OOTP Chapter Nine: "The Woes of Mrs. Weasley"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Mr. Weasley insists that they couldn’t have found Harry guilty based on the evidence. Why do all these people maintain their faith in the wizarding justice system? This applies double for Mr. Weasley, since he (a) has the example of Sirius for someone who was wrongfully convicted, and (b) helps petty criminals evade justice on a regular basis.

* “Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as funny.” Possibly because they’ve got relatives whose first response to Muggle-related problems is to wipe their memories, eh, Arthur?

* Lucius Malfoy again showing off his dislike for Harry in the most ridiculously unsubtle way. Remind me again, where did he get his reputation for Machiavellian cunning from?

* Mr. Malfoy is, of course, quite right that Arthur spends a lot of his time “sneaking Muggle artefacts home and bewitching them”; once again, though, we’re expected to treat him like a horrible person for pointing out the truth.

* We’re probably meant to infer from the clinking of gold that Mr. Malfoy was trying to bribe the Minister, but I don’t think so. After all, a cunning politician such as Lucius wouldn’t just carry his bribe around like… Actually, wait, no, let’s not forget that this is a JK Rowling book, after all. Of course her characters would go around doing stupid things like that.

* Personally speaking, I’d rather manipulate the government by making generous donations to charity than by perverting the course of justice, but hey, that’s just me.

* “Dumbledore thinks that Fudge is acting of his own accord at the moment” – given that this is the man who failed to notice that one of his staff members was an impostor for the best part of an academic year, I’m not sure we can really trust his opinion on this matter.

* Again people seem to be assuming that wizards give a toss for due process and the rule of law, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

* Ron seems happy that Dumbledore’s intervention got Harry off, as opposed to worried that simply having a celebrity on your side is enough to swing it for you, or about what happens to people who Dumbledore doesn’t believe (guess he can ask Sirius about that last one).

* Fred and George’s chant is really annoying. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume they were twelve rather than seventeen.

* Once again, I can’t help but think that living in No. 12 can’t be worse than Sirius' experiences in Azkaban. Nevertheless, it is No. 12 that makes him all surly and moody, whereas he manages to stay (relatively) sane in Azkaban. Consistency? What’s that?

* It’s not surprising that Dumbledore can’t find anyone to fill the Defence post “when you look at what happened to the last four”. Err, shouldn’t that be the last twenty or so at least? (I don’t think we’re ever told exactly when Voldemort curses the DADA position, but it has to be before he starts his anti-Ministry war, which in turn must be a few years before Harry was born. Which makes me think – wasn’t it a bit irresponsible of Lily and James to have a child whilst involved on covert work for the Order of the Phoenix? They could have got killed at any time, and then who would look after the baby?)

* “‘Ron?’ said Hermione, her jaw dropping. ‘But… are you sure?’” Well done, Hermione, way to make Ron feel proud of his achievement. Clearly that girl respects him a lot. Of such things successful relationships are made.

* If the Weasleys can afford to buy Ron a new broom for becoming prefect, they either (a) don’t have much financial sense, or (b) aren’t as poor as they make everybody think.

* Nice to see Fred and George undermining Ron like that even before he gets to school. What a charming pair they are.

* Note how Hermione’s speaking “tentatively”, as if she’s worried Harry will lose his temper again. How on earth could the Prophet possibly make him look unbalanced?

* If Harry had thought about it, he’d have expected Dumbledore to make him a prefect. Well, I suppose being treated like the centre of the universe for four years is likely to do that to someone.

* Harry thinks indignantly that Ron and Hermione didn’t do as much as him, forgetting that this was usually because they’d already been injured helping him.

* It’s sad, but this probably is the first time Ron’s beaten Harry at something. And the last time. And even this time, Dumbledore later says that he’d have given the prefecture to Harry if Harry didn’t have so much to worry about anyway, so it doesn’t really count. Still, enjoy it while you can, Weasley: it’s the closest you’ll get to beating Harry at something. Ever.

* “I never thought it would be me! I thought it would be you!” Why is everyone acting like Ron and Harry are the only two boys in Gryffindor House? What about Neville, Dean and Seamus? Couldn’t Dumbledore have given the badge to one of them?

* Probably a good idea for Ron to lock his prefect badge away, given what Fred and George used to do to Percy’s.

* The trouble with using fantastic racism as a stand-in for real racism, as JKR seems to be doing with Hermione’s views on house-elves and werewolves, is that Potterverse races literally are different in a way that real-world races aren’t. Segregating people because of their skin colour = wrong. Segregating people because they regularly turn into dangerous animals = rather sensible, actually. Similarly with house-elves: they (or at least all of them apart from Dobby) literally want to be slaves, and literally cannot cope without a master or mistress telling them what to do. If Rowling wants to make some heavy-handed points about racism, she should probably find better analogues.

* “It all stems from this horrible thing wizards have of thinking they’re superior to other creatures,” says the girl who’ll end the series mind-wiping her parents and sending them to Australia.

* Buying illegal products in the same room as everybody else seems a bit incautious, I must say. Couldn’t they at least go to another room to do it?

* So even Kingsley is assuming that Harry was the natural choice for the prefecture, despite his insularity and lack of any real leadership skills whatsoever.

* I wonder if anybody deliberately buys brooms where the vibration control’s a bit dodgy…?

* The people in the photo have no idea they’re dead, unlike Percy, whose picture apparently knows that he’s had an argument with his father… Consistency? What consistency?

* This boggart scene just serves to illustrate how bad Lupin’s lesson on them in Book 3 was. “Defeat boggarts with laugher” is all very well when it turns into a variety of wacky monsters, but it’s quite hard to see the funny side in – say – all your family being horribly murdered.

* And now the long slog through the pre-Hogwarts chapters is finally over. Doing this read-through, I can’t help but think that OOTP is disgracefully padded.

 

Comments

Re: Ron Defense Time!

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

I agree - it's really horrible how the twins torment Percy and then Ron for daring to succeed at something. Come to think of it, how come they haven't treated Harry like that? He certainly stands out and Molly certainly dotes on him more than the rest of the family. Is it because he's technically not related to them and they don't have to see him every day? Is it because he's an orphan who has to deal with Voldemort and they figure that that's a reason to back off?

But yes, I also think that Ron gets too much flack, from the movies, from the books, and from fans. He's not my favorite character, but I do feel sorry for him. He's insecure, but with good reason, since hardly anyone truly appreciates him.

Re: Ron Defense Time!

[fishinginthemud.livejournal.com]

Harry's not family, he's a celebrity, and the twins know antagonizing him would place them firmly in the bad guy camp, so of course that's not going to happen. As long as Harry likes them, they're free to do whatever they want and still get into heaven.