COS Chapter Eighteen: "Dobby's Reward"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Dumbledore’s beaming at Harry. Yes, Albus, it must be nice to know that Harry now worships you so much that he cares about your reaction more than anyone else’s.

* So how long has Dumbles known that Riddle’s been possessing Ginny? After HBP, I wouldn’t be surprised to know that he’d guessed from the start, but has been sitting on the information to let Harry “try his strength” or whatever.

* “Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was actually called Tom Riddle.” Yes, Dumbles, because you never tell anyone. Which seems somewhat odd, given that the pureblood fanatics who apparently make up his biggest supporters might hesitate at joining a known half-blood. Plus, of course, it’s a lot harder to be scared of Tommy Riddle of Slytherin House than it is of Lord Voldemort, Master of Death.

* On second thoughts, it’s not that odd. After all, the threat of Voldemort provides a useful means of distracting people from the underlying problems facing the Wizarding World, not least of which is the fact that this Machiavellian schoolteacher is controlling everything behind the scenes.

* Seriously, for all his supposed modesty in not accepting the Minister of Magic post, he seems to have acquired a remarkably large amount of influence. He’s already Headmaster of wizarding Britain’s only school, Supreme Warlock of the Wizengamot, Chief Mugwump and head of the International Confederation of Wizards, which in Muggle terms is like being Education Secretary, Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord Chancellor and Secretary-General of the UN all at once. More powerful, in fact, since the Education Secretary doesn’t hire and fire individual teachers, or expel individual pupils. No wonder he wants people distracted by Voldemort.

* Someone really ought to write a parody fic with Dumbledore as this sinister villain controlling everything behind the scenes, and the Death Eaters as a group of noble freedom-fighters trying to overthrow him, who have an unfair reputation as a group of dark wizards due to Dumbledore’s control of the press. Or better yet, Voldemort could be an agent working for Dumbledore, giving the WW something to unite against in order to stop them questioning Dumbledore’s authority.

* I wonder if Dumbledore’s being so lenient to Ginny here because he’s remembering how he was once taken in by Grindlewald?

* For some reason, I now find myself always suspecting the worst every time Dumbledore’s eyes start twinkling. I wonder what he could be up to here?

* Note how it’s Ron who immediately thinks of Hermione being OK. Another clue to Hr/R?

* Special Awards for Services to the School and two hundred points? Hardly an appropriate reward, IMHO. Not only is fighting millennium-old monsters not a recognised extra-curricular activity, making it inappropriate to give them points for it, but a glorified school trophy seems a bit inadequate. They should be given Orders of Merlin instead.

* Dumbledore doesn’t seem surprised that Lockhart tried to memory charm Harry and Ron. So does this mean that he knew all along about Gilderoy’s modus operandi? And he still hired him nevertheless? Remind me again, why is it that Dumbledore’s considered the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had?

* Harry doesn’t think he’s like Tom, because Harry’s in Gryffindor and Tom’s just a Slytherin. Oh dear. Maybe Voldemort’s idea of abolishing Houses was a good one after all.

* Also, note how Harry thinks “doing well in Slytherin” means “evil”. Yet more evidence of the Houses dividing students and encouraging them to think of members of other Houses as being beneath them. Seriously, it’s like the Founders thought that the WW was too boring, and set up a system purposefully designed to lead to as much civil war as possible.

* This would be an excellent opportunity for Dumbledore to say to Harry, “Look, Harry, I know you don’t like some Slytherin students, but Slytherins are people too, Slytherin House is every bit as good as any other House, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being sorted into Slytherin.” Instead, he seems to confirm Harry’s idea that choosing not to be sorted into Slytherin is some sort of moral test he had to pass.

* Getting all psychoanalytical here, I think that maybe Dumbledore knows deep down that he’d have been better-suited to Slytherin than Gryffindor (he’s cunning and manipulative enough, at any rate), and compensates by doing down Slytherin House whenever he can get away with it.

* Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled the sword out of the Hat, apparently. So does that mean that no other House member would be able to receive help from the Hat, or would they have pulled out something equally cool? If, say, Pansy had been taken into the Chamber and Draco had gone down to rescue her, would he have pulled out Slytherin’s crossbow or something?

* I’d like to think that Helga Hufflepuff, at least, would have offered up her weapon (battle-axe, maybe? Mace?) to anyone who needed it, regardless of House.

* So why did the governors want Dumbledore back? When has he done anything to stop the attacks?

* I don’t believe the cursing families part, either. A shrewd political operator like Lucius would never resort to something so obviously illegal. More likely the governors are just trying to cover their backsides in case Dumbledore’s angry with them. You know what he’s like about personal loyalty, after all.

