COS Chapter Eleven: "The Duelling Club"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Percy’s looking “in far better spirits than last time they’d met”. Wonder if he’s been seeing Penelope in one of the less-used sections of the library?

* Although if we asked JKR, she’d probably say that he’s in a state of sadistic glee after docking points from a first-year, or something like that.

* Percy and Ron both seem quite hung up on the fact that it’s a girls’ toilet. Perhaps Gryffindor wizards are just insecure about their sexuality (cf. Harry), and so compensate by rejecting anything even remotely connected with the feminine sex.

* Harry can’t see why Ron and Hermione would be in the bathroom, but goes in there anyway, proving (as if any more proof were needed) that logic isn’t one of his strongest points.

* Trying to kill someone because you’ve just lost a Quidditch game would be totally IC for a Gryffindor, IMHO. Less so for a Slytherin, though: you’d have thought that a member of a House noted for cunning would be able to put such things into better perspective.

* Or at least they would, if JKR could convincingly write a cunning person.

* Ron immediately assumes it was Lucius Malfoy who opened the Chamber last time round, even though he has absolutely no idea whether Lucius was actually at school when that happened.

* Ron belittles Hermione’s reading, except when he needs her to do his homework for him, in which case he’s glad she knows so much.

* The Twins are giving Ginny nightmares until Percy stops them. This does not stop Percy from being the tactless one with no people skills, obviously.

* Is Neville “almost a Squib”? He’s always having magical accidents, to be sure, but his problem mostly seems to be one of control, rather than actual power. (Cf. Snape’s “we’ll be sending Finch-Fletchley home in a matchbox” comment.)

* Is there any explanation for Draco staying at school? He always goes home during the other years, AFAIK, so why break the pattern now, if not for authorial convenience?

* Or perhaps he’s just started going out with Pansy, and is spending a romantic Christmas Holidays with her…

* On a side note, I’ve never really got all the Pansy-hate that goes around. I can sort of understand it in the books, from a Doylist perspective if not a Watsonian one (Pansy being based on some girls who used to bully JKR at school), but why does fandom seem to hate her, too? Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light, which is surprising given that (a) she doesn’t do anything that bad in canon, and (b) fandom (or at least parts of it) seems determined to like pretty much every other Slytherin in the books.

* Anyway, let us leave such characterisation conundrums, and return to the actual book…

* Harry has got to think of a way to steal something from Snape’s stores without being seen. *sigh* If only he had some sort of magical garment – a cloak, maybe, or something like that – which could make him invisible…

* As Harry, unfortunately, does not have any such garment until Rowling remembers about his invisibility cloak, he’s instead stuck with disfiguring the Slytherins to create a diversion.

* BTW, Hermione’s “I’d better do the actual stealing, as you’ll get expelled if you get caught” line doesn’t make much sense, given that Harry would surely be in even more trouble if he were found lobbing fireworks into cauldrons full of dangerous potions than if he were found stealing something from Snape’s stores.

* Snape turns a blind eye to Draco flicking puffer-fish eyes at Harry, which obviously counterbalances Harry’s getting the rules bent to help him, receiving free top-of-the-range broomsticks free of charge, being given extra tuition by Dumbledore, having the House Cup rigged so his House always wins…

* Oh, Harry, the things you have to do to save the school. I bet you hated disfiguring Malfoy like that, didn’t you?

* For all that we’re expected to see Snape’s dislike of Harry as an irrational result of his dislike for James, Harry doesn’t really do much to prove him wrong. He is lazy, arrogant, rude and mediocre, and here he’s endangering other pupils’ safety. It’s no wonder Snape doesn’t like him.

* For “he knows a tiny little bit about duelling”, read “he knows enough about duelling to completely wipe the floor with me”. And Harry, too, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until HBP to enjoy that.

* “‘Wouldn’t it be good if they finished each other off?’ Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.” Note that this is completely different to Draco wishing that Slytherin’s monster would finish Hermione off.

* I’d love to be a Slytherin in this scene. It’s so rare they’re given a chance to shine, watching their Head of House publicly kick arse must be a very enjoyable occasion for them.

* I don’t see why they don’t teach Expelliarmus in the normal curriculum. It seems to me that spells like this are the first thing you’d teach them in DADA (maybe Stupefy and Protego as well).

* Lockhart bounces back from his humiliation as usual.

