COS Chapter Nine: "The Writing on the Wall"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Ooh, we’re half-way through the book! :)

 

* Lockhart’s looking “excited and important”, which is the sort of description usually reserved for Percy. Is this foreshadowing for Percy’s evilness in OOTP?

* I like the idea of Picture!Lockharts curling their hair so much that I won’t bother asking where they got the rollers from or why they needed them.

* I wonder why Snape’s trying not to smile. He doesn’t seem to have any particular grudge against Filch – in fact, he’d probably sympathise with him as a fellow outcast – so maybe it’s Lockhart’s behaviour he finds amusing?

* Harry feels sorry for Filch, but “not nearly as sorry as he felt for himself”, continuing the long tradition of self-pity in these books.

* Love Lockhart’s backtracking here, BTW. “Ah! I thought so!”

* Filch seems to be ashamed of the fact that he’s a Squib, whereas Hermione’s never been ashamed of her Mudblood status (and nor, as far as we know, have any Muggleborns), suggesting that Squibs have lower status than Muggleborns. Insulting people for being Squibs is still worse than insulting them for being Muggleborns, though.

* Harry’s sure that nothing Snape has to say will do him any good. Even though Snape’s spent most of last year saving Harry’s life.

* Snape’s logic may be leading him to the wrong conclusion, but at least he’s using logic, which is more than we can say for most characters in the books.

* Contrary to what Professor McGonagall says, there is evidence that Harry’s done something wrong. It may be circumstantial evidence, but it’s evidence nonetheless.

* So is Dumbledore reading Harry’s mind here? Because I have to say that the idea of the epitome of goodness going around violating people’s privacy like that seems a bit disturbing.

* “Hearing voices no-one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.” Erm, how do you know, Ron? This is, after all, a world with time travel, teleportation and transfiguration. For all you know, there might be some obscure bit of magic that only allows certain people to hear a sound.

* Ron’s laughing at Filch being a Squib, thereby teaching readers the value of tolerance.

* Ron seems happy that Filch is a Squib because Filch is such a bitter jerk. Apparently it doesn’t occur to him that Filch is such a bitter jerk because he’s a Squib, and that, if he were a normal wizard, he might be quite a nice person.

* No, Harry, Snape hasn’t tried to frame you for anything; he’s merely made a reasonable (if incorrect) deduction from the evidence available to him.

* I hope that at least one of the teachers tried to “Sourgify” the writing away before setting Filch on it with the mess remover.

* Aww, Filch’s portrayal here is so sad. :’(

* Ron doesn’t think Ginny should worry about Mrs. Norris being petrified, because she’s not very nice. Remember, kids, it’s OK for someone to be attacked if they annoy you in some way!

* As per usual, Ron’s is a few inches shorter than everyone else’s.

* Someone should tell Hermione that writing far more than you’re meant to is not a sign of intelligence. Learning to write briefly/choose only the most important points to include is a valuable skill to learn. If I’d handed in an essay that was ¼ over the word limit, my teachers would not have been happy.

* Hey, Hermione’s refusing to help Ron cheat with his homework. Maybe she should do this more often; he might actually learn something then.

* I don’t know what subject it was that JKR used to teach, but I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t History.

* So why is Dumbledore letting Binns teach? Hogwarts is, after all, the only wizard school in Britain; for DD to hire a bad teacher is, therefore, even worse than for a normal headmaster to hire one. He could well be putting literally every single wizarding child off studying history for life.

* Or maybe it’s just a cunning plan to stop them from investigating his own rather… interesting childhood.

* It seems that mediaeval wizarding society was so advanced, they all had surnames several centuries before they were introduced into Muggle society.

* I can’t help but wonder how Gryffindor and Slytherin managed to work together for so long; who to admit is, after all, a pretty fundamental disagreement. Perhaps Slytherin was initially OK with the idea of accepting Muggleborns, but them something happened (maybe one of them tried to betray the school?) that changed his mind.

