COS Chapter Three: "The Burrow"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Aww, c’mon, Jo, do we have to go with Harry to the Burrow? Couldn’t we go to Malfoy Manor with Theo Nott instead?

* Would Arthur really know about Harry’s reprimand, given that it’s got nothing to do with his department? “He works in the Ministry” often seems to be another way of saying “A wizard did it”.

 * So none of the neighbours noticed a car hovering in mid-air next to Harry’s bedroom?

* Fred’s “We feel they’re skills worth learning” is probably meant to make him sound all tolerant and pro-Muggle. Unfortunately the effect is undermined somewhat by the fact that he only seems to be interested in learning how to steal things.

* BTW, I just think it’s nice that the twins are using their skills here in service of a good cause, rather than to bully the Slytherins or make mischief for the hell of it. It’s a shame they don’t do this more often.

* Given the WW’s rather lax regard for animal rights, Hedwig’s probably lucky that nothing worse has happened to her than almost being left behind.

* I’d have thought that Vernon would be happy to see Harry escaping, given that he seems to hate the boy.

* They let Hedwig out to fly alongside them. Pity they won’t think of this when they have to escape in DH.

* Malfoy doesn’t like Harry. Malfoy’s the sort of person who’d have a house-elf. Therefore, Malfoy’s the one who sent Dobby. QED! Obviously elementary logic isn’t on the Hogwarts curriculum. (Well, we wouldn’t people learning to question old Twinkly, would we?)

* Fred and George seem perfectly happy to repeat everything their dad says about the Malfoys. This shows that they are tireless fighters for Good, as opposed to Draco, whose willingness to repeat everything his dad says about Muggleborns shows that he’s an evil bigot who deserves to get hexed into unconsciousness by Harry and friends.

* Note that the fact that Harry’s always beating Draco, rather than vice versa, in no way alters the fact that Harry’s the underdog in this story.

* Draco, the boy who sometimes makes snotty comments about Hagrid and the Weasleys, makes Dudley, the boy who spent eleven years physically abusing Harry and his friends, look like a kind, thoughtful and sensitive boy. Right.

* If house-elves are set free by being given clothes, how would one be able to help Mrs. Weasley with the ironing? And given all the stuff that wizards can do with magic, I have great difficulty believing that nobody’s invented an ironing spell yet.

* Actually, given that pretty much any household chore can be done using magic in a few seconds, I’m surprised wizards need servants. Still, I suppose we have to have some way of showing how privileged the Malfoys are.

* If the Weasleys’ owl collapses on deliveries, mightn’t it be better to get a new one?

* Percy’s been spending most of his time in his room, polishing his, ahem, Prefect badge. Because obviously, a sixteen-year-old boy wouldn’t spend time in his bedroom for any other reason.

* Come to think of it, though, “I’ve just got to go and polish my Prefect badge” sounds like one of the euphemisms from that Saturday Night Live sketch with Lindsay Lohan as Hermione.

* That’s right, Arthur, wipe their memories! They’re only Muggles, after all, so you can pretty much do anything you want to them.

* The kids’ idea to pretend Harry arrived in the middle of the night has got to be one of the dumbest plans I have ever heard.

* Note how Fred gets all resentful about “perfect Percy”, even though Mrs. Weasley referred to Bill and Charlie, too. Yep, you can tell Percy’s a valued member of this family, alright. I can’t imagine what made him decide to align himself with the Ministry instead of his family.

* For a poor family, the Weasleys seem to have no difficulty in looking after Harry for however many weeks it is that he stays. It seems like they’re only poor when Ron needs to angst about not having enough money; when actually being poor might inconvenience one of the characters in any practical way, they’re fine.

* It might have made sense for the Weasleys to have difficulty looking after seven children (although it would rather call their judgement into question), but now that two have left home, four are at a free boarding school for most of the year, and one is about to start said boarding school, their financial situation really should have improved.

* How exactly is Mr. Weasley too soft with the gnomes? Is it that he insists on just throwing them away, rather than killing them or whatever?

* Mr. Weasley’s just as prejudiced, in his own way, as the Malfoys are. It sometimes seems as if the only distinguisher between the good guys and the bad guys in these books is whether they talk about Muggles as if they were children, or whether they talk about Muggles as if they were animals.

* Arthur’s been using his position to deliberately make loopholes in the law so that he can continue tinkering with Muggle stuff. Why do I get the impression that, if Lucius did such a thing, it’d be treated as a sign of his irredeemable evilness?

* Silly backwards Muggles, with their theatre and their literature and their television and their films and their opera. Wizards have got The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle, which is obviously far superior in every respect.

* The part about the gnomes sneaking back into the garden made me chuckle.

* I love Ron’s waiting for Harry’s opinion of his room. It’s just so natural and realistic and sweet.
 

