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

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Spangled could mean the damn thing was bedazzled with glitter for all I know.

From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spangled :

span·gle (spnggl) n.
1. A small, often circular piece of sparkling metal or plastic sewn especially on garments for decoration.
2. A small sparkling object, drop, or spot: spangles of sunlight.

v. span·gled, span·gling, span·gles
v.tr.
          To adorn or cause to sparkle by covering with or as if with spangles: Lights spangled the night skyline.
v.intr.
          To sparkle in the manner of spangles.

So you are correct that using just the word "spangle" doesn't convey anything other than the banner was covered with something sparkling.

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.

I'll cut Jo some slack on this, she was just trying to be artsy and write something she thought was descriptive and flowery. Since the National Anthem of the United States is specifically about our flag (but does Jo realize that it was composed during the War of 1812, when we were fighting the British?), then I don't have a problem with her, or the many other writers who have also used the term, describing it as a "spangled banner".

But yes, if we are to take that specific term by it's literal meaning, it could mean a cloth of any color, or tie-dyed in a rainbow of colors for that manner, with bedazzled rhinestones or glitter-gluepen adornment scattered on it; by the above definition, the cloth could have been gold lame' with the sun sparking on it. :-)

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Hell no, I'm not cutting no slack for the asumption that American's are in that tent because there is a spangled banner that has the words Salem Witches Institute.

For all I know spangled banner could be the symbol for marysue house of sparklepoo.

And, I know, that rhymes, I'm just spouting non-sense. Is on obnoxious overdrive...must...hit...breaks.