OOTP Chapter Ten: "Luna Lovegood"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Harry wakes up late and has to rush to avoid missing the train. Apparently wizards have not yet invented alarm clocks.

* Indeed, so late is he that he apparently doesn’t have time to get washed.

* Such a pity that Ginny didn’t break her neck as she fell down the stairs; it would have been kinder than being turned into JKR’s favourite Mary Sue and then yoked to Harry for the rest of her life.

* Harry hates having to go with a guard. TBH I wouldn’t be surprised if the guard hate it, too. “Babysitting the Chosen One today, Sturgis? Bad luck. Try telling him your best friend was in Slytherin, he won’t try to speak to you after that.”

* “How Muggles can stand travelling without magic…” I doubt this is the intention, but every time a wizard talks about how difficult Muggles must find things without magic, they just end up looking really spoilt and entitled, a bit like people who wonder how anyone managed before TV and the internet were invented.

* Sirius scaring the local cats is a source of great entertainment to Harry. For a Christ-metaphor overflowing with love, he can come across as rather sadistic sometimes.

* If Sirius is going to go out with Harry, he should at least try and keep a low profile. Standing on his hind legs and placing his paws on Harry’s shoulders is not a very responsible thing to do.

* Once again, Hermione and Ron look nervous at telling Harry anything with even the slightest chance of upsetting him. Seriously, they should find themselves a better friend.

* Ron seems so defensive about being made a prefect. TBH I have to question Dumbledore’s judgement in giving the position to someone who clearly isn’t going to enjoy it.

* “‘I’m not Percy,’ he finished defiantly.” No, worse luck; Percy might actually have something useful to bring to the Trio.

* Luna’s here! :) Luna’s always been one of my favourite characters; her “I’m so weird act” may obviously be a way of getting attention, but it’s better than, say, bat-bogey-hexing everyone who annoys you.

* I wonder what it says about Harry that the only thing he can think of about Neville is that he once got a Remembrall five years ago?

* So what exactly is the point with Neville’s new cactus? I don’t think it appears at all later in the books. Is it just to give Harry an opportunity to angst about how Cho finds him covered in pus?

* Note how Harry’s embarrassed to be seen with Neville and Luna Lovegood. Normal teenage behaviour, but Harry’s not supposed to be a normal teenager, he’s supposed to be a Christ-metaphor, and Christ spent far more time with unpopular outcasts than he did with very cool people.

* Ginny waits till Cho’s gone before cleaning away the Stinksap. Could it be that she was intentionally waiting till Cho had gone to make Harry look bad in front of her, and thereby reduce the chances of her stealing away Ginny’s future husband?

* Of course Malfoy’s the Slytherin prefect, says Ron. After all, we can’t expect JK Rowling to come up with another Slytherin character to give the job to. Conservation of detail, and all that.

* Pansy Parkinson is “a complete cow”, according to Hermione. I’m still not sure what she’s done to merit the trio’s dislike, aside from being in Slytherin. Although in JKR’s mental universe, that’s probably enough.

* She’s also “thicker than a concussed troll”, apparently, giving yet another example of Slytherin seeming less the House of cunning people, and more the House of racist thugs. If Slytherin really were for cunning people, we’d expect members to have a fair degree of intelligence, even if it’s not the academic kind.

* Luna’s little sally into the conversation is enough to make Ginny stuff her knuckles into her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Either Ginny’s easily amused, or JKR is just desperate to make us think of Luna as a funny character, but cannot in fact write her as such.

* I like how Ron’s first thought is to use his position to get at people he didn’t like. Still think he was a better choice than Dean or Seamus, Dumbledore?

* I think (hope) that Luna actually is taking the Mickey here.

* “How Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?” Quite far, if he’s sensible enough to realise that placing your entire financial system in the hands of a people who’ve consistently rebelled against you for the past few centuries is a rather bad idea.

* “Cornelius ‘Goblin-Crusher’ Fudge” is quite a cool nickname, I think. A pity we don’t hear him called it more often.

* Apparently it doesn’t occur to Harry that it might not be a good idea to antagonise the new Slytherin prefect.

* For that matter, given that the Trio’s got the better of Malfoy and Co. every time they’ve clashed, why do they apparently hate them so much? If anything, they should have come to look down on Draco, Crabbe and Goyle as being beneath their notice, and ignore them accordingly.

* Even though Draco’s got a much better reason to dislike Harry than Harry has to dislike Draco, he doesn’t give Harry a detention, even when Harry insults him in front of his friends. This seems rather inconsistent with Hermione’s report of power-mad!Draco bullying the normal students.

* Hagrid’s not here. Enjoy it while you can, chaps; he’ll be back with a vengeance in Chapter Twenty.

* Malfoy, being a bad guy, doesn’t have friends, only “cronies”. Because it’s impossible for anyone who doesn’t like Harry to have ordinary friendships with other people. Clearly.

* So wait, Dumbledore has a load of flesh-eating monsters pull carriages full of excited schoolchildren who can’t see them and don’t even know they’re there? Why haven’t there been any accidents?

Comments

Animagi

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

One of the few pieces of magic in HP that doesn't work on the basis of pure plot convenience is the animagi and patronus animal form rules. The patronus takes the form of an animal which the caster ADMIRES. An animagus form is the animal which the animagus RESEMBLES. These are too different things. Umbridge liked long haired cats, but she is repeatedly and monotonously described as being toad like - all throughout Order of the Phoenix, with even more consistency than Harry is described as being angry.

Similarly, Hermione's patronus is an otter even though it is impossible to imagine a less otter-like personality than her's. Her patronus is the animal she admires the most even though it is very different from her.

I wonder what it says about McGonagall that she admires herself the most...