Comments

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

Now that I think about it, did the Weasleys ever have all seven living in the house at once? And if they grow their own food and Molly mends things and they do hand-me-downing, what's eating up their finances? Wands? Not new pets, if they're handing those down. ... Were those pets required at some point? I feel like they were required to have an owl, cat, or toad, but I don't know why.

I like Ron's waiting for Harry's reaction, too. Adorable.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Silly, Arthur's a Gryffindor! Of course it's ok. In fact, it's probably a sign of his goodness, since it's Muggle things and he's one of *Dumbledore's* men. Don't go trying to make a rational comparison of Gryffs and those nasty Slyths based on their *actions* now!

/sarcasm

I love Arthur, I really do, but in his own way he's as prejudiced and corrupt as certain "villains." He's simply not malicious or manipulative about it.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Depending on how you interpret the timeline info, Ginny may have just turned one or two when Bill left for Hogwarts.

As for pets, Harry's letter says he is *allowed* either an owl, a cat or a toad. The Weasleys, however, had a rat and a pygmy-puff (in addition to Percy's owl and later Ron's owl).

[oryx_leucoryx]

Wonderful spork! Love the digs at the illogic and the moral inconsistencies.

* That’s right, Arthur, wipe their memories! They’re only Muggles, after all, so you can pretty much do anything you want to them.

In GOF he will explain how some confusion is normal after an Obliviation. How does he know there is no long-term damage? What kind of follow up is there for victims of Memory Charms? Maybe the onset of Alzheimer's disease is triggered by Obliviate?

[sunnyskywalker]

The Twins used to have moments where they actually seemed to care about others' welfare, albeit briefly. In PS/SS they helped Harry get his trunk on the train before they knew who he was - he was just some random scrawny first year as far as they knew. What happened to those guys? Fred and George getting more callous, and then getting a rude awakening when their weapons-dealing helped DEs invade Hogwarts and rethinking their lives, would have been an interesting subplot, but unfortunately it stopped with "getting more callous." Are we meant to think that's a lovable foible?

The Dursleys are in quite a bind, it seems. They don't want Harry around, but they don't want him hanging out with wizards even more. Or showing them up by escaping.

At least wizards have Martin Miggs comics. Otherwise we'd have to wonder whether Beadle's tales, Celestina Warbeck, and the Weird Sisters were the only wizarding entertainment in existence. (Okay, and Lockhart's supposedly non-fiction tales of adventure.) This shows some evidence of popular reading material.

Not only does Percy have good emotional reasons for leaving the Weasley family, but logical ones too. The whole family follows Dumbledore without considering whether being powerful and against Voldemort is enough qualification for leadership. Percy could well conclude that he wanted to be on Team Good and oppose the various criminals and former DEs that caused trouble, but that Dumbledore and co. were ineffective and/or causing more harm than good. The Ministry might have flaws, but at least they didn't depend on a cult of personality and so had hope for improvement. (And Percy's too trusting about other people's intentions, but for crying out loud, he's still practically a kid and that's understandable.) The Ministry really can point to successes, from incarcerating DEs to making sure cauldrons meet standards so they don't melt and hurt people. What about Dumbledore? Failed to protect the Potters, failed to defeat Voldemort, failed to protect Hogwarts from all manner of monsters, sabotaged school unity with blatant favoritism, failed to so much as keep his groundskeeper out of Azkaban... If he can't convince anyone for fifty years that a big spider does not kill people without leaving a mark, or even to check Hagrid's memories to see that his pet was a spider, either he's incompetent or didn't try. Percy might not know the details, but wouldn't he wonder why, if Dumbledore is sure Hagrid isn't the culprit, he was unable to find any convincing evidence to clear his name? For fifty years? We know he does wonder things, like why Dumbledore didn't explain why the third-floor corridor was off-limits.

[sunnyskywalker]

If there is some Ministry department, or St. Mungo's team, that follows up on the effects of Obliviation, I'd be very curious to see their findings. Judging by Snape's improvements and inventions in potions and spells, the wizarding world has some idea of doing tests and experiments to learn things, even if it isn't common in school. And even if they didn't care about the effects on Muggles, wizards get Obliviated too, so they'd have both motive and opportunity to check in and see how they're doing. But maybe the effects on magic and Muggle brains are different? Or there's some antidote wizards have but don't share?

[oryx_leucoryx]

We also know he cared about Ron and Ginny - even when he was already working for the Ministry. (I love the image of officially dressed Percy running into the lake to help Ron out.) And both suffered (Ron repeatedly) from Dumbledore's various schemes or acts of incompetence. So why not conclude that aligning with Dumbledore was a bad move for a Weasley?

