HBP Chapter Ten

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Uh-oh. Settle in for the premiere episode of The Days of Our Dark Lord’s Lives.

*Ron can’t use the HBP book with Harry because he’d have to get Harry to keep reading out the instructions to him and that would look suspicious. Err…yeah, that’s it. Because it’s not like Harry could write stuff like “stir 7 times clockwise, once counter-clockwise” without being noticed. Or use magic to a) make the handwriting legible (you know that spell must exist) or b) copy the words from the book to Ron’s book in different handwriting (you know that spell exists too). Making Harry appear to be a gifted student requires a Trio team effort.

*As much as I know Hermione’s own refusal to read the book is just a convenient way of getting on with it, I can actually buy that she’s somehow getting something out of proving she can make a better Potion with worse instructions, like that’s part of the challenge. Granted this theory falls down when Hermione’s never shown to even be tempted by the Prince’s notes.

*If the Ravenclaws or Slytherins caught wind of them they’d every one of them have those notes copied into their own book by the end of the week and then pass them down to their housemates. But really, power like this ought to be kept in the hands of the kind of people born to hold the power.

*Right on schedule, after a few weeks of consistent, good, loyal service from the Prince Harry begins to vaguely wonder if this kid has a name.

*Trelawney wanders by a hidden Harry with her fortune telling cards—I forgot this moment was so early in the book. We get an ill omen and violence, and a dark young man who dislikes the questioner. Now that I see this scene in context again the dark young man is totally and completely Harry. (And I think the theories that he’s Snape are really pushing it no matter how young Snape is compared to Dumbledore or Trelawney.)

*Trelawney reeks of cooking sherry by the way. She’s drunk! It’s funny!

*One can’t really blame her for drinking, though. We get this constant stream of information telling us she and the whole idea of prophesizing is a fraud, yet this year she seems completely plugged into the future, enough so that the cards practically point at Harry next to her. Is it just that it’s Harry, and thus the whole universe is constantly buzzing about him?

*Dumbledore jokes about Harry getting detention. Harry almost approaches something like regret, but Dumbledore then sees Dumbledore isn’t stern at all, because he’s actually, as usual, using the detention to make fun of and undermine Snape. That’s how you know Dumbledore is a manipulative bastard who plays Harry like a fiddle cool grown-up who’s down with the kids!

*Dumbledore takes Harry’s hand, they lift their robes and skip from the firm foundation of fact into the murky marshes of memory with that flighty temptress, alliteration, sprinkling fairy dust in their wake.

*Actually, given that the Pensieve actually shows us what happened they are really going from the firm foundation of fact to the firm foundation of flashback, but whatever.

*Dumbledore speaks of the prophecy as casually as if Harry had asked him about the next day’s weather and not, you know, the most important thing in the history of the world ever because it’s about Harry Potter!

*Strangely, at this point I suddenly wonder if it will occur to Harry, now that he’s with the Headmaster, to let him know that the entire sixth year Potions textbook that his students are learning from is full of wrong instructions. But why would that be relevant to Dumbledore?

*Harry’s a little worried about the Pensieve. The last time he looked into one he saw something he didn’t like. Damn that Snape, leaving out his humiliating memories for Harry to stick his nose into!

*DD jokes about Harry actually entering the Pensieve with permission for once. He may be referring to Harry’s first accidental dip in GoF, but knowing DD it’s easy to think he’s joking about that funny time when Harry totally humiliated Snape. How many chapters till that Avada Kedavra?

*Dumbledore again puts off telling the story of his shriveled hand, which we never really get in full. “The ring did it,” doesn’t count.

*Remind me to post my evidence that Little Hangleton is really Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which I believe is in Wales.

*Ogden is wearing the mis-matched clothes so often worn by wizards when Rowling remembers they’re not supposed to be able to figure out Muggle clothes inexperienced wizards who try to blend in with Muggles.

*If you thought Bob Ogden lucked out on being a minor adult character in the WW by getting a dignified name, he’s also got Mr. Magoo glasses and is wearing a bathing suit and a frock coat. It’s like he’s paying with his appearance for not being named Nickleby Skittlepuss.

