HBP Chapter Sixteen
Jun. 30th, 2006 11:32 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sistermagpie.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslock*Ron reveals what an Unbreakable Vow is, though as far as I’ve seen this is still a big debate in fandom. Like it’s got to be Dark Magic because Slytherins do it so it’s a sign of how they don’t really love each other, but the Twins almost had Ron do one, and how could little kids perform something like that and so forth etc. The main thing is: are we to believe Ron that you die if you break a UV? I’m willing to go with him on this. After all, what’s the point of it if it’s not that?
*You know, since HBP I’ve seen a number of references in fandom to Harry’s wicked sense of humor, always with references to sprouts and Fred’s left buttock and err…those lines aren’t even jokes.
*The Twins come in and play a practical joke by making Ron slice his thumb open on a knife. Um…ha ha?
*Ginny’s told the Twins about Lavender, and Ron’s not displeased. As, frankly, I don’t think Ginny was displeased to have them know about her own popularity, especially when given a chance to look good and be a feminist at the same time.
*Ron throws a knife at the Twins—I can’t help but think this scene is more interesting knowing that Sectumsempra’s coming up.
*If you asked fandom five years ago which family was most likely to throw knives at each other at Christmas, do you think they’d have said the Weasleys?
*Fred asks if Percy is showing his ugly face at Christmas. I’m going to give Fred the benefit of the doubt here and say he’s covering up his true desire for Percy to come home and feeling guilty for how badly he always treated him. Benefit of the doubt? Positive spin? Delusions? You decide.
*Naturally Fred is the one to make jokes about how difficult life is for Muggles and Squibs, since he likes to engage in a little Muggle-baiting now and then.
*"If you want people to help you, you shouldn’t throw knives at them, just a hint," says George. I really hope that’s foreshadowing for Harry in the next book.
*George gets a line about some pretty girl he’s impressing with Magic. JKR is trying really hard to make Fred and George not seem like Twins out of a David Cronenberg film, with limited success.
*Ron warns Harry that everyone will say Snape isn’t really trying to help Draco, he’s just pretending to help him. Ron gets a lot smarter when Hermione isn’t around, I notice.
*Harry sort of proves my point by imagining what Hermione would have said in this situation. She’d say exactly what Ron said, only in a much more obnoxious way that would have got Harry’s back up and probably made him not tell DD at all.
*Ron almost gets himself in trouble by sounding like he doesn’t agree with Harry 100%—yipes! He backs off from that one fast.
*I really hope, though, that Harry’s "Nobody’s that good of an actor" is again laying out another one of those Jane Austen twists. After all, Snape isn’t lying about really wanting to help Malfoy. Just, imo, not by helping him kill Dumbledore and be a DE. Snape’s sincere concern seems more like proof he’s DDM to me.
*Harry hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Hermione about what he overheard with Snape and Malfoy which is…well, pretty unbelievable nice of the author to address it with one of those passages where you feel like she just grabbed your arm and led you where she wanted you.
*Harry’s been telling Ron he told him so about Draco over and over—again, lucky this isn’t Hermione or she would have started sabotaging him somehow in response.
*Still, shouldn’t Ron and Hermione know he’s right? It’s not like Harry’s working on nothing here. He thinks Malfoy’s up to something because he’s seen and heard Malfoy is up to something.
*Ginny has over-decorated the sitting room, which is a sign of the Weasleys inner good-breeding and something Maya, if not JKR, will be able to make endearing to me.
*As it wouldn’t be a Weasley Christmas without a little cruelty, there’s a sentient creature petrified and humiliated sitting at the top of their tree. How apt.
*Fleur and Mrs. Weasley have a passive-aggressive fight over the radio. On one hand I can sympathize with Molly’s irritation at somebody talking during her program. Otoh, this is what happens when you insist that everyone has to listen to something just because you like it.
*Ron’s watching Bill and Fleur hoping to pick up tips. Awww.
*I hear that in the HBP movie Remus will be played by an actual scarecrow.
*So to review, nobody in the room enjoys the radio programme, but they all pretend to because they love Molly. Except Fleur, who dislikes Molly and knows Molly dislikes her. Nothing shocking there.
*Mr. Weasley’s office hasn’t caught a single DE. There’s a shock. I hope he’s at least gotten some nice stuff for keeping his friends from being bothered with investigations.
*Really the Ministry should just let Harry say who belongs in jail and not. Then Stan would be free and Narcissa would be in jail—it’s a foolproof system of justice!
*So does Mr. Weasley know about the secret place under the Malfoy’s floor? I ask because someone recently said Harry makes a mistake by not telling Arthur to look there, after Ron forgot to tell him about it in CoS. I’ve always assumed Ron did tell Arthur is CoS. But then, CoS is the book where Lucius refused to buy Draco the Hand of Glory we were later to assume he had so…
*Lupin turns to listen as Harry tells Arthur about Snape and the UV. I kind of love that Lupin does that for some reason.
