COS Chapter Seventeen: "The Heir of Slytherin"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* I’ve got to hand it to JKR, this part of the book is genuinely frightening and tense.

* Still, you’ve got to wonder at how poorly thought-out Harry’s plan is. “Shutting your eyes” is not a good strategy when in the presence of a huge poisonous snake that’s trying to kill you.

* Salazar’s statue looks like a monkey. Because Slytherin House is just so evil, even their founder was sub-human.

* Harry flings his wand aside. After all, it’s not like it could be of any conceivable use in a hidden chamber with a deadly monster somewhere nearby.

* “For a second, Harry wondered how [the diary] had got there” – wait, Harry’s showing signs of curiosity? Are we sure that the real Harry hasn’t been temporarily kidnapped and replaced with a doppelgänger?

* Now Tom’s got Harry’s wand, leaving him practically defenceless. D’oh!

* Good God, but Harry’s slow on the uptake here. So he’s found Tom Riddle standing next to Ginny’s almost-dead body, Tom’s taken his wand, is refusing to help Harry, talks calmly about calling the basilisk, pockets his wand and doesn’t seem keen on leaving the Chamber. Hey, Harry, do you think that Tom might possibly not be a good guy?

* I believe it’s been noted here that Harry seems to feel a natural affinity to dark wizards and magic. It seems that Ginny’s the same (“No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom”), which gives her and Harry something in common to form a basis of their future relationship (ha! And you thought JKR just threw them together without laying any groundwork or bothering to give them any common interests! :p). ESE!Ginny would also explain things like her happiness to hex people for little or no provocation, or her willingness to defend her bf’s attempted murder in HBP.

* Now I’m imagining a fic where Harry and Ginny try and take over the WW and rule as dark king and queen. And fail miserably because they don’t have Hermione to help them.

* “If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed.” A bit like Dumbledore, in fact, or for that matter Harry himself…

* “‘Haven’t you guessed yet, Harry Potter?’ said Riddle softly.” Really, Tom, a boy who still hasn’t guessed that you’re a bad guy is hardly likely to have worked out that Ginny was the one attacking people, is he?

* So Ginny knew (or at least suspected) that she was the one behind the attacks, but still didn’t tell anyone. Gryffindor courage, anyone?

* DD persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid as gamekeeper. Given that Hagrid had allegedly killed someone, I wonder how he managed to do this? Blackmail? Imperius? After DH, I don’t think anything would surprise me.

* “‘I bet Dumbledore saw right through you,’ said Harry, his teeth gritted,” without stopping to wonder why Dumbledore didn’t tell anyone of his suspicions or do anything to try and confirm them.

* “For many months now,” said Tom, “my new target has been – you.”

“Wait,” said Harry. “You mean you don’t want to be my friend?”

* Harry’s little pro-Dumbledore speech is actually quite inspiring. Or would be, if we didn’t now know that DD has essentially been raising him for the past eleven years as a mindlessly obedient soldier, which makes it look rather creepy.

* Fawkes is here! Luckily he’s recovered from his rebirth in time to save Harry the indignity of being rescued by something ugly. Only the beautiful are worthy of saving Our Hero’s life!

* “We even look something alike,” says Tom, foreshadowing the dishy!Harry of HBP onwards.

* Sill, Tom’s really naïve to think that he and Harry are at all similar. Harry’s in Gryffindor, remember? That alone outweighs any petty similarities in background, looks, morals or behaviour that Tom could ever come up with.

* Now this is where Tom’s Pureblood mania really comes back to bite him on the bum. If he’d been more familiar with Muggle fiction like James Bond, he’d know that villains who kill their opponents in really long-winded and theatrical ways always end up being defeated at the last moment. Much better just to AK Harry and Fawkes, then magically burn their bodies along with the Hat, just to be on the safe side.

* Even with Fawkes’ and Tom’s help, Harry would still have been snake-food were it not for the fact that God JK Rowling the basilisk sweeps the Sorting Hat into his arms.

* No, Tom, don’t take your time! Learn from all those Bond villains, finish him off quickly!

* Fawkes gives Harry Tom’s diary, when surely a real Gryffindor would let him fight it out, man-to-man. Christ, DD, what were you thinking of, getting this cissy pet bird? It’s probably some cowardly Ravenclaw. Those Gryffindor-coloured feathers are just a disguise to try and make it look brave!

* JK Rowling pulls her trick of having characters crying to distract from the fact that their behaviour has been pretty shoddy. She’ll do it again with Hagrid in POA.

* Interesting to see how Ginny’s main concern is that she’ll get expelled, rather than, say, whether she’s hurt anyone. Good to see she’s got her priorities right.