*Harry sees a handsome manor house—uh-oh, there must be evil afoot. (Sorry I’ve been trapped in a lot of “How evil Tom Riddle the Muggle misused the crazy witch who held his captive by being rich—just like Lucius Malfoy!” arguments lately.)

*Harry wonders himself why Ogden appears to be approaching the village from such a distance. Harry asking a question a logical reader is also asking is like having your dog suddenly sit up and talk.

*Harry and Dumbledore follow the dueling banjo music to the House of Gaunt, which looks a lot like the House of Black in that it’s rotting from the inside out. Get it? As opposed to the lively chaos of the Weasleys.

*There is a dead snake on the door, proving the Gaunts haven’t completely let the place go.

*Morphin Gaunt makes his appearance by jumping out of a tree. (Women who are pregnant or nursing should not take Morphin. Ask your doctor of Morphin is right for you.) Sorry, that’s totally mike_smith’s joke but it’s true, Morphin does sound like some kind of prescription medication.)

*The narrator helpfully explains that while one might think his multiple birth defects would be comical, they actually aren’t. Thanks, narrator. I’ll save my jokes for the boy with spina bifida down the road.

*Fandom has had lots of discussions on whether Dumbledore is a Parseltongue due to this scene, but I think his “Harry, you understand him, I’m sure?” seems to indicate Dumbledore definitely isn’t one and is just validating that Harry understands the actual words in the scene, if he can’t.

*Marvolo looks like an ancient monkey, much like Slytherin. Why do I not imagine Gryffindor heirs in similar circumstances would still look good in a lion-ish way.

*People also want Merope to be the person who does magic late in life under stress but, err, she’s clearly not a Squib. She’s just a screw up—it’s that Neville lack of confidence.

*You know, after a few pages of the Charming Gaunts I’m beginning to think they may represent the logical, horrible conclusion of Slytherin’s exclusive policies. Any guesses on what the natural conclusion to any of the other founder’s ideas would look like? Just kidding. I know only Slytherins produce this sort of thing. It’s already starting in this generation, after all. Draco Malfoy likes a girl with a pug face while Harry has a far healthier fixation on a girl who looks like his mother.

*Morfin gave a Muggle hives, apparently, which is against the law. But I don’t understand. According to Morvolo the Muggle wasn’t being taught a lesson. Maybe he was pudgy or something and deserved the hives. Or maybe he was in the middle of exams and needed a distraction from studying.

*The Muggle’s face has been wiped clean, anyway. Which is more than we can say for Marietta.

*Tom Sr. and Cecelia go by proving they’re evil by saying, “What an eyesore, why doesn’t your father have that cleared away?” Though given Cecelia doesn’t know there’s people living in the house, which Harry himself has described as a hovel, I don’t see that what she says is a big deal.

*The real problem is everything in the valley on the other side belonging to Tom’s father. No wonder he doesn’t do the right thing and love poor Merope when the Potion wears off. It’s just because she’s ugly on the outside, while on the inside she’s a gentle stalker who only wants love. Who does that Muggle think he is, having an equally rich girlfriend? Classist.

*Tom Riddle has got to be the unluckiest Muggle in the world. He’s handsome and he lives near the Gaunts. Well, if his family weren’t such jerks as to own half the valley, it wouldn’t have happened.

*And he is handsome, btw. Harry notices that right away. Not as handsome as his son, apparently, but he’s very handsome. Cecelia could have two heads for all we know, but Tom Riddle’s looking good!

*Harry’s Victim Detector goes wild at the sight of Merope. He not only notes that she has a name, he sort of remembers it!!

*Fifteen minutes after this scene Morphin and Marvolo are carted off by the Ministry, both having records of previous Muggle attacks. And what do we learn from this? That the Gaunts were not personal friends of Arthur Weasley.

*Harry amazes Dumbledore again by remembering Marvolo is the middle name of the guy who’s been trying to kill him for years. Well done, Harry!

*Dumbledore explains that lack of sense and a liking for grandeur is what squandered the Gaunt family fortune. So they’re not Weasley poor. They’re the bad kind of poor.

