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

[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.

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

I wonder what Hermione thought would happen to her if she got caught stealing from the school. Didn't she fear expulsion?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, towards the end of PS she decided nobody would expel her because she had such good grades. (She got 120% on Flitwick's exam and nobody would throw her out after that.) Maybe she still believes that to be true.

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Harry and Ron didn't get expelled for arriving at school in a flying car and breaking the Statute of Secrecy. So Hermione probably did assume that, with a (relatively...comparatively) clean record, stealing from the school would result in punishment but not expulsion. See, teachers, your leniency really is setting a bad example!

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

She got 120% on Flitwick's exam

How does that even work? I know most wizards are hopeless at logic, but they shouldn't be able to warp the universe to fit! The only way I can vaguely imagine this working is if she answered her questions in far more detail than was necessary, but what sane marking scheme would give more than 100% for that? It's a logical impossibility! Is a simple 100% just not magical enough? Is Harry getting more than 100% on his non-Snape-marked DADA work? What's happening to mathematics?

[oryx_leucoryx]

My 7th grade math teacher sometimes gave an extra-credit problem that allowed one to get more than 100% on her exam if one didn't lose more points on the official exam than one gained from the extra problem. The highest possible final grade in the subject was still 10/10 - if after taking together grades for exams, quizzes, answering in class, classroom conduct etc one still had extra that extra bit was lost.

(OTOH in my school one could also end up with negative marks for an exam, there were rules that required deducting points for assorted things. And one Physics teacher deducted 10 points for each omission of units.)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

The only way I can vaguely imagine this working is if she answered her questions in far more detail than was necessary, but what sane marking scheme would give more than 100% for that?

Perhaps Flitwick had extra-point questions on the test. ;-)

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Then why wouldn't they be counted towards the total 100%? I can see the reasons behind extra credit questions on a class test, but it just seems weird on an exam.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Then why wouldn't they be counted towards the total 100%? I can see the reasons behind extra credit questions on a class test, but it just seems weird on an exam.

The way the teachers I had who did extra-credit questions did it, was to have, say, 20 main questions on the test, and perhaps two extra-credit questions which were optional -- a test taker didn't have to answer those extra-credit questions, and if they did answer them but their answers were incorrect, it didn't count against the test as a whole.

IOW, the test was the main 20 questions at 5 points each. If you got all 20 answers correct, your score was obviously 100. If you then answered the two extra-credit questions correctly, your final score was 110 (or however many points the teacher decided the extra-credit questions were worth).

If you only got 18 of the main test answers correct, your score would be 90; if you answered the two extra-credit questions correctly, your final score would be 100.

If your main test score was 90, and you answered the extra-credit questions incorrectly, those didn't count against your final score, you'd still end up with a test score of 90.

IOW, what matters on such tests are the questions on the main part of the test; extra-credit questions can boost your score if you answer them correctly, but won't harm your final score if you answer them incorrectly (or don't answer them at all).

So my guess as to Hermione's final score of 120 on Flitwick's test to me suggests that he had extra-credit questions on the test, and that Hermione probably answered both the main test questions and the extra-credit questions correctly.

[oryx_leucoryx]

What is the difference between a class test and an exam?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

An exam comes at the end of the year and relates to everything studied up till then. Though in this case there might not be much of a difference in how they'd function, since I'd forgotten that until fifth year all their exams were internal and wouldn't be set to match anyone's academic standards but the teachers'. (I wonder what Lockhart's exams would have been like?)

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe this is why she's such a nervous wreck when she faces the Boggart and is told she failed her exams? Because I never got why Hermione would fall apart over that- it's obviously NOT MCGONAGALL, FFS- but maybe if she's convinced her grades are the only thing keeping her at Hogwarts and that failing=expulsion, then it just overwhelmed her with the thought of being kicked out and never seeing her friends again and going home in disgrace?

But no, even that doesn't really make sense to me. *sighs* Hermione just had to arbitrarily fail so that Harry could get top marks in DADA, I guess. *eyeroll*