GOF Chapter 10: Mayhem at the Ministry
Mar. 5th, 2011 07:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockArthur is confident Mr Roberts will be alright, though at the moment he doesn't know which day it is, and worse. And Arthur knows that based on the extensive time he spent with Muggles, learning all about them and their culture? I doubt there is any long-term follow up on victims of Obliviation. How does Arthur know they don't develop some form of early-onset dementia later? Heck, maybe Mad Cow Disease is a front for Obliviation side-effects.
Molly is worried because of scary headlines in The Prophet. That's because she totally forgot to look at the living room clock where she could see that no family member was in mortal danger (or if any were for a while the danger was long over by the time she got the paper).
Rita Skeeter criticized the Ministry's lax security at the game. Last week she criticized Percy's cauldron project. And as we shall see later, earlier in the summer she called Dumbledore an obsolete dingbat. Does she have an agenda or is she an equal opportunity trouble-rouser? (Or perhaps she is in the process of upgrading from the latter to the former.)
Arthur keeps insisting nobody was hurt, but I can't forget those green flashes.
Molly tries to object to Arthur's going to the office to take care of the crisis when he is supposed to be on holiday. Percy doing the same is met with no reaction whatsoever.
Harry finally tells his friends about his dream, though as he expected they offer no help. Hermione disses Trelawney and her prophecy. Little does she know.
Sorry madderbrad (and other H/Hr shippers out there) but here we have evidence Hermione doesn't understand Harry all that well - not as well as Ron, at least. He does prefer playing Quidditch with the boys (Ginny? Who's that?) than going to bed early to worry.
Percy's help was in fact needed after all. (He reports no change in Crouch's behavior, though we know that by now Crouch has been placed under Imperius. Perhaps because at this point his instructions were 'act naturally'.) And kudos to Percy for catching Mundungus in his lie. This is the second mention of Mundungus before we learn he is an Order member. He gets a lot more foreshadowing than Sirius Black, though his role is significantly more minor.
Percy makes accusations against Arthur, Bill defends him citing his own run-in with Rita, but is countered by Molly who actually agrees with Rita's criticism of his hairstyle. Looks like Ms Skeeter has a talent for sowing discord that puts Voldie to shame.
Fred and George have already started their campaign to get Bagman to pay them with real money.
Bertha Jorkins' disappearance is finally serious business, once Rita found out about it (how dare she?). Now Arthur claims to have told Ludo to send someone to look for her. Hmm, he just asked him if there was any news of her and quickly shut up when Ludo said there wasn't. Can't afford to get on the bad side of the one who got you the tickets. It was Crouch who repeatedly asked for a search party.
You know, while Rita's style is annoying, she does catch instances of improper conduct at the Ministry. Maybe if she and her likes had better access to the goings-on people would be scared-straight and start doing things right. Though they'd probably only intensify the covering-up.
Hermione isn't of age yet so it is Molly who washes the socks.
Didn't Molly go shopping while the rest were at the match? So why is it that the first time either boy sets eye on the acquisitions it is the last night of vacation, 6 nights later?
I can understand Molly buying Harry more expensive robes than she bought Ron, since she was using his money for that, but that's still not a reason to buy Ron robes that were in bad taste, in a bad state, in the color he hates - and do nothing to improve them after the purchase. She did have 6 days for that. Any wonder locket-influenced!Ron believed his mother preferred Harry to him? (Now that I'm thinking about this - Molly treats Ron almost as badly or incompetently as Eileen treated Severus. Well, on the one hand, other than the dress robes Ron doesn't look visibly neglected, but on the other Severus seems to have been better informed about Hogwarts and magic than Ron. So perhaps it's a wash.)
Molly is worried because of scary headlines in The Prophet. That's because she totally forgot to look at the living room clock where she could see that no family member was in mortal danger (or if any were for a while the danger was long over by the time she got the paper).
Rita Skeeter criticized the Ministry's lax security at the game. Last week she criticized Percy's cauldron project. And as we shall see later, earlier in the summer she called Dumbledore an obsolete dingbat. Does she have an agenda or is she an equal opportunity trouble-rouser? (Or perhaps she is in the process of upgrading from the latter to the former.)