*Seriously, what is going on with Lupin here? He’s staring into the flames thinking about okay maybe Tonks but maybe something more interesting about his spying. But he gets interested when he hears about this storyline, and then jumps in with “It’s not our business! We follow Dumbledore!” like he’s trying to convince himself. *Hopes for interesting Lupin story in Book VII.*
*Lupin neither likes nor dislikes Snape. How do people not think this guy is evil? Everyone must pick sides on this sort of thing and declare them! How can he both be friends with James and Sirius and side with them against Snape but also respect and appreciate the man’s making him Wolfsbane? You can’t be fair about someone you dislike or who has been nasty to you or the world will crumble!
*Harry tries valiantly to show Remus the proper way to spin everything Snape does into something bad, but gets nowhere. Werewolves. What are you going to do?
*Remus also refers to Draco by his first name. Can’t help but like to follow Remus’ personal code of names, which seem significant and different from other peoples.’
*Fleur starts to say something bad about the radio concert, which is either evil or funny depending on how you feel about Fleur.
*Lupin apologizes for not being able to write Harry (like he did for all those years before—oh wait, he never did), having been forced into a horrible life with the man who traumatized him as a child on Dumbledore’s orders. For Lupin this is like smashing everything in the room and Crucio-ing somebody in anger.
*Hearing he sounds bitter, Lupin gives all the reasons it’s a good thing he’s doing. I’m beginning to understand the appeal of Snupin. I think both of them feel surrounded by idiots a lot, just for opposite reasons. It’s the HMS Spies Like Us.
*How come the werewolves like Voldemort? Harry wants to know. Why do I sadly think that Harry assumes they’ve got reason to like his guys?
*You haven’t heard of Greyback? asks Lupin, gently chastising Harry for not remembering the parts of chapter six he didn’t embellish himself.
*Harry’s tunnel vision really strikes again, doesn’t it? Here he’s obsessed with finding out what Malfoy’s up to and never thinks to check out the name he dropped?
*Greyback’s plan is to bite kids young and raise them away from wizards. Do most wizard parents send their kids away when they’ve been bitten?
*Naturally Lupin had felt pity for the werewolf that bit him, unable to help seeing other points of view. He admits his own brand of reasoned argument doesn’t make much headway amongst Greyback’s hoards. I hear ya, Remus!
*Lupin laughingly remembers James referring to his werewolfism as his “furry little problem” in company, so people thought he owned a badly behaved rabbit. I know the point here is that James didn’t shun Remus because of his problem. Unfortunately having read OotP I just get this impression of James loving to talk about Remus’ being a werewolf in company because of the risk/secret factor, which I’m sure isn’t the intention.
*Lupin asks Harry if "The Half-Blood Prince" is a title he’s thinking of adopting—nice little nod to the real person who thought to adopt the title, Snape.
*Score one for Harry—Levicorpus was indeed invented when he was at school. I’m surprised it’s not studied in History of Magic, given Wizarding Culture. It’s like the wizard equivalent of the invention of penicillin or something.
*Harry reveals he sort of wanted the Prince to be Remus, Sirius (Who?) or James because he’s helped him out in his classes. Which is a little weird. It’s not like the Prince as a person has offered to help Harry with his homework. The help was purely accidental on his part.
*Harry’s never checked how old the book is. *smacks Harry in the back of his thick head*
*Harry goes to sleep thinking of the cries of bitten children. This book is really heavy on the werewolf stuff. Is it just for Greyback’s appearance and Remus/Tonks? Because it sounds like a set up for some good werewolf stuff in Book VII.
*Lavender blows it with Ron by giving him a pimp necklace that says "My Sweetheart." Unlike Hermione’s more appropriate Ron presents, like homework calendars. At least the necklace doesn’t talk, Ron!
*It’s sad that given what I’ve seen of the love stuff in this book, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lavender asked Hermione what Ron would like and she picked that.
*Ron reveals he and Lavender don’t talk much. Phew! That’s simple enough. You can have either Hermione or someone you can’t talk to at all even though from what we’ve seen of Lavender and Ron they probably could talk just fine. This is much simpler.
*Luckily the hideousness of Ron’s necklace is immediately outdone by the ridiculousness of Harry’s new sweater with a Snitch on the front.
*Yay Kreacher with the maggots!!
*Everyone’s wearing sweaters except Fleur upon whom Mrs. Weasley didn’t want to "waste one" which is probably best for everyone.
*Mrs. Weasley is also wearing ugly clothes, given to her by Fred and George. I wonder if the tacky gene will get passed on to Harry and Ginny’s children.
*Fred and George are so trying to take Percy’s place with Molly. And I love the way they can sort of turn into Percy incrementally without anyone noticing, because they make such a show of not being him.
*Ginny takes a maggot out of Harry’s hair and he shivers. I’ll point out here that Harry’s now been living at home with the girl he’s supposedly got the hots for, and not only doesn’t he try to chat her up (too noble? Yeah, right) but doesn’t notice her until the plot allows for it.
