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deathtocapslockRight Harry, your letter to Sirius (2nd ever, BTW) is so convincing. Exactly what will keep an adult who cares about you away.
So Hedwig is sulking over Harry's ingratitude, but still can't bear the thought of another owl taking her place. She should join Dobby's club.
Hermione berates Harry for lying - because she never does! And Ron can just tell her to 'drop it' and she does! Support for Hermione/Ron?
'Moody' claims Dumbledore wants the students to experience the Imperius Curse, despite its illegality. Does he really? Well, as I said in my previous spork, knowing the sensation of being under the curse can help recognize when that happens, so one knows that one should resist, and if one fails one can at least know the actions committed were the result of outside influence. So there is some logic to that. But also - this is a class of underage students. They all have the Trace on them, reporting magic around them. Surely even if they are at Hogwarts someone at the Ministry would ask something if several instances of Imperius are recorded near 8 or 10 kids for a while? In fact, next year Umbridge will mention the casting of Unforgivables on students as an example of the unsuitability of teachers hired by Albus, so it looks like the Ministry was aware of the spell casting (though we don't know when anyone at the Ministry noticed).
Imperiurized!Neville can perform actions beyond his normal level of coordination. This makes me think of safety-related uses for this curse.
Harry resists Imperius because he recognizes there was no logical reason for him to want to do what he was commanded to do. Perhaps the way to subdue Harry is to manipulate him into believing there were such reasons. Fortunately Voldemort has lost his touch in this area (but not Dumbles).
Why does Barty work so hard teaching *Harry* of all people to resist Imperius? Does his act as teacher get to him more than he cares to admit? Does his wish to win Harry's full trust for the sake of his plans cause him to overlook this little flaw? (If Harry is so unique in his talent, why not waste time attempting to teach the others while praising Harry profusely - nobody gets any better, but Harry gets flattered to his heart's content.) Or does he have a more convoluted reason of his own? I think I'll get back to this in chapter 35.
"The way he talks, you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second" - you know what, Harry? Next year your teacher will use the same argument against you.
I wonder what Barty had Draco and other children of DEs do while under Imperius. I tend to think he chose more humiliating 'tasks' for them.
Dean only partially succeeds to turn a hedgehog into a pin-cushion. As a result the 'pin-cushion' curls up in fright when approached with a pin. Looks like at least when a transfiguration doesn't work completely, the animals retain at least some of their awareness. I'm not sure if a fully transfigured hedgehog would still sense the fear and pain but be incapable of showing it or lose both or what. Both scenarios are creepy, each in its own way. I wonder what effects regular engagement in the transfiguraion of animals into inanimate objects has on one's psyche. Then I recall that Albus had once been a Transfiguration teacher.
Trelawney is happy with Ron and Harry's made up predictions. Well, most of them did turn out to be true. It's just the timing they got wrong.
There were goblin rebellions in the 18th century. Previously we heard of one in the 17th century, its headquarters were held in The Hog's Head. But in the late 20th century goblins got tamed to the point they chased one guy that cheated them, grumbled about a Dark Lord that interfered with the running of the bank and lied about the authenticity of an artifact.
Other teachers increase workload so the students might be prepared for OWLs next year. Hagrid just takes up their time to promote his hobby. And he threatens Draco with Transfiguration for that. How funny.
Ernie fanboys Cedric the way Colin fanboys Harry. But once Cedric dies Ernie can join the third tier of Harry's admirers. Meanwhile Hermione defends Cedric's virtues to Ron. Hermione/Cedric OTP?
The castle prepares for the arrival of the visiting delegations. The subjects of portraits hate having their portraits cleaned. Ack! Now I have to imagine Phineas Nigelus Black as a 3 year old who is refusing to take a bath.
Minerva insults Neville's ability in Transfiguration in front of the class. In case anyone thought only Severus did such things. (Why would Neville attempt a switching spell in front of the visitors anyway?)