* Snape’s “splitting up the dream team”, as he put it, makes me wonder why pupils aren’t made to work with their peers from other Houses more often on assignments and suchlike. Having the Gryffindors work with the Slytherins might teach them that their counterparts in other Houses are human being too, not caricatures of evil like most people seem to think.

* So did Malfoy use Expelliarmus on Harry, then? Harry still seems to have his wand, but that could be attributed to Malfoy just learning the spell and, therefore, not being very good at it. If so, then Harry’s the one who actually starts using non-Expelliarmus spells.

* “Whoops – my wand is a little over-excited” must surely win the award for most Freudian sentence in COS.

* So is Snape the one who gave Draco the idea of using the snake spell? If so, why? Using random dark magic (presumably) just for the hell of it doesn’t really seem his style. Is it perhaps because he knows that Harry doesn’t know how to block proper spells, and just wants Draco to cast one which Harry will be able to avoid more easily?

* Also, is Draco’s already knowing the Serpensortia spell a sign that Slytherin has its own duelling club? It wouldn’t actually surprise me to find that Slytherin has the best clubs; given what we’ve seen of inter-House relations, I doubt that Slytherin students would be made to feel very welcome in any school-wide clubs they did join, so they’d probably set up their own.

* I have to admit, that “What, drop my wand?” line is rather funny.

* Better not tell Harry that, in a society as small as the WW, and given that Salazar lived a thousand years ago, everybody’s probably related to him several times over.

* Anyway, the idea of there being one heir of Slytherin doesn’t really seem very likely. Even if there’s only one legitimate heir, all it would take would be for one descendant over the past thousand years to have one illegitimate child, and there could be any number of unknown heirs. It could be anyone. It could even be Dudley Dursley… (Now there’s a fanfic idea if ever I saw one!)

* I like the way everyone assumes that (a) being Slytherin’s heir automatically makes one evil, and (b) all Slytherin’s heirs would get sorted into Slytherin. And people say that blood’s not important in Harry Potter?

* BTW, I wonder what the Slytherins all think of this constant vilification of their House’s founder?

* That’s right, chaps, Salazar spoke Parseltongue, so anyone who speaks Parseltongue must also be evil. Just like Slazar wore clothes, and ate, and got married, so anyone who does any of those things must also be—no, wait…

* Come to think of it, the evidence for Harry being the Heir is much stronger than the evidence against Draco. Not that this’ll give Harry pause for thought when he knocks out two of Draco’s friends to spy on him.

* “‘He always seems so nice, though,’ said Hannah uncertainly.” Don’t worry, Hannah, we’ll stamp that out of him soon enough.

* Harry’s voice is “shaking with anger” now, both foreshadowing CAPSLOCK!Harry and making him look like the dangerous menace the Hufflepuffs all think he is.

* Harry’s really unlucky in that he has a motive for attacking everybody who’s been attacked so far. Maybe Tom’s trying to discredit him, like Lucius is trying to discredit Dumbledore?

* I like the way going to Dumbledore’s office is seen as such a big deal. You can tell he’s got such a close relationship with the student body, can’t you?

 

Comments

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Gryffindor wizards are just insecure about their sexuality (cf. Harry), and so compensate by rejecting anything even remotely connected with the feminine sex.
Rowling's done taught the fans well, then. I can't tell you how many idiots scream "Ron's not gay! He's too manly!". Ugh. So much hate for those people, and not because I'm a Ron slasher. -.-

Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light
It might be moot, but the femmeslashers mostly portray her in a neutral light. I'd say positive, but she's still "mean" in them. It's just that her "mean" is just her being herself and it's not an antagonistic mean.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/* Ron belittles Hermione’s reading, except when he needs her to do his homework for him, in which case he’s glad she knows so much./

Why does Hermione do his homework? It's one thing for her to *help* her friends with their homework, to study with them, but to outright do the work and let her friends pass off her answers for theirs? That's cheating. I thought that she was supposed to be a stickler for the rules. Does she really love homework that much?

/* “‘Wouldn’t it be good if they finished each other off?’ Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.” Note that this is completely different to Draco wishing that Slytherin’s monster would finish Hermione off./

I think that it's because Draco's comments are in a racial context and in certain circumstances. Slytherin's monster is specifically coming after Muggle-borns and students actually *have* been hurt by the time that he's making those remarks to Harry and Ron, so not only do they come off as cruel but also tactless and insensitive. His comments aren't seen as idle threats, like Harry and Ron's angry thoughts about him, because the basilisk really does have a good chance of hurting Hermione.

