COS Chapter Seven: "Mudbloods and Murmurs"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Collin’s really acting like an obsessive stalker here. I wonder if that’s how Harry appeared to Draco in HBP?

* Ron’s malfunctioning wand actually sounds quite dangerous, but nobody thinks it might be a good idea to replace it. Although OTOH having a lax attitude towards safety seems to be one of the few things about the WW that seems consistent throughout the books (they’ll show it again when Percy tries to stop people using dangerous cauldrons), so maybe I should be thankful that it isn’t just one of these things that changes whenever the plot demands.

* I assume that JKR’s just forgotten to mention the try-outs that every Quidditch team apparently does each year.

* I’m just going to tune out while Harry recaps the rules of Quidditch for Collin.

* Everyone’s not bothering to pay attention to Wood’s new tactics. Remember kids, teamwork’s for suckers! You just do what you want to do!

* Wood is still upset over Gryffindor losing last year. Serves him right for being too thick to have a reserve Seeker, IMHO.

* Note how Wood’s first reaction upon seeing Collin is to jump to the conclusion that he’s a Slytherin spy. Not that he’s in any way biased against Slytherin, or anything like that.

* Remember chaps, looking like a troll = evil. Part-giant, OTOH, = misunderstood woobie. Even though trolls don’t really seem much worse than giants.

* There are no girls on the Slytherin team, just to remind everyone that they’re sexist, and therefore evil. JKR hates sexism, which is why she took care to include so many liberated, independent-minded women in the novels.

* Wood’s “spitting with rage” now. Christ, Oliver, calm down, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams could just play a friendly, or something.

* “Aren’t you Lucius Malfoy’s son?” says Fred, looking at Draco with dislike. Remember kids, it’s wrong to judge people based on their family.

* Is it possible to smirk so broadly that your eyes are “reduced to slits”, or is Draco actually grinning with happiness here?

* I don’t think that Malfoy did buy his way onto the team. For a start, Seeker is the most (i.e., only) important position in the game, and I don’t think that flying on better brooms would compensate for having an inferior Seeker. Secondly, he’s on the team for at least three years, when the Slytherins could easily have ditched him as soon as they’d got the brooms. They’d even have had a good excuse after losing that Quidditch match in “The Rogue Bludger”.

* Lucius seemed like quite a harsh, demanding father when we saw him in Borgin and Burke’s, IMHO, so the thought that he’s pleased daddy enough to make him buy new brooms for the team is probably making Draco grin even more.

* I bet he looks adorable in this scene.

* Now I can’t stop thinking of Lauren Lopez in A Very Potter Sequel. “Don’t worry, daddy, you’ll love me after this! I’ll catch that Snitch, mark my words!”

* Just thought it interesting to note that Malfoy wasn’t involved in the conversation until Ron brought him in. It’s not like he was strutting up and down, boasting about his new broom, or anything like that.

* Hermione’s the one who starts with the personal insults. Really, I think that the good [sic] guys are acting worse than the baddies here.

* If the theory that Draco’s really just happy because he’s finally made his daddy proud is right, then implying that he’d just bought his way onto the team is probably one of the most offensive things Hermione could say. Unsurprisingly, he responds with one of the most offensive things that he could say.

* Draco calls Hermione a “Mudblood”, despite the fact that she’s a Muggleborn, and therefore cannot be expected to know what it means, suggesting that either she’s upset him so much he’s not thinking straight, or that he wants to keep face in front of his teammates by responding to her insults, but at the same time doesn’t want to upset her. If the latter, it could be evidence for some kind of D/Hr ship.

* JKR seems to be expecting us to go “ZOMG Draco’s an evil racist!” suggesting that she’s forgotten why exactly it is that racism’s considered so wrong. I don’t think it’s just that you’re looking down on people for the way they were born – if it were, then jokes about stupid blondes would be considered as bad as jokes about stupid black people. Rather, it’s wrong because minorities often suffer from discrimination (and in many cases have suffered from it even more in the relatively recent past), and racist language helps to reinforce and normalise the prejudiced attitudes which lead to such discrimination. Because we haven’t really see people suffering from anti-Muggleborn prejudice, it’s hard to think of “Mudblood” as a particularly serious insult.

* This, BTW, is why I disagree with people who say things like “Rowling uses the Harry Potter books to teach children not to be racist.” If she were really doing that, she’d show how racism affects people’s lives (cf. To Kill a Mockingbird). What she’s actually doing is taking real racism and using it in lieu of actual worldbuilding and characterisation. We already know that racism is wrong, and we think Draco’s a bad person because his use of the term “Mudblood” is superficially similar to real-life examples of racism; we don’t learn about how racism is bad from its effects on HP characters, because it doesn’t really have any.

* Anyway, back to the actual story…

* Once again, the good guys are the first to use force. Why am I not surprised?

