Philosopher's Stone Chapter Ten

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

It's Hallowe'en!

 

Hallowe’en

 

*The chapter opens with a view through the Malfoy filter!  How often does that happen in canon?  Half Blood Prince should have been from Malfoy’s POV...

 

*Harry and Ron are true Gryffindors.  Any near death experience is an excellent adventure and hours later they want more of the same!

 

*Nearly all the protection around the mysterious object sums up Hogwarts security in general when indeed, there is any in place at all.  It looks impressive, but really, a child could easily break through and a non magical child at that.

 

*Hmm Neville is not keen on another brush with death... should he be in Gryffindor?  I am inclined to think not.

 

*Yay!  Hermione’s not speaking to them.  This must be the pinnacle of Harry’s fortunes in the series because now he is also given the gift of the Nimbus 2000 in front of the entire student body.  But Harry is still the underdog here, just so we are clear on that.

 

*Really Malfoy, what else would be in a long cylindrical package other than a broomstick... :p

 

*Ron is basking in the reflected glory of the Nimbus 2000.  How kind of Harry to give Ron a little reflected glory from time to time.  Pity the poor twerp won’t always appreciate it.

 

*Take that Malfoy, even the head of Ravenclaw house believes Potter deserves this open display of favouritism.  You shouldn’t try and compete with him, in the Potterverse he will always win.

 

*And go and boil your head Hermione, Harry can do what he likes when the universe centres around him.

 

*It really is weird how success at Quidditch depends entirely on how expensive a player’s equipment is.  Not on their merit or hard work at all.  It would have been a lot more accomplished of JKR to have made the Hogwarts sport soccer... soccer may be a tedious game, but at least it doesn’t have that bizarre quality of one’s equipment being all that matters.

 

*So here’s the Quidditch pitch.  The need for practice three times a week could be averted if all the team had expensive brooms.

 

*And it isn’t necessary for Harry to learn all the rules of Quidditch.  He will be the only player on the team who matters.  It can be summed up by “catch the shiny object.” Great plot device JKR.

 

*Harry could be better than Charlie who could have played for England... but there is an anomaly in the timeline so it is impossible to discern whether Charlie is three years or eight years older than Percy.  If he is only three years older than Percy, Gryffindor has not won the cup since Charlie was in his second year at Hogwarts.

 

*I wonder if the basics to Harry’s lessons were like those in the ladybird junior magicians guide book – ie only learning about the colour, length and texture of your wand...

 

*The castle is now Harry’s only true home... just as Dumblesnore planned.

 

*Really Neville, you should only expect to be Harry’s bootlicker, not his partner... even though you turn out to be very much more heroic than he is.  Kind of sad really.

 

*They’re still wearing hats here, but it looks like JKR just forgot that she included hats early in the series so they disappear with no explanation.

 

*I would be more than angry at being expected to work with Hermione.  I would most likely just leave the classroom.

 

*How would Hermione have got on at Malory Towers? ;)

 

*Live bats for decoration.  Cool.  I wonder why the anniversary of the fall of Voldemort is not commemorated explicitly.  Everyone could be forced to sing Harry a song acknowledging how he really is the centre of their universe.

 

*Troll in the dungeons... that sounds more impressive than it actually turns out to be.

 

*Harry is a true Gryffindor here once again and Ron a true sidekick.  They want another dangerous adventure for no readily explicable reason.  It’s what they’ve been waiting for since seeing Fluffy.

 

*What’s Snape doing?  Well we’ll just have to wait to find out.  Oh the suspense.

 

*Great idea, lock the troll in with Hermione, they will be very happy together...

 

*No really, it’s all for the best, don’t barge into the bathroom now... argh!

 

*Actually Hermione’s not nearly so insufferable here when it’s clear she is no use at all in a crisis.  Much more tolerable than when she becomes a weird sort of ruthless superhuman in the later series.  At least here she seems easy to off.

 

*So Hermione makes it sound as though the three of them went looking for the troll together when actually none of them had.  Just as well McGonagall is a Gryffindor – hence a character who admires recklessness.

 

*Yes Harry, Hermione would not have needed saving if you had not locked the troll in with her.  Which is why you should have left them locked in the bathroom together.  Think what the rest of the series would have been like then. 

 

*When I first read this it did seem bizarre - especially given Harry’s insularity - that this character with whom he and Ron have nothing in common should not only become their friend after the troll vignette, but also stick to them like glue afterwards.  Malfoy doesn’t become Harry’s friend even though they both see Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.  It was explained later by JKR telling us that Hermione is like a self-insert of hers.  It was authorial fiat.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Draco was just a bit socially clumsy, being a homeschooled only child. But at least he talked about something another boy might be expected to relate to (sports) - it just so happened he was speaking to a boy who was unfamiliar with that particular sport. Hermione starts by telling Harry what wizarding history books say about him and telling him what she would have wanted to find out in his place, then went on to challenge Ron about that spell he was trying on Scabbers.

She doesn't deliberatly insult others and when she realizes she's offended people, she's sorry for it.

I can't remember Hermione being sorry for offending people, I can recall her being self-righteous (if you have examples I'll be glad to see them). Mostly I remember Hermione worrying about getting in trouble but I can't remember her regretting anything she did simply because it was wrong. After Harry chose Ron over him on the train Draco stopped trying to befriend Harry but he did make 2 attempts, the first without even knowing who Harry was.

The boys, in turn, see how she sacrifices her reputation with a teacher to get them out of trouble, even though the whole thing was partially thier own fault.

Hermione's lie was so stupid and superfluous, that the boys took it that way doesn't say anything good about them. Had Hermione told the truth the boys wouldn't have gotten in trouble (what for?) and she wouldn't have lost those 5 points. Hermione lied so she could at least have the image of reckless Gryffindorishness even if she couldn't (yet) live up to it.