Hermione infodumps about the Triwizard Tournament judges. The three school heads are 'always' on the panel because all three heads were injured in 1792. I'm not sure that I follow the logic of that. But in any case, in chapter 12 we heard the Tournament had been long abandoned except for a few attempts over the centuries. Now it seems it was run a few times in the last 200 years. Oh dear, maths? (Or is this an opening for fanfic writers to speculate about the time the Tournament was held in the 1970s or 1890s or whenever.)
Hogwarts, A History neglects to mention the hundred elves in the castle. Hermione does more than mention them, but has yet to speak to any of them. (SPEW has at least 4 members now, probably a few more.) Ron spent all his money on his Krum figurine, but still payed 2 Sickles for membership. George says the elves are happy to be enslaved. Should I trust him because he actually spoke to the elves or should I dismiss his view because he is the kind of person who thinks slipping people deadly candy is hilarious?
Sirius' reply arrives - eight weeks after Harry had sent his letter. He is in the country and well hidden, wants updates. I suppose Sirius delayed his reply until he was settled? We know his hiding place is a cave near Hogsmeade (and his diet consists of rats and whatever scraps he can steal or beg for in his dog form - I imagine him having revenge fantasies about Peter with each rat he kills). Sirius points out Hedwig isn't safe as a carrier of letters to someone who wishes to be hidden. Well, she was chosen by Hagrid, of course there's a snag.
Minerva plays drill sergeant. We haven't seen her in the role of Head of House much, have we?
The delegation from Beauxbatons arrives in a carriage drawn by a dozen elephant-sized flying horses. I note the school has a single coat of arms, with no indication of division into Houses. Can we please get away from Hogwarts and go see how things are done in Beauxbatons? The headmistress is the same size as Hagrid, but more impressive, more attractive and more fashionable. Guess whom she ends up with? (Oh, but she has the beaky nose of evil!) She speaks in a heavy French accent. But since no accent would transform the Hogwarts headmaster's name to Dumbly-dorr, I took this pronunciation to be a private nickname. Didn't the two of them seem to be on familiar terms? Maybe once in the past Dumbles tried to prove to himself he wasn't gay. Or he flew to France on some thestrals to have a chat. In contrast with the movie version, the French delegation is co-ed. They are so silly to be dressed in what appears to be fashionable school uniforms that aren't suited to the Scottish weather. Just imagine a Hogwarts delegation to Durmstrang - I doubt they'd deal with the climate any better. And the horses drink only single-malt whisky. Will Hagrid spend the entire year drunk? He has to ensure the quality of the feed, no doubt.
The Durmstrang delegation arrives by ship. I wonder if all magical waterways are connected by some equivalent of the floo network. The students look huge because of their fur cloaks. I notice the headmaster, despite his Slavic names and in contrast with the movie version speaks with no accent. Did the Karkaroffs immigrate when Igor was a little boy, or perhaps before he was born? Or did Voldemort train his imported followers in British manners and speech? Igor is tall and thin, but has cold shrewd eyes. This should mark him as a significant or powerful evil character. Is he really? Well, he did manage to survive on the run from Voldie for over a year, so maybe. Oh, Viktor is here!
So if a Hogwarts delegation had gone to visit one of the other schools, how would they travel? Flying in thestral-drawn carriage? Engine and a carriage or two of the Hogwarts Express? Any other ideas?
So Hedwig is sulking over Harry's ingratitude, but still can't bear the thought of another owl taking her place. She should join Dobby's club.
Hermione berates Harry for lying - because she never does! And Ron can just tell her to 'drop it' and she does! Support for Hermione/Ron?
'Moody' claims Dumbledore wants the students to experience the Imperius Curse, despite its illegality. Does he really? Well, as I said in my previous spork, knowing the sensation of being under the curse can help recognize when that happens, so one knows that one should resist, and if one fails one can at least know the actions committed were the result of outside influence. So there is some logic to that. But also - this is a class of underage students. They all have the Trace on them, reporting magic around them. Surely even if they are at Hogwarts someone at the Ministry would ask something if several instances of Imperius are recorded near 8 or 10 kids for a while? In fact, next year Umbridge will mention the casting of Unforgivables on students as an example of the unsuitability of teachers hired by Albus, so it looks like the Ministry was aware of the spell casting (though we don't know when anyone at the Ministry noticed).