* Back off, Ron, only the Chosen One’s good enough to comfort Ginny!

* Ron’s “grinning” at Lockhart’s predicament. Yay, let’s laugh at the person with serious brain damage! You can tell he’s a true Gryffindor, alright.

* It would be sort of ironic if Harry had beaten Tom without needing Fawkes or the Hat, and then died of starvation along with Lockhart, Ron and Ginny because they couldn’t get out. Any bets on how long it’d take before they resorted to cannibalism?

* Harry goes to Professor McGonagall’s office. If only he’d thought of this sooner, we might have had a more believable book.

 

Comments

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Ginny's character was realistic when she was all shy and tongue-tied around him, at least to me. Been there, done that. If she transformed from an awkward duckling to a beautiful duckling, that would have rung true, too. I've known girls who were awkward, less than pretty, and very shy because of it, growing out of it without their ever noticing. Awkward > beautiful but still, duckling > duckling. Popular girls, too. Pretty, popular, and very nice because they never learned to rely solely on their looks - looks were not an asset they learned to use early on. Looks are an asset, you know, a good Slytherin would know how to put them to the best use.

It was Ginny's uber-confidence, personality change (or seeming change) from shy violet to snapping dragon, her nasty sense of humor and revenge, her shallow dumping of a procession of guys (okay, a small procession) since none were Harry and so would not satisfy what she really craved, that grated on me. If Rowling attempted to show something different, she failed miserably. To me, this does not jibe with a basically nice girl.

To answer you, this was unrealistic because a girl who had the "Ginny 1.0" qualities would not suddenly become "Ginny 2.0" just because her brother's friend suggested it.

If Rowling would actually have shown us, around the edges of her tight focus on Harry's POV, a Ginny who was still pining over Harry while in various light romances, I might have bought it. Maybe she just didn't have the skills to work this sort of delicate description given the POV. As it is, I feel bad for the guys since, without the desperation of a girl who has given up her hope but not her dream, she ends up looking more like she's using them as throw-away carrots for Harry's stock donkey (or chest monster) response to kick in.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

... growing out of it without their ever noticing. ... Pretty, popular, and very nice because they never learned to rely solely on their looks - looks were not an asset they learned to use early on.

That's an attractive image to contemplate. I dare say I've read H/Hr stories that embody something along those lines ... canon!Hermione, after all, wasn't a beauty, so those fanfics that made her so had to deal with her (and other characters') reaction to her physical blooming.

Like you, I found Ginny 1.0 acceptable - I was a H/G fan in those early days! - and it was her 2.0 personality that thoroughly repulsed me. I've always called her a 'not very nice girl' so we're in total agreement.

And yes, it was the totally abrupt transition from 1.0 to 2.0 which I found artificial and unbelievable.

she ends up looking more like she's using them as throw-away carrots for Harry's stock donkey (or chest monster) response to kick in.

That's something I've enjoyed playing with in thinking about canon's H/G.

At one stage I thought it could be shown that Ginny had likely been aware of Harry's monster's lust before she broke up with Dean ... thus suggesting that Dean was 'used' to make Harry jealous. My reasoning was that Hermione was clearly aware of Harry's fascination for the redhead and, as Ginny's consultant on how to win Harry's heart, she would have naturally told Ginny. But it was pointed out to me that the timing was wrong; Hermione's first knowing look at Harry takes place after Ginny dumps Dean for a trite and trivial reason.

Still, if the girl had 'never given up' on her crush, it certainly devalues her liaisons with the other boys.

Also, when she decides to launch her 'hard, blazing look' at Harry and jump on top of him in front of the entire population of Gryffindor tower she probably knew *exactly* what the boy would do next; by then Hermione would have told her about Harry's falling for her. Consider how, also, when he kisses her there isn't even a microsecond of hesitation on her part.

Drifting off topic, I guess. Plus - if I'm right about Ginny 2.0 actively manipulating Harry, at least to a small degree after she became aware of her luck in the author writing the boy as suddenly attracted to her charms - then she *did* - finally - make an effort to achieve her 'ambition', and in so doing had the Slytherin quality that oryx_leucoryx suggested she possessed earlier in this blog entry.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I've always been an H/G fait accompli myself. I think it was obvious the author intended for them to get together. But, then, I'm a woman and you know what we're like. *gag* When Ginny went more the way of the twins rather than of Ron or, heaven forefend, a completely separate entity, I was a little shocked. I thought the twins were mean little bullies. If this was the perfect female for Our Hero, then what does this make Our Hero?

