COS Chapter Four: "At Flourish and Blotts"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Mrs. Weasley’s already treating Harry like a surrogate son, adding some disturbing implications to the whole Harry/Ginny thing…

* For someone who spends all his time dealing with Muggles and Muggle-related paraphernalia, Mr. Weasley seems remarkable clueless about them.

* Dumbledore knows about Harry’s move to the Burrow, which makes it hard to believe that he didn’t know about the years of abuse suffered by Harry. Still, wouldn’t want him to become spoilt, would we?

* Although it would surely be easier to cure him of any spoilt-ness than of the severe emotional and developmental problems any real child would have if they were treated like that.

* I like the parallelism of “X, by Gilderoy Lockhart” being repeated seven times. It really hammers home the man’s narcissism.

* I can’t help wondering if Lockhart didn’t deliberately make all his books set texts in order to boost sales.

* Yes, Errol really is pathetic for collapsing like that. *rolls eyes* You can tell Ron’s a true Gryffindor by his inability to tolerate any sort of weakness.

* The Weasleys don’t seem to use their paddock for anything other than practising Quidditch, so they could probably make a fair bit of money by selling it. Maybe they’ve inherited a “lack of financial sense” gene along with their “tackiness” gene.

* I’m not surprised Percy spends all his time shut in his room, given how his family treat him.

* The idea of the Weasleys as a noble but poor pureblood family trying to keep up appearances seems to make a lot of sense here. It might explain why Ginny apparently needs new robes instead of making do with second-hand ones, for example.

* Just in case we think that his vast hoard of money makes him less of an underdog, Rowling helpfully reminds us that Harry’s only rich in the WW. (Because obviously, he couldn’t get the money changed or anything like that).

* Half-a-dozen bacon sandwiches each? Obviously the Weasleys’ poverty is due to their spending massive amounts on food.

* I can’t help thinking that it would be a good idea for someone to accompany Harry so he doesn’t get out at the wrong grate. But hey, I’m just a stupid Muggle, what do I know?

* If you can get off at any fireplace, being connected to the Floo network sounds like an awful security risk. You might as well leave your front door wide open at night.

* Speaking over each other and butting in like the Weasleys are doing doesn’t sound like a particularly good way of imparting advice.

* Harry’s bacon sandwiches were churning within him. Serves him right for being such a pig.

* We’re probably meant to think Draco’s irredeemably evil for being interested in all these dark objects, but really, what twelve-year-old wouldn’t be?

* For all that fandom seems to think that Draco = Dudley + Wand, I don’t think that Lucius looks like the sort of man to spoil his child. Here, he’s refusing to buy his son anything, not hesitating to criticise him in front of relative strangers, and refusing to accept his son’s excuses for his disappointing marks, unlike the Dursleys, who let Dudley have whatever he wants and are quick to blame his teachers when he doesn’t do well in school. Narcissa I could imagine spoiling him, but I’d imagine that Lucius wouldn’t let her be too indulgent.

* Draco seems to have been thinking about Hermione a lot over the summer. Aww.

* Loving the symbolism of Harry hiding in the closet, worried he’ll be outed by Draco Malfoy. H/D FTW! :p

* I wonder how rich Borgin is meant to be. Because here he sounds quite jealous of Lucius and his big house, but trading in rare and valuable magical objects must bring in quite a bit of money, surely?

* Or perhaps it’s his social status. People like the Malfoys would probably look down on Borgin as just a jumped-up tradesman, which I can see leading to a lot of resentment.

* Why would flesh-eating slugs be interested in cabbages? Or is Hagrid just making up a story to mask his real reason for being in Knockturn Alley?

* Actually, he’s probably trying to buy another dragon egg again. It’s not like he’s the sort of person who’d have learned from what happened last year.

* Arthur’s practically admitted that he’s trying to use his official position to settle a personal grudge. Just thought I’d better remind you that he’s one of the good guys, in case anybody was in danger of forgetting.

* Could the few thousand or so wizards in Britain really support an economy large enough to have its own currency?

* I’m surprised JKR didn’t give wizards banknotes. They could have little conversations with the famous people on them.

* I wouldn't mind having a strawberry and peanut-butter ice-cream, just to see if it tastes as disgusting as it sounds.

* Prefects who Gained Power sounds quite interesting, actually.

* “’Course, he’s very ambitious,” says Ron, making it sound quite sinister as opposed to something you could say about most kids his age.

* I quite like the fandom theory that Percy’s so snappish here because he’s arranged to meet Penelope in the junk shop, and doesn’t want his younger brothers intruding.

* So how long does Percy go out with Penelope for? I think he was supposed to be writing letters to her during the summer, which is why he spent all his time locked away in his room, which would imply that they started dating during PS, and he’s still with her at the end of POA, so they’re together for at least two years. Either Penny’s really desperate, or Percy’s actually quite a nice person to be with when he’s not around people who see every conversation as an opportunity to belittle him.

* Lockhart’s here, and I’m suddenly reminded of why COS is my favourite book. That man’s just so hilariously egoistical.

* “It can’t be Harry Potter?” Lockhart sure knows how to create a scene, doesn’t he? :)

* So what House was Lockhart in? I’m guessing Slytherin: he seems to have a Slytherin’s sense of theatrics, and his mind-wiping plan’s quite clever and cunning, if extremely immoral.

* It’s odd that Malfoy seems to be one of the only people who resents Harry’s fame and favouritism. You’d think more pupils would feel like that.

* Ginny Mk. 1 is coming to the defence of her friend, like a normal person would. Ginny Mk. 2 would come to the defence of her friend, insult Malfoy, insult Malfoy’s family, then bat-bogie him just to make sure. Oh, how I miss this earlier Ginny. :’(

* Come to think of it, Ginny Mk. 2 would probably do all the above even if Draco wasn’t insulting Harry, and had spent all the scene up till now quietly sitting in a corner reading one of the books.

* JKR often comes across as the sort of person who measures women’s worth by how much they act like boys (or at least the stereotypical arrogant jock-type boys). Any girl who acts in a feminine way is a traitor to the Cause; real girls go around attacking everybody for no apparent reason.

* I know Lucius is being incredibly rude, but really, Arthur should know better than to hit him. Especially in front of his children.

* Is Lucius meant to have slipped the diary into Ginny’s book after the fight? If so, did he originally intend to give it to Harry, but change his mind after Mr. Weasley attacked him?

* “No Malfoy’s worth listenin’ ter,” says Hagrid. “Bad blood, that’s what it is.” Not that blood’s important in any way.

* The Purebloods apparently don’t trust Muggleborns because they’re potential fifth columnists (says Salazar) and they “don’t know our ways” (says Draco), which implies that they don’t think Muggleborns are inherently inferior, but that social conditioning means they wouldn’t fit into the WW. Hagrid, on the other hand, specifically says the Malfoys are evil due to their blood, which implies that they are inherently bad. Sounds like Hagrid’s actually the more prejudiced one to me.

* Hypocritical, too, since he ought to know what it’s like being discriminated against due to his family.

* I hope that someone quoted his “bad blood” comment in evidence at Buckbeak’s hearing.

* Knowing that Hermione will do to them, the way everyone seems to ignore the Grangers here looks rather sinister.