Arthur keeps insisting nobody was hurt, but I can't forget those green flashes.
Molly tries to object to Arthur's going to the office to take care of the crisis when he is supposed to be on holiday. Percy doing the same is met with no reaction whatsoever.
Harry finally tells his friends about his dream, though as he expected they offer no help. Hermione disses Trelawney and her prophecy. Little does she know.
Sorry madderbrad (and other H/Hr shippers out there) but here we have evidence Hermione doesn't understand Harry all that well - not as well as Ron, at least. He does prefer playing Quidditch with the boys (Ginny? Who's that?) than going to bed early to worry.
Percy's help was in fact needed after all. (He reports no change in Crouch's behavior, though we know that by now Crouch has been placed under Imperius. Perhaps because at this point his instructions were 'act naturally'.) And kudos to Percy for catching Mundungus in his lie. This is the second mention of Mundungus before we learn he is an Order member. He gets a lot more foreshadowing than Sirius Black, though his role is significantly more minor.
Percy makes accusations against Arthur, Bill defends him citing his own run-in with Rita, but is countered by Molly who actually agrees with Rita's criticism of his hairstyle. Looks like Ms Skeeter has a talent for sowing discord that puts Voldie to shame.
Fred and George have already started their campaign to get Bagman to pay them with real money.
Bertha Jorkins' disappearance is finally serious business, once Rita found out about it (how dare she?). Now Arthur claims to have told Ludo to send someone to look for her. Hmm, he just asked him if there was any news of her and quickly shut up when Ludo said there wasn't. Can't afford to get on the bad side of the one who got you the tickets. It was Crouch who repeatedly asked for a search party.
You know, while Rita's style is annoying, she does catch instances of improper conduct at the Ministry. Maybe if she and her likes had better access to the goings-on people would be scared-straight and start doing things right. Though they'd probably only intensify the covering-up.
Hermione isn't of age yet so it is Molly who washes the socks.
Didn't Molly go shopping while the rest were at the match? So why is it that the first time either boy sets eye on the acquisitions it is the last night of vacation, 6 nights later?
I can understand Molly buying Harry more expensive robes than she bought Ron, since she was using his money for that, but that's still not a reason to buy Ron robes that were in bad taste, in a bad state, in the color he hates - and do nothing to improve them after the purchase. She did have 6 days for that. Any wonder locket-influenced!Ron believed his mother preferred Harry to him? (Now that I'm thinking about this - Molly treats Ron almost as badly or incompetently as Eileen treated Severus. Well, on the one hand, other than the dress robes Ron doesn't look visibly neglected, but on the other Severus seems to have been better informed about Hogwarts and magic than Ron. So perhaps it's a wash.)
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Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-05 11:43 pm (UTC)I've come across a couple of Snape/Hr stories which were excellent reads.
The draw of Snape/Hr - for me, on these chance encounters, it's not a 'ship I'm seriously into or for which I have searched - is that Hermione gets a man who's her equal. Any decent H/Hr story has to have Harry grow up so he's worthy of the girl. Goodness knows she's right about almost everything in the books even though Harry ignores or disagrees her conclusions half the time, just out of bull-headed stubbornness (fuelled by a collusion with Ron).
The couple of Snape/Hr stories I've read have Snape almost automatically being seen as Hermione's equal, as being mature and intelligent enough to satisfy/warrant her. And that's a great thing to read.
There's a colossal suspension-of-disbelief required to adjust Snape's *personality*, of course. The stories I've read have always had Hermione as a young adult, so the age difference has never really bothered me too much.
Occasionally I consider that I should read some of the highest-ranking Snape/Hr or Draco/Hr stories out there, once I've exhausted the supply of H/Hr and H/L fics.
Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-06 05:08 pm (UTC)Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-06 09:19 pm (UTC)Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-13 10:57 am (UTC)And while there is often conflict in these fics as they're getting used to each other, it's more understandable than with canon, where we have two kids who've been friends for years and STILL go out of their way to hurt each other and make vicious comments and inflict pain (emotional and physical) to one another. Come on, wtf is that?
