GOF Chapter 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

[oryx_leucoryx]

Amos Diggory's head in the fireplace is talking to Molly and Arthur. This is Harry's first encounter with floo-calling.

Amos wants Arthur to 'smooth things over' to prevent Rita from finding about the curious incident of the dustbins in the night-time. Because Moody ( a recently retired Auror, if we believe Harry in DH thinking he personally trained Tonks) has a history of attacking things (and people, I suppose) for no reason. Later this book Sirius will describe him as one who did not kill suspects if he could avoid it, as if he were one of the saner in the bunch. So it seems his paranoia is a form of PTSD, developed after the war was over.

Of course we know the incident is the subdue of Moody by two dead men - Barty Jr and Peter. Had Amos and Arthur let the Improper Use of magic folks take care of things properly Voldemort's plot might have been halted in its tracks very early on. Voldemort will thank Arthur for his assistance in his resurrection by having Nagini bite him next year. Was Voldemort *counting* on Moody's friends rushing to get him out of trouble? And had it really been a case of Moody hexing Muggles in a bout of paranoia, would he have ended up in Azkaban, next to the DEs he arrested 13 years earlier?

So far Arthur's little ring of corruption includes himself, head of a minor office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amos in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Ludo Bagman in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, an unnamed contact in the Department of Magical Transportation and Alastor Moody, retired Auror. Four out of seven departments. Maybe his big disappointment with Percy was because his son wasn't willing to be his corrupt contact in International Cooperation.

Bill and Charlie share their parents' high opinion of Moody. Fred and George do not, nor do they have a particularly high opinion of their father, or even of Dumbledore's judgment (but somehow this doesn't make them evil).

Meanwhile the Voldie-Imperiurized Crouch is beginning to rely more on Percy. Not that any of his siblings care that he has to be at work rather than see them off to the train.

Sorry Molly, none of your husband's contacts was able to arrange transportation this year. You'll have to manage with taxis. (Why not use the Knight Bus? Because scaring Muggles with owls, fireworks and a clawing cat is more fun, I suppose.)

Charlie and Bill hint about an upcoming event at Hogwarts. Does Bill know he'll be coming to watch the opening of a maze for an hour or so? Molly joins the hinting - nobody will want to come home for Christmas! (Not even Ginny, who is too young to attend the Ball on her own.)

Is this really the first time the possibility that Draco would have attended Durmstrang comes up in a conversation with his friends? Because they are talking about the upcoming Tournament? Durmstrang doesn't take Muggle-borns and actively teaches the Dark Arts. This establishes the school as evil and everyone attending it as DE-equivalent. (Except in DH we learned that Durmstrang alumnus Viktor Krum was from a family that opposed Grindelwald.)

So Hermione read about Durmstrang and knows about the school's uniforms and curriculum, though not its (secret!) location nor the questionable history of its headmaster. I wonder if the school's 'horrible reputation' is because the book was written by a British wizard? Or a Dumbles supporter? How many British wizards are aware of said reputation? Or of the traditional rivalry between the schools? Ron certainly isn't. Oh, he heard of that school somewhere. Like, perhaps in an interview with his Quidditch hero? But he didn't realize Viktor was still a student. Ack! If wizards from different parts of a continent barely interact how can there be traditional rivalry between them? Or their schools? Maybe only the teachers are involved in the 'rivalry' anyway.

Yes, shame that Narcissa loves her son, indeed. In a few years Harry will be thankful to her for that. Or should be. (Is Ron evil for fantasizing about killing Draco the way Draco is evil for wishing the Heir of Slytherin would kill Hermione? Or is it IOIAGDI?)

Hermione is already learning the summoning charm because in 3 months time Harry will need her help with it.

To an innocent observer Draco may appear to be making friendly banter, but Harry and Ron take everything he says as  a declaration of war. Until Draco catches that Arthur did not tell Ron about the coming year's events. Then Draco capitalizes on Ron's insecurity and sense of inferiority over his dad and his position at the Ministry. The entire scene comes across as being more about Harry and Ron's defensiveness than about Draco's verbal 'attack'.