/* Better not tell Harry that, in a society as small as the WW, and given that Salazar lived a thousand years ago, everybody’s probably related to him several times over./

Aren't Harry and Voldemort distantly related through Ignotus Peverell? It kind of makes you wonder about all those "Harry, I am your father" fanfics.

/* Anyway, the idea of there being one heir of Slytherin doesn’t really seem very likely. Even if there’s only one legitimate heir, all it would take would be for one descendant over the past thousand years to have one illegitimate child, and there could be any number of unknown heirs. It could be anyone./

It would be funny to see the look on everyone's faces if the Heir of Slytherin turned out to be a Muggle-born Hufflepuff. (I think that JKR said that Muggle-borns do have some distant magical ancestry which explains their magical abilities).

/* I like the way everyone assumes that (a) being Slytherin’s heir automatically makes one evil, and (b) all Slytherin’s heirs would get sorted into Slytherin. And people say that blood’s not important in Harry Potter?/

Well, most students that we see are Sorted into the same House that their parents belonged to. Harry's parents were in Gryffindor, Ron's parents were in Gryffindor, Draco's father was in Slytherin, etc. So, I don't think that it's unreasonable to assume that the Heir of Slytherin actually would be in Slytherin (even if Salazar lived thousands of years ago).

But as for the first point...yeah, that's not unfair or prejudiced at all, right. *rolls eyes* Of course, we soon see that both of those assumptions are verified by the Heir himself, Tom Marvolo Riddle. Not only was he Sorted into Slytherin, actually *being* directly descended from Slytherin was what made him evil in the first place.

/* BTW, I wonder what the Slytherins all think of this constant vilification of their House’s founder?/

Didn't Ron or Harry get upset when Griphook accused Godric Gryffindor of being a thief? I notice that *that* reputation isn't widely known in Hogwarts.

/* That’s right, chaps, Salazar spoke Parseltongue, so anyone who speaks Parseltongue must also be evil./

And just why is it inherently evil? Just because it involves snakes? If Parseltongue was an innate ability to speak to bunnies or kittens, I doubt that anybody would view the speaker with suspicion and distrust. Sure, it would still be weird, but it wouldn't be painted as sinister. But, of course, snakes are evil, so anything related to them has to be evil as well. *sighs*

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

If Parseltongue was an innate ability to speak to bunnies or kittens, I doubt that anybody would view the speaker with suspicion and distrust


Voldie at the moment of death - his last though - "I KNEW I should have deployed the fuzzy pink bunny army!"

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

"I KNEW I should have deployed the fuzzy pink bunny army!"

They keep going...going...going...

;-)

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, most students that we see are Sorted into the same House that their parents belonged to. Harry's parents were in Gryffindor, Ron's parents were in Gryffindor, Draco's father was in Slytherin, etc. So, I don't think that it's unreasonable to assume that the Heir of Slytherin actually would be in Slytherin (even if Salazar lived thousands of years ago).

How many generations since then? Roughly 40? If 90% of one's children Sort into the same House, after only 4 generations the probability of one's descendant being in the same House drops below 50%. If 99% of children go to their parent's House then after 40 generations the chance one's descendant will still be in the same House is around 66%. So even if the parent-child co-Sorting correlation is 99% there is about 1 chance in 3 Slytherin's current heir is in some other House.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

And that's if both parents always belong to the same House, right? The odds of a descendant of Salazar's being in another House would increase significantly with every inter-House marriage (or not-marriage).

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

It's one thing for her to *help* her friends with their homework, to study with them, but to outright do the work and let her friends pass off her answers for theirs? That's cheating. I thought that she was supposed to be a stickler for the rules.

Hermione isn't a stickler for the rules, lol. Look at how many rules she bends and outright breaks over the years. She just likes telling the boys what to do, and usually the rules give her something to be bossy about, but she doesn't hesitate to lie to teachers and steal from their supplies and assault fellow students.

And the way she reacts to the HBP's potions book, that makes it pretty clear how hypocritical she is- when the boys are copying her work or she's writing essays for them, it's all good, because she's making herself important and indispensible to them, they need her...but replace her with someone/thing else, and she throws a fit over it. And it's not the cheating that bothers her- although she's right, it IS cheating- it's the fact that they don't need her anymore that gets her goat.