*Not that I’m complaining. I’m quite grateful for the H/G reprieve while we deal with the storylines that might go somewhere.
*Mrs. Weasley looks at Remus, Harry thinks, as if it’s his fault she’s getting Fleur instead of Tonks in the family. Is it his fault? I mean, is Harry just completely off-base here in mistaking Molly’s push for R/T for B/T, or did Molly entertain the idea at some point before getting involved in R/T?
*Harry asks Remus about Tonks’ Patronus and he takes his time chewing. I have to admit, reading this chapter for the second time really makes you feel for Remus. It’s like having this one really interesting character with a lot going on camouflaged by the usual Weasley white noise.
*Percy shows no interest in greeting anybody except Molly. Good for you, Percy!
*Scrimgeour and Harry, garden, blah blah, Harry won’t help Ministry blah…mascot, scapegoat, gnome…
*Harry thinks Scrimgeour’s doing just what Crouch did. Harry’s very good at noticing when people he doesn’t like do that. Not so much his own group.
*Harry holds up his fist with the scarred words on it. Please let there be a similar scene with Marietta in the next book.
*Harry acts the badass about how Scrimgeour should leave Dumbledore alone. Too bad at the end of this year Scrimgeour will still be in power while Dumbledore takes a header off a Tower, huh?
*Harry perfectly ends the scene about being his own man by declaring himself Dumbledore’s man. After all, Dumbledore’s never manipulated him. Bwahahaha!
*I guess I’ll have to wait until the next chapter to be reminded about the parsnips thrown at Percy. Joy.
*This is stellar chapter for Ginny. She gets one line and it’s not an insult! No wonder Harry barely notices her.
Idiot World
So Arthur’s team can’t catch a single DE even though we know who most of the DEs are, Harry’s overheard a little bit of a current plot and he knows about at least one secret chamber in the Malfoy house. Are we sure Stan’s not a DE? Because with his ability to drive straight I think he could take over this world pretty quickly.
Misdirected Answering
Quick Lupin, while the radio’s playing, give us some news from your interesting storyline! Please!
Final score: 2
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 04:43 pm (UTC)Stealing children to raise them in a completely different society. What a shocking idea. I wonder where on earth he got it?
All I ever want from Jo in the rest of my lifetime is for her to do something in Book 7 to make Harry's declaration that he's Dumbledore's Man come through as the pathetic unthinking tribalism it is instead of some kind of Great and Noble Statement of the Inherent Goodness of Loyalty.**
** to the right people, of course. Snape gets no props if he dies for his friends the Malfoys.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 05:04 pm (UTC)Yes. 'tis the season'
Mr. Weasley’s office hasn’t caught a single DE. There’s a shock. I hope he’s at least gotten some nice stuff for keeping his friends from being bothered with investigations.
Hmph, and most people still keep insisting the Weasely's are outsiders while the Malfoys are influential.
Lupin laughingly remembers James referring to his werewolfism as his “furry little problem” in company, so people thought he owned a badly behaved rabbit. I know the point here is that James didn’t shun Remus because of his problem. Unfortunately having read OotP I just get this impression of James loving to talk about Remus’ being a werewolf in company because of the risk/secret factor, which I’m sure isn’t the intention.
There is nothing like potentially embarrassing or endangering a friend to show you care.
Ginny takes a maggot out of Harry’s hair and he shivers. I’ll point out here that Harry’s now been living at home with the girl he’s supposedly got the hots for, and not only doesn’t he try to chat her up (too noble? Yeah, right) but doesn’t notice her until the plot allows for it.
Nothing says romance like maggots in the hair.
This is stellar chapter for Ginny. She gets one line and it’s not an insult! No wonder Harry barely notices her.
Well, she could get at least one sentence or paragraph in the last book. If she did, that would be a record.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 08:07 am (UTC)This has always been my problem with R/S. How much of a fuckwit do you have to be to sleep with someone after they almost made a killer out of you just to get back at the class nerd?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 05:51 pm (UTC)They're about on line with "Phlegm" for cleverness, though, meaning they must be wildly and outrageously humorous.
*Ron’s watching Bill and Fleur hoping to pick up tips. Awww.
And just when you thought the Weasleys were beyond redemption. :)
*So does Mr. Weasley know about the secret place under the Malfoy’s floor? I ask because someone recently said Harry makes a mistake by not telling Arthur to look there, after Ron forgot to tell him about it in CoS. I’ve always assumed Ron did tell Arthur is CoS. But then, CoS is the book where Lucius refused to buy Draco the Hand of Glory we were later to assume he had so...
Considering how inept the Ministry generally is, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't even the Malfoys' home that they searched, but another lone, imposing manor 500 miles off. Possibly belonging to fanon!Snape.