* No, Ron, no-one’s said anything about Slytherin starting all this Pureblood stuff, simply that he agreed with it. There’s no evidence that this was a particularly rare view back in the tenth century.

* Also, in his haste to condemn Salazar as a “twisted old loony”, Ron seems not to have considered what it would say about Godric Gryffindor if he’d decided to start a school with such a man.

* Plus, of course, wishing to exclude Muggleborns is quite reasonable in an age when Muggles will literally kill you if they ever find out you’re a wizard.

* Maybe that explains all the Pureblood supremacy stuff: back in the old days, when Muggles were out to get magical people, wizards with Muggle relatives could well have divided loyalties, and so would naturally be seen as potential fifth columnists. The most trustworthy wizards would, therefore, be the ones with no Muggle relatives, and who would consequently be loyal only to the wizarding world. By the time Muggles stopped persecuting wizards and the danger of betrayal went away, the whole “Pureblood = best” thing was so heavily ingrained in wizarding culture that it is still present today.

* Considering Ron’s condescending attitude towards Muggles, I’d be a bit more cautious about getting on my high horse if I were him. He’s really a bit like a BNP member criticising a Nazi for being a racist.

* Am I the only one for whom “I wouldn’t be in his House if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I’d’ve got the train straight back home…” brought flashbacks to “Imagine being in Hufflepuff. I think I’d leave, don’t you?”

* The sad thing is, all this “You could have been great in Slytherin” stuff could have been an excellent opportunity to show that “Slytherin” and “evil” are not synonymous. As it is, though, it comes across as a moral test that Harry has passed. The sign of true goodness = hating Slytherin House.

* Hermione’s really got a high opinion of old Dumbles, hasn’t he? Dumbledore couldn’t cure Mrs. Norris, ergo Mrs. Norris’ attacker can’t be human. What was it I said about elementary logic and the Hogwarts curriculum?

* Nice to see that Fred was already showing strong bullying tendencies by the age of five. And a remarkable control of magic, too, if he was able to turn a teddy bear into a spider without any training or a wand. Remind you of anyone?

* Hermione’s laughing at Ron’s obvious trauma, which, given what we now know about JKR’s views on love, is probably meant to be A Clue for their eventual marriage.

* So Hogwarts can buy golden plates for all its pupils, but not keep its toilets in good order. Clearly, Dumbledore’s been diverting funds from the sanitation department into the crockery-buying department.

* Percy’s noticed how upset Ginny is, whereas neither Ron, Harry nor Hermione have. Remember this when she tells everybody about Percy’s girlfriend.

* “You don’t care about Ginny,” says Ron, even though all the evidence in the books points to him being the only one of his family who actually cares about her.

* Given the rudeness of Ron’s remark, five points from Gryffindor is quite a mild punishment.

* Gosh, the Percy-hate’s really coming strong here, isn’t it? Now the trio are reluctant to even sit near him in the common room.

* “‘Let’s think,’ said Ron in mock puzzlement. ‘Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?’” The correct answer is “No-one, because JKR can’t write a convincing racist.”

* It’s a bit like if, when Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, instead of being a poor labourer, was a respected teacher or something like that. And instead of framing him for rape, Bob Ewell had called him a “nigger”. And instead of doing this pretty much every time he met him, Bob had used this insult maybe one or two times a year. And instead of doing this to every black person he met, Bob only insulted Tom. And if instead of being motivated by blind prejudice, Bob had a perfectly understandable reason for disliking him. And instead of agreeing with Bob’s insults, everyone just ignored him. And instead of being poor and oppressed, Maycomb’s black population were well-integrated and treated as equals with the town’s white people. And instead of being a common insult, “nigger” was rare enough that Tom had to ask one of his friends what it meant. And then the audience are expected to react as if Bob’s an evil bigot making Tom’s life hell, instead of just a minor irritant which any reasonably well-balanced person would ignore.