Imperiurized!Neville can perform actions beyond his normal level of coordination. This makes me think of safety-related uses for this curse.
Harry resists Imperius because he recognizes there was no logical reason for him to want to do what he was commanded to do. Perhaps the way to subdue Harry is to manipulate him into believing there were such reasons. Fortunately Voldemort has lost his touch in this area (but not Dumbles).
Why does Barty work so hard teaching *Harry* of all people to resist Imperius? Does his act as teacher get to him more than he cares to admit? Does his wish to win Harry's full trust for the sake of his plans cause him to overlook this little flaw? (If Harry is so unique in his talent, why not waste time attempting to teach the others while praising Harry profusely - nobody gets any better, but Harry gets flattered to his heart's content.) Or does he have a more convoluted reason of his own? I think I'll get back to this in chapter 35.
"The way he talks, you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second" - you know what, Harry? Next year your teacher will use the same argument against you.
I wonder what Barty had Draco and other children of DEs do while under Imperius. I tend to think he chose more humiliating 'tasks' for them.
Dean only partially succeeds to turn a hedgehog into a pin-cushion. As a result the 'pin-cushion' curls up in fright when approached with a pin. Looks like at least when a transfiguration doesn't work completely, the animals retain at least some of their awareness. I'm not sure if a fully transfigured hedgehog would still sense the fear and pain but be incapable of showing it or lose both or what. Both scenarios are creepy, each in its own way. I wonder what effects regular engagement in the transfiguraion of animals into inanimate objects has on one's psyche. Then I recall that Albus had once been a Transfiguration teacher.
Trelawney is happy with Ron and Harry's made up predictions. Well, most of them did turn out to be true. It's just the timing they got wrong.
There were goblin rebellions in the 18th century. Previously we heard of one in the 17th century, its headquarters were held in The Hog's Head. But in the late 20th century goblins got tamed to the point they chased one guy that cheated them, grumbled about a Dark Lord that interfered with the running of the bank and lied about the authenticity of an artifact.
Other teachers increase workload so the students might be prepared for OWLs next year. Hagrid just takes up their time to promote his hobby. And he threatens Draco with Transfiguration for that. How funny.
Ernie fanboys Cedric the way Colin fanboys Harry. But once Cedric dies Ernie can join the third tier of Harry's admirers. Meanwhile Hermione defends Cedric's virtues to Ron. Hermione/Cedric OTP?
The castle prepares for the arrival of the visiting delegations. The subjects of portraits hate having their portraits cleaned. Ack! Now I have to imagine Phineas Nigelus Black as a 3 year old who is refusing to take a bath.
Minerva insults Neville's ability in Transfiguration in front of the class. In case anyone thought only Severus did such things. (Why would Neville attempt a switching spell in front of the visitors anyway?)
Hermione infodumps about the Triwizard Tournament judges. The three school heads are 'always' on the panel because all three heads were injured in 1792. I'm not sure that I follow the logic of that. But in any case, in chapter 12 we heard the Tournament had been long abandoned except for a few attempts over the centuries. Now it seems it was run a few times in the last 200 years. Oh dear, maths? (Or is this an opening for fanfic writers to speculate about the time the Tournament was held in the 1970s or 1890s or whenever.)
Hogwarts, A History neglects to mention the hundred elves in the castle. Hermione does more than mention them, but has yet to speak to any of them. (SPEW has at least 4 members now, probably a few more.) Ron spent all his money on his Krum figurine, but still payed 2 Sickles for membership. George says the elves are happy to be enslaved. Should I trust him because he actually spoke to the elves or should I dismiss his view because he is the kind of person who thinks slipping people deadly candy is hilarious?
Sirius' reply arrives - eight weeks after Harry had sent his letter. He is in the country and well hidden, wants updates. I suppose Sirius delayed his reply until he was settled? We know his hiding place is a cave near Hogsmeade (and his diet consists of rats and whatever scraps he can steal or beg for in his dog form - I imagine him having revenge fantasies about Peter with each rat he kills). Sirius points out Hedwig isn't safe as a carrier of letters to someone who wishes to be hidden. Well, she was chosen by Hagrid, of course there's a snag.