*Seriously, what is going on with Lupin here? He’s staring into the flames thinking about okay maybe Tonks but maybe something more interesting about his spying. But he gets interested when he hears about this storyline, and then jumps in with “It’s not our business! We follow Dumbledore!” like he’s trying to convince himself. *Hopes for interesting Lupin story in Book VII.*
There was this really interesting theory posted a while ago about Lupin's actually being Peter in disguise this whole book. I can link you to it if you want. ^^
*Fleur starts to say something bad about the radio concert, which is either evil or funny depending on how you feel about Fleur.
My vote's for "ten times funnier than Phlegm".
*How come the werewolves like Voldemort? Harry wants to know. Why do I sadly think that Harry assumes they’ve got reason to like his guys?
Because they've got Hagrid on their side, meaning that Fenrir would never go hungry again?
*Ron reveals he and Lavender don’t talk much. Phew! That’s simple enough. You can have either Hermione or someone you can’t talk to at all even though from what we’ve seen of Lavender and Ron they probably could talk just fine. This is much simpler.
For some reason, JKR thought that we'd all start off with the biased assumption that Lavender was a complete dipshit and thus not worthy of Ron's affection, probably because she giggles a lot and likes Divnation. And so the entire book, she did a really unimpressive job with making Lavender actually look bad while making both Harry and Ron react to her as if she was. It was so strange.
*Everyone’s wearing sweaters except Fleur upon whom Mrs. Weasley didn’t want to "waste one" which is probably best for everyone.
Well, except that Fleur is probably the only person in the entire series who could get one of those sweaters to actually look like a sweater.
*Ginny takes a maggot out of Harry’s hair and he shivers. I’ll point out here that Harry’s now been living at home with the girl he’s supposedly got the hots for, and not only doesn’t he try to chat her up (too noble? Yeah, right) but doesn’t notice her until the plot allows for it.
But this moment is so significant! Clearly, it's meant to be symbolic of Harry and Ginny’s Great and Undying Passion, as she reacts to him much like a smitten female gorilla would towards her mate.
But you know, on a serious note, you're right. It's one of the few things that makes me think the LP theory might have some merit. Especially since THIS would have been the appropriate time for Rowling to throw in a lot of H/G without really disrupting the plot. Instead she sort of did the reverse.
*Harry holds up his fist with the scarred words on it. Please let there be a similar scene with Marietta in the next book.
*crosses fingers*
*Harry perfectly ends the scene about being his own man by declaring himself Dumbledore’s man. After all, Dumbledore’s never manipulated him. Bwahahaha!
I'm with
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 07:22 pm (UTC)I'd be interested in reading that. It could bring up interesting questions about & connections between the two remaining Marauders – on opposing sides of the game, yet each is an outcast from the side he's chosen.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-01 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 03:54 am (UTC)http://wkad-staff.livejournal.com/955.html#cutid1
Same essay, different discussion. Connected to the upcomming book;
'Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?' Zossima Press November, 2006.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 06:15 pm (UTC)It must be his respect for Dean! Or else his low self-esteem is causing him to doubt Ginny could want him!
LOL, I love the comparison with Fleur, who's 'affected' for being revolted by maggots at a dinner table, whereas Ginny just cheerfully accepts it with no explanation. I've gotta say, personally, while I don't think of myself as 'girly', the idea of someone sitting down for a meal with maggots in their hair is pretty gross, and that Fleur's reaction is pretty restrained.
I'd probably think of Harry as the intense weird guy who maybe didn't clean himself properly after going to the toilet and poked through animal remains in the garden, after that.
George gets a line about some pretty girl he’s impressing with Magic. JKR is trying really hard to make Fred and George not seem like Twins out of a Cronenberg film, with limited success.
LOL. I suppose this is a sign of how unprejudiced the Twins are - even Muggle can be pretty! - but I took it more as 'Ew. The twins are macking on a chick who's automatically helpless to resist whatever means they might use to get their end away. I sure trust them not to abuse this, slip her a love potion and take turns with her!'
The Twins come in and play a practical joke by making Ron slice his thumb open on a knife. Um…ha ha?
I like how they also remark how unfunny Ron is. This from the guys who laugh uproariously at Harry's jokes? The adult males who invented U Know Poo? Yeah, you're regular Oscar Wildes.
I also must be pathetically over-analytical as usual and note that Ron and Harry are peeling sprouts for Mrs. Weasley, as opposed to say, for their own dinner. How big of them.
So nobody in the room enjoys the radio programme, but they all pretend to because they love Molly.
Gotta love how she's all 'Remember dancing to this, Arthur?' and he's all 'Nah'. Because girls are romantic and care about relationships, whereas guys just tolerate this unfortunate womanly characteristic so they can get some. Gotta keep the missus sweet.
Lupin asks Harry if "The Half-Blood Prince" is a title he’s thinking of adopting—nice little nod to the real person who thought to adopt the title, Snape.