* Even if we accept for argument’s sake that Draco is a racist, that still isn’t very good evidence for him being Slytherin’s heir. There are, after all, lots of racists in the world; and besides, there’s always the possibility that Slytherin Jnr. would be hiding his racism so as not to draw suspicion on himself.

* Oh, wait, silly me, that’s not the only evidence Ron has. Draco’s also ugly. Because ugliness is a sure sign of badness, obviously.

* Oh, and his father’s “evil” (bear in mind that, so far, about the worst he’s done is insult Mr. Weasley, which is unpleasant, certainly, but not evil). Because Slytherin was so evil, all his descendants would be, too.

* Not that blood’s important in any way, or anything like that.

* And upon this foundation of spurious conjecture, Ron goes on to build a whole edifice of even more spurious conjecture, suggesting that the Malfoys have been handing the key down, father to son, throughout the centuries.

* Yeah Ron, try presenting that evidence in court, and see how far it gets you.

* And by “court”, I mean a proper Muggle one with juries and presumptions of innocence and all the various other safeguards designed to prevent wrongful imprisonment, not one of the kangaroo courts that pass for justice in the wizarding world.

* It is, as Hermione says, “possible”. But, in the absence of any other evidence, it’s no more possible than any of the other thousands of possibilities. (Hey, perhaps it’s Lockhart, and that idiot façade is just a way to throw suspicion. Or perhaps it’s one of the other rich, Pureblood children whose ancestors have all been in Slytherin. Or perhaps the whole thing’s just a practical joke by Fred and George…)

* Ron and Hermione seem to be getting irritated at each other remarkably quickly. Cue Can You Feel the Love in the background.

* “But that’s impossible,” says Harry, apparently forgetting that he’s a wizard in a school of magic in a society that has magic for just about everything, so asking Draco questions without them realising who they are shouldn’t be impossible.

* A lot of people think that Malfoy would be unable to keep his mouth shut if he was the heir, but I disagree. He doesn’t tell anyone about Norbert in PS, after all, and in OOTP he doesn’t seem to blab about Harry’s “remedial Potions” lessons. He’s quite capable of keeping secrets when the plot requires it he wants to.

* “‘Oh come on, no teacher’s going to fall for that,’ said Ron. ‘They’d have to be really thick…’” Can you guess who it is yet? :)

 

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

We know that several of Albus' appointments were 'political' - ie served his other agenda rather than his role as head of the country's sole school: Sybil, Severus, Hagrid, Remus, Alastor and Horace, at the very least. IMO so is Binns (in that he is an excuse to not hire Bathilda Bagshot), maybe some of the others as well. Which means he will find a way to keep them there for the expected time regardless of suitability.

Even if the children receive some kind of general education before Hogwarts, 11 is too young to stop it.

Dumbledore's appointments

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Like your idea on Binns!

We don't know a "political" reason behind Quirrell and Lockhart, but they certainly weren't chosen for competence in their field or teaching ability.... Of, course, DADA was hard to fill.

Other staff DD was apparently responsible for choosing: Filch as Pringle's replacement and Hagrid as Ogg's as groundskeeper.

Whereas the other older staff we see in canon(Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall, Hooch, Slughorn, Pince, and Pomfrey) may all have been appointed by one of Dumbledore's predecessors in office. All are competent; all but one deal well with children.

Which is to say we have no canon evidence that Dumbles ever, even once, considered competence in a subject or ability to work with childen when making a hiring decision.

Although he may, of course: we know of nothing to the discredit of Sinistra, Burbage, or Vector.

Oh, sorry, we do know of one exception: Hagrid's substitute, Grubbly-Plank, was a teacher of ordinary competence. And Dumbles picked Hagrid over her for the CMC position.

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

We don't know a "political" reason behind Quirrell and Lockhart, but they certainly weren't chosen for competence in their field or teaching ability.... Of, course, DADA was hard to fill.