*Dumbledore explains that once Merope was free of her own tormenters, she was able to start doing some tormenting herself. However, if you squint and stand on your head you can make the moral of the story turn out to be that some men are so shallow that don’t love a girl who isn’t pretty and rich, even when she’s been so kind as to repeatedly drug him and they have nothing in common.

*ETA: Because I totally forgot the Mayella Ewell comment I was planning, little known bit of Wizarding History shows an Atticus Filch, Squib, defending Tom Riddle's abandonment of his child on the grounds that his only crime was feeling sorry for a white woman Pureblood.

*Sir, Harry asks, is it important to know this about Voldemort’s past? Important enough to spend a whole chapter on just this part of it? For the next book Harry, we’ll have to hope that it is. Sir, Harry then asks, isn’t it a big coincidence that while blood doesn’t matter at all, Voldemort somehow wound up just like the grandfather and uncle he never met? Yes, Harry. Just a coincidence.

*Dumbledore says Ron and Hermione have proved themselves trustworthy—to him, of course. I wouldn’t trust Hermione as far as I could throw her. But in Hogwarts the important thing is always your personal loyalty to the Cult of Headmaster.

*Dumbledore warns Harry they shouldn’t tell stuff to anyone else. Harry reminds Dumbledore that the three of them pretty much consider themselves above everyone else in the school and so would hardly be talking to anyone else.

*No, Harry, I won’t tell you about my hand. Aren’t you satisfied with the flashbacks you got? Do you want to be subjected to more back-story? Off to bed with you!





Designated Hero
It doesn’t get more designated or random than Harry being the only person with Super Half-Blood Prince Book Decoding Powers.

IITS
Seriously, why is Ron not taking advantage of Harry’s Teacher’s Edition textbook? Oh, iits.

Idiot World
Let’s think about the implications of this Half-Blood Prince storyline. Inheriting a textbook that once belonged to an intelligent teenager who scribbled notes in the margins is enough to get you mistaken for a Potions genius by an expert in the field. And in the 20 years since this teenager figured out that all these recipes are wrong, not a single other person has figured it out or changed the textbook.

Idiot Picture
Meanwhile, our current genius kid is not only unable to follow the previous genius’ logic on changing things, but continues to insist that it’s somehow wrong to use instructions that actually work.

Misdirected Answering
The entire Pensieve trip could have been told to us in a few paragraphs. But then we wouldn’t know about Bob Ogden: Magical Law Enforcement Dude!

Nut o’ Fun
Am I the only person who wonders what the last snakey did that made Morphin nail him to the door? I once read a fanfic where Draco had a stuffed snake when he was little called Soothie.

Final score: 6

Slytherin Liquid Count: Pensieve memory water, sherry.

Comments

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

*stalks from across the ocean, now, and at a time that's almost quittin' time* I love that Snpae has been teaching with these books, presumably, for years knowing there's a better way to do things. I'd love it if he just sat back grinning madly at them all, thinking 'None of you will ever work it out! Not one of you will ever, ever be as brilliant as me, ME, the Half-Blood Prince!'

Well, you know, there's something about the name Tom. Anyway, Cecelia, she was clearly an idiot, being a girl voluntarily riding out with Tom without a chaperone. And talking to him. Like anyone would love to be in her place! Why, if Harry wasn't invisible... Oh. Huh. Deja vu in the Pensieve.

Strangely, at this point I suddenly wonder if it will occur to Harry, now that he’s with the Headmaster, to let him know that the entire sixth year Potions textbook that his students are learning from is full of wrong instructions. But why would that be relevant to Dumbledore?

I don't understand you, Sister M. Surely you realise that this is a recruiting ground for the Cult, not a school. Note the drunks and violent madmen at every turn.

Dumbledore's just too embarrassed to tell everyone that the first time in 15742589 years that he tried ironing to show his house elves he was totally independent, this happened to his hand.

Is it very sad that only now did I realise that the last chapter was secretly Chapter Nine?

[anehan]

*One can’t really blame her for drinking, though. We get this constant stream of information telling us she and the whole idea of prophesizing is a fraud, yet this year she seems completely plugged into the future, enough so that the cards practically point at Harry next to her. Is it just that it’s Harry, and thus the whole universe is constantly buzzing about him?

