GOF Chapter 22: The Unexpected Task
May. 28th, 2011 05:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockToday's Transfiguration lesson is about turning an animal from one species to an animal from a different one. What's the point? Does the animal retain the neurology of its original species or acquire that of the new one? Even in the latter case, surely its memories are those of the original species? How do the poor creatures know how to do things?
Ron and Harry are having a sword-fight with fake wands. At least Minerva criticizes them. She announces the Yule Ball, where 4th years and up (as well as any younger guests some of them might invite) have a chance to socialize with the 24 guests. Because the guests are living on their respective vehicles and hardly have a chance to socialize with anyone. Unless you count Viktor ducking his fans in the library.
The champions and their dance partners traditionally open the ball. Now Harry has a task to distract him from preparing for the second task (something he hasn't thought about yet, despite his experience with the danger of the first one). Well, now he thinks of the dragon as a fun diversion, so maybe there is no contradiction.
Molly was right - at least among the 4th years and higher everybody is staying for Christmas, regardless of how they rank their prospects of getting a date to the ball. (Did Ginny think of going home before she got an invitation or was she counting on someone inviting her?) Harry suddenly notices the girls at Hogwarts, now that he needs one as a date. Until now he only noticed boys like Ron, Cedric, Viktor and Draco. Maybe he really is gay.
Well, at least Harry knows whom he'd like to ask, if given a chance. Now that he needs a date, he refuses 4 girls who ask him. Yes, they only care about him because he's famous, but so does almost everyone else, so what's the difference? Even Ron (and Draco!) originally got interested in him because he was TBWL.
The Hufflepuffs are letting Harry be. Which does not mean any of them believe he wasn't a cheat. Aw, Draco's audience has shrunk!
Rita's interview with Hagrid was mostly about Hagrid's opinion of Harry, of course. At least Hagrid acknowledges Severus' criticism about Harry's constant line-crossing wasn't entirely off. Oh, Hagrid will attend the ball. Guess with whom?
Why would Dumbles need to buy 800 barrels of mead for the ball? Buy one bottle and multiply however many times. Unless he wasn't that great at Transfiguration? But he did book the Weird Sisters, the only wizarding band in Britain (as far as we know). Wizarding cultural life is so exciting.
Filius let the students play games in class so he could chat with Harry and praise him. Is he the new Hagrid? Binns still insists on making goblin rebellions boring. That's because goblins are no longer rebellious. Now 'Moody' has them working seriously, he doesn't just impress them with Dark Arts demos. And he's teaching the entire class now, not just Harry. Severus would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry. Little does Harry know. Right, how evil of a teacher to give students until the end of term to prepare for a test. (Which happens to be on a topic that is supposed to be crucial for Ron and Harry's preferred career path, BTW.)
Wizarding cards are cooler than Muggle ones because they explode occasionally, but skrewts are beasts from hell. I follow the logic, almost.
There are only 2 kinds of books Harry ever enjoys reading - Quidditch books and Dark Arts books. Now he is with the former. Despite having a potentially dangerous task to face in some 2.5 months. Hermione is such a spoil-sport to remind him of that.
The twins want Ron's owl to send a letter, but they won't tell him to whom. Fred knows he'll attend the ball with Angelina before he even asked her. Of course for all we know they have been dating since 1st year - Harry wouldn't be able to tell.
Ron wants to attend the ball with the best-looking girl he can manage, and that does *not* mean Hermione. This is his second major personal insult to her (in addition to many minor ones), which is why she made it a life mission to force him to acknowledge his mistake and marry her. Soulmates indeed.
Neither Harry nor Ron have a date, but Harry's fate is worse, because he is a champion. Harry can't get Cho alone. After all these years he finally discovered girls' preference to have company on the way to the bathroom.
A bezoar is a key ingredient of an antidote. Harry will remember this better coming from a younger version of Severus.
Harry manages finally to ask Cho, but he is too late. Oh, Cho would so have agreed if only he had asked before Cedric did! Even when he loses Harry gets affirmation that he really is the best. See, Cedric is pretty and brainless. As opposed to Harry who is not (yet) pretty and, er, well... (let's not discuss his brains here).
Harry's one consolation is that Ron failed even worse than he did, by asking someone who more obviously outclassed him. Ron's consolation is that Neville was refused by Hermione - ie Neville ranks even lower than Ron because the girl who turned Neville down ranks much lower than the one who completely ignored Ron. Of course Ron can't imagine anyone (but Neville) asking Hermione of his own will. Not happening, right? (Notice how Neville is better socialized and braver than both trio boys - he dares to ask a girl before they do, and his choice is based on the girl's behavior rather than purely her looks. Also, he didn't give up when he was turned down. Also, Ginny is so popular that the only one who asked her to the ball was Neville, and only because Hermione refused him.)