Minerva plays drill sergeant. We haven't seen her in the role of Head of House much, have we?
The delegation from Beauxbatons arrives in a carriage drawn by a dozen elephant-sized flying horses. I note the school has a single coat of arms, with no indication of division into Houses. Can we please get away from Hogwarts and go see how things are done in Beauxbatons? The headmistress is the same size as Hagrid, but more impressive, more attractive and more fashionable. Guess whom she ends up with? (Oh, but she has the beaky nose of evil!) She speaks in a heavy French accent. But since no accent would transform the Hogwarts headmaster's name to Dumbly-dorr, I took this pronunciation to be a private nickname. Didn't the two of them seem to be on familiar terms? Maybe once in the past Dumbles tried to prove to himself he wasn't gay. Or he flew to France on some thestrals to have a chat. In contrast with the movie version, the French delegation is co-ed. They are so silly to be dressed in what appears to be fashionable school uniforms that aren't suited to the Scottish weather. Just imagine a Hogwarts delegation to Durmstrang - I doubt they'd deal with the climate any better. And the horses drink only single-malt whisky. Will Hagrid spend the entire year drunk? He has to ensure the quality of the feed, no doubt.
The Durmstrang delegation arrives by ship. I wonder if all magical waterways are connected by some equivalent of the floo network. The students look huge because of their fur cloaks. I notice the headmaster, despite his Slavic names and in contrast with the movie version speaks with no accent. Did the Karkaroffs immigrate when Igor was a little boy, or perhaps before he was born? Or did Voldemort train his imported followers in British manners and speech? Igor is tall and thin, but has cold shrewd eyes. This should mark him as a significant or powerful evil character. Is he really? Well, he did manage to survive on the run from Voldie for over a year, so maybe. Oh, Viktor is here!
So if a Hogwarts delegation had gone to visit one of the other schools, how would they travel? Flying in thestral-drawn carriage? Engine and a carriage or two of the Hogwarts Express? Any other ideas?
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Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 04:00 am (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 06:20 am (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 03:57 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 08:35 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 09:57 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 10:11 am (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 12:31 pm (UTC)One wonders where JKR picked up such archaic ideas- as much as it annoys me when Austen or Dickens is classist, I can at least understand that they are reflecting the views of their culture. Rowling has no such excuse, and it's especially ironic considering the "single mom on welfare" myth that she has allowed to propagate. I don't mean this as a personal attack or anything, but these views must come from somewhere.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 03:33 pm (UTC)19th Century Mores (http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/28732.html#cutid1) by
Practically Royal: Blood Prejudice’s Parallels to Classism (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snapedom/267674.html) by
Harry Potter’s Schooldays (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snapedom/274940.html) by
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 03:43 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 05:14 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 05:55 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 04:22 pm (UTC)I originally read the whole series back-to-back in 2007, but back around 2000/2001 I was working in an office where two of my coworkers were Harry Potter fanatics. One professed to be a born-again Christian whose church didn't even like Halloween and instead offered a "Christian Halloween" for its members' children instead, so I thought it odd that she allowed her daughter to read Harry Potter and was such a fan herself.
Anyway, she and my supervisor both read GoF at the same time when it came out, and you couldn't miss their daily mutual fan-gushing fests.
And I remember the day they talked about a character named Cedric dying. To me their reaction was more of surprise than being upset over a character dying; it was more along the lines of "Can you believe Rowling killed off Cedric?"
So even these pair of gushing fans didn't seem too emotionally involved in Cedric's death.