I kinda like this line too, just because I saw it as sort of subtly snarking at Harry's expense. (Love his naturally indignant reaction of blah blah no, I'm a modest underdog! Of course in the next few chapters, he'll have learnt to shoulder the acclamation bravely and be referring to himself by it to Slughorn.)
Fleur and Mrs. Weasley have a passive-aggressive fight over the radio.
The volume-rising would really get on my nerves. Just ask people to be quiet. Or listen to it in your room or on headphones. Which doubtlessly exist since JKR just gacks Muggle stuff and renames it.
Anyway, it's weird that Fleur is described as constantly talking - surely she's talking to someone? Is Bill ZOMG betraying his family and laughing along, or is he frowningly trying to reprimand her and she's just too dim to get it?
Luckily the hideousness of Ron’s necklace is immediately outdone by the ridiculousness of Harry’s new sweater with a Snitch on the front.
I love how Harry's so thrilled at the tackiness of Lavender (pot, meet the paper-chain queen) and how unclassy it all is (you're in the Weasley house, man! It's a given, no?), immediately pinpointing that the Twins will leap at this vulnerability and that Ron's pretty much helpless to defend himself against them or him ('What are you going to do, stutter at me?' just strikes me as especially mean-spirited, somehow.)
Anyway, once more see how ridiculous even slightly feminine things are - a real boy would rather have maggots than jewellery! (Yeah, a real boy of four.)
This naturally instantly shuts Ron up. Shame he doesn't say that he'd rather have a girlfriend than be getting his most heartfelt gifts from a house-elf.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 08:06 pm (UTC)Yeah, plus girls are horribly vulgar and lower-class in their tastes. Mustn't forget that Arthur married beneath him.
Another cute moment is when he apologizes to Harry for the loud music. The obvious, not to mention dignified, tactic would be to ask Molly to turn it down, or say nothing. This way he's pretty much apologizing for his wife's bad manners, and perhaps her lousy taste as well, behind her back.
Shame he doesn't say that he'd rather have a girlfriend than be getting his most heartfelt gifts from a house-elf.
FTW!
-L
no subject
Date: 2006-07-01 01:37 pm (UTC)Maggots are horrible, and the flies they grow up to be are worse. Besides, if one sees maggots anywhere, it's usually because something's rotting, so it's quite natural to be revolted by them.
Ginny probably pokes dead things in the garden too. She and Harry are clearly MFEO *woe*
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 06:42 pm (UTC)Of course not. Bad taste can't ever touch the Chosen One. I mean, Molly might have her own son wear robes that belonged to his great-aunt (or whatever) but she must choose Harry's so that they are classy (not too much, though, or they'll make him look like a vicar).
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 07:35 pm (UTC)Mrs. Weasley clapping to a radio is so pathetic I'd have laughed openly.
But I like Fleur doing impressions, like all evil people. ((Except Ginny! Her's are BADASS!))
I want a Draco/Fleur fic even more than I did right after I'd seen GoF ((which is bizarre, because they don't share a single scene longer than .5 seconds, and yet! Blondes! Being snotty!
The movieverse just had Hogwarts students randomly splitting off and supporting the dirty foriegn schools which I liked, but the Slytherin trio were rooting for Krum, so I was denied my rare het ship.))
Harry’s been telling Ron he told him so about Draco over and over—again, lucky this isn’t Hermione or she would have started sabotaging him somehow in response.
Harry's always such a gracious 'winner'. Anyway, it's thrilling that he was proved correct that someone's plotting a murder!
Yay Kreacher with the maggots!!
He's great. <3
'I didn't think to buy anything for Kreacher - do people normally give presents to their house-elves?' made me laugh. Harry's so close to toppling that Ministry statue.
It's kind of arrogant for the Twins to give their own products as presents, too, but I guess maybe they're hoping for free advertising out of it. Did we hear what the Trio got each other? Also note no-one gives Ginny anything, or recieves anything from her. (She has already given Harry the most important gift of all, however. Her heart.)
Scrimgeour and Harry, garden, blah blah, Harry won’t help Ministry blah…mascot, scapegoat, gnome…
Scrimgy (it's shorter) is so taking the wrong tack here. All this 'We could help you be an Auror!' (yeah, that queue started two books ago) and 'Think of the little people!' stuff is designed not to appeal to Harry (as he makes clear later, when he's outraged that Scrimgeour's concern as Minister over thousands of people isn't Harry's personal well-being and safety. If only you'd said that all those people could die under your watch if it made Harry smile, Rufus!)
Also incredibly corny is: well, this whole conversation, but specifically the whole Oooh, Harry turned his back on the MINISTER; and the part where Scrimgy can't hide his anger 'as well as' Harry - because Harry is the guy that comes up when emotional control is mentioned.
As well as Harry's 'ZOMG, if you're seen in the company of a group or person, clearly you condone everything they've ever done!' (As Ginny will later prove! Doesn't speak too well for Dumbledore and his close friend Fake!Moody the DE, of course - especially given his later ranting on how he won't allow kids to be manhandled on his watch. Just by your mates, then, Albus?)