My theory on Lockhart is that Snape, Moody, and Dumbledore's other anti-Dark-specialist friends had been complaining about him for some time, and Dumbledore decided to give him an entertaining comeuppance. I never had the impression Quirrel was incompetent - his lessons weren't as exciting as the first-year Gryffindors had hoped but that says nothing, and he was good enough to break into Gringotts on his own.

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Do you think he knew Quirrel was possessed from the start? Because I read a convincing theory about how the maze thing was meant to be a trap for Voldy (which would've worked just fine without Harry's interference, damn it)so perhaps Dumbles only hired him because he knew the spirit of Voldy was riding around in his body. I mean, the timing of the Philosopher's stone being moved to Hogwarts, something that Voldy would not be able to pass up and would be obsessed with obtaining, it's pretty suss...

And yes, I'm really pissed off- Dumbles' nepotism is so evident. Grubbly-Plank was a competent teacher but got passed over for the guy who can't teach properly, who creates his own species and gets the kids to care for them even though it doesn't teach them anything and WOULDN'T BE ON EXAMS and takes glee in creatures that burn/sting/bite them. ASSHAT. *hates him forever*

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Do you think he knew Quirrel was possessed from the start?

In the Prince's tale there is a scene when Severus is complaining about Harry during the first year - that scene seems like it would have been occuring in the first week of Harry's first year at Hogwarts if not the first day.

Also in that scene once Dumbledore replies to Severus complain, DD says Harry nature is more like Lily, Dumbledore also tells Severus to keep an eye on Quirrell.

I don't think that little snippet of a scene happened later in the year, it just looks like it's happening the first week, so if my theory is true and that happened right at the beginning of Harry's first year then Dumbledore is already suspitious of Quirrell at the very beginning.

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, good point! Praise your eagle eye! I agree, that does seem to confirm Dumbles' suspicions right from the start. Gee, good plan to have someone possessed by the DARK LORD at your school, asshat.

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[oryx_leucoryx]

And to bait him by bringing a means for immortality into the school and guarding it in a place accessible from a corridor. Why wasn't the stone (inside the Mirror of Erised) kept in a place accessible only from Dumbly's private rooms?

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Jodel's theory was that the whole point of the Stone being at Hogwarts was to trap Voldy- so to make it too secure would defeat the purpose.

Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Quirrell? Jodel postulated Dumbles had set the whole PS-at-Hogwarts thing up as a Voldie-trap--apparently it didn't occur to Dumbles that he was putting KIDS in the line of fire if he did. Of course, Jodel wrote her theories back in the days it was still possible to believe that one of Dumble's motives might have been the hope of rescuing his hapless, overpowered-by-Voldemort staff member.

As to Hagrid...

Yes, I was just rereading GoF and it's clear that Hagrid's Skrewts classes had almost all of the kids regularly hurt--singed, battered, dragged across the grounds--while Hagrid sighed sentimentally about how much he thought the Skrewts were enjoying their little walksies with the kids they were injuring.

Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts

[oryx_leucoryx]

Of course, Jodel wrote her theories back in the days it was still possible to believe that one of Dumble's motives might have been the hope of rescuing his hapless, overpowered-by-Voldemort staff member.

And before we realized Rowling had no idea what Dumbles would have done if by chance Harry had not decided to go down the trapdoor the very day Quirrell managed to pass the 6 obstacles. Because logically Quirrell must have been trying since Easter (when Hagrid 'won' the dragon egg).

Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Quirrell? Jodel postulated Dumbles had set the whole PS-at-Hogwarts thing up as a Voldie-trap--apparently it didn't occur to Dumbles that he was putting KIDS in the line of fire if he did.

Well it is interesting to see in the Prince's tale that Dumbledore was already in suspition of Quirrell right for the start. Or at least thats what I get out of DD telling Severus to keep an eye on Quirrell.

Also, we have Dumbledore moving the stone right before someone breaks into the bank in an attempt to steal it.

