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]

See To Much There, chapter 2 where Draco gets a chance to explain his behavior at Madam Malkin's (because Severus is the one accompanying Harry).

Neither Draco nor Hermione are intentionally offensive to Harry initially, but both understandably rub him the wrong way. It comes down to Hermione turning out to be useful to him (and Harry and Ron feeling guilty for inadvertently endangering her).

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

Hey, I quite like that fic. :)

I think this part is especially interesting: "What I’d add to Duj’s analysis is that Draco saw Harry come in—dressed as a Muggle. So Draco must have thought he was talking to his first-ever Muggle-born, those fabulous, exotic, maybe dangerous creatures his parents have always warned him against. He tried desperately to connect with him; only after Harry had repulsed all of his best endeavors did Draco decide his family was right all along, you couldn’t even TALK to those people. Only then did he start asking if the stranger, Harry, were “our kind”. Which he already ‘knew’ he wasn’t; by then, he was deliberately attempting to get a rise out of the boy who wouldn’t even talk civilly to him."

[robina1984.livejournal.com]

...A fanfic. Um. Okay. Obviously I misunderstood something. I thought this was about why, in canon, Draco and Harry didn't become friends. Sorry about that and I shall bow out of this conversation. Once you use a fanfic to prove a point, nothing can be accomplished in a discussion. Please accept my apologizes for not getting this.

*goes back to lurking*

[oryx_leucoryx]

"A model is a lie that helps one see the truth" - Picasso.

[oryx_leucoryx]

OK, to elaborate - some fanfics get you to think about other ways of seeing the canon characters. We know how Draco came across to Harry, but how did Harry come across to Draco? Did Draco's comment about reserving Hogwarts to people from wizarding families come completely out of nowhere or was there something about Harry's behavior that triggered it?

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

(because Severus is the one accompanying Harry)

And in canon Snape wasn't anywhere near Harry when he went to Diagon Ally with Hagrid. Therefore, any attempt by this fanfic to explain the motivation/behavior of canon!Draco (or any other canon character) fails automatically.
You wouldn't accept a fanfic were it's Snape who tortures Frank and Alice to insanity as a legitimate reason to hate canon Snape, would you?

[oryx_leucoryx]

What has one got to do with the other? The situation at Madam Malkin's in this fic was the same as canon until the point of where in canon Hagrid shows up. By this point Draco already told Harry about his parents getting him things, already asked Harry about Quidditch and Houses, already told Harry how he thought of Slytherin vs Hufflepuff, and Harry already decided Draco reminded him of Dudley. What Harry doesn't know is what Draco thought of him. We don't know for a fact what Draco was thinking and why he was saying what he said in canon. This fic raises the possibility that Draco thought *Harry* was the one in the wrong, and that his reasons for thinking so were as legitimate as Harry's reasons for thinking badly of Draco. Both were judging strangers who grew up under very different situations based on their own respective experiences.

You wouldn't accept a fanfic were it's Snape who tortures Frank and Alice to insanity as a legitimate reason to hate canon Snape, would you?


If I read a fic in which Severus tortures the Longbottoms I would take the author as interpreting Severus' canon interaction with Neville as the result of guilt. Or I would wonder if the author expected the interactions between Severus and Neville during Neville's school years to be the same as in canon or different. That's what a good AU-fic does - makes one think about the 'what-ifs'.

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"The situation at Madam Malkin's in this fic was the same as canon until the point of where in canon Hagrid shows up"

Um yes, and by doing that this fanfic makes Draco more sympathetic in this scene by conveniently omitting his remarks on Hagrid and his remark about Harry's parents. Remarks that contributed to Harry's negative impression on Draco.
As an AU "what if" kind of fic, this fic is fine and interesting. But as an explanation to canon!Draco's behavior in the canon Madam Malkin scene, this fic doesn't do the job.

[oryx_leucoryx]

But Harry thought Draco reminded him of Dudley even before the remark about Hagrid. It was Harry's first impression of Draco when the latter mentioned his parents running errands for him and when he speaks of smuggling a broom into Hogwarts.

[oryx_leucoryx]

But as an explanation to canon!Draco's behavior in the canon Madam Malkin scene, this fic doesn't do the job.

I don't see why not. Draco's comments about Hagrid don't require special explanation - Draco was repeating what he heard at home (which happened to be the truth in this case). Harry is defensive about Hagrid because of his dealings with the Dursleys, but one doesn't need to be particularly nasty to not be impressed with him. As for Harry's parents - do you mean Draco not appearing very sorry about their death or the part about keeping people from Muggle families out of Hogwarts? The former, while hurtful to Harry is again not so hard to understand. Learning that a total stranger you just met is an orphan is awkward. As for the latter - since Draco already decided Harry had no manners (because of his inability to make conversation) Draco decided Harry confirmed the stereotype of an ill-mannered Mudblood who didn't know his place and wasn't worth his effort. That was the first time Draco became antagonistic to Harry - after he was rebuffed by him several times. The claim is that until that point Draco was trying to make friendly conversation, not that the entire encounter is Draco's attempt at making friendly conversation.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"And in canon Snape wasn't anywhere near Harry when he went to Diagon Ally with Hagrid."

I don't think his whereabouts on that day are mentioned, are they? So it's not impossible that he was in Diagon Alley that day, but didn't run into Harry.