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deathtocapslock* 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? :)
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Re: Dumbledore's appointments
Date: 2010-11-10 11:51 pm (UTC)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
Date: 2010-11-11 12:11 am (UTC)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
Date: 2010-11-11 12:20 am (UTC)Re: Dumbledore's appointments
Date: 2010-11-11 07:30 am (UTC)Re: Dumbledore's appointments
Date: 2010-11-11 08:14 am (UTC)Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-11 01:36 am (UTC)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
Date: 2010-11-11 07:27 am (UTC)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
Date: 2010-11-11 01:31 pm (UTC)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
Date: 2010-11-11 10:04 pm (UTC)Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-11 11:52 pm (UTC)I don't even remember Q putting protection? I remember Severus fussing at him about the Stone out one evening in the Dark Forest but I just cant remember what Quirrell did as protection.
Thats pretty wonky isn't it! DOH! If DD had Quirrell helping to put protecting on it and then is telling Severus to keep an eye on him. WTH, DD? or more like WTH JKR?
And it's not much time betweek Hagrid getting the stone and it showing up at Hogwarts is there?
If he is already suspecting Q then...bla...I think JKR just forgets what she writes.
Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-12 12:04 am (UTC)This is one reason behind the theory that the whole obstacle course was intended so that Quirrell(mort) would be able to eventually cross all but the last protection, until he is stuck in front of the mirror. Until Dumbles finds him and deals with him.
Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-12 12:19 am (UTC)Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-12 03:54 am (UTC)I went and reread that part and somehow the kids know exactly what teachers setup the traps. But how would they guess Quirrell was one of them? The other 4 are head of house and when just reread it I'm trying to figure out why Quirrell would be lumped into that group. Because he's the DADA teacher? Okay thats fine if JKR is doing that but why would the kids automatically think he would be inclued in having a trap created by him.
Especially considered there are a lot more Professors at Hogwarts so why wouldn't they think of any of them as well? Why would they assume there were only 2 more traps and lump Quirrell as part of the 4 Head of House people inventing traps.
JKR just gave her characters knowledge they should not have or at least not presume to have.
This is one reason behind the theory that the whole obstacle course was intended so that Quirrell(mort) would be able to eventually cross all but the last protection, until he is stuck in front of the mirror. Until Dumbles finds him and deals with him.
It only makes sense because why would Quirrell be allowed to invent a trap when he has just been put into the position of a DADA teacher.
JKR said in an interview that Quirrell's previously teaching position was muggle studies, so it seems to me he must have been teaching MS, then to be able to apply for the DADA position he had to go off a year to get 'experience'.
It seems to me when he came back was when he got the DADA position so why would DD give someone just becoming the DADA this kind of trust to create a trap to guard something DD was trying to keep from getting stolen.
Plus, there isn't a lot of time between Hagrid picking up the stone and all those traps and creations being made. So DD just decided to add Quirrell to the Head of house trap creators guild?
I think you are right and he was included to tempt him and Voldie, becuase Quirrell is not a Professor on the level of a Head of House and all the other trap creators were most trusted head of house Professors.
But I still don't understand how they could assume there were only 2 more traps, I quote:
"He'll be alright,' said Harry, trying to convince himself. 'What do you reckon's next?"
'We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare, Flitwick must've put charms on the keys, McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive, that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's...'
All head of house Professors except one but why are they assuming there are only two traps left and why the hell are they putting Quirrell in the mix?
It just seems like an infathomable thing for them to guess that and put Quirrell into the mix.
Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-12 05:45 am (UTC)But yes, I agree, it isn't written very realistically.
Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-12 11:33 pm (UTC)http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Aurora_Sinistra
Re: Quirrell and Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts
Date: 2010-11-13 03:26 am (UTC)Sinistra and Charity
Date: 2010-11-13 01:28 pm (UTC)I think a lot of the random stuff in the books and including information JKR gives out in interviews are sometimes a spur of the moment answer/addition.
She maybe threw Sinistra in the book but there was never much info on her except her name and that she's a female professor that teaches astronomy. Other than that I really doubt if JKR spent time on pondering the character or making use of her.
It's sort of like the character, Charity Burbage who taught mugglestudies.
I think the way JKR had her murdered in the last book was kind of pointless.
If she had of at least show us the woman in the other books 6 books it would have been a more meaningful death scene - the way it is she was just a random person we had never even really heard of before. Not that random people who we don't know are not important. But this is a book, you're supposed to at least feel some sort of connection when you're writing a powerful scene like that.
I just kept wondering, hell, maybe Charity was a bitch. How would I the reader know...just because she taught mugglestudies means she's nice?
I don't know, it just seems like taking some random character we'd never met or heard from and giving them a dramatic death feels like it's an easy out for an author. You don't have to get rid of your main characters. An author can kill some random background character and no reader is really going to be super affected or mad at you.
I just feel like for those bit moments you really should make it mean something. I could have got my head around the scene more if say it had been Tonks or even someone like Penelope Clearwater, the chick who had dated Percy.
And back to Sinistra - they class I think was only on Wed. nights at midnight.
Seriously, I don't think JKR knows very much about astronomy because you can't really learn much from watching the sky on the same night at the same hour. They really should have had more than just one class a week with her and frankly at different hours during the night.
Or why do they even need to go out at night? Couldn't they use the great hall ceiling for astronomy study far better that having kids out at midnight? The great hall ceiling could do all sorts of things, I'm pretty sure you could show all sorts of nifty things on the ceiling, far better than what you'd get from being out at the same time once a week.
Re: Sinistra and Charity
Date: 2010-11-13 05:27 pm (UTC)And since there seems to be only one class held once a week, does that mean that all four houses were included in the class? All other classes seem to be limited to students from two houses, so why would Astronomy be different?
And is that just for first years? What night and time do subsequent years have their classes?
And doesn't having a class held at midnight sort of negate the school curfew? Wouldn't that make it easier for kids who don't have Astronomy to sneak around at midnite on Wednesdays, if they're caught they can just claim they're going to or coming from Astronomy class...
Re: Sinistra and Charity
Date: 2010-11-14 12:43 am (UTC)Re: Sinistra and Charity
Date: 2010-11-14 04:44 pm (UTC)I think simply because she focused on Harry but didn't really put the concept into work with everyone else at the school.
It's like Harry's potion classes or Transfigurations or whatever classes are a law unto themselves. The rest of the school doesn't have to conform to canon as long as we have harry at this appointed place at this appointed time, everyone else is destined to be at that location.
Re: Sinistra and Charity
Date: 2010-11-14 06:45 pm (UTC)Which isn't so much of a problem if one writes a one-off book solely targeted at an audience aged 6-11.
And really, that's what Rowling did; for all the "I had this vision spanning 7 books", what she really had was one story targeted at a young audience, and that is what she wrote, and that is what she marketed to publishers.
So logic flaws and plot bunnies in Philosopher Stone can be overlooked because oftentimes young children's stories, especially set in the realm of fantasy, do lack a certain amount of logic.
I think Rowling herself recognized the potential problem even then -- look at Snape's Challenge, and Hermione's comment about wizards lacking logic. So Rowling I think even then spotted some potential problems and created an "out" for herself by early on establishing that logic isn't necessarily most wizard and witch's forte'....
And it continued to work, for the most part, over the next couple of books...but even by Book 3 one could start seeing major problems in logic and continuity, a problem that becomes full blown with the later books, exacerbated by Rowling's attempt to expand the series beyond the original audience of 6-11 y.o.'s to teens and adults.