Apparently Dumbledore has somehow managed to figure out Quirrell's loyalty is questionable. I cannot say if Severus would have known the extent of Quirrell + Voldemort. But we know the night Lily died Dumbledore told Severus that Voldie would be back and Harry was was apparently sort of the key to that return.

I'm sure after Qurrell died at the end of the first book it had to become clear to Severus that this was it, Voldie was returning, etc.

So you do have to ask the question, if DD was questioning Quirrell's loyalty right from the start, why would he move the stone to the school. Of all places to hide it, why Hogwarts.

Then you have to ask why would Dumbledore put up such an elaborate non-sensical way of getting to the stone when he could have just as easily and safely kept it in the headmasters office. Dumbledore practically begged people to be curious by telling them not to go on that corridor in the castle.

Wouldn't Voldie who was at the table when Dumbledore said students can't go to that section. Wouldn't Voldie who was on Quirrells head at that point, wouldn't he question the warning to students. Wouldn't Voldie think, 'Hay, there has never been a problem with that corridor in the past, so whats the deal? Why can't students go there?'

So it does sound like Dumbledore was trying to tempt and he was using the students to do it. Also, if that is true then he was tempting Voldie right to where Harry was located.

Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts

[oryx_leucoryx]

Quirrell knew the stone was there from the start because he was one of the teachers asked to create a 'protection' to the stone.

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Like your idea on Binns!

For a more crack-AU, Binns teaches his subject because as a ghost he doesn't need to be paid. This leaves more money to support Twinkly's sweets habit.

Whereas the other older staff we see in canon(Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall, Hooch, Slughorn, Pince, and Pomfrey) may all have been appointed by one of Dumbledore's predecessors in office. All are competent; all but one deal well with children.

If Minerva was hired to fill the spot left when Twinkles was made headmaster (assuming he went directly from Transfiguration teacher to headmaster) then wouldn't she have been among his first hiring decisions?

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Yes, if one assumes DD was appointed head in 1956. I like Whitehound's take on it better, though, that he was appointed in the mid 1960's:

http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/Fanfic/Albus_appointed.htm

Re: Dumbledore's appointments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Yes, I used to favor something along those lines myself. Tom's return would then be around the times the sons of his friends were reaching an age where they could be useful to him. Alternatively, if he returned in 1956, perhaps he wanted to become an influence to those sons from early on.

There is the question of when the position of Minister was offered to Albus. In HBP Tom says Albus refused it twice already and Albus corrects him to three times. In DH, in King's Cross Albus says he was already offered the Ministry several times before defeating Gellert. Which means he was only offered the position once between 1945 and Tom's return, probably while Tom was away, or maybe just recently before their encounter. How reasonable is it that there was only one such offer from 1945 to sometime in the 60s?

Offering Twinkly the MoM position

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Jodel argued he'd first been offered it quite young, by those dazzled by his youthful brilliance.

What, you don't think it reasonable that "being offered the MoM position" would decrease logarithmatically over time, as people modified their initial awe over Twinkly's intellectual brilliance and magical virility with evaluations of his actual performances in the offices he formally accepted?

Initial impressions are powerful, yes, but many people do eventually move past them....

After all, we see increasingly that people want to strip Dumbles even of his post as headmaster.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

served his other agenda rather than his role as head of the country's sole school

Jeez, what a role call! It makes me angry when people claim Dumbles was the best headmaster ever because he never once thought about the best interests of the school, it was always about his political agenda.

And I can't get over needing a PASSWORD to get to his office. Every headmaster I've ever had kept an open-door policy, every kid was entitled to go see them if they had trouble, but Dumbles is too ~speshul~ to be bothered with mundanes.

And yeah, seems like they learn crap-all in seven years, certainly not enough to qualify them for any sort of real job.

