COS Chapter Fourteen: "Cornelius Fudge"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* The WW seems to have a really inconsistent attitude towards criminal justice. On the one hand, their punishments are often extremely excessive (yes, let’s lock people up surrounded by depression-inducing, soul-devouring monsters for petty theft); on the other, they can be ridiculously weak when the plot demands it (murder? Well, you won’t be able to come to Hogwarts anymore. Although we will give you a job for life as Gamekeeper in the very same school which you terrorised with your monster).

* “Riddle does sound like Percy – who asked him to grass on Hagrid, anyway?” Apologies in advance for this little rant-ette, but WTF? Seriously, W – T – F? As far as Ron knows, Hagrid’s just killed someone, and he thinks Tom shouldn’t tell anyone? I’ll freely admit that I never got this whole “no snitching” rule in school stories, but this just seems ridiculous. So it’s better to let people die than tell a teacher? Really? Ron’s being really hypocritical, too, unless he’d been planning to sit on his arse and do nothing once he got proof that Draco was the Heir of Slytherin.

* Also, note how Harry says that he doesn’t blame Tom “for wanting to stay here”, rather than, I don’t know, wanting to save someone’s life.

* Choosing the subjects that “could affect [their] whole future” at the age of twelve seems a bit early, really.

* Jolly nice of Percy to offer to help Harry like that. If I were in his situation, I’d be quite grateful.

* Note how Percy says “non-magical community”, instead of using some demeaning slur like “muggle” or “mudblood”. Bloody pinko! It’s no wonder he ended up going bad!

* For all that wizards think of Muggle Studies (Christ, what a patronising name) as a “soft option”, they seem to have real difficulty learning anything about Muggles. Apart from the Malfoys, for some reason, who seem to know loads.

* “But the only thing Harry felt he was really good at was Quidditch.” I’m sort of half-tempted to give JKR a bit of credit for acknowledging Harry’s general uselessness, but she blows it for me by avoiding making Harry ever have to work hard and improve. Having difficulty? Don’t worry, Hermione will sort it out for you!

* Did Ginny really need to go so far as to rip Harry’s books apart in her quest to find the diary? What, was she worried that he might have hidden it somewhere inside one of the pages? Oh well, I suppose property damage is OK if it’s in service of a higher cause, like keeping your crush on someone secret.

* No, Hermione, you clearly have a lot of learning to do. It’s not true that only a Gryffindor could do it. Gryffindors never do anything wrong, and, if it seems like they have done, it’s because they were possessed and made to do it by a Slytherin. Don’t worry, though, you’ll learn soon enough.

* Pity Hermione doesn’t feel the need to tell Harry and Ron about her suspicions. Still, this secrecy is quite consistent for her character, so I forgive JKR for it.

* “Yes, perhaps you’d better come too, Weasley.” Even when his best(-ish) friend has just been attacked, Ron’s still an afterthought behind Harry Potter.

* I’m surprised Fred and George don’t slip laxatives into the Hogwarts water supply, thereby ensuring that teachers are constantly rushed off their feet escorting students to the bathrooms.

* Erm, Lee, given that only four people have been attacked so far, the fact that the Slytherins are all fine isn’t exactly that surprising.

* Trust George to try and spin the worst possible interpretation on Percy’s behaviour.

* Yeah, that’s right, all this stuff’s coming from a Slytherin, so it’s OK to chuck them out. Just like a lot of international terrorism is carried out by Islamic groups, so it’s OK to throw every Muslim in prison. Sure, the vast majority will be innocent, but you’ll also get the guilty ones, and retribution’s the most important function of the justice system, right?

* Harry and Ron are so busy plotting, they don’t notice Lee Jordan taking out his copy of The Protocols of the Elders of Slytherin, which conclusively demonstrates that Severus Snape is trying to take over the wizarding world using his control of the international media.

* Does Hagrid not realise that pointing his crossbow at anyone who comes knocking just makes him look like the sort of violent person who would set a monster on the school?

* Cornelius Fudge is indeed wearing “a strange mixture of clothes”. Does the gene that gives them magical powers also give them appalling dress sense or something?