Comments

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Does anybody else notice a rather anti-foreigner theme in these books? Besides the whole "Durmstrang teaches the dark arts" thing, there's also the fact that the few Non-British characters that get any lines are either suspicious (like Krum's teacher, whose name escapes me), or along the lines of the "funny foreigner who can't learn proper English- let us laugh at them!", like Fleur and Krum himself. Maybe I am reading too much into it though.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Does anybody else notice a rather anti-foreigner theme in these books?

I do! It's hard to miss, really. Not only they are offensively stereotyped in every single case, they are also always portrayed as something less than British wizards, ridiculed at every opportunity and when there is any kind of rivalry between them and the British, the foreigners are always sure to lose. IMO this is one of the most annoying features of the “great plea for tolerance” that is Harry Potter.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Everyone who isn't a British magical human gets this treatment. Only through assimilation into the dominant culture (Fleur, Flitwick, and Hagrid gets authorial points for trying) can they be accepted as people.

[oryx_leucoryx]

or along the lines of the "funny foreigner who can't learn proper English- let us laugh at them!", like Fleur and Krum himself

Which keeps me thinking - but they are speaking a foreign language and communicating themselves rather OK! Just imagine Harry and his friends had to travel to one of the other schools - they'd either be total idiots or demand that their hosts accommodate them by speaking English all the time. Except for Hermione, who would be using a phrase book.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

It's impossible to miss. Not only are the "funny foreigners" incapable of speaking English (never mind that we don't see any of the Hogwarts's students even trying to learn a foreign language.) but they are incredibly stereotypical.
Victor is a "Bulgarian Bruiser", Fleur is a "French Fairy Princess", all important French characters are female love interests (in the movie all Beauxbatons students are female. And their introduction scene is pure WTF?) and all Durmstrang's students are presented as the stereotypical Eastern European "big, strong dolts". (Heck, the movie is even worse. In it they are hybrid young Communists / circus troupe.)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Does anybody else notice a rather anti-foreigner theme in these books? Besides the whole "Durmstrang teaches the dark arts" thing, there's also the fact that the few Non-British characters that get any lines are either suspicious (like Krum's teacher, whose name escapes me), or along the lines of the "funny foreigner who can't learn proper English- let us laugh at them!", like Fleur and Krum himself.

And considering that the author used to teach English to foreigners, it is an aspect of the stories that makes one go, "Hmmmmm...."

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Did she really? Now, I wonder what her former students say about her as a teacher?

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Did she really?

That's what she did in Portugal.

Now, I wonder what her former students say about her as a teacher?

I have yet to find any interviews done with her ex-students, which seems very strange in and of itself.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

She didn't pay them hush money, do you think?

JKR's foreign students

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Er, actually, one might at worst assume the opposite.

That she DID pay them hush money.

And they're still honoring their commitment....

Boarding school genre

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Remember that JKR was influenced by early twentieth century boys weeklys of the British boarding school genre, which in the mentality of that era, always stereotyped 'foreigners.' So Frech masters would always speak in a mixture of broken English and broken French, and jabber and gesticulate wildly, Spaniards and Mexicans were always sinister and treacherous, chinamen were always sinister and trecherous and wore pigtails etc. etc.

The series started out as a revival of the boarding school genre, but in Goblet of Fire it first begins its gradual deterioration into sub par fantasy.

Re: Boarding school genre

[sunnyskywalker]

Spaniards and Mexicans were always sinister and treacherous

Like Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin sounds like it has Anglo-Saxon roots (he's just a slithery dude), but Salazar is originally a Basque name. He probably had recent ancestors from northern Spain. And JKR did say she named him after the Portuguese dictator...

Re: Boarding school genre

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Slytherin sounds like it has Anglo-Saxon roots (he's just a slithery dude), but Salazar is originally a Basque name. He probably had recent ancestors from northern Spain. And JKR did say she named him after the Portuguese dictator...

Sort of OT, but your statement reminded me of the result of a genealogical search conducted by a friend's parents when they visited Spain.

Apparently the university in Toledo has quite a library of Spanish genealogical records, sort of the Spanish equivalent of what the Mormons do. So my friend's parents utilized those resources one summer when they were visiting relatives.

My friend's mother was from Central America, and her maiden name was apparently somewhat unusual for the general Spanish population, but it turned out to be quite common amongst Basques (up to that point they had no idea that there might be an Basque in the mother's ancestry).