His comments aren't seen as idle threats, like Harry and Ron's angry thoughts about him

Exactly, I agree. I like Draco, but I get why it was so awful for him to say that- it's like if there was a serial killer who was only attacking grey-eyed blonds whose last names start with M and Harry said he hoped Draco was next...oh, wait. No, that'd be equally bad, but I bet nobody would criticize Harry for wishing Malfoy dead. Even though Harry's the one that's mainly inflicted physical damage on him and his companions. I don't know why everyone considers Draco a bully, it's so inconsistent with what we actually see in canon.

If Parseltongue was an innate ability to speak to bunnies or kittens, I doubt that anybody would view the speaker with suspicion and distrust

Not unless it was Dolores Umbridge. :P

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/And the way she reacts to the HBP's potions book, that makes it pretty clear how hypocritical she is- when the boys are copying her work or she's writing essays for them, it's all good, because she's making herself important and indispensible to them, they need her...but replace her with someone/thing else, and she throws a fit over it. And it's not the cheating that bothers her- although she's right, it IS cheating- it's the fact that they don't need her anymore that gets her goat./

That's why, even though I knew that Hermione had a point about the HBP's book, I still couldn't stand her. She was just so obnoxious over the whole thing - in fact, she was obnoxious for the entirety of HBP - that I couldn't bring myself to sympathize with her. From strutting around like a peacock (or, should I say, like *Draco*) when Harry didn't manage to cheat one time to screeching like a banshee at him, she just did not bring me over to her side.

/Not unless it was Dolores Umbridge. :P/

Ha, good point! :)

[oryx_leucoryx]

* Is there any explanation for Draco staying at school? He always goes home during the other years, AFAIK, so why break the pattern now, if not for authorial convenience?

The question is why Lucius let him stay at school, if he knew a monster was around. Even if the intended target of the monster are the Muggle-borns, doesn't Lucius think of the possibility that Draco might become collateral damage?

* On a side note, I’ve never really got all the Pansy-hate that goes around.

In another discussion someone with more pro-Rowling views said Pansy obviously must have some kind of personality problem because whenever we hear her she is being mean or negative. I noted that since she is taking classes with Harry for 6 years and we rarely hear her at all, it seems that when she is behaving normally Harry is blind and deaf to her presence. I also invited said poster to compare Pansy's utterances in 6 books to Ginny's in HBP.

* As Harry, unfortunately, does not have any such garment until Rowling remembers about his invisibility cloak, he’s instead stuck with disfiguring the Slytherins to create a diversion.

And risking seriously harming someone. Fireworks in a class with dangerous chemicals and open flames, really. But as he told Minerva already, he did not think.

* Snape turns a blind eye to Draco flicking puffer-fish eyes at Harry, which obviously counterbalances Harry’s getting the rules bent to help him, receiving free top-of-the-range broomsticks free of charge, being given extra tuition by Dumbledore, having the House Cup rigged so his House always wins…

More simply: Draco's ingredient-flicking gets outdone by Harry's firework-lobbing.

Compare Severus' competence in dealing with unexpected mayhem caused by a student to Lockhart's incompetence in dealing with mayhem caused by his own actions (releasing pixies in class).

* I don’t see why they don’t teach Expelliarmus in the normal curriculum. It seems to me that spells like this are the first thing you’d teach them in DADA (maybe Stupefy and Protego as well).

Maybe way back when competent people didn't stay away (nor were thay kept away) of the cursed DADA position maybe they did. I doubt Lockhart thought of teaching those. Does he even know to perform them?

* Snape’s “splitting up the dream team”, as he put it, makes me wonder why pupils aren’t made to work with their peers from other Houses more often on assignments and suchlike. Having the Gryffindors work with the Slytherins might teach them that their counterparts in other Houses are human being too, not caricatures of evil like most people seem to think.

Also, to learn defense one needs to practice with many different people.

* So is Snape the one who gave Draco the idea of using the snake spell? If so, why? Using random dark magic (presumably) just for the hell of it doesn’t really seem his style. Is it perhaps because he knows that Harry doesn’t know how to block proper spells, and just wants Draco to cast one which Harry will be able to avoid more easily?

Is it Dark Magic? If it is, it must be of the legal variety, because Draco is doing it in front of many witnesses. Why would Severus know Harry can avoid this one more easily? He was just as surprised as anyone else at Harry's talent in Parseltongue. I think his goal was to scare Harry a bit in public as delayed and unofficial punishment for the firework-lobbing. But note Severus can Vanish the snake - he never places a student in danger he can't control. As opposed to Lockhart (see Cornish pixies lesson).

