OOTP Chapter Six: "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Just in case we haven’t got how super-sassy and awesome Ginny is, Fred’s now going on about how she ignores her mother’s instructions. It’s just so ridiculously unsubtle, and it means that, even when she isn’t present, I still want to give Ginny a good, hard kick.

* “‘Maybe it’s something that can kill loads of people at once,’ suggested George.” Like a bomb, or mortar-shell, or one of the other weapons Muggles have invented. Seriously, a Dark Lord who’s willing to use Muggle technology could totally own the WW.

* Honestly, JKR, maybe in future you should just write “GINNY IS COOL AND REBELLIOUS AND SUPER-SASSY” on a plank of wood and beat me around the face with it. It might be more subtle.

* “‘She doesn’t trust us at all, you know,’ said Ron regretfully.” Since we’ve seen them flout her instructions without a second thought, she’s probably right not to.

* I wonder if there’s supposed to be anything significant about Harry’s dream here?

* And a new day dawns, bright and clear. Harry’s dressed and breakfasted, but not, I note, washed.

* So Sirius can calm his mother down, run to the front door, answer it and begin speaking to Shacklebolt in the time it takes Harry to walk across the room and close the door? Really?

* I like the way JKR’s portraying the Skiving Snackboxes as a fun idea, and not at all an irresponsible way for kids to bunk off class. For an ex-teacher, Miss Rowling can come across as remarkably anti-education sometimes.

* It’s suddenly struck me that, having seen Lord Voldemort come back last book, all this talk of Extendable Ears is just really out-of-place. They would have been a fun and interesting idea in earlier books, but the whole “Twins inventing stuff” subplot just seems jarringly light-hearted in the darker, edgier second half of the series.

* No wonder Kreacher ends up betraying the Order, when everyone around him treats him with such hostility.

* Shocking as it is to hear myself saying this, Hermione’s easily the nicest character in this scene. At least she’s trying to be sympathetic and understanding, which is more than we can say for the others.

* I like how Sirius is getting all judgemental about his younger brother. I mean, I know he joined Voldemort, but nil nisi bonum and all that.

* I doubt that Phineas Nigellus really was the least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had. Or, if he was, he’s probably been eclipsed by Dumbledore now.

* You’d have thought that the Blacks would have found a more aesthetically pleasing way of editing the tapestry than covering it in burn marks.

* Maybe it’s just my inner Slytherin showing, but all the Black heirlooms look rather cool. Why are they throwing them away, again?

* Wow, that line about “a heavy locket that none of them could open” is such a brilliant piece of foreshadowing that it makes all these Grimmauld Place chapters totally worth it!

* Bah, silly Kreacher, trying to save the priceless mementoes of his beloved former owners from the whiny son who treats him like dirt. Clearly he deserves to be sworn at and thrown around for his insolence.

* I bet Snape was relieved that Harry and he never met, too.

* I like the way that Harry washing his hair is seen as a big deal, rather than, say, a piece of basic hygiene. Cannon proof for DirtySlob!Harry?

* Harry: “Dumbledore, don’t you love me anymore? Why won’t you speak to me?”

Every other student in Hogwarts: “Now you know how we feel about him, you spoilt little git!”

 

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

I like how Sirius is getting all judgemental about his younger brother. I mean, I know he joined Voldemort, but nil nisi bonum and all that.

I like how he is the one who tells us what his parents thought about Regulus joining when Sirius wasn't living at home at the time. How does he know? Aren't all the protections on the house a bit of a hint the Blacks were not expecting an improvement in their standing?

Rowling keeps doing this - having people tell us information they had no access to - hearsay and speculation is presented as 'facts'. Sorry, I refuse to read like that. Anyone who is talking about something they couldn't have known for certain is potentially mistaken, or worse.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

>>>>Rowling keeps doing this - having people tell us information they had no access to - hearsay and speculation is presented as 'facts'. Sorry, I refuse to read like that. Anyone who is talking about something they couldn't have known for certain is potentially mistaken, or worse.

I'm not sure, though, that she necessarily expects us to just take Sirius at his word here. I think one of the themes in the series that's actually somewhat consistent is that you can't just assume hearsay and speculation to be the truth. In fact, some of the hearsay and speculation that we're given earlier in the books, especially regarding Snape, clearly turns out to be wrong.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Yes, but apparently the mainstream view among fans is that anything that wasn't explicitly proven wrong should be accepted as right, regardless of how wrong the speaker turned out being in other instances or how the speaker had no basis to arrive at the conclusion s/he voices or that the speaker's views confirm the speaker's known biases. I find this way of thinking weird.

Ach, if Sirius had put his relationship with his mother aside, treated Kreacher kindly (because he's an elf who is loyal to his family, that's his nature), he could have gotten Regulus' story already then and Dumbles would have been one Horcrux ahead.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"Yes, but apparently the mainstream view among fans is that anything that wasn't explicitly proven wrong should be accepted as right, regardless of how wrong the speaker turned out being in other instances or how the speaker had no basis to arrive at the conclusion s/he voices or that the speaker's views confirm the speaker's known biases."

To be fair, though, that's not really JKR's fault.