HBP, while Harry was obsessing over Draco and Ron was snogging Lavender.