* I think it’s sweet the way Flint dives in front of Malfoy to stop him being attacked. The Slytherins often seem to look out for each other the most (see also Lucius patting Snape on the back when he’s first Sorted). Contrast this with the Gryffindors in PS, who refuse to speak to Harry, Hermione, Ron or Neville after they lose some House Points.

* What’s this, one of the good guys has suffered some negative consequences as a result of attacking someone else? Hold on while I go make a note of this in my diary.

* Again with the clothes! Lockhart’s wearing robes of “palest mauve” today. Harry’s really starting to look rather gay now; given JKR’s fondness for stereotypes (viz. the Finnegans) and inability to write a decent romance (chest monster!), I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find her way of showing homosexuality would be having someone spend all their time looking at their crush’s clothes.

* Note how Hagrid doesn’t remonstrate with Ron for trying to curse Malfoy. Clearly he’s a responsible adult and an excellent candidate for a prestigious teaching position.

* I know Hagrid doesn’t like Lockhart, but he really should know better than to undermine him like that in front of his pupils.

* So the jinx on DADA has been in place for what, forty or so years now? And people are only just starting to twig? I know wizards are slow learners, but really…

* Also, couldn’t Dumbledore find ways to either discover how Riddle jinxed the position and undo it somehow, or to get around it, such as hiring two teachers who each teach on alternate years or getting rid of DADA and replacing it with a class which is functionally indistinguishable but has a different name (“battle magic”, perhaps?).

* I think that this scene was one which the film actually did better than the books. Yes, having Hermione getting all upset may not have been fully logical, but it at least made Draco look like a hurtful bully rather than an eccentric crank. It also suggested that someone might have called Hermione that before, hinting at actual day-to-day anti-Muggleborn prejudice, which is more than the books ever managed to do.

* “Maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired.” Wait, is Hagrid glad that Ron got to be on the receiving end in the hope that he’ll be less likely to curse people in future? No, of course not, he’s worrying that Ron might otherwise have got in trouble.

* Hagrid comes across as so judgemental when he says “’Spect Lucius Malfoy would’ve come marchin’ up ter school if yeh’d cursed his son.” Clearly, caring about your children being attacked is a sign of great evil. Good guys know that being randomly hexed is what makes a man out of you.

* Although Lucius doesn’t seem to have done much when Draco was hexed into unconsciousness on the train (twice!), which probably foreshadows the Redeemed!Malfoys situation at the end of DH.

* Hagrid’s been breaking the law to make his pumpkins grow faster. Which couldn’t possibly be dangerous in any way, oh no.

* Suddenly, Draco’s gossip about him getting drunk and setting his bed on fire looks awfully plausible.

* Everybody hates Filch, which is entirely understandable, given all the times he complains about having to clean up the mess children make and, erm, gives them detention for breaking the rules. Yep, entirely understandable.

* So how does Parseltongue work, then? ’Cause surely Lockhart ought to have heard it, even if he didn’t understand what it was saying? Or is it a sort of telepathy? But then Ron managed to speak it in DH…

* Awfully convenient the way the basilisk goes around describing its evil plan to itself, isn’t it? Do basilisks just have really bad memories, and need to keep repeating their plans to themselves in case they forget?

* Part of me can’t help but feel pleased that Ron vomited slugs over that trophy. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before hexing someone. Or not.
 

 

Comments

Joining the Death Eaters

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

But, what's the time-line here? What are the DEs doing in the early to mid-1970s?

Isn't there evidence to support that Sirius brother did not really know what he was getting into and had a serious change of heart on the whole situation?

It doesn't belittle what they did, but lets look at it from the perspective of being 16 years old and a stupid teenager. If someone like Severus got into it, is it safe to guess he really wasn't 100% into it at the age of 16-20. That even when he might have had second thoughts about it, that it was too late to back out.

We know that you don't leave the Death Eaters and Voldemort willingly. So is it safe to assume that even if he did have second thoughts after getting the Dark Mark it was too late for him to be able to say no thanks.

Severus was no more special than the next DE, Voldie killed him just as easily as an enemy. And I doubt Voldie would have had second thoughts has a younger Severus tried to get out.

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

You're correct about Reggie. Regulus Black - a well-connected pureblood - thought that the ultimate aim of Voldemort's was to bring wizards out of hiding to rule over (not massacre, rule) Muggles. He did believe that purebloods would be on top of the hierarchy, but not that non-pureblooded wizards would be totally excluded or outright murdered. And then there's the general attitude in the WW towards how being 'pure' works: after a few generations you become 'pure' again, whereas in Nazi Germany one Jewish grandparent was enough to get you sent to a concentration camp, and in the American South one provable black ancestor made you black no matter the number of generations; so the social hierarchy would not have been as rigidly fixed, the ranks of the 'pure' elite would have been permeable. (I mean, even the DEs, the radicals themselves, were open to HALFBLOODS actually joining up.)