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Fred and George seem perfectly happy to repeat everything their dad says about the Malfoys. This shows that they are tireless fighters for Good, as opposed to Draco, whose willingness to repeat everything his dad says about Muggleborns shows that he’s an evil bigot who deserves to get hexed into unconsciousness by Harry and friends./

I think that it's the racism factor. By criticizing the Malfoys, Fred and George aren't saying that *all* pureblood families are bad (after all, they're purebloods themselves) or that all wealthy families are bad. The Weasleys' animosity is personal and confined to just one family. It's not motivated by racism or elitism, etc., so it's easier to forgive.

/Draco, the boy who sometimes makes snotty comments about Hagrid and the Weasleys, makes Dudley, the boy who spent eleven years physically abusing Harry and his friends, look like a kind, thoughtful and sensitive boy. Right./

Well, that's just a repetition of what we heard in the last book, namely of the statement, "Harry never thought that he would hate a boy more than Dudley." Again, maybe it's just because Draco is rich and has magic.

Or... (maybe I'm just pulling things out of thin air here) maybe it's because Harry's never seen Privet Drive as his home, which is understandable, given his poor treatment there. Hogwarts, on the other hand, *is* the place that he calls home, where he finally feels accepted. It's the one place that he can escape from the Dursleys, he has friends there, and he feels welcome. It almost seems perfect...

...except it's not. Despite being much better than Privet Drive, Harry still has to contend with a bragging, boastful bully, who reminds him of Dudley. Draco (as well as Snape) ruins the idea of Hogwarts being a perfect, escapist paradise. Harry can deal with Dudley because he expects nothing more from Privet Drive, but for some kid to make his life at Hogwarts difficult, to insult the friends that Harry's so grateful to have, to spoil what would otherwise be an ideal home for him...maybe that's what Harry can't forgive him for.

/Come to think of it, though, “I’ve just got to go and polish my Prefect badge” sounds like one of the euphemisms from that Saturday Night Live sketch with Lindsay Lohan as Hermione./

I remember that sketch! It was awesome. XD

/Note how Fred gets all resentful about “perfect Percy”, even though Mrs. Weasley referred to Bill and Charlie, too. Yep, you can tell Percy’s a valued member of this family, alright./

And again, what's the difference between them being resentful of Percy and sarcastically calling him "Perfect Percy" and Draco being resentful of Harry and sarcastically calling him "Perfect Potter?" True, the former are related while the latter are not, but still.

/Silly backwards Muggles, with their theatre and their literature and their television and their films and their opera. Wizards have got The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle, which is obviously far superior in every respect./

*sighs* Well, I guess that's what fanfiction is for, to fill in the gaps.

/I love Ron’s waiting for Harry’s opinion of his room. It’s just so natural and realistic and sweet./

I liked it too. :)

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Wizards live longer without getting senile - maybe their brains are more resilient (what they lack in logic they make up for in longevity, perhaps?) It's quite likely that they'd resist degnerative diseases and the like better than Muggles.

[sunnyskywalker]

It is a great image! Considering how much he tries to appear dignified in front of... well, everyone, it's also a pretty good indicator that he cares about Ron quite a bit, as does writing to Harry Potter's official best friend while the Hogwarts mail was potentially being read by third parties. He was also perfectly willing to charge into battle against the DEs at the World Cup, so we know he's willing to face dangers that are clearly happening. Deciding not to trust the guy who's repeatedly endangered an entire school (including his siblings) when the guy makes a huge claim with basically no supporting evidence doesn't sound out of line. Even with his doubts, Percy apparently trusted Harry and Dumbledore enough not to think maybe Harry killed Cedric and Dumbledore was covering it up, so he isn't just determined to believe the worst. Sounds like he's making considered decisions to me.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"I think that it's the racism factor. By criticizing the Malfoys, Fred and George aren't saying that *all* pureblood families are bad (after all, they're purebloods themselves) or that all wealthy families are bad. The Weasleys' animosity is personal and confined to just one family. It's not motivated by racism or elitism, etc., so it's easier to forgive."

I suppose the Weasleys' dislike of the Malfoys isn't as harmful as the Malfoys' racism, but the principle is the same, in that both the twins and Draco are accepting what their father tells them, more-or-less blindly.

"...except it's not. Despite being much better than Privet Drive, Harry still has to contend with a bragging, boastful bully, who reminds him of Dudley. Draco (as well as Snape) ruins the idea of Hogwarts being a perfect, escapist paradise. Harry can deal with Dudley because he expects nothing more from Privet Drive, but for some kid to make his life at Hogwarts difficult, to insult the friends that Harry's so grateful to have, to spoil what would otherwise be an ideal home for him...maybe that's what Harry can't forgive him for."