* Come to think of it, does anyone know whether any of the governors went on to mysteriously find themselves in a position where their only option involved doing some humiliating and demeaning job for Dumbledore?

* So Lucius, a man whom even Voldemort described as “slippery”, now virtually goes to pieces the moment his plot’s uncovered. Has JKR been getting the car batteries out again, perhaps?

* If any more of Voldemort’s schoolthings turn up, Mr. Weasley will have them traced back to Lucius. That’s right, one of the main good guys is going to frame his personal enemy based on nothing more than a hunch.

* So “Lucius throws a sock which Dobby happens to catch” is now the same as “Lucius hands Dobby a sock.” Hmm, you’re on shaky legal grounds there, I think.

* Unfortunately, being free doesn’t seem to have changed Dobby’s inherent servility. Even more unfortunately, he’ll be back to inflict it upon us in later books.

* I hope than when Dumbles cancelled all those exams, he just cancelled the internal end-of-year ones, rather than the OWLs and NEWTs. How’re those seventh-years going to get jobs without any qualifications?

* Lucius Malfoy’s been sacked as a school governor. By whom, exactly? Do governors have the power to sack each other?

* Ginny Weasley’s perfectly happy again. She may have recklessly endangered her fellow-students’ safety (why did she write in that diary again? Why?), but none of them actually died, so that’s OK.

* So Percy – who, let us not forget, seems to have cared for Ginny the most out of all the Weasley brothers – has specifically asked her not to tell anyone about his girlfriend, so what does she do? Tell as soon as someone asks. In front of the twins. The best you can say is probably that she’s being extraordinarily naïve; the worst, I suppose, is that she’s maliciously hoping that the twins’ persecution of Percy might amuse her in some way.

* So, to recap, she’s written in this diary even after she suspects it’s possessing her, not told anyone that she’s the one attacking people, and completely betrayed Percy’s confidence. And yet, somehow, I still like this version better than the second one.

* Still, kissing in deserted corridors doesn’t seem particularly IC for the Percy we know. More evidence that he’s not nearly as pompous normally as he is when surrounded by people who constantly try to belittle him?

* And on that bombshell, it’s time to end the read-through. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on it.

 

Comments

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Maybe Voldemort’s idea of abolishing Houses was a good one after all.

BEST IDEA HE'S EVER HAD. Destroying that Hat? FRAK YES. Too bad the bloody thing survived. I bet all the future students aren't thrilled having a smoky charred mess on their heads.

note how Harry thinks “doing well in Slytherin” means “evil”.

*headdeskwallfloor* Somebody posted an epic comment a while back on how JKR wrote a book on racism and prejudice- but it wasn't about Muggle-borns, it was about Slytherins. Everything about these books promotes intolerance and divisiveness and hatred towards Slytherins and none of the pro-Jo fans can see it. It's all about one word 'mudblood' when there's this subversive, underlying attitude that everyone has and nobody questions- Slytherins are evil.

Instead, he seems to confirm Harry’s idea that choosing not to be sorted into Slytherin is some sort of moral test he had to pass.

Okay, to be fair to Dumbles (CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT), he did say Salazar prized qualities like resourcefulness and determination, which is positive. He also mentioned 'a certain disregard for rules', which is BS, 'coz that's a Gryffindor trait if ever I saw one.

But yeah, he ruins it when he says 'you're different from that evil sociopath because you chose not to go into his house, unlike all the other sociopaths-in-the-making, who are just waiting to commit crimes and harm others, that's inevitable, 'coz they chose Slytherin!'

I think that maybe Dumbledore knows deep down that he’d have been better-suited to Slytherin than Gryffindor and compensates by doing down Slytherin House whenever he can get away with it

Do we know for sure that he wasn't in Slytherin? (I think it's Caeria's fic that has Hermione researching to find out what house he was in and finding out that nobody knew and it wasn't on record anywhere because the headmaster's supposed to be unbiased and impartial so it's like, magically concealed or something? Or did I just dream that up? It doesn't sound very convincing when I put it like that, but I remember her challenging the boys to find some scrap of evidence that Dumbles was a Gryff and they couldn't and that made some grand point somehow)

Also, I totally buy that reasoning. Sometimes what we hate in others is the weakness we see mirrored in ourselves.