* Of course, Dumbledore could probably come up with quite a good defence of Hagrid if he tried. For some reason, though, he again chooses to frame his defence by assuming that Dumbledore’s trust should be good enough proof of innocence for anyone, without bothering to explain just why it is he thinks he’s innocent.

* “‘Yeh can’ take Dumbledore away!’ yelled Hagrid… ‘Take him away, an’ the Muggle-borns won’ stand a chance! There’ll be killin’s next!’” Erm, Hagrid, what exactly has DD done so far to prevent the attacks? Or is he saying that the Heir of Slytherin must be so in awe of the headmaster that he’s holding back from killing people? Because there’s actually no evidence than Dumbledore’s presence is doing anything to prevent the attacks or keep the students safe. If anything, Lord V probably knows that DD won’t do anything to stop the attacks – after all, he didn’t do anything last time…

 

Comments

Re: Snape gets Love, JKR's depressed.

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Um, Rowling? It is indeed possible for someone to like a character without thinking of them as an admirable person. To go even further, it's also possible to admire some aspects of a character and despise others.

The morality of these books squicks me out so badly. We're supposed to hate Snape and consider him the scourge of the earth for being mean to his students, yet we're not supposed to hate Sirius, who set up a fellow student to be killed and never felt any remorse for his actions. And fandom laps it up.

I can't call myself a fan of any character in these books (I try to despise Rowling's poor writing for their failings rather than them, though), but I can't help but get up in arms about the way Snape's treated. Being bitter over never receiving justice after a student attempted to get you killed and the authority figure in charge in fact covered up his crime is not a petty schoolboy grudge, fandom!

And Rowling considers Mr. Gallant Crucio to be the perfect boy for girls to go after? Eek.

Racist, bullying spoilt brat that he is, Draco is actually far preferable. When confronted with the reality of war he was horrified by the atrocities being committed- even to the people who he was raised to think of as inferior. He looks to me to stand a far better chance than Harry, or indeed most of the 'heroes', of maturing past his prejudices.

Re: Snape gets Love, JKR's depressed.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

JKR showing that her character Severus Snape has things we the readers don't like. Of course, even the diehard Snape fan can admit he's an asshole/jerk but there are obviously other qualities that seem admirable. Where anyone would value that kind of trait or habit, etc.

It just bothers me that becasue it's Sirius and James it seems to be glossed over. Who the hell wouldn't be bitter and resentful given those life situations Severus suffers?

And throught everything Snape became loyal or even more loyal than anyone else to Dumbledore. Yet at every opportunity Dumbledore seems to have failed him. He gave Severus a respectable job but it make you wonder about the rest of it. JKR calles Severus vendictive, while she herself spouts off about wanting revenge on a school teacher.

Bitter? Really who wouldn't be. We have Harry as the example of living through a bad childhood...but we also have Tom and Severus who are other examples of bad childhood.

While Dumbledore catered to Harry, it doesn't seem as though he gave prefered treatement to the young Severus Snape. Now, I do know that Severus must have had the desire to see James/Sirius and possibly even Lupin gone from Hogwarts. But thats easy to understand in the that we see James and Sirius are not only competition for him but they seem to be abusing him as well. Right from the start James goes out of his way to insult Slytherin so they set each other up from the start as enemies - not even counting Lily into that it was already them butting heads.

Then we have the headmaster cover up the attack, protect James/Sirius/Lupin but what sort of protection did he give to Severus? It almost seems like Severus was dumped to the bottom of the barrell and forgotten. Severus seemed to already have the theory about Lupin but when he talks to Lily his cleverness is not only stomped on, but it is also (By his best friend) Vilified. Even Lily makes his ideas and thoughts out to be bad. Thanks Best Friend, I appreciate your support. So at the point Lily is belittling his thoughts/ideas/feelings, Severus knows the truth and knows Lupin is a werewolf. So IF he told or discussed the idea with other Slytherin, Severus cannot reveal the truth and is made to look or feel stupid.

I mean taking it into the context of what happened. His knowledge that is true is belittled by Lily - when he wanted to impress her with his cleverness, instead all of that is stamped on and he's not supposed to be bitter about that?

