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: WWSD? (What Would Sirius Do?) Poll
Date: 2011-03-08 05:14 pm (UTC)I rewatched the old movie Laura last night, and your comment reminded me of a line that was in the movie.
The character Laura is engaged to a character by the name Shelby. Shelby is a gold-digging cad.
For those who don't know the plot of the movie, it starts out with a dead woman found in Laura's apartment, dead of a shotgun blast to the face. The body size and hair color/style looks like Laura's so it is decided that she's the one who has been killed.
The real Laura later shows up, having gone away for the weekend, unaware of the murder that occurred in her apartment. It is later found out that Shelby, her fiance, was cheating on Laura and took his girlfriend up to Laura's apartment knowing Laura was out of town. It is this girlfriend of Shelby's that was really the murder victim.
Any one of Laura's acquaintances could be the murderer, especially Shelby, who Laura had decided not to marry.
At a party to celebrate Laura's good health, a rich woman tells Laura that she herself loves Shelby, and even tho she had good reason to kill the murder victim, she didn't -- but she knows that Shelby could very well have.
She goes on to explain that she doesn't care; she knows that Shelby is a cad, is no good, and is only interested in money. She adds that she herself is no good, so she and Shelby make a good pair, and she is willing to do anything -- short of murder -- to make Shelby her own, and since she is rich she knows she's the only one who ultimately will make him happy.
I can see Sirius Black finding some sort of dame like that! LOL
Re: WWSD? (What Would Sirius Do?) Poll
Date: 2011-03-08 07:47 pm (UTC)I can see Sirius Black finding some sort of dame like that! LOL But I'd still much rather see him in the streets of Soho! :p (Or in Knockturn alley?)
Re: WWSD? (What Would Sirius Do?) Poll
Date: 2011-03-08 08:43 pm (UTC)Oh, Laura is a classic movie from the 40s, starring the actress Gene Tierney in the starring role, with Vincent Price playing Shelby. I forget the name of the actor who plays the detective who falls in love with her...
I've seen it many times, but it's worth seeing more than once, for the clues that are seeded along the way (not to mention the excellent acting).
Anyway, there is this other character by the name of Lydecker, who is an older man, age never stated but who's at least in his 50s, who is a famous newspaper columnist with his own radio show, who helped get Laura her start in business, resulting in her becoming a very successful and wealthy advertising executive.
Lydecker always loved Laura, and watched as she got involved with one man after another that he deemed "unworthy". Shelby was the last straw; Lydecker thought that Laura was going to break the engagement, but then she told him she was going to go thru with the marriage.
She then goes off to the country to think about if; Shelby, in the meantime, brings his extracurricular girlfriend to Laura's apartment, where the girlfriend proceeds to make herself comfortable, putting on a negligee and helping herself (and Shelby) to Laura's liquor.
The doorbell rings, and Shelby freaks out, hiding in the bedroom and telling his girlfriend to tell whomever is at the door that Laura's let her use the apartment for the weekend. Since it was a romantic evening for Shelby and his girlfriend, the lights were turned down low.
The girlfriend answers the door, wearing Laura's things, and with the only light a small lamp well back into the apartment, so only her silhouette is seen. It's Lydecker at the door with a shotgun, he shoots who he thinks is Laura, hides the rifle in a clock by the door that he had given to Laura, and then hightails it out of there.
This is all explained by the detective towards the end of the movie, when Lydecker comes back to really kill Laura, because his attitude was if he couldn't have Laura, no one could.
Shelby, who cowered in the bedroom when his girlfriend was shot, ends up with the rich broad who was in love with him and didn't care that he was a gigolo after money.
Re: WWSD? (What Would Sirius Do?) Poll
Date: 2011-03-09 02:19 pm (UTC)Re: WWSD? (What Would Sirius Do?) Poll
Date: 2011-03-09 05:42 pm (UTC)I love old films, especially of the "film noir" genre, of which Laura is one.
In addition, there is a haunting melody thru out the film, played in different styles. In the film it is always just instrumental, but afterwards words were put to it and it was recorded by various artists. It was my father's favorite song, he'd always be humming/whistling/singing a few bars of the song.