Dude, I thought the sherry was relaxing her inner eye enough to produce the freakingly accurate foreshadowing predictions.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

I thought we were doing Chapter Twelve this week, inexplicably. I'm relieved to be saved Hagrid, at least.

Morphin Gaunt makes his appearance by jumping out of a tree.

Like Cedric and Draco in the movies. Those crazy purebloods!
Showing my age, I thought of Morphin as in the Power Rangers.

The narrator helpfully explains that while one might think his multiple birth defects would be comical, they actually aren’t.

They're scary! Because they reveal his inner soul! (So is it cool for me to think Hagrid's size combined with his demeanor makes him frightening or am I being Teh Racist, since he isn't a pureblood?)

Thanks, narrator. I’ll save my jokes for the boy with spina bifida down the road.

So long as he has an obnoxious personality. Which I'm sure he does. Not that you can judge people by their looks.

It’s just because she’s ugly on the outside, while on the inside she’s a gentle stalker who only wants love.

She reminds me of Mayella Ewell, personally.
Although I note she has a 'heavy' face. Perhaps this is the advent of the fat, funny, independent, kind woman JKR rhapsodised over!

And he is handsome, btw. Harry notices that right away.

Also, are we not supposed to go 'Wow. Morfin's gloating over how unattractive Riddle was when hexed. Just like in OotP when the Gryffindors are laughing at how ugly Draco, Crabbe and Goyle look, or when Hermione's thrilled that Marietta's spotty and Pansy has antlers?'

Cecelia could have two heads for all we know, but Tom Riddle’s looking good!

Well, of course Cecilia's good looking. Why else would Riddle be with her? Stop trying to force your PC feminist agenda on this set of children's books!

Morfin gave a Muggle hives, apparently, which is against the law. But I don’t understand. According to Marvolo the Muggle wasn’t being taught a lesson.

I love how every time that Ogden brings up that this is an attack on someone defenseless or questions what the Gaunts are 'defending' (maybe even counter-defending!) themselves against, Marvolo interrupts with racism, lest we actually focus on the issue at hand - whether it's okay to hex people for fun (what is Ogden, anyway? Some kind of chicken? No prizes for guessing what house he wasn't in.) It's so handy the way evil people do that.
Also Morfin has no remorse. Like Harry and Hermione over Marietta's face? Nope. Because he's a racist, so clearly it's a completely different situation. (I'd say 'Because Marietta totally deserved it!1!!' but obviously Tom Riddle deserves some kind of punishment for having the nerve to be rich and a Muggle.)

She’s just a screw up—it’s that Neville lack of confidence.

When Harry's tense around mean family members, his magic shows itself. But obviously Merope lacks his strength of will. Perhaps it's not in her genes.

No wonder he doesn’t do the right thing and love poor Merope when the Potion wears off.

And he abandons the baby he had no choice in creating. (Of course, Merope did too, not being as wonderful as Lily, the Only Woman Who Ever Loved Her Baby. Gosh, Dumbledore's full of suggestions about child-rearing, isn't he? I like the implication that a parent is obligated to raise a child essentially born through their rape. Go picket an abortion clinic, Albus, and STFU.)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Showing my age, I thought of Morphin as in the Power Rangers.

That too!

Like Cedric and Draco in the movies. Those crazy purebloods!

Sadly Draco's the one I could believe. I keep imagining him jumping down, putting his hands on his hips and laughing like Errol Flynn's Robin Hood or Prince of Space.

She reminds me of Mayella Ewell, personally.

I had many near-miss Mayella Ewell comments I tried to put in, but it looks like I forgot to settle on one. *puts one back in now*

Well, of course Cecilia's good looking. Why else would Riddle be with her?

Despite the heavy face, perhaps Merope's stick thin and that's her problem.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Despite the heavy face, perhaps Merope's stick thin and that's her problem.

Maybe that's why she's such a poor mother! Skinny women aren't 'real' women. They're just dieting to make other females feel bad about themselves, and brainwash innocent men away from their inbuilt desire for fatties.

I'm sure Lily (and Ginny) had/ve curves to spare (in all the right places, of course - no pudgy midriffs for the ideal girls!)