If Pansy had been taken into the Chamber and Draco had gone down to rescue her, would he have pulled out Slytherin’s crossbow

Hee, I read that as Pansy wielding the crossbow and had a flash of her as Susan from Narnia! (coolest weapon ever- it never misses, how great is that? Sure, Lucy's 'help when you most need it' is cool, but so passive)

I’d like to think that Helga Hufflepuff would have offered up her weapon (battle-axe, maybe? Mace?) to anyone who needed it, regardless of House

Love that idea! Of course Helga would look out for anyone who needed help and not discriminate!

why did the governors want Dumbledore back? When has he done anything to stop the attacks?

IKR? So he's done nothing all year and the kids have only not died due to extreme plot convenience and they're fine with them being in comas for months on end. Then he's taken out of the picture and a kid goes missing (missing, not confirmed dead, right?) and they fall over backwards to reinstall him? What exactly do they think he can do about it?!

[sunnyskywalker]

Dumbledore being a Slytherin would make plenty of sense: he's trying to destroy the competition! His cover, the Gryffindor rumor, would sound plausible, because who would act so often against his own house, right? And he could pull that same trick Tom does of finding common ground with people he's recruiting: "Snape, did you know I was actually in Slytherin? And I too was taken in by a dark wizard in my youth... but now I see the light, and can help you too!"

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/BEST IDEA HE'S EVER HAD. Destroying that Hat? FRAK YES. Too bad the bloody thing survived. I bet all the future students aren't thrilled having a smoky charred mess on their heads./

I don't really support this idea because 1) the Hat is sentient, 2) the House system isn't its fault since it's only doing what it was created to do, and 3) it doesn't even really support the House system, at least not anymore. Didn't the Sorting Song in OotP basically warn against the dangers of division and conflict between the Houses?

/He also mentioned 'a certain disregard for rules', which is BS, 'coz that's a Gryffindor trait if ever I saw one./

True, but the difference is the motivations. Slytherins presumably break the rules for their own individual self-gain, while Gryffindors break the rules for the greater good. Breaking the rules in order to help people and save the day is a lot more sympathetic than breaking the rules because you want to get ahead (of course, Harry does often end up doing the latter, but I'm just trying to understand the mindset).

/But yeah, he ruins it when he says 'you're different from that evil sociopath because you chose not to go into his house, unlike all the other sociopaths-in-the-making, who are just waiting to commit crimes and harm others, that's inevitable, 'coz they chose Slytherin!'/

Again, like I said earlier, Tom probably didn't know anything about Slytherin and he probably didn't even know that he *could* choose to opt out of being Sorted there. How many kids know that they *can* argue with the Hat and ask to be put into another House? If they weren't already expecting to be in the House that they were Sorted into, they probably just thought, "Oh, well, the Hat says that I belong there, so I guess that I'll just have to deal with it."

Too bad that Tom didn't meet a Slytherin kid that he would immediately dislike or befriend a staff member who would basically tell him that Slytherin was evil, otherwise he would have "chosen" to reject Slytherin and everything would have turned out all right in the end. Right?

Disregard for the rules

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Um, James and Sirius released a werewolf in Hogsmeade for the villagers' greater good? Fred and George fed experimental potions to eleven-year-olds for the greater good? Harry snuck into Hogsmeade to eat candy and visit a joke shop for the greater good?

Gryffindor is the house of people who think rule-breaking is acceptable if it's for FUN.

(Or for the greater good, too.)

That's why Hermione was such a poor fit at first.

Re: Disregard for the rules

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know; I was just trying to echo the mindset of the text. It could be argued that the Slytherins are equally justified in their rule-breaking, because in their minds, they're just doing for fun as well.

/That's why Hermione was such a poor fit at first./

And then she turned into the person who permanently scarred Marietta's face, Confunded Cormac so that Ron would beat him, put Ron in the hospital wing, and wiped her parents' memories. Oh, Hermione, we barely knew ye. :(

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Swythyv made a fairly convincing argument that Albus was a Slyth. I agree that it flies, but it's just so obvious that all of his failures are so identifiably *Ravenclaw* failures, that I find it hard to just accept it.

In any case, Albus is one of the least "Gryffindor-styled" characters in the whole series.

[sunnyskywalker]

Either one works for me. If he was Ravenclaw, then basically ignoring Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff essentially works to keep them neutral and focused on their own things - and then by demonizing Slytherin, discourages any of them from following in his footsteps and getting some ambition. That also keeps Slytherin down, of course. And it pushes Gryffindor to being pro-Dumbledore/loyal footsoldiers so they can grandly oppose the designated enemy along with him. If he was Slytherin, it works pretty much the same way. (And maybe he was "sorted too soon" into whichever House he was ultimately in...)