Then they researched her father's family; as far as they knew, the paternal side had always been Spanish. But it turned out that during the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a soldier for the English army who decided not to return to England, decided to take up permanent residence in Spain and start a family. His last name of "Brown" gradually evolved into the name "Briones".

My friend, who adored anything to do with Shakespeare, believed this showed why she'd always been fascinated with English history in general, and Shakespeare in particular...

Neither of my friend's parents showed any signs of being drawn to evil and/or dark magik, LOL...altho the mother did edit (but did not write) a column on astrology for a Spanish-language publication. ;-)

Re: Boarding school genre

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting analysis. I had not made the early 20th century connection there, though it still does not explain why a modern woman would propagate such embarrassingly outdated ideas.

Re: Boarding school genre

[oryx_leucoryx]

Nostalgia! Not for the ideas but for the period they come from.

Re: Boarding school genre

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

That was the whole point of the late twentieth century fascimiles that reproduced the papers exactly as they would have been when first published, including those ludicrous adverts they used to have.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Gellert Grindelwald. According to an interview with JKR, he caused Dumbledore to temporarily "lose his moral compass." And he was the reigning Dark Lord before Dumbledore defeated him and Voldemort took his place. Speaking of Voldemort, he is indeed English, but he adopts a French name and he recruits foreign wizards like Dolohov and Karkaroff.

Although, one of the Death Eaters (I can't remember his name - was it Rowle?) seems to be xenophobic, as shown by the scene where he hesitates to take Ron's hand in DH when Ron is disguised as a foreign wizard. And while Durmstrang is portrayed as being a shady school, Beauxbatons is not. So, I don't think that there was meant to be an anti-foreigner theme. I think that JKR just chose to stick to stereotypes, that's all.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

The only thing I remember about American's in the HP series is...we have a flag (LOL!) Wasn't that how Harry recognized the American group at the Quidditch cup game?

Don't forget Gellert Grindelwald. According to an interview with JKR, he caused Dumbledore to temporarily "lose his moral compass."

Don't you have to have a moral compass to loose one? JKR can say what she wants but it's quite possible that Albus the teenager didn't really have a moral compass, or more like not one developed enough to be an actual moral compass. Maybe it was just the arrow (ha)

Someone with a moral compass would know that talking over and enslaving muggles is wrong no matter how pretty the words are spun to make it sound like a good idea. If DD had a moral compass he would have told Gellard straight away he wasn't into the idea of world domination.

Dumbledore only gained the idea that Gellard was bad when his sister got killed. Not unlike the wakeup call Severus got when Voldie wanted to hunt down Lily.

Both were young and stupid. Dumbledore apparently was blinded by teenage lust if he really was in love with Gellert. Technically we only have a interview saying Dumbledore was gay, there is nothing in canon that really says that one way or the other.

Maybe it's an easy out for JKR. Making Dumbledore gay outside of canon is a good excuse to use for Dumbledore inside canon. He was in love and stupid. No, he really didn't believe what Gellard was selling, he just wanted some hot Gellard action. The Dumbledore is gay almost makes a 'better' excuse for young Dumbledore doesn't it? In story there is nothing there, outside in an interview, JKR gives him a love/sex reason to loose his 'moral compass'. My question has to be did he really have one at 16/17/18 years old?

You can take the love/infatuation aspect out of it and think thats it's a pretty screwed up thing to do for someone who supposedly has a moral compass. Gellard looks like a used car salesman trying to sell a crappy car, and Dumbledore buys it.

The idea JKR sets up for quite a few of her characters is, they have this reversal of their ideals.

James Potter apparently had some sort of moral compass adjustment. Though we all have to question that since Sirius/Lupin says that Snape was still a special case even after the supposed moral compass ajustment.

Dumbledore has this moral compass adjustment when his sister dies.

Draco malfoy seems to have a moral compass ajustment by the end of the series, as well as his mother and father. Because if it wasn't for Narcissa' choice to lie, the last book might have ended very differently.

Severus Snape also had a moral ajustment when Lily was being hunted by Voldie.

So, it seems like quite a few characters apparently go and get a compass.

But I think it's quite possible that like all the other characters Dumbledore's 'moral compass' was questionable; hell I still question if it exists right now on certain issues in canon.