[meganinhiding.livejournal.com]

It seems that at this point in the series Rowling felt like she had to make a public service announcement against inbreeding and had to come up with a particularly humilating scenario for Salazar's family. I wonder what Hogwarts books and curriculum were like under previous headmasters because JKR really makes Dumbledore and Hogwarts look really subpar from an educational standpoint.

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

if you squint and stand on your head you can make the moral of the story turn out to be that some men are so shallow that don’t love a girl who isn’t pretty and rich, even when she’s been so kind as to repeatedly drug him and they have nothing in common.

Being in love with a man for being handsome and rich, however, does not make a girl shallow; that just means girls knows better than boys which one is their "true love". Because they're women, so they know. Unless, of course, you're Pansy. Or Romilda Vane.

Harry amazes Dumbledore again by remembering Marvolo is the middle name of the guy who’s been trying to kill him for years. Well done, Harry!

Well, considering it's Harry we're talking about, I'm amazed too.

And he is handsome, btw. Harry notices that right away. Not as handsome as his son, apparently, but he’s very handsome. Cecelia could have two heads for all we know, but Tom Riddle’s looking good!

Who cares about what Cecelia looks like? She's the wrong gender.

It’s just because she’s ugly on the outside, while on the inside she’s a gentle stalker who only wants love.

Best. Line. Ever. :D

Maybe he was pudgy or something and deserved the hives. Or maybe he was in the middle of exams and needed a distraction from studying.

Or maybe it was just a joke? Doesn't the Ministry have any sense of humour?

[jollityfarm.livejournal.com]

I should put my new chapter up *is slothful*. Sorry :(

Anyway...

Making Harry appear to be a gifted student requires a Trio team effort.

I've said it before, but if you have to tear other characters down to make Our Hero look super-duper, something's a bit wrong. If Harry can't look like a smarty-pants without having to impair Ron and Hermione, it just makes it seem like the literary equivalent of hanging around with fat people so nobody notices how fat you are (or something).

If the Ravenclaws or Slytherins caught wind of them they’d every one of them have those notes copied into their own book by the end of the week and then pass them down to their housemates.

Well, considering the person who wrote the stuff was a Slytherin, and he apparently didn't, that might not be a wholly watertight theory. Then again, book seven might reveal something along the lines of Lily stealing the notes (no, he did NOT give Lily the notes out of unrequited love for her beautiful wonderousness, she NICKED THEM.) and becoming the Slug-pet of the 1970s through deceit. Oh YAY :P But if Severus didn't give the notes to anyone - well, he doesn't like people. We're only six-sevenths through the series, but it seems fairly plain :)

Harry begins to vaguely wonder if this kid has a name.

Harry so dozy. For crying out loud! Let's hope he isn't fatally distracted by something shiny in the Last Battle.

Trelawney reeks of cooking sherry by the way. She’s drunk! It’s funny!

Alcoholism, like certain matters of appearance, is merely a characterisation device and not anything to worry about. Clearly, she's too weak to stay off drink, let us point, laugh and maybe sneer a bit also. How very brave that is, dismissing vulnerable people! [/issues]

he’s actually, as usual, using the detention to make fun of and undermine Snape.

It makes me think that perhaps Dumbledore's behaviour isn't that of someone who "trusts" his employee. It's blackmailer's behaviour - as if Albus said "I'll give you a job, but you have to put up with whatever you get, because nobody else will have you and you know it". Probably not intentional, but an interesting thought :/

Dumbledore again puts off telling the story of his shriveled hand, which we never really get in full. “The ring did it,” doesn’t count.

Perhaps there'll be a great big reveal in book seven. Although I suspect not. We could be told certain stuff, but let's show people the Gaunts, the love interests and other extraneous crap. Actually, I don't mind the flashbacks, but I can still see that they shouldn't take several months to be over and done with.

Any guesses on what the natural conclusion to any of the other founder’s ideas would look like?