Suddenly Ron has the realization of the century - Hermione has 2 X chromosomes! (Do wizards know about chromosomes? Never mind.) But despite her repeated insistence, he can't get that she already had a date. Ron even tries setting Ginny up with Harry - again, too late. Not that Ginny likes Neville, in any way. Not that he was her preference. He was just her ticket to the ball. As she leaves for dinner we part for ever with Ginny V1.0, the one who, among other things, keeps Hermione's confidence.
Finally Harry asks Parvati, who for plot-contrived reasons is still available. Lavender was already asked by Seamus, but Padma might go with Ron. We can all sigh with relief that this messy business was completed in a single chapter.
Ron and Harry are having a sword-fight with fake wands. At least Minerva criticizes them. She announces the Yule Ball, where 4th years and up (as well as any younger guests some of them might invite) have a chance to socialize with the 24 guests. Because the guests are living on their respective vehicles and hardly have a chance to socialize with anyone. Unless you count Viktor ducking his fans in the library.
The champions and their dance partners traditionally open the ball. Now Harry has a task to distract him from preparing for the second task (something he hasn't thought about yet, despite his experience with the danger of the first one). Well, now he thinks of the dragon as a fun diversion, so maybe there is no contradiction.
Molly was right - at least among the 4th years and higher everybody is staying for Christmas, regardless of how they rank their prospects of getting a date to the ball. (Did Ginny think of going home before she got an invitation or was she counting on someone inviting her?) Harry suddenly notices the girls at Hogwarts, now that he needs one as a date. Until now he only noticed boys like Ron, Cedric, Viktor and Draco. Maybe he really is gay.
Well, at least Harry knows whom he'd like to ask, if given a chance. Now that he needs a date, he refuses 4 girls who ask him. Yes, they only care about him because he's famous, but so does almost everyone else, so what's the difference? Even Ron (and Draco!) originally got interested in him because he was TBWL.
The Hufflepuffs are letting Harry be. Which does not mean any of them believe he wasn't a cheat. Aw, Draco's audience has shrunk!
Rita's interview with Hagrid was mostly about Hagrid's opinion of Harry, of course. At least Hagrid acknowledges Severus' criticism about Harry's constant line-crossing wasn't entirely off. Oh, Hagrid will attend the ball. Guess with whom?
Why would Dumbles need to buy 800 barrels of mead for the ball? Buy one bottle and multiply however many times. Unless he wasn't that great at Transfiguration? But he did book the Weird Sisters, the only wizarding band in Britain (as far as we know). Wizarding cultural life is so exciting.
Filius let the students play games in class so he could chat with Harry and praise him. Is he the new Hagrid? Binns still insists on making goblin rebellions boring. That's because goblins are no longer rebellious. Now 'Moody' has them working seriously, he doesn't just impress them with Dark Arts demos. And he's teaching the entire class now, not just Harry. Severus would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry. Little does Harry know. Right, how evil of a teacher to give students until the end of term to prepare for a test. (Which happens to be on a topic that is supposed to be crucial for Ron and Harry's preferred career path, BTW.)
Wizarding cards are cooler than Muggle ones because they explode occasionally, but skrewts are beasts from hell. I follow the logic, almost.
There are only 2 kinds of books Harry ever enjoys reading - Quidditch books and Dark Arts books. Now he is with the former. Despite having a potentially dangerous task to face in some 2.5 months. Hermione is such a spoil-sport to remind him of that.
The twins want Ron's owl to send a letter, but they won't tell him to whom. Fred knows he'll attend the ball with Angelina before he even asked her. Of course for all we know they have been dating since 1st year - Harry wouldn't be able to tell.
Ron wants to attend the ball with the best-looking girl he can manage, and that does *not* mean Hermione. This is his second major personal insult to her (in addition to many minor ones), which is why she made it a life mission to force him to acknowledge his mistake and marry her. Soulmates indeed.
Neither Harry nor Ron have a date, but Harry's fate is worse, because he is a champion. Harry can't get Cho alone. After all these years he finally discovered girls' preference to have company on the way to the bathroom.
A bezoar is a key ingredient of an antidote. Harry will remember this better coming from a younger version of Severus.
Harry manages finally to ask Cho, but he is too late. Oh, Cho would so have agreed if only he had asked before Cedric did! Even when he loses Harry gets affirmation that he really is the best. See, Cedric is pretty and brainless. As opposed to Harry who is not (yet) pretty and, er, well... (let's not discuss his brains here).
Harry's one consolation is that Ron failed even worse than he did, by asking someone who more obviously outclassed him. Ron's consolation is that Neville was refused by Hermione - ie Neville ranks even lower than Ron because the girl who turned Neville down ranks much lower than the one who completely ignored Ron. Of course Ron can't imagine anyone (but Neville) asking Hermione of his own will. Not happening, right? (Notice how Neville is better socialized and braver than both trio boys - he dares to ask a girl before they do, and his choice is based on the girl's behavior rather than purely her looks. Also, he didn't give up when he was turned down. Also, Ginny is so popular that the only one who asked her to the ball was Neville, and only because Hermione refused him.)