Now, obviously thinking that wizards are better than other people is wrong, wanting to rule them is not the greatest idea to be espousing, and thinking of purebloods as above non-purebloods is also wrong. But it's not quite the same as signing on explicitly with the goal of mass murder or genocide. And if REGULUS BLACK, well-connected pureblood Voldie fanboy, honestly thought this was what Voldemort was all about, why on earth should a poor halfblood from a backwater Muggle milltown with no significant wizarding connections be expected to know any better?

It's not even that he would have expected them to be terribly violent either. We have no verifiable canon evidence (I mean specific incidents one can point to) that the DEs engaged in highly public terrorist-style violence until the very late '70s and early '80s; before that it seems to have been a few strategic disappearances of people in power, nothing against civilians. The Aurors are the ones who commit the first named killings we have (killing DEs), and afterwards the DEs start killing back. Voldemort alone seemed to be the most violent during that time, when he was taking out selected Order members like Marlene (and even he rarely killed children, interestingly enough). I highly doubt that someone joining up back in the mid-70s would have had nearly as grim a picture of the DEs as we get by the time Harry enters the story.

As to Severus: we don't really know his motivation in canon, but we can speculate. Looking for belonging probably played a role - and such cult-like groups often 'love-bomb' new recruits, make them feel a solid part of the group, before they break out the iffy rhetoric. Looking for protection as the Slytherin target of Gryff bullies and their enablers in power, possibly also. If so, he would have been attracted by anyone who set themselves up against the group the Marauders joined and against Dumbles, who left him to their mercy. Wanting to impress Lily (JKR's stated reason)? Well, it works if you buy that Lily was attracted to posturing displays of power (coughJamescough). Disenchantment with the system, love of magic in itself and wanting to go further researching it, there are multiple possible reasons he could have joined up, many of them exactly the sort of thing stupid teenagers get caught by all the time. Plus, Voldie Mach I was apparently much more charming and persuasive than post-Albania Voldie, and he would mirror back to potential recruits what they most wanted (see Bart Cruch Jr.'s story). I could buy a situation in which an on-the-fence Severus - with all those desires for belonging and excellence and magic, and not quite enough information, and maybe a little hatred of Muggles based on personal negative experience - is carefully courted by Malfoy, then comes face to face with Voldie himself in full persuasive mode and is completely wowed...only to wake up after getting the Mark and seeing what it's like on the inside, and going 'ohshitohshit I didn't think it was like this.' He didn't seem very enamored of the DEs when he met with Dumbles afterward, did he?

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

Wow, 217 comments. I am popular! :)

"Voldemort alone seemed to be the most violent during that time, when he was taking out selected Order members like Marlene (and even he rarely killed children, interestingly enough)."

Even Voldemort doesn't seem to have killed that many -- wasn't there a scene in OOTP when Moddy is showing Harry a picture of the old Order, and he makes a comment along the lines of "These people were killed by You-Know-Who himself," which implies that this was quite a rare thing to happen, even for OOTP members.

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well... He didn't kill a lot of *wizards* himself.

I doubt that the 5 or 6 dozen Inferi in the cave were originally wizards. And there were men women *and* children among them. (Although what the point of an Inferi *child* would be escapes me, apart from the ick factor.)

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[oryx_leucoryx]

Actually I think all those 'disappearances' ended up as inferi. And there must have been some reason it took Tom all the time until 1979 or thereabouts to place the locket in the cave, when he placed the diadem at Hogwarts some 10-20 years earlier. My guess is it took him that long to accumulate suitable victims - I suppose not just any dead body would work. Perhaps it had to be someone he killed himself, perhaps the body had to be freshly dead, maybe there were other conditions.

Do you have an estimate as to how many inferi were in the cave?

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well Harry thinks of them as an "army" of the dead, but it's just one cave and its too dark to see very far. I doubt that it's more than 5-6 dozen, and could be as few as 2 or 3.

But there is also a point made that they are dressed in *rags* not robes. Only one of the bodies in that lake was described as being in robes and I gather after the fact we are to think back and assume that was Regulus Black.

Plus, it was stated that he *used* those Inferi in his campaigns during the first war. Which sounds very mucb like this must have been during the period that he was on the rise in the mid-late '70s. But I suspect that it was after he was told about the Prophecy that he marched them all into the cave to guard his favorite Horcrux and left them there, for no one reports having seen Inferi during the 2nd war.

Indeed, I think it was only after he knew about the Prophecy that he entrusted Bella with the Cup, which would have been late '79 or 1980, and that he only gave Lucius the Diary when he was about ready to deploy it. And that was in '81. The Ring, I think he cursed and hid in the Gaunt hovel before leaving the country to go in search of the Diadem.

Can't make out why he decided to bung the Diadem into the Room of Hidden Things on Albus's watch. For the convenience of the author, apparantly.

Re: Joining the Death Eaters

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

He got infected with Idiot Plot Disease and it caused his progressive physical and mental disintegration.

Room of Hidden Things

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

There is actually one reason that might make sense--thumbing his nose at Albus. If he really thought he could outsmart him. And, after all, it worked--Albus never found the tiara, even after he'd started Horcrux-hunting.