I don't think Gellard made him loose it, maybe it should be more like Gellard made Dumbledore find it. To me someone with a moral compass doesn't loose it, they choose to ignore it maybe but then thats not really loosing it, thats something else.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Someone with a moral compass would know that talking over and enslaving muggles is wrong no matter how pretty the words are spun to make it sound like a good idea. If DD had a moral compass he would have told Gellard straight away he wasn't into the idea of world domination.

Hell yeah! All arguments are futile. :)

He was in love and stupid. No, he really didn't believe what Gellard was selling, he just wanted some hot Gellard action. The Dumbledore is gay almost makes a 'better' excuse for young Dumbledore doesn't it? In story there is nothing there, outside in an interview, JKR gives him a love/sex reason to loose his 'moral compass'.

My problem with this is that while in Rowling's books love generally is redeeming (James, Snape etc.), in the only instance said love is homosexual, it makes the characters „lose moral compass“. I guess it's already been noted, but I couldn't help pointing this homophobic bit out again.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The only thing I remember about American's in the HP series is...we have a flag (LOL!) Wasn't that how Harry recognized the American group at the Quidditch cup game?


They had a banner with the name of their school (or whatever the Salem Witches' Institute was supposed to be, whitehound thinks it's supposed to be some kind of social club that does fund-raising for charity).

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Opens GOF and reads - Ok, talk about JKR not being clear.

It says spangled banner with the words Salem Witches Institute.

But Spangled banner doesn't tell me anything. Spangled could mean the damn thing was bedazzled with glitter for all I know.

The star spangled banner is the national anthem but most times it's just called the flag. I don't go around looking at flag polls and saying, look the spangled banner. I think points should be deducted from JKR for not adding the word star.

So I'm assuming from the reference she's trying to tell me this 'spangled banner' looks like the American flag.

Nobody I know goes around calling the flag the spangled banner, you'd think the American publishers who had to go and have their own copy and change words and crap would have fixed that - but then again, I'm just being picky.

Spangled banner indeed.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Dumbledore only gained the idea that Gellard was bad when his sister got killed. Not unlike the wakeup call Severus got when Voldie wanted to hunt down Lily./

Good point. I hadn't noticed that connection. I've seen some fans argue that Snape's rejection of the Death Eaters wasn't all that morally impressive because he was apparently fine with being with them until his crush was threatened. I have to wonder what they'd make of the fact that Dumbledore was apparently fine with taking over the world with Grindelwald until Gellert tortured his brother and Ariana was killed.

/No, he really didn't believe what Gellard was selling, he just wanted some hot Gellard action. The Dumbledore is gay almost makes a 'better' excuse for young Dumbledore doesn't it?/

Yes, that explanation tries to get him off the hook, but it doesn't do him or his relationship with Gellert any favors, either. Albus and Gellert were attracted to each other because they had a "meeting of the minds," right? Dumbledore himself tells Harry that he was fascinated with Grindelwald's ideas. You mean to tell me that Albus just happily ignored all of Gellert's talk about ruling over Muggles in favor of staring dreamily at him and his golden curls? How does that make Albus seem admirable? What sort of picture does that paint of their relationship, when one of the parties is completely oblivious to the other's ideas and intentions? Regardless of whether or not he and Gellert were in love, the text makes it pretty clear that Albus found his ideas compelling. Albus being Gellert's boyfriend is not an excuse.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Do you know it took me up to this reread for the purpose of these reviews to notice that book!Karkaroff does not have a foreign accent? I can't figure out what that is supposed to mean. Is British magic so superior that the east-European school had to recruit the son of immigrants to Britain as headmaster? Or did Igor get rid of the accent of his childhood in order to move up among the DEs? (I don't think Dolohov gets much speaking so I don't know if we can judge his accent.)

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

There's a lot about Karkaroff that doesn't quite make sense to me. If he's a foreigner, how did he get mixed up with Voldemort? Why did Voldemort keep him in Britain instead of having him networking in other countries? How was a former death eater able to get himself appointed as the headmaster of Durmstrang?

[oryx_leucoryx]

If he's a foreigner, how did he get mixed up with Voldemort?

I used to think Tom found him during his 10 year Sabbatical. But he may have been British-raised.