That's actually quite a good idea, although I think it would be better if Rowling had made Malfoy more effective in his attempts to get one over on Harry. As it is, Draco isn't more than a minor inconvenience. Yes, he says nasty things about him and his friends, but nobody seems to care except the Slytherins; yes, his dad buys the Slytherin team new brooms, but Harry gets an even better broom and goes on to beat Draco in every single Quidditch match they play against each other; yes, he and his dad try to get Harry's favourite teacher sacked, but they can't, and end up failing to even get his hippogriff put down... But despite the fact that Harry comes on top in every confrontation they have, he still acts as if Draco's making his life hell. It's like JKR wanted to make Harry the persecuted underdog, but couldn't bear to have him suffer in a way that would actually make him one.

"And again, what's the difference between them being resentful of Percy and sarcastically calling him "Perfect Percy" and Draco being resentful of Harry and sarcastically calling him "Perfect Potter?" True, the former are related while the latter are not, but still."

In Harry's case, he's the only one treated with so much favouritism, so Draco's got a good reason to single him out; Mrs. Weasley, OTOH, also referred to Bill and Charlie, who were by all accounts high-fliers at school just like Percy was.

(Also, Fred and George managed to make Percy's life a misery in POA far more effectively than Draco ever managed to ruin Harry's life. Still, IOIAGDI, I suppose.)

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

But, questioning is bad. One must follow without question or be consigned to the dump heap of Potterdom.

[sunnyskywalker]

Very true. Maybe this is why he was punished for dissing Bagman for not looking for Bertha Jorkins by not discovering Crouch was Imperiused. (Not that anyone else looked for Jorkins or noticed anything wrong with Crouch before he started staying home, not even his long-time colleagues or anyone at the first task.)

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that that's the difference, too. I think that Bill and Charlie were kind of like Sirius and James: they were smart and got good grades without coming across as nerds. I think that what George and Fred can't stand about Percy is that he takes everything very seriously. He's proud of his academic career, he's a stickler for the rules, he doesn't hide his enthusiasm for his job, and he has a very formal manner that makes him seem pompous. Such a serious figure is a ripe target for jokes, whereas I doubt that Charlie and Bill were ever that serious, given that Charlie is off raising dragons and Bill wears an earring.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Poor little Percy.... Maybe he should join a Martial-Arts academy; I know all my Master Instructors would consider him a model student. Oh, wait, he's a Wizard and Martial Arts isn't magic. Poor guy!

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

They're not exactly the same by any means, but I don't think they're totally different either. Percy, Bill and Charlie are all high fliers; the fact that Fred and George specifically single out him indicates that their problem is with him personally (probably due to his over-seriousness). Harry Potter, OTOH, is (as far as we see) the only wizard to receive so much special treatment, and there's no indication that Draco Malfoy would feel so resentful about him if he wasn't. Essentially, F&G's problem is with Percy personally, not his status in his mother's eyes, whereas Draco's problem is with Harry's status, and probably not him personally.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

It probably is a bit of both, as you say. In F&G's case, there might be some background annoyance at their older brothers' constant outshining them (especially in their mother's eyes), but the fact that they focus this resentment onto Percy is probably due to his personality, which is the least like the twins' of any of the Weasley children. As for Harry, he's arrogant and jockish, but so are 90% of Gryffindor males, and I doubt Malfoy would think of him as anything more than just another annoying Gryffindor if it weren't for his status as The Boy Who Lived. But yeah, I think we're basically in agreement that it is a bit of both. :)

"Their mother's affection is not for everyone and it probably needs to be deserved first. Just ask Ron. :)"

That's probably how it looks to the twins; to Percy, however, it probably seems that their mother loves him for his achievements, but loves the F&G anyway, without them having to do anything. I think that both parties probably built up quite a bit of resentment towards each other, leading to Percy snapping in OOTP.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I love your recap of Percy, by the way. He makes so much sense he could almost be Muggle. :) Which is probably why Rowling hates him so much... Also, he is one of the few in the series who seem to value actual loyalty (not to be confused with kissing Dumbledore's ass), fair play and hard work.

Good point. Maybe this is why I love Snape/Percy. :)

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, the content is wretched. I'm just saying at least there are some wizards with enough creativity to create such a thing as a comic book. We still don't know of any novels, radio dramas, etc., but it's a start.

Poor Percy. He actually seems to know the difference between loyalty and mindless obedience, and somehow that gets him tagged as less insightful and capable of following the "right" person. I guess he doesn't have that miraculous hero's intuition that would drop Horcruxes and backstory into his lap if he needed. And now that you mention Muggles, he actually advised Harry that Muggle Studies was a useful class. Hm...

[sunnyskywalker]

They even got cool jobs with dragons and cursed tombs while Percy was boringly keeping wizarding international relations going and protecting all of Snape's students and everyone else from faulty cauldrons. Anything with paperwork must be useless and part of an evil, Umbridge-like bureaucratic nightmare, right? *sigh*