And yes, when I finally got around to reading the books myself, I really didn't feel much emotion over Cedric's death either.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 05:05 pm (UTC)And yeah... I don't know if any of the deaths in Harry Potter affected me beyond being surprised that Rowling killed somebody off, and that was when I was still a fan. Dumbledore especially shocked me, but although it made me sad it still wasn't anything compared to say, Beth March's death in Little Women. Even Snape's death mostly just made me annoyed that he was being killed off just when I really started to like him, and by the time I had finished DH I was just annoyed that JKR was killing so many people that their deaths didn't even mean anything anymore. (Lupin and Tonks, anyone?) Granted, I still liked the book at the time, but even as a fan it didn't touch me emotionally like I think it ought to have.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 09:24 pm (UTC)This was one of those non-affiliated, ultra-conservative, Bible-thumping sects.
Our office had a Halloween party every year; employees were encouraged to dress up that day, and prizes were given, one of which was for the best department, so there was an incentive for each department to decide on a theme and everyone in that department to dress in a costume related to that theme.
This thumper gal refused to wear a costume, because she said her church banned Halloween. But she got herself on the party planning committee and was quite enthusiastic in planning both the food and the decorations, which I thought was rather hypocritical.
Anyway, a "Christian Halloween" at churches like this gal belonged to is where the church condemns Halloween because they say it's something that is satanic, but they concede that banning all celebration will make the little kiddies sad, so they hold a party at the church where the kids are allowed to wear costumes portraying Biblical characters, and then they play games, eat party food, the kids are given candy and are told Bible stories.
So in their convoluted mindthink, a little girl dressed as a princess going door-to-door on the night of October 31 to get candy is not only bad, it is evil and satanic. That same little girl dressed as Sarah from the Old Testament and going to a party at their church on the night of October 31 to get candy is not only a-ok, it is praising Jesus.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 09:45 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 11:37 pm (UTC)I'd go as Jezebel, The Whore of Babylon, or a female version of Beezlebub myself...because according to them, as long as you dress as a character from the Bible it's okay.
Didn't say anything about only non-evil characters....
;-)
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 11:59 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-21 07:40 pm (UTC)...yeah, I kind of want to crash one of these parties now.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 07:34 pm (UTC)His character seems to be invented for one book, we meet him in GOF and he dies in GOF.
I don't remember him anywhere before that. I think if the reader was able to have more connection to the character it might have been easier to make us feel more for him; or at least me personally.
It's not much different than Quirrell or Charity Burbage - hell, the mugglestudies teacher who got offed at the beginning of DH, it's hard to connect with a character who you hardly have an undersatnding of. For all I know she could be a horribly mean lady. Look at Qurrell, he was a mugglestudies teacher and not many fans are falling over themselves to feel sorry for him.
Though with Cedric we do get more about him in story but it's kind of a flat image. We get emotions from a character like Cho Chan later but she to, for me at least, those characters tend ot be hard to connect with.
Sometimes I wonder if it's actually the character of Harry that causes this.
We ride along with Harry through this story but sometimes he seems very detached or disconnected to what goes on around him. It's like his disconnection infects us the reader and thus it feels equally as hard to really have a feel for everyone else except those he (Harry) really does pay attention to; like Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, etc.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 10:32 pm (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-13 11:05 pm (UTC)hum, I can't even remember it, I guess I could blame Quidditch being involved. But really I can't even remember there being some kinda protest on the outcome of a quidditch match; thats how much I care about Quiddich.
How many times does Cedric appear in POA? Is it just that one Quidditch scene or is their more?
I'm just trying to figure out how developed a character he was in that book or how I missed him. I have no memory of it (not saying it's not there) It's just that it didn't leave any impression on me to remember him as a character in POA.
Which sort of plays into what my post was about.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 12:11 am (UTC)Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 03:30 pm (UTC)Is that the only place? I was more wondering if it was one place or mutiple places Cedric was in the POA.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 03:46 pm (UTC)In terms of characterization. In chapter 9 we get:
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-14 10:44 pm (UTC)How come I like that first comeback from fred 'He's only silent because he's to thick to string two words together - If I didn't know better I'd think that was Snape talking.
So why do all the kids hate Snape? Their just as snarky as he is sometimes.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-15 03:52 pm (UTC)Yes, but Severus snarks at *them*. That's the difference.
Re: Points in this chapter that become more significant
Date: 2011-04-21 07:48 pm (UTC)