COS Chapter Thirteen: "The Very Secret Diary"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Hermione’s really ashamed to be seen with a furry face. Pity the memory of this won’t stop her from cursing the words “SNEAK” across Marietta Edgecombe’s face in OOTP.

* Way to go, Dumbledore, giving the job of janitor to the person in the school least qualified for it. No wonder Filch has snapped.

* And Filch was so angry, he walked into Dumbledore’s office and beat him to death with a wet mop. The end.

* Ron’s once again demonstrating what it was like back when the WW was explained by somebody who might reasonably be expected to know about it, before he was lobotomised and his memories all given to Hermione.

* Ron’s had to spend an hour wiping slime off of Tom Riddle’s trophy. Even in (sort of) death, the Dark Lord still has the power to make people suffer. :)

* I think it says something about the insularity of the WW that it’s unthinkable for anyone to buy anything from a Muggle shop without being Muggle-born themselves.

* “Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would’ve done everyone a favour…” *Chalks one up for Seer!Ron.*

* Harry keeps Riddle’s diary, even though he doesn’t know why. Even in the early books, the malign influence of authorial fiat is plain to see.

* Also, for all that Harry will bitch about Draco’s “infatuation with the Dark Arts” in HBP, it’s interesting to note that he seems to feel an instinctive bond with the evil Lord Voldemort, and doesn’t turn against him till he knows who he really is.

* Note, however, that Harry’s being initially taken in by Tom, before turning against him when he realises who he really is, is entirely different to Draco’s initially supporting Lord V, before turning against him when he realises what sort of man he really is.

* Ron’s dismissive of all that intellectualism stuff, until he needs Hermione to help him with his homework, in which case he’s all for it. Hypocrite.

* Ron’s disgusted to be surrounded by all that girly pink. See under “Gryffindors, insecure sexuality thereof”.

* I love those little Cupid!Dwarves, BTW.

* Yeah, because obviously The Boy Who Lived and the star player on the Gryffindor Quidditch team would only get one Valentine. *rolls eyes*

* Malfoy probably feels that Christmas has come early in this scene. :)

* Still, you’d’ve thought that a member of a House famed for its cunning would have known better than to needlessly antagonise authority figures. IITS, I guess.

* “Malfoy, who obviously hadn’t noticed the date on the front cover, and thought he had Harry’s own diary.” Christ, JKR, show, don’t tell, remember?

* I’m going to disagree with Harry and suggest that Ron does need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs. Aside from being fun to watch, being on the receiving end of a few curses might stop all this wand-happy “Hex first, ask questions later” Gryffindorishness.

* Harry hasn’t yet hit puberty, so we’re spared the usual gushing descriptions of how handsome Tom is.

* Being a helpful old soul, Dippet pauses to have a long expositional conversation with Tom for the benefit of anybody who might be magically watching from fifty years in the future.

* DD’s “penetrating stare” is probably meant to show us how awesomely perceptive he is in guessing that it was really Tom all along. Unfortunately, it makes him look like an arrogant fool whose neurosis about sharing information leads him to recklessly endanger the lives of students under his care.

* So Hagrid’s just going to let that giant spider wander the corridors, then? It may not have killed anybody before, but it’s a miracle it didn’t kill anyone that night.

Comments

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Hagrid didn't intend for anybody to be hurt by Aragog and he didn't intend for Harry and Ron to be in danger.

Reminds me of an episode of Judge Judy the other day...

Defendent was the stepbrother of the plaintiff (plaintiff married to defendent's stepsister)...defendent went to visit his stepsister, and to stay the night. After everyone went to bed and was asleep, the underage defendent got up, took the plaintiff's car keys, drove plaintiff's car to a store, and then wrecked said car when trying to park it upon returning.

Defendent's biological father's defense was that the kid has ADHD, that the plaintiff knew the defendent had ADHD, so it was all really the plaintiff's fault because he should have watched the ADHD kid "better"...but no way was the ADHD kid responsible one iota, because he has ADHD and "can't focus, that's why he's on medication, to help focus his mind off of doing stuff like that"....and also, the kid hadn't MEANT to wreck the car, so he shouldn't be held accountable for wrecking it.

!!!!!! =:-o

Judge Judy, in her very distinct manner, read the riot act to the biological father and pointed out the ADHD kid was focused enough the night he snuck out of bed, took the plantiff's keys, stole his car, and drove to a store. She added that if the father continued to make excuses for the kid and not punish him for these sort of things, that the father was going to continue to have to appear with the kid before a judge. She then threw the book at them.

JKR's wizarding world needs a Judge Judy! LOL

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

AMAZING. Go, Judge Judy! I hate that people actually expect that kind of shoddy excuse to be reason enough to let someone off, ugh! I'm glad the kid got held accountable- the plaintiff totally deserved justice. Gee, if I were the kid's parent, I'd be so horrified and ashamed of what they did and be bending over backwards to make amends to the plaintiff and straighten the kid out, I can't imagine what kind of moron would blame the plaintiff for what happened!

JKR's wizarding world needs a Judge Judy!

Considering the shambles of their 'justice' system, I'd say so. Heck, leave the law out of it, just her common sense and powers of reason would be good enough tools to straighten them out!

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the kid got held accountable

Well the viewer got a hint of how it was going to go down when the case started, first thing that Judge Judy did was ask the ADHD kid if she made him nervous...the kid looked surprised at the question, shrugged and mumbled "No."

Judge Judy smirked with a gleam in her eye and stated that she'd do her best to change his opinion by the end of the case... LOL


just her common sense and powers of reason would be good enough tools to straighten them out!

They couldn't even magikally pee on her leg and say it's really rain! ;-)