It's possible that Ginny 2.0 had super-sekret witch radar that told her about Harry's change of heart. I think your explanation is much more natural, though. Girlfriends talk. I'll bet boyfriends do, too.

The Yule Ball in GoF, though, didn't Harry finally break down and ask Ginny, since he didn't have anyone else to ask? Or am I conflating H/G with R/Hr?

[oryx_leucoryx]

The Yule Ball in GoF, though, didn't Harry finally break down and ask Ginny, since he didn't have anyone else to ask? Or am I conflating H/G with R/Hr?

No, Harry didn't.

Harry was turned down by Cho, Ron by Fleur. Ron heard from Neville that he was turned down by Hermione because she was already going with 'someone'. But Ron doesn't believe it, he thinks Hermione was just making up an excuse to get rid of Neville because who would ask Hermione (and who would go with Neville)? Then Ron realizes he could actually ask Hermione and gets turned down. And it is Ron who suggests that Harry ask Ginny, but as it turns out she was already going with Neville. Tells you a lot about Ron's perception of the social order.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I think a huge slab of the readership that 'saw' H/G were disposed that way merely because the R/Hr was so obvious, and Ginny was the only other girl that Harry/we knew. (I know fans who thought things would end up H/L because Luna was a new female introduced in book 5 for just that purpose.)

And R/Hr was 'obvious' only to those who subscribed to the lazy TV sitcom writer's "fighting means true lurve" trope. If you went along with that then everything was nice and simple; just like Rowling's intended OBHWF cookie-cutter arrangement for her primary couples.

But, then, I'm a woman and you know what we're like.

Harry Potter has taught me that you'll hang around, out of sight, waiting for the boy you desire to deign to notice you, right? That's what both Ginny and Hermione taught me! I can lust after other girls, have flings, be a jackass ... you'll still be there, in your parking orbit, when I'm ready for you, right?

:-)

The Yule Ball in GoF, though, didn't Harry finally break down and ask Ginny, since he didn't have anyone else to ask?

Nope, Harry seriously didn't notice Ginny at all until the sixth book, when Rowling realised she had only that one tome to boot Ginny into the 'love interest' stratosphere before leaving her at home during the final novel's infinite camping trip.

"Right," said Ron, who looked extremely put out, "this is getting stupid. Ginny,
you can go with Harry, and I'll just -"

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I can lust after other girls, have flings, be a jackass ... you'll still be there, in your parking orbit, when I'm ready for you, right?

Riiiiiiiiight. Me and the husband will be orbiting around somewhere. Only, if you want to meet him, he'll be the satellite orbiting the channel changer. He's a man; you know what they're like. ;)

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Heh. I should have been careful to note that I'd slipped into generic mode with the 'you' in the final sentence being the 'woman in general' and not seductivedark.

If Harry or Ron had been given a channel changer maybe Ginny and Hermione would still be waiting ... :-)

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I got that it was the generic "you." My response could either be taken personally, since it does apply (right down to the channel changer) or generically.

Poor Ron and Harry can't have channel changers - they're too Muggle. So is TV. Can't have those guys not listening to the dulcent strains of Celestine Warbuck or whatever her name was and not being forced into the mood.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter has taught me that you'll hang around, out of sight, waiting for the boy you desire to deign to notice you, right? That's what both Ginny and Hermione taught me! I can lust after other girls, have flings, be a jackass ... you'll still be there, in your parking orbit, when I'm ready for you, right?

Are we talking human relationships or is this the laws of gravety in reguards to the Earth and the moon.

Apparently for the first half of the series, Ginny-Moon was in orbit behind Harry-Earth and it took her swinging around to the front to make his chest monster move; not unlike the oceans do on the earth.

Only then, did the total eclipse of Harry-Earth's heart occur and real love could be felt.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Are we talking human relationships or is this the laws of gravety in reguards to the Earth and the moon.

Apparently for the first half of the series, Ginny-Moon was in orbit behind Harry-Earth and it took her swinging around to the front to make his chest monster move; not unlike the oceans do on the earth.

Or as the jerk Bill O'Reilly said on his show this past week, when arguing with an atheist for the existence of God:

"The tides go in, the tides go out, never any miscommunication, and YOU can't explain why they do that!"

Ginny moved in, Ginny moved out, never any communication, missed or otherwise, and we can't explain why she should have ended up as Harry's love interest... ;-)

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Are we talking human relationships or is this the laws of gravety in reguards to the Earth and the moon.

I think, maybe, in thinking about HP romance dynamics, a black hole might be a more appropriate analogy?

But if there's one thing I do know ... it's that Rowling's Harry Potter isn't rocket science. :-)