Suddenly Ron has the realization of the century - Hermione has 2 X chromosomes! (Do wizards know about chromosomes? Never mind.) But despite her repeated insistence, he can't get that she already had a date. Ron even tries setting Ginny up with Harry - again, too late. Not that Ginny likes Neville, in any way. Not that he was her preference. He was just her ticket to the ball. As she leaves for dinner we part for ever with Ginny V1.0, the one who, among other things, keeps Hermione's confidence.
Finally Harry asks Parvati, who for plot-contrived reasons is still available. Lavender was already asked by Seamus, but Padma might go with Ron. We can all sigh with relief that this messy business was completed in a single chapter.
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Re: Functional couples
Date: 2011-06-18 11:42 pm (UTC)Can you tell me how you derive this? I'm sorry if you've already gone over it, I can't see it.
The fact remains - Malfoy chose to give a known evil artifact that does evil things to an innocent girl. Are you telling me there was absolutely NOTHING else he could do with it? I'm sure a wizard like Malfoy could have found some other way to get rid of it (given as how he wasn't prepared to take his lumps for having acquiring the evil artifact in his dodgy past).
Re: Functional couples
Date: 2011-06-19 10:03 pm (UTC)Arthur and his friends were raiding homes to confiscate Dark artifacts, while Borgin and Burkes were openly advertising a cursed necklace that already claimed the lives of 19 Muggle owners. If it was legal for B&B to sell the necklace logically it was OK for some people to own it. But can you imagine Arthur raiding Lucius' home, recognizing the necklace and just letting it stay there?
Yes, as majorjune says, Lucius could have tossed the diary in a dumpster. Heck, he could have tossed it into a Muggle dumpster. Who could trace it to him from there?
Though we don't know if his plan was to plant it on Ginny. Dobby's odd warning suggested to some the original plan was to plant it on Harry and either he changed his mind the last moment or Dobby intervened. And we don't know what he expected to happen - we see he doesn't organize a search of the school (with the intent of finding the diary and blaming the owner) - he goes after Albus. Perhaps he was going to suggest the search after the next attack, or perhaps he really didn't know the attacks had anything to do with the diary. Perhaps he expected whoever received the diary to take it to an adult who would eventually bring it to Albus and the latter would know how to destroy the thing. Perhaps it was important that the diary be in the hands of an innocent who would never be suspected of knowingly handling the thing with ill-intent, so s/he can pass it on to an authority figure without blame. (Can you imagine the repercussions if say, Draco were caught with an item like that?)
Re: Functional couples
Date: 2011-06-20 08:06 am (UTC)Nice. Well, maybe the Ministry hadn't gotten around to raiding Knockturn alley yet.
Even if Borgin got away with selling cursed items - maybe he'd bribed the Ministry - that still doesn't let Malfoy off the hook.
Dobby's odd warning suggested to some the original plan was to plant it on Harry --
I'd forgotten the whole thing about Dobby warning Harry! Shucks, that cements it for me - Malfoy knew what he was doing, he planned terrible evil things, which Dobby overheard.
Perhaps he expected whoever received the diary to take it to an adult who would eventually bring it to Albus and the latter would know how to destroy the thing.
Come now. There's no way Malfoy could have arranged for Dumbledore to receive the diary? Without putting innocent children in danger, that is?
There's a lot of 'perhaps' there Oryx. You seem to be conjuring excuses out of thin air to try and save Malfoy. But the simplest (by far!) explanation is the most likely one - Lucius Malfoy was an evil man up to no good in year 2.
Re: Functional couples
Date: 2011-06-20 05:06 pm (UTC)The problem with Rowling's writing (which I only figured out after the incomprehensible mess that was DH) was that while she knows what Harry needs to know or not know in order to arrive first at mistaken conclusions and later at those she intends him to end up with, she completely fails at thinking from the mindset of any other character whose actions matter, on either side. So I ignore her intentions, I don't assume Harry's final conclusion is right (he has a tendency to jump to conclusions based on intuition rather than evidence) and I do my best to use the facts that I know assuming characters are not completely crazy.
Now after all the goalpost shifting here are my claims about Lucius and his family:
Lucius and Narcissa are the most mutually supportive couple we are shown, with the most balanced relationship.
Their parenting style as shown is about expecting their son to do well and holding him to these expectations consistently (COS), which I don't think we see the other parents do.
As for Lucius' politics - he was no longer supportive of Voldemort. Whatever he did from the summer between PS and COS and the reappearance of the Dark Mark was to promote a personal political agenda (which probably was supposed to lead to placing Lucius eventually either as Minister, or more likely, as the person the Minister turns to - instead of the old fool from Hogwarts). He plays dirty, but the evidence for murderous intent or even intending to cause lasting harm is thin on the ground. (The character in the books. Jogn Isaacs' character is of very different caliber.)
Re: Functional couples
Date: 2011-06-22 12:02 am (UTC)Same necklace was there 4 years later. Even when Arthur had 10 underlings, and went to search Malfoy Manor a couple of times.