* Harry’s really unlucky in that he has a motive for attacking everybody who’s been attacked so far. Maybe Tom’s trying to discredit him, like Lucius is trying to discredit Dumbledore?

Very likely. He gets ongoing updates from Ginny, so he knows just whom to make her attack.

* I like the way going to Dumbledore’s office is seen as such a big deal. You can tell he’s got such a close relationship with the student body, can’t you?

Well, being sent to the principal's office used to be a common consequence for serious misbehavior.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"And risking seriously harming someone."

Ah, but you see, the quest to ensure students' safety is more important than petty little things like, err, students' safety...

"Is it Dark Magic?"

It involves snakes and is performed by somebody Harry doesn't like, so I'd say so. ;)

"Why would Severus know Harry can avoid this one more easily? He was just as surprised as anyone else at Harry's talent in Parseltongue."

I was thinking more of the fact that Harry would be able to avoid it simply by keeping his distance from it (Draco didn't seem to have any degree of control over it, so he probably wouldn't be able to make it chase after Harry or anything like that), whereas he'd have to dodge out of the way of a spell.

"Well, being sent to the principal's office used to be a common consequence for serious misbehavior."

I was thinking more of the "this must be where Dumbledore lived" line. I'm sorry, but we have this super-good headmaster, who's loved and adored by everybody, and his favourite pupil can get halfway through his second year without even knowing where his office is? And he's portrayed as this kind, approachable figure? Seriously, JKR?

[oryx_leucoryx]

The office is on the 7th floor, which is the same floor where the entrance to Gryffindor Tower is. And Harry, the night-time wanderer, still doesn't know where it is. How convenient?

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

"Is it Dark Magic?"

It involves snakes and is performed by somebody Harry doesn't like, so I'd say so. ;)


If JKR says a magical snake coming out of a wand is dark magic she is crazy.

I don't care if she writes it in stone, that isn't a dark magicl spell.

How is shooting out a snake from a wand any worse than say...shooting out a lion or a raven or a groundhog (or whatever the hufflepuff animal is)

JKR is on mind alterning drugs if she says a snake out the wand is dark magic or she needs to seriously watch animal planet and/or discovery channle to find out snakes are not evil.

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

On a side note, I’ve never really got all the Pansy-hate that goes around. I can sort of understand it in the books, from a Doylist perspective if not a Watsonian one (Pansy being based on some girls who used to bully JKR at school), but why does fandom seem to hate her, too? Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light, which is surprising given that (a) she doesn’t do anything that bad in canon, and (b) fandom (or at least parts of it) seems determined to like pretty much every other Slytherin in the books.

Hmm, I wonder if those who are suspicious of negative feelings towards Lily would label Pansy-hate as misogyny. However, as I don't visit many HP sites, I rarely come across Pansy-hate. I've seen a lot of Pansy-positive fic (and Millicent-positive, too), mostly occurring post-Hogwarts. Here a gen story I remember, where those sorted into Slytherin post-war are sent directly to Azkaban: http://inkvoices.livejournal.com/3366.html. A web search for "Pansy fic recs" brought up tons of stories by Pansy fans.

BTW, Hermione’s "I’d better do the actual stealing, as you’ll get expelled if you get caught" line doesn’t make much sense, given that Harry would surely be in even more trouble if he were found lobbing fireworks into cauldrons full of dangerous potions than if he were found stealing something from Snape’s stores.

Either she assumes Harry will get caught and she won't, or she assumes Snape is looking for an excuse to expel Harry but won't expel her. Either way, she's pretty arrogant.

I don’t see why they don’t teach Expelliarmus in the normal curriculum. It seems to me that spells like this are the first thing you’d teach them in DADA (maybe Stupefy and Protego as well).

Well, Expelliarmus is the coward's way out. You don't get scars with Expelliarmus. You neutralize the situation right away. Naturally, it would be a Slytherin who demonstrates the spell. Harry gets a pass on using it because ... it's the only spell he's learned? No, that can't be right. He's too noble to hurt someone else? No, he cast a stealth Cruciatus. He's just so superior to every other wizard that it doesn't matter what spell he casts, so he chooses the most innocuous to rub the other wizard's face in his pwnage?

I like the way going to Dumbledore’s office is seen as such a big deal. You can tell he’s got such a close relationship with the student body, can’t you?