You know, since HBP I’ve seen a number of references in fandom to Harry’s wicked sense of humor, always with references to sprouts and Fred’s left buttock and err…those lines aren’t even jokes.
Harry doesn't even mention the buttock. (Good to know the Weasleys use physical punishment, though. Chalk up another comparison with the Dursleys, except they're too cowardly to do it often, clearly, they're just into the ideology.)
Mr. Weasley’s office hasn’t caught a single DE. There’s a shock. I hope he’s at least gotten some nice stuff for keeping his friends from being bothered with investigations.
Professional of him to share all this information about raids, convictions and who he's decided are innocent and guilty, though. (Although I'd really rather people told Harry things even if it does encourage his god complex than go through another OotP nanny boo hoo TEEEEELLLLL ME.)
Lupin turns to listen as Harry tells Arthur about Snape. I kind of love that Lupin does that for some reason.
Lupin's really interesting here, and that's from a non-fan. The convulsive hand movements, the somewhat dodgy Hagrid and the giants style 'I'm among my fellows and equals
reassure me this isn't true and that I'm a better breed!'no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 08:14 pm (UTC)Scrimgeour's strategy is so hamfisted and misphrased - saying it's Harry's duty to "be used by" the Ministry, namedropping the bitch who SCARRED HARRY FOR LIFE OMG – that you'd think it was written that way on purpose, so as to not make Harry look bad for turning down what's basically an appeal to his public spirit.
Of course you can't blame the man for not realizing that Harry thinks the Ministry is in league with Satan. You have to be inside Harry's head to fully appreciate his b&w world of stupid. But it's bizarre how Scrimgeour seems to honestly think Harry should be delighted to help out. If he'd apologize for the Fudge administration, assure Harry many heads have rolled on account of last year's smear campaign, and offer substantial bribes, it would at least look like he's trying.
-L
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 08:36 pm (UTC)No politician in the world would lose a battle of wits with Harry, even Bush, let alone openly admit they're using people.
Oh, I forgot how much I loved the mention of Fudge, and how Scrimgeour lured Harry by looking tough and scarred and having been an Auror compared to 'portly' Fudge and his vanity in wearing...a bowler hat.
As well as Umbridge not being sacked (and she's still alive at the end of HBP too - I wonder what JKR's keeping her around for? A hilarious immolation? Sold into slavery? A terminal disease?) I can imagine the MoM having an equally outraged reaction, though: 'Those kids are still at that school? After disfiguring their classmate, trying to murder Umbridge, breaking into the MoM and casting an Unforgiveable?'
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Date: 2006-06-30 08:58 pm (UTC)If you ask fandom *now*, they'll never say the Weasleys. That was just a joke, y'see. Everybody know that the Weasleys are not perfect, but they're good family. E.g., unlike apparent child-abuser!Lucius, Arthur is a great dad who never raised a hand against his children (forget about Fred's poor left buttock).
After all, Snape isn't lying about really wanting to help Malfoy. Just, imo, not by helping him kill Dumbledore and be a DE. Snape's sincere concern seems more like proof he's DDM to me.
Contrary to popular belief, being on the Light Side and caring for your students' well-being are not mutually exclusive things.
Greyback's plan is to bite kids young and raise them away from wizards.
"Bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards" - this phrasing made me go 'Huh? Only *wizards* could be turned into werewolves?' I checked with FB: no, it says that once bitten, muggles and wizards *alike* turn into werewolves. Sooooo... I suppose Remus uses words 'normal wizards' meaning 'normal people'. After all, muggles are just some weird and inconsequential minority.
It's not like the Prince as a person has offered to help Harry with his homework. The help was purely accidental on his part.
Harry just discovered the joy of learning? Nah, this cannot be right. Harry couldn't learn anything from the book - Gryffindors just don't DO that (except Hermione - she's weird this way). Surely there's a little guy hidden in the book who's helping Harry do his homework.
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Date: 2006-07-01 01:40 pm (UTC)Agreed. Sometimes, fandom has a way of inventing things that happened in the books and calling it "being a canon Nazi".
I suppose Remus uses words 'normal wizards' meaning 'normal people'. After all, muggles are just some weird and inconsequential minority.
Perhaps he just slipped up and forgot about Muggles who've been bitten? Maybe wizards (and what about witches?) get bitten a whole lot more often. Or, you know, a writerly mistake on the part of Rowling :/
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Date: 2006-06-30 09:10 pm (UTC)Interesting Lupin speaks from the role of the castee, not the caster ('you couldn't move without being lifted...')
Also, James wasn't the only one who cast the spell, which clearly makes it okay (maybe it was even a counter-jinx? ;)
Harry tries valiantly to show Remus the proper way to spin everything Snape does into something bad, but gets nowhere. Werewolves. What are you going to do?