I think we get that Severus made the wrong choices in his life, but it almost seems like he wasn't allowed to make the right choices because nobody believed/liked/cared about him anyway. Besides, it seems to me he kept his word, kept his promises in the end. At any time Severus could have told about Remus Lupin but he kept his word - even when James/Sirius still seems to be abusing him he still kept his promises.

One could even theorize that Dumbledore is responsible for the Worst Memory Scene; because of the coverup and his allowing Sirius to get away with almost murder it put Severus in a position of being inferior to them. The coverup of Remus being a werewolf was at stake and Dumbledore would have been in trouble for allowing Remus to attend school. Yet it doesn't seem to me that Dumbledore ever really helped Severus, or we don't see it in canon. Severus is just cast aside, to me if Dumbledore had this boy keep a big secret like this HE should have tried to help Severus at every opportunity.

Imagine if Dumbledore had taken up a quarter of the time he spent on Harry? We don't see that in canon but I can't say I see that in canon. Severus was keeping the secret for Dumbledore/Remus - Dumbledore should have gone out of his way to make sure that Severus got just as much special treatement as Sirius and James. I think it probably would have made a huge difference if that had happened.

Re: Snape gets Love, JKR's depressed.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

The coverup of Remus being a werewolf was at stake and Dumbledore would have been in trouble for allowing Remus to attend school.

Something just dawned on me...

In the 70s the only way to deal with Lupin's "furry little problem" was to lock him up out of the way on the night of a full moon...

Come September 1993 and Lupin's arrival at Hogwarts as a teacher, and now there's a potion he can take that prevents him from transforming on full moon nights...

Obviously the potion's Snape's invention, but when did he develop it? And if he invented it before Sept. '93, why? And who did he test it on?

Dumbledore should have gone out of his way to make sure that Severus got just as much special treatement as Sirius and James.

Or better yet, Dumbles shouldn't have been going out of his way to give ANY student special treatment...James and Sirius should have been treated JUST THE SAME as Severus, or any other student at Hogwarts, including the same punishments for infractions.

Re: Snape gets Love, JKR's depressed.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Obviously the potion's Snape's invention, but when did he develop it?

Canonically it isn't. In HBP it is mentioned that some Belby invented it. Slughorn invited the nephew of the inventor to the Slug Club, but discontinued the invitation when it turned out the nephew wasn't close to the talented uncle.

Or better yet, Dumbles shouldn't have been going out of his way to give ANY student special treatment...James and Sirius should have been treated JUST THE SAME as Severus, or any other student at Hogwarts, including the same punishments for infractions.

James and Sirius did receive detentions from someone, at least before 5th year - it's supposed to be the reason James wasn't made prefect, and we see the records Harry is forced to copy in 6th year. The problem was those punishments were not effective for them. Note that the twins don't care about detentions either. They care about expulsion from Hogwarts - until they decide that what Hogwarts has become under Umbridge wasn't worth it, and they care about being reprimanded by their mother.

My theory is that Minerva was responsible for many of the detentions James and Sirius received - she was trying to rein them in, but like with the twins, this was not an effective approach. (Especially not once they got those walkie-talkie mirrors.) Then at the end of 5th year James got that talking-to from Lily and decided the only way to get Lily was to hide his misdeeds from her. He became more effective at using the Map, Peter in rat form as look-out, the invisibility cloak - to make sure Lily never found out what he was up to. His on-record behavior seemed to have improved tremendously, and Minerva decided she was finally able to get through to him - hence her patient repetition of the same approach with the twins. Also the reason why she agreed with (or even initiated) the appointment of James as Head Boy despite the fact that he hadn't been a prefect. And Dumbles really wanted James as Head Boy as payback for saving his reputation regarding having a werewolf at school. (Do you think the governors knew about it? I don't. And notice the Shrieking Shack is off Hogwarts grounds. Albus could truthfully swear, under veritaserum if necessary, that there never ever, to the best of his knowledge, was any transformed werewolf on campus.)

So James got the glory and the girl. And Minerva thought she had him figured out. But the fact is, nobody managed to bring any kind of change in James.