I got the feeling the big deal was the honor of being noticed by the great man, that he would deign to speak to you. It was not the shame or fear you might imagine with a Muggle headmaster, given that Dumbledore rarely outright scolds anyone -- except Snape, of course. He was a special case.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Either she assumes Harry will get caught and she won't, or she assumes Snape is looking for an excuse to expel Harry but won't expel her. Either way, she's pretty arrogant.

Well, Albus' threat is to expel Harry and/or Ron next time they are caught breaking any rule, so the way to go is place them in roles where they are less likely to get caught.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Another thing I forgot: When the kids' duels go out of hand - Lockhart yells at them helplessly, Severus stops all the spells in a single Finite. One of his less obvious badass wandwaving moments in canon. (Hermione and Milicent are still struggling because they have switched to fisticuffs.)

[anaid-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Gryffindor wizards are just insecure about their sexuality (cf. Harry), and so compensate by rejecting anything even remotely connected with the feminine sex.
They do seem to compensate by acting overly aggressive/"manly" an awful lot, so you might have something there.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

>Is there any explanation for Draco staying at school? He always goes home during the other years, AFAIK, so why break the pattern now, if not for authorial convenience?<

It's entirely for authorial convenience. My own therory is that his grandfather had come down with dragon pox and he was kept away to avoid catching it. It helped later that when the silly Black family tapestry sketch came out the Black family showed no fewer than four deaths in the '91-'92 time slot which *could* have been interpreted as fallout from an epidemic.

That's the *original* sketch, btw, not the altered one from the film. One of the deaths (Cygnus Black, the 3 sisters' father) waas changed from '92 to '89. Otherwise one might have expected the house to go to him when old Arcturus Black died in '91.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Sorry. I mean it was changed from '92 to '79. Typo.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I do love Percy's relationship with Penelope, even if it's hardly (never?) onscreen. His behavior with her or because of her just makes him so endearing to me. :D

Percy and Ron both seem quite hung up on the fact that it’s a girls’ toilet.

Lol, this reminds me of an incident this week, where there was a baby possum in the girls' toilet and all us girls were cooing over it and the boys were hovering uncertainly nearby, 'coz they wanted to see it but weren't sure if they were allowed to go in, haha! We teased them a bit, but let them go in.

Trying to kill someone because you’ve just lost a Quidditch game would be totally IC for a Gryffindor, IMHO

Oh, yeah, look at the abusive behavior Gryffindors demonstrate over Quidditch- Hermione Confunding a fellow Gryff, or Ginny knocking a pavilion down on top of Zach. *shakes head* (it baffles me that people prefer book!Ginny to movie!Ginny...yes, Bonnie's is quieter and not as ~feisty, but she's way more palatable!)

you’d have thought that a member of a House noted for cunning would be able to put such things into better perspective

Um....in theory, yes, but how often do Slytherins live up to their House's given characterististics? Even Draco, the sneakiest and most cunning of the kids we get to see is STILL as subtle as a bull in a china shop. (pushing to the front with his 'you'll be next, mudbloods' or those childish taunts at Hermione?)

Ron immediately assumes it was Lucius Malfoy who opened the Chamber last time round, even though he has absolutely no idea whether Lucius was actually at school when that happened

Ladies and gentleman, your future renowned Auror! Gosh, I shudder to think of how he conducts his investigations. Probably confunds people into thinking the nearest Slytherin did it- if he actually NEEDS any proof before hauling them off to Azkaban.

Ron belittles Hermione’s reading, except when he needs her to do his homework for him, in which case he’s glad she knows so much.

This really pisses me off! Look, if it's the fun kind of give-and-take, that's cool, but I don't get the sense that it's enjoyable repartee so much as him just putting her down for being interested in books. Ugh.

The Twins are giving Ginny nightmares until Percy stops them. This does not stop Percy from being the tactless one with no people skills, obviously.

OMGIKR? Percy is so awesome for standing up to her- not that she'll be grateful, that little miserable wretch, when it comes to spilling his secret and leaving him open for more taunts. *smacks Ginny*

Is Neville “almost a Squib”? He’s always having magical accidents, to be sure, but his problem mostly seems to be one of control, rather than actual power.

I agree, it's not lack of magic that's an issue, merely controlling it- for instance, when they were Banishing things, instead of getting the pillows, Neville kept sending Flitwick across the room, iirc?