I like how Lupin points out how Harry's inherited an old prejudice, even including the tag word; like certain other characters, perhaps, who I won't name.
He's fighting a losing battle telling Harry not to expect awe and agreement when he tells Dumbledore stuff, though.
Harry asks Remus about Tonks’ Patronus and he takes his time chewing. It’s like having this one really interesting character with a lot going on camouflaged by the usual Weasley white noise.
It's so lame, because Tonks is vaguely interesting at this point, but the big reveal just makes me dislike her, and Remus too.
Like how the big change that alters a patronus isn't the emotional upheaval and shock of losing a cousin (and one that she like Harry, must have only just met) which would play into the the other intriguing point about Tonks than her useless powers - her family (what's her reaction to her aunt killing said cousin? Harry mentions Draco to her earlier in the book, but she doesn't react?); but instead it's just 'My defining trait is my boyfriend!' (Like how she's alone at Christmas rather than with her family - sounds interesting, the resolution just leads to 'Tonks is doing a Harry and purposefully cutting off from everyone in order to feel sorry for herself and emo.')
I hear that in the HBP movie Remus will be played by an actual scarecrow.
I would prefer this to David Thewlis.
I’ve always assumed Ron did tell Arthur is CoS.
He says he's going to, but we never hear anything about it from him or Draco again (how many frigging raids are these people going to go through, anyway? In CoS, Lucius has been presumably acquitted a decade ago, and they're still making searches: presumably in reaction to him making laws Arthur doesn't like - what is Lucius' job, anyway?) I don't know, it could mean anything in JKRland.
That’s simple enough. You can have either Hermione or someone you can’t talk to at all even though from what we’ve seen of Lavender and Ron they probably could talk just fine.
Especially weird since this is the 'wrong' relationship, but it comes off pretty similiar to H/G, who are all about the 'wordless gestures' (that say: let's go mack! If there's 'time', we may have a conversation!)
Percy shows no interest in greeting anybody except Molly. Good for you, Percy!
I love how soft, loveable Arthur is holding the grudge here too (guess Percy's not the only one who's proud) as well as the twins, naturally. It's odd that Ginny isn't mentioned as being 'stony-faced', too. Which makes her badass food throwing later even lamer, since she's apparently just jumping on her brothers' bandwagon.
Harry's reaction to the whole thing is amusing, too - he's not fooled that Percy might want to see his family! This 'must be' because of Harry's vital importance!
Is Harry just completely off-base here in mistaking Molly’s push for R/T for B/T, or did Molly entertain the idea at some point before getting involved in R/T?
I thought Molly knew from the beginning of HBP about R/T, hence the 'thanks for the sympathy' line.
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Date: 2006-07-01 01:45 pm (UTC)I can't help seeing this as another reason to be irritated by Tonks. She's given all this connection to major characters and nothing is done with it! It's so frustrating!
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Date: 2009-02-20 12:09 am (UTC)Just like Arthur to use his job to harass enemies.
more comments than i planned
Date: 2006-06-30 09:42 pm (UTC)I feel kinda bad for them both, really. When they're all there, he has to play the stooge and she snaps at him, but then he criticises her quite frequently for questioning Harry. So naturally, when she's not there, he has to take her place reigning in the Chosen One's ego. Reassuring in that he gets to have the ideas, bad in that then he gets Harry's attitude.
Ron’s watching Bill and Fleur hoping to pick up tips. Awww.
I don't care if it's because he's macking on Fleur, Ron's the only character, including the guests and excepting her fiance, who's consistently nice to Fleur and accepts right off that the relationship is settled (I'd count Harry here, but I don't feel like it with the lameass 'She's really ugly' crack at the end.)
Remus also refers to Draco by his first name. Can’t help but like to follow Remus’ personal code of names, which seem significant and different from other peoples.
It seems a bit passive-aggressive - like he's trying to claim closeness with people he doesn't have. Especially when they ask him not to use their first names - Snape's not comfortable with it clearly, and iirc, Tonks said something in OotP to the same effect. (To be fair, Remus calls her 'Tonks' in HBP...)
I like this part, though, because it makes me curious how Draco and Lupin got on while Lupin taught him.
Lupin neither likes nor dislikes Snape. How do people not think this guy is evil?
Never mind that, how did he get into Gryffindor? This kind of talk was meant for the cowards in Ravenclaw!
(I must fanwank that Lupin is so unconfident and self-doubting from his outsider status - and a true one, not a pose like Harry's!
- that he doesn't have the ego necessary to assume everyone who disagrees with you is Teh Evil; and with more reassurance ala Hagrid, he'd become truly Good ie. a fucknut. Otherwise I may have to sacrifice some of my ego and wonder if this is a character that truly differs from the stock set. Tell us your opinions on Quidditch, Lupin, quick!
Everyone’s wearing sweaters except Fleur upon whom Mrs. Weasley didn’t want to "waste one" which is probably best for everyone.