Zacharias Smith :D

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

Zacharias Smith :D

And Cormac McLaggan as the apotheosis of Gryffindor.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Heh, Cormac is Harry with the emo. 'I got hospitalised for a bet! But it was worth it, cause I proved how brave and badass I am!' (Somehow I don't dislike Cormac, though. Probably the aforementioned lack of emo, plus he gets to be one of the three or so people who bitch out Harry.)

[cleverthylacine]

Actually Morfin is a prescription drug, just misspelled. I know because I had a prescription for it once when there was a large hole in my body.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Well, considering the person who wrote the stuff was a Slytherin, and he apparently didn't, that might not be a wholly watertight theory.

Good point--I should have said that if one of them got the book, Draco for instance, and was not sharing it, it would be seen as a sign of his bratty spoiled nature with the implication that Harry would share!

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, our current genius kid is not only unable to follow the previous genius’ logic on changing things, but continues to insist that it’s somehow wrong to use instructions that actually work.

Because it's all about rules, Magpie! Harry's badass enough to take a risk and break the rules (by following another set of rules! ZOMG, catch me, I'm swooning!) whereas Hermione hasn't quite learned that all rules suck ass, not just petty ones against assault and attempted murder.
(I think this plays into stuff like Mira's post on Hermione's intelligence as lacking imagination and genuine thirst for knowledge and new ideas. Of course, even if this is Rowling's intent, it doesn't really follow that Harry has 'native' intelligence or whatever it is his fen use to make him great at everything, as well as manly and human enough not to be academically inclined apart from at the best subjects.)

some men are so shallow that don’t love a girl who isn’t pretty and rich, even when she’s been so kind as to repeatedly drug him and they have nothing in common.

Is the message here not fairly simple? This is the cost of female lust. She 'likes looking at him'. (Obviously he wouldn't like looking at her, since her appearance is reflected by her weak character, and despite attempts to the contrary, looks really do matter to the men of the Potterverse.)
Would any of this have happened if she'd not taken the initiative of pursuing him?
(Or maybe the real Merope was sassy and pretty and super-skilled, and it's just that she's shy in this flashback because of the Harry filter. Silly Merope, you should have just dated other guys in front of the manor, befriended everyone Tom was close to, and learned to master every single one of his interests!)
Nope. Female lust also leads to Hepzibah Smith's end, (actually someone suggested that all the good looking guys - Cedric, Sirius, Tom Riddle, dying also plays into this - temptation is removed. You don't need to remove male lust because it's usually integral to most romantic relationships in the Potterverse.) it's contributory to Ginny's experience in CoS...

(Speaking of, I like Hermione's nascent attempt at feminism here - what if the Prince is a girl? Um, nope, sorry, sweetie, he's actually important to the plot, so can not be connected with fripperies such as femininity. Don't get your hopes up!)

Ron can’t use the HBP book with Harry because he’d have to get Harry to keep reading out the instructions to him.

Because...it's Ron who has problems deciphering small text, not the guy with the vision problems?

DD jokes about Harry actually entering the Pensieve with permission for once.

I want to know how he 'persuaded' Ogden to give up his memory. Same way he persuaded Kreacher to tell him about Sirius in OotP? Or the way he persuaded the guy in PS that it was time to die?
Muhaha!

power like this ought to be kept in the hands of the kind of people born to hold the power.

If everyone had access to the notes, what would make Harry special? He'd have to like, rely on natural talent, like Draco.

We get an ill omen and violence, and a dark young man who dislikes the questioner. Now that I see this scene in context again the dark young man is totally and completely Harry.

I can see why people didn't. Harry's defining characteristic being his dislike of someone? He's the boy who loved! (Is the violence Dumbledore, or something nearer like the Sectumsempra? I presumed the former, but it's more removed from actual violence and less connected with Harry personally, so I wasn't sure.)

[(Anonymous)]

DD jokes about Harry actually entering the Pensieve with permission for once. He may be referring to Harry’s first accidental dip in GoF, but knowing DD it’s easy to think he’s joking about that funny time when Harry totally humiliated Snape.