But this is just the whole Neville self-sabotage thing, 'coz he doesn't have any confidence in himself. Til he becomes awesome later in the series!

Is there any explanation for Draco staying at school? He always goes home during the other years, AFAIK, so why break the pattern now, if not for authorial convenience?

Who knows? IDGI at all. The Malfoys are clearly loving parents- care packages every week- so why they'd leave him with a basilisk on the loose...'course, he's a pureblood so there's nothing to fear, but still, there's such a thing as collateral damage.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I’ve never really got all the Pansy-hate that goes around...but why does fandom seem to hate her, too? Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light, which is surprising

Oh, there's always gonna be some fics that portray her in a good light- there's Ron/Pansy shipppers, for instance, and I'm sure there are those who ship her with other characters and treat her decently. But yeah, she's overwhelmingly hated by fans, which is odd. Well, in DH, it's confirmed because she wants to turn Harry over to Voldemort (damn her for not being happy to die because their hero is cowering from the villain and had the bad form to choose their school to hide out) but before that...IDK, really. I guess it's because she's pug-faced and always shrieks her lines?

(gotta say, I love the Pansy from the PoA movie, she was so dignified and solemn, so adorb!)

Harry has got to think of a way to steal something from Snape’s stores without being seen. *sigh* If only he had some sort of magical garment – a cloak, maybe, or something like that – which could make him invisible…

WTF? Where IS his invisibility cloak anyway? That would be the obvious solution. O.o

Hermione’s “I’d better do the actual stealing, as you’ll get expelled if you get caught” line doesn’t make much sense

Well, Hermione excels at saying things that somehow seem like common sense when it's totally illogical- for instance, insisting she went to hunt down the troll in PS/SS, and leaving the boys grateful to her. Um, how the hell did that benefit them in any way? Surely it'd make them look better if they had gone to warn a crying girl than tagging after one intent on foolish heroics?

Snape turns a blind eye to Draco flicking puffer-fish eyes at Harry, which obviously counterbalances Harry’s getting the rules bent to help him, receiving free top-of-the-range broomsticks free of charge, being given extra tuition by Dumbledore, having the House Cup rigged so his House always wins…

*wibbles* It's so very unfair when put like that.

For all that we’re expected to see Snape’s dislike of Harry as an irrational result of his dislike for James, Harry doesn’t really do much to prove him wrong. He is lazy, arrogant, rude and mediocre, and here he’s endangering other pupils’ safety.

EXACTLY. Try pointing that out to other fans, though. (I've tried) No, no, Snape is just an evil asshole who is blinded by his immature schoolboy grudge with absolutely NO justification for disliking a student who doesn't try in class, disrespects him in front of everyone, gets rules bent for him and can't get in trouble no matter how he tries and puts other kids in danger.

“‘Wouldn’t it be good if they finished each other off?’ Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.” Note that this is completely different to Draco wishing that Slytherin’s monster would finish Hermione off.

Okay, this I don't really have a problem with. The basilisk really is out to kill muggle-borns, whereas there's no real chance of Lockhart killing Snape. HOWEVER, when defending Draco's comment about Hermione, I reference Harry's vicious desire for the DADA curse to get Snape in HBP- there is an actual curse that has left previous teachers dead or horribly abused, and Harry's hoping it gets Snape dead, when the man's just been risking his life for years to protect his! Our hero. Ugh.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Harry has got to think of a way to steal something from Snape’s stores without being seen. *sigh* If only he had some sort of magical garment – a cloak, maybe, or something like that – which could make him invisible…

WTF? Where IS his invisibility cloak anyway? That would be the obvious solution. O.o

Well, the second most obvious solution. The most obvious solution (not that I thought of it myself, I admit) would be to *buy* the ingredients. Harry doesn't lack for money, and we know that you can order things by owl at Hogwarts, because in OotP, Filch tries to confiscate one of Harry's letters on the grounds that he heard Harry was placing an order for Dungbombs.

Considering that the potion takes a month to make, and that the boomslang skin and bicorn horn weren't needed right away, it probably wouldn't even have delayed things to have bought them rather than stealing them.


The basilisk really is out to kill muggle-borns, whereas there's no real chance of Lockhart killing Snape.

Well, no one's been killed by the monster, either. They're Petrified, but there's frankly no suggestion that they're even aware of it. It's inconvenient and bad for one's education to be "out" for so long, but there's a known cure and no doubt that it'll work.