Re: Animagi

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Maybe her Transfiguration skill is her source of happiness? The competent teachers, at least, genuinely enjoy their subjects for themselves.

Re: Animagi

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Um, someone forgive me if I'm wrong but McGonagall's patronus was a cat wasn't it.

Re: Animagi

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Her patronus is identical to her animagus form. Her animagus form is a cat with short hair and square markings around its eyes in the shape of her square glasses. Her patronus is the same cat. Hence she loves best the animal that symbolises her in the way Snape loves best the animal that symbolises Lilly. Lilly is symbolised by a doe because she was nothing more than James Potter's woman it would seem and James was represented by a stag.

Re: Animagi

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Um, someone forgive me if I'm wrong but McGonagall's patronus was a cat wasn't it.

A couple of cats, IIRC. And she is a cat animagus.

Rowling tells us that one's patronus is based on one's happiest memories/thoughts, and that when a witch or wizard falls in love their patronus changes to reflect their beloved, who should now be their happiest memory/thought.

So I always wondered about young McGonagall, and who she may have been in love with at one time (and perhaps still is). Perhaps her beloved was also a cat animagus; or, as someone pointed out, perhaps McGonagall is in love with herself! LOL

Or maybe it's something as simple as Minerva having had a cat, or cats, as a beloved pet(s) and companion(s) when she was a child, which would make cats both her happiest memory, and a reason to want to become one.

Of course, female cats are known to be sexually promiscuous, so that raises some questions about young Minerva (and gives much fodder for fan fiction)! LOL

Re: Animagi

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

Lilly is symbolised by a doe because she was nothing more than James Potter's woman it would seem and James was represented by a stag.

The Lilly = doe thing doesn't work on multiple levels. Even if we ignore the misogynistic and insulting attitude that a women is defined by the man she's with. There is still no sense in Severus Snape seeing her as a doe.
He is in love with her so why would he identify her as a doe and as suche a natural "mate" for a man he hates?
Also, I may be wrong but, I don't think Snape had any idea that James was a stag.
The Marauders secretly become Animagi. So, why and how would Snape who loathed them find out that James' Animagus form was a stag?
And if he did found out wouldn't he told somebody about it? :/

Re: Animagi

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

My interpretation is that one's animagus form is basically inherent to one's nature, and that Lily would have been a doe if she had ever become an animagus.

Snape's patronus took the form of a doe because that was Lily's animagus form. He didn't have to know that Lily's animagus form was a doe in order for his patronus to take that form, just as Harry didn't have to know that his father was a stag animagus in order for his patronus to be a stag.

Re: Animagi

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

I've pondered a few theories on the whole Snape patronus doe.

I did at one time consider the theory of 'magic' manipulating the situation.

Sometimes magic seems to play this external force, maybe some might say god or something like that.

I've also thought that maybe magic more like balance or maybe even has some sort of physics or, I don't know, I'm not a scientist but maybe evil magic and good magic have a certain force and one can't outweight the other. Like when Voldemort killed Lily, and then when he goes to kill Harry, the balance of evil is tipped, causing the counter weight to swing back over to the good side.

So, sometimes it makes me think, Okay, Severus ends up with this doe patronus, we don't know when exactly he got it but either way it represents Lily.

If you look at the scene with Severus and Dumbledore, when Dumbledore tells Severus that Harry has to die. Severus uses his patronus. Severus doesn't use words to say he loves Lily.

In a way I wonder, nobody seems to trust Severus, nobody likes him much either. So, for Severus does HIM saying something make it believable or true.

But, him showing the doe patronus, he is giving this proof that nobody can really say is a lie. Magic makes it real and Severus shoots his patronus off in a way that seems like he is telling Dumledore. THIS is my proof, magic doesn't lie, Look at it.

So then I wonder, okay, What does Severus think of his patronus.

Does this actually prove to him that he loved Lily. As in maybe Severus might not really understand love - this is a guy who seems to have had little love and little understanding of it. BUT, he does understand magic.

So does the doe patronus even prove to Severus that he must love Lily...

So sometimes I wonder, IF magic is this external force, as with the OLD magic that Voldemort nudged when he killed Lily and tried to kill Harry. Could it be that 'Magic' also nudged Severus by giving him this patronus, giving him the belief that he did love Lily. Even when words fail the patronus seems to offer a more reliable voice to Snape's motives/feelings.

Re: Animagi

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I like your musings. :) It's not really clear how much control you have over whom your patronus form represents vs. how much "magic" chooses that individual for you.

Re: Animagi

[fishinginthemud.livejournal.com]

I had always assumed, and I think I heard it confirmed somewhere, that the Patronus and Animagus forms were supposed to actually be the same for each person. If Harry were an Animagus, he would be a stag, James's Patronus would be a stag, and so on. That only breaks down with the revelation that the Patronus changes in the case of unrequited love, which I assume was a later revision, like so many other things.

Re: Animagi

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Ugh so it was more hasty revision in the later series. Like so much of the inconsistent rules of magic in the Potterverse.

Re: Animagi

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Actually I think you were correct. Dumbledore's patronus form was a phoenix, I'm pretty sure, and you can't be a phoenix animagus.

I think one's patronus form is the animagus/animal form of the individual you see as your patron-- the person chosen, named, or honored as a special guardian, protector, or supporter, according to Merriam-Webster.

Re: Animagi

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore's patronus form was a phoenix, I'm pretty sure, and you can't be a phoenix animagus.

Is this explicitly stated anywhere? A phoenix sounds like the perfect animagus form for someone determined to live forever, such as Voldemort.

Re: Animagi

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

You know, I thought it was stated somewhere that one's animagus form couldn't be a magical creature, but I seem to have been wrong about that. All of the aniamgi that we know about in canon transform into regular animals, though.