[oryx_leucoryx]

In comparison, open door policies never made it to any of the schools I attended. In my high school you could write a letter to the principal. But you could access any of your class teachers. Typically personal problems got addressed to your homeroom teacher, the head teacher of your year or the guidance counselor.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well, then, I guess my complaint wasn't justified then, I didn't realize schools worked like that. Wow. Write a LETTER to the principal? Gosh. Not that I ever really bothered to see him (except when I was selling lollies to raise funds for the school production and hit him up for cash, lol) but I was on good terms with the assistant principals. Hogwarts doesn't have that- well, I suppose Minerva kind of fits that role, but she's still a regular teacher and Gryffindor Head, so yeah.

Damn it, you've removed one thing from my list of things I hate about Dumbledore! Now I gotta find something else to replace it... *ponders*

[ioanna-ioannina.livejournal.com]

I never had a problem with Minerva being a Deputy. In my school(s), the Deputies are teaching just like everybody else. Even the Headmaster(s) use to teach, even if only a few hours per week.
Students here can come to any Professor who teaches them for an advice with their subject; to their Head of Class with any personal problems; to any Professor they trust enough with personal problems (the Professors usually ask them, what is wrong, if the students are behaving strangely, they don´t wait for them to come); they have to come to the Deputy when there is a formal problem with class (the teacher didn´t come to class, mostly). They can come to Headmaster, but it is quite rare. You don´t bother the Headmaster with things you can resolve easier and more quickly with a Professor.
The same applies for the Professors. Where is a problem with a student, they go to the student´s Head of Class. Where is a problem with a place to have class in, time, the teacher´s future absence, they go to the Deputy. When they want to make an excursion or have a class outside of the school premise, they go to the Deputy and then to the Headmaster.
Just to give you another perspective from another country, and from both sides, the student´s as well as the teacher´s.

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

You can still hate that about him! After all, schools where the principals aren't accessible to the students don't also have authorial voices trying to tell us how wonderful the principals are and how the students all admire them and would mourn their loss.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

authorial voices trying to tell us how wonderful the principals are and how the students all admire them and would mourn their loss.

LOOOOL! IKR? How random that everyone was so in love with him and then so griefstricken at his loss! Like, 95% of the school wasn't even involved with the war, so they only ever saw/heard him at the Opening Feast and End of Year Feast, otherewise, he was a total nonentity! When did they have time to get to care about him?

And it's kind of random how much Harry loves him, considering he only sees him in private like once a year. Mentor/protege relationship that was NOT. Even in HBP, the one book where they meet relatively frequently, Bumblemore is still keeping him in the dark and being irritatingly close-mouthed and treating him like a child.

PS. Thank you for that comment, I feel better now!

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

After all, schools where the principals aren't accessible to the students don't also have authorial voices trying to tell us how wonderful the principals are and how the students all admire them and would mourn their loss.

As I previously mentioned, in my school you usually had to make an appointment via the principal's secretary...but in practical day-to-day operations, I don't think most students ever went to see him, anyways.

Mr. Dustin was nearing retirement, deaf if one ear, and to put it kindly, somewhat befuddled...

He was a sweet old dear, and I'm sure if some student showed up at his office without a prior appointment, and Mr. Dustin was in, and if he wasn't already meeting with another student, that he'd have made time to see and listen to the student.

But really, if a student actually wanted to accomplish something, they first dealt with the teacher in question. If that didn't resolve it, they then went to the department head, then to their guidance counselor, then to a Vice Principal.

The Vice Principals actually ran our school; Mr. Dustin was just the kindly figurehead! LOL

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize schools worked like that. Wow. Write a LETTER to the principal?

It probably depends on the size of the school; when I was in high school, just my class alone numbered over 1100 students...total student body was over 4000 (the school went on double-sessions the year after I graduated)...

Didn't have to write a letter to the principal of my school to get to see him, but you did have to make an appointment via his secretary, which really doesn't seem all that unreasonable.

But that's totally different than needing to know a security code to get to see the guy!

:-P

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

IKR? If there was an emergency, what are you supposed to do? Just stand there guessing frantically? (which Harry does at one point, I think)

And a secretary is reasonable, but a gargoyle which can't be reasoned with...yeah, no.