Nor does anyone know what's really going on, not even whether the real monster belonging to Slytherin is involved. It could be someone with a new spell or potion for Petrifying people, who only claimed to have some connection to the Chamber of Secrets legend. So no one actually knew, at that point, whether anyone came close to being killed.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

It’s so rare they’re given a chance to shine, watching their Head of House publicly kick arse must be a very enjoyable occasion for them.

As a Snape fan, I totally love this scene! Especially in the movie! ♥ Alan Rickman pwning Lockhart.

Having the Gryffindors work with the Slytherins might teach them that their counterparts in other Houses are human being too, not caricatures of evil like most people seem to think

I guess that was Dumbledore's motive in making Gryffs and Slytherins partners in a few classes every year? Wow, look at him trying to foster inter-house unity...

I like the way everyone assumes that (a) being Slytherin’s heir automatically makes one evil, and (b) all Slytherin’s heirs would get sorted into Slytherin. And people say that blood’s not important in Harry Potter?

Much as I hate to defend prejudice, it IS a giant muggle-born killing machine (well, incompetent at that, given nobody actually dies, but hey) so anyone who released/controlled that creature could be fairly assumed to be evil. And given that families often sort into the same house- but wait, no, look at the Patil twins! So yeah, it isn't fair to assume the heir would be in Slytherin- but then, people think that Harry's the heir and he's not a Slyth, so point to them for thinking outside the box?

That’s right, chaps, Salazar spoke Parseltongue, so anyone who speaks Parseltongue must also be evil. Just like Slazar wore clothes, and ate, and got married, so anyone who does any of those things must also be—no, wait…

LOL. But still, he did leave a very nasty basilisk to take out muggle-born students, so I'd be thinking he was bad news. The Parseltongue vilification is unfair, but I can see how people would think that way, given the only example they have at hand.

Too bad he's so against snakes, it'd've been cool for Harry to have a pet snake- I mean, Hedwig's okay for mail, but he can't talk with her. I'd love a pet I could communicate with. *sighs wistfully*

I like the way going to Dumbledore’s office is seen as such a big deal. You can tell he’s got such a close relationship with the student body, can’t you?

*gigglesnort* I never understand how Dumbles is seen as an awesome Headmaster- heck, Snape's more involved, given the way he sent students off on innocuous detentions to spare them being hurt, as opposed to Dumbles, who knew Draco was concocting murder schemes that had an unfortunate habit of endangering fellow pupils and didn't do anything about it.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Much as I hate to defend prejudice, it IS a giant muggle-born killing machine

No, it's a 'creatures with eyes' killing machine.

But still, he did leave a very nasty basilisk to take out muggle-born students, so I'd be thinking he was bad news.

We don't know that. Our source that the purpose of the unnamed monster was to kill Muggle-borns is a legend quoted by Binns. For all we know, Salazar was the Hagrid of his times, experimenting with breeding weird creatures. Then he left the castle to allow the peace to return among the other 3 founders (see Sorting Hat song in OOTP - the Hat was an eyewitness) and had to leave his pet snake behind.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Too bad he's so against snakes, it'd've been cool for Harry to have a pet snake- I mean, Hedwig's okay for mail, but he can't talk with her. I'd love a pet I could communicate with. *sighs wistfully*/

That's why fanfic authors will often give Harry a pet snake in AU fanfics.

/as opposed to Dumbles, who knew Draco was concocting murder schemes that had an unfortunate habit of endangering fellow pupils and didn't do anything about it./

Especially when his excuse was, "Oh, if I told you that I knew, then Voldemort would know, and you'd be in big trouble!" Never mind that Dumbledore could have used that as leverage to bring Draco over to his side. And even if he couldn't save Draco, Dumbledore should have least created some safeguards for the students or have done something to make them safer.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

"Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light, which is surprising given that (a) she doesn’t do anything that bad in canon, and (b) fandom (or at least parts of it) seems determined to like pretty much every other Slytherin in the books."

LYKE, ZOMG I FUKING H8 DAT SLUT PANSY COZ SHEH CRIES N HAZ A VAGINA AND GETS IN DA WAY OF HARRY'S AND DRACO'S KAWAII DESU HAWT BUTTSMEX WUV I HOEP SHEH DYES SHE SHOULD GTFO N HARRY POTTER WUD B SOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTTTTAAAAAAAAAAR I H8 ALL GURLSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

Seen it before, it happens all the time:P