In OotP, when Dumbledore says he'd mistakenly thought Snape could "overcome his feelings" about James, that sounded so whack I assumed Snape had lied to DD about why he stopped the Occlumency lessons. Surely even Dumbledore couldn't twist the facts to make it all about Snape's grudge when Harry. Snooped. In. Someone. Else's. Pensieve. Again! That would be like saying, "Well Harry, Professor McGonagall was bullied as a child and that's why she freaked when she found you going through her handbag and reading her personal diary. Try to forgive her". Not even Dumbledore, I thought.

I was wrong. *wipes single tear*

Dumbledore explains that lack of sense and a liking for grandeur is what squandered the Gaunt family fortune. So they’re not Weasley poor. They’re the bad kind of poor.

Oh yes. The Gaunts made the bed they're lying in, shame on them. Whereas we should all pity the Weasleys for having seven children through no fault of their own, and thus a slightly lower standard of living than the usual wizarding one-child family.

-L

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

Alcoholism, like certain matters of appearance, is merely a characterisation device and not anything to worry about. Clearly, she's too weak to stay off drink, let us point, laugh and maybe sneer a bit also. How very brave that is, dismissing vulnerable people! [/issues]

Oh, don't forget how funny it was when Winky turned to the bottle, too, after being "liberated." Hilarious, really.

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

When I read the bit about Cormac having eaten the Doxy eggs on a bet, the first thing that came to my mind was goldfish-swallowing fraternity boys. (And yes, I know it's wrong to apply such an American concept to these very British novels.) I don't exactly like Cormac, but I'm hoping that in Book Seven he will turn out to be the Heir of Gryffindor, and the Trio will have to face up to what they've done in order to get his help to identify and locate the Gryffindor horcrux. (Similarly, I hope that the heirs of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are Zacharias Smith and Marietta Edgecombe.)

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

It’s like he’s paying with his appearance for not being named Nickleby Skittlepuss.

*dies*

I feel terrible for Tom Riddle. People have made the rape analogy before with what happened between him and Merope--personally, I think it's more akin to brainwashing. So far as I can tell, the love potions don't diminish your capacity to make decisions (though that's debatable, I suppose) or make you unable to say no to sex or anything. What they do is plant an entirely foreign set of thoughts and emotions into your brain. Either way, though, there was no consent involved.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

If you thought Bob Ogden lucked out on being a minor adult character in the WW by getting a dignified name, he’s also got Mr. Magoo glasses and is wearing a bathing suit and a frock coat. It’s like he’s paying with his appearance for not being named Nickleby Skittlepuss.

Man, oh, man, I don't know, but that really makes Wizards look so utterly stupid. No- make that toddler-like, as if they just wear what ever they please, without any regard to propriety.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

That would be like saying, "Well Harry, Professor McGonagall was bullied as a child and that's why she freaked when she found you going through her handbag and reading her personal diary. Try to forgive her".
...
I was wrong. *wipes single tear*

LOL! That made me laugh more than the line about Harry winning a sack race by throwing away the sack!

[(Anonymous)]

Fandom goes mad when you note the Merope/Ginny similarities. Spying on Riddle through the hedge just totally reminds me of First!Ginny, peeking through the gap in the door at Harry and then running away when he sees her. Of course, Ginny was only a kid, but it's the same kind of 'Prince on a white horse' mentality that she still clung onto even in HBP (at her own admission).
But of course, Ginny would never use a love potion. She's strong and sassy and her farts smell of flowers. Her burps sound like angel song. Her peeing sounds like the gentle trickling of a stream in a faerie glade. And so on, ad nauseum etc., etc.
But really, how on Earth did Merope manage to brew such a thing? Where did she get the ingrediants? The instructions?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah--I wrote about something along those lines in more detail once--not that Merope/Ginny parallel which I don't even think I noticed at the time! But the way not pretty women crushing on men and chasing them are such figures of ridicule in the universe. Ginny's crush is treated very differently.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

>>Designated Hero
It doesn’t get more designated or random than Harry being the only person with Super Half-Blood Prince Book Decoding Powers.<<

Oh I rather like the theory that Harry can read the book because he has Lily's eyes.

Snape charmed it with a "your eyes only" spell so he and Lily could share the notes.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh! I hadn't heard that one. I'd heard the Lily's eyes part, I think, which just sounded silly--but if it's a *spell* that would make more sense.