Once you've run out of fics, feel free to ask me for any recs, I'd be more than happy to oblige. ^_^ Also- H/L...is that Harry/Luna? I'm interested in any recs for them...as long as there is no R/Hr. This is why I don't often read other ships, because most have R/Hr as a side-dish and I cannot stand it.
Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-14 09:52 am (UTC)Like I said, I've read two or three SS/Hr stories and really liked them. Maybe Snape was out of character ... I just enjoyed them too much to be bothered by it, the writing was so good. But I'm pretty sure the really good stories with this relationship must surely start out with Hermione discovering that Snape isn't that bad, or has been acting a part, or ... somehow we learn he's not the nasty piece of work he was in the canon. And then everything else rolls on from that, right?
I read the beginning of a SS/Hr story once that had him saving her from Voldemort and death eaters. Okay, rescuing the damsel in distress is a good draw too. :-) I'm not sure I've ever read a really good H/Hr story where Harry does something like that.
it's more understandable than with canon, where we have two kids who've been friends for years and STILL go out of their way to hurt each other and make vicious comments and inflict pain (emotional and physical) to one another. Come on, wtf is that?
... most have R/Hr as a side-dish and I cannot stand it.
Yes, I can tell. :-)
No worries, I ... well, I guess I 'hate' H/G more, for a few reasons, but I fully agree that R/Hr is pretty pathetic/simplistic/unbelievable too. And also fronts up with H/G in being a lousy model to which girls might aspire.
Also- H/L...is that Harry/Luna? I'm interested in any recs for them...as long as there is no R/Hr.
Yes, I love a decent H/L story.
For now I'll just refer you to the author whom I consider to be the 'queen' of Luna and H/L; Michelle31a on fanfiction.net (and other archives), here (http://www.fanfiction.net/~michelle31a). Her stories are *wonderful*.
She writes a variety of stories - all of them short stories except for "Luna's Year", I think. Some of them just play on Luna for laughs, and they work perfectly; a brilliantly eccentric Luna who is very very funny without descending into stupidity or slapstick, remaining someone whom we still *respect*. And there are some others which are very nicely done on the romantic level. "Happy Christmas, Harry Potter" is sadly unfinished, but everything else is complete.
I defy anyone to read the five-chapter 'Torment and Turnips' without
getting teary eyeshaving a manly attack of the allergies. :-)Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-15 02:48 am (UTC)I believe Hermione can work with a Severus that is acerbic, hurting and hurtful as he is in canon. I think there are fics that do it well.
See some of these for taste:
the 'Phoenix' stories by grangerous - supposed to be a trilogy, so far 2 completed stories. The fun bit - these are made almost entirely out of Rowling's plot holes. The part I less like about them - I think she was too soft with Dumbledore. But mostly I disagree with the way she dealt with the Elder Wand. But then, it is hard to do Rowling's work for her after the fact.
Everything I've Ever Done by duj - canon compliant until the end of OOTP, diverges after that. On her last day at Hogwarts Hermione apologizes to Professor Snape. It doesn't go the way she expected.
In Your Dreams by duj - canon compliant until the end of OOTP, diverges after that. About-to-be 7th year Hermione volunteers to marry Professor Snape in order to save his life, following repeated prophetic dreams the two of them had. Very clean, in case SS/HG sex squicks you.
Into the Ether by duj. Complete, though it says WIP. With 2 endings, one completely compliant with DH, one diverges somewhere mid-battle. On Dumbledore's advice Severus writes letters that will only reach the addressee 20 years in the future, and only if Severus himself no longer exists in the addressee's time. And he chooses to address the letters to future-Hermione.
Pet Project by Caeria. Diverges from canon after OOTP. WIP, going very slowly these days, it seems. But worth everything, because many of the characters are more intelligent than Rowling's version of them.
See what you think.
Re: Shipping
Date: 2011-03-15 04:55 am (UTC)I remember the amazement and awe I felt in the early days of my fandom participation when I discovered just how talented some authors are. I can well believe that there would be stories that make SS/Hr really work, even without changing him (much).
Thank you for the recommendations!