I'd love to see some Veelas in the Book Seven wedding, defending Fleur. Of course, maternal passions are never aroused by girlchildren in HP, so maybe I'm aiming too high, here.
I know the point here is that James didn’t shun Remus because of his problem.
Is it only me who finds this bit patronising, from the same mindset as 'Hermione is a witch!' (duh, since it's the same character.)? You ARE normal unlike the other werewolves, since we approve of you (why, he's almost like a proper person!) as well as the 'you just have a problem!' I don't know. Basically, if a baddie had said 'problem' (and I don't mean like Fenrir, I mean like unwillingly) this would be a great weapon to use against him/her; and the treatment of the werewolf thing sometimes goes so far to the other side that it's reminiscent of Buckbeak - the person in their animal state/animal is dangerous, but we like them, so we'll pretend people could only find their presence a risk if they're racist or cowardly.
Re: more comments than i planned
Date: 2009-02-19 11:52 pm (UTC)Did Sirius say "the world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters?" Seems unlikely. Unless he added, "there are also Muggles, and Hufflepuffs, and Death Eaters who repent."
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Date: 2006-07-01 12:06 am (UTC)I'm not seeing it myself since, as I've said before, most people in this series only laugh at something if it involves the humilliation of others. Some people might think you can't have jokes unless someone else is being laughed at, but that's not my "wicked sense of humour" :/
making Ron slice his thumb open on a knife.
He might have severed a vein! Yeah, okay, I'm
no funovercautious, but jokes involving actual blood-loss don't strike me as being very "white hat".If you asked fandom five years ago which family was most likely to throw knives at each other at Christmas, do you think they’d have said the Weasleys?
It's probably all a natural and everyday act from a perfectly healthy family. Don't all siblings have their little squabbles?
*brainmelt*
Seriously, sometimes Rowling appears to be attempting "realism" in her writing, and sometimes she just goes for the caricature and overstatement. I bet some people in fandom would say "oh yes, but in their world, eyeballs sliced in half can easily be fixed again, so it's not really that big a deal". This isn't really the point, kids.
"If you want people to help you, you shouldn’t throw knives at them, just a hint," says George. I really hope that’s foreshadowing for Harry in the next book.
"If you want people to help you, you should treat them with the minimum of respect, perhaps."
"If you want people to help you, you should try not slitting them open once in a while."
"If you want people to help you, perhaps you could get your woobiekins to not attack them for asking questions."
I can see it fitting in very nicely :)
On one hand I can sympathize with Molly’s irritation at somebody talking during her program. Otoh, this is what happens when you insist that everyone has to listen to something just because you like it.
In a family that big, they can't all be expected to want to crowd into the same room and listen to the same thing. Molly could at least let some of them escape away. I can't help wondering if she mightn't take that as some kind of insult - as in "I hardly see you all year, and now you want to avoid me at Christmas!!" There's such a thing as claustrophobia, Molly :(
Ron’s watching Bill and Fleur hoping to pick up tips. Awww.
Hahaha. Ron's learning from the best :D Clearly he never looked to Harry or anyone else who was clearly far more "mature" than he. Learn from someone who actually seems to like girls, Ron!
I hope he’s at least gotten some nice stuff for keeping his friends from being bothered with investigations.
He probably got a collection of sparkplugs or something. The fact that Arthur is working in this job makes me fear that perhaps F&G won't get investigated for supplying weapons to Death Eaters now. Which would, in my admittedly inexperienced opinion, be a sign of some serious corruption going down. F&G should at least be investigated
and if Stan Shunpike can go to prison, so can they.no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 08:14 am (UTC)No wonder this book and Gryffcentric canon in general are so popular with Fandom Wank. :)
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Date: 2006-07-01 03:46 am (UTC)The entire book was worth it just for this scene.
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Date: 2006-07-01 03:30 pm (UTC)*Ginny has over-decorated the sitting room, which is a sign of the Weasleys inner good-breeding and something Maya, if not JKR, will be able to make endearing to me.
I was mentioned I am so proud! Pick me, Sister M, pick me! For the... team. Yes. The meta team. (I can be like Ron, you know, and only in there because of my powerful friends!)
Also, I was just going through HBP for Draco scenes (for fic purposes, I hardly ever read the books that way, honest) and I remembered how much I loved that. Ginny had a fault! You know, not like a serious fault like sometimes questioning Good People or anything, but a fault! And it wasn't something the author seemed to approve of and not consider a fault, or even something she tried to make endearing! Just that Ginny overdecorated things! A fact about Ginny that didn't make me vomit in my mouth! I was so happy I wanted to cry.
Of course, we never see Ginny wearing bad clothing, even in GoF where she was going to the Ball with presumably much less notice than Mrs Weasley had for Ron.
(Oh my God, I've spotted the exact canon moment when Old!Ginny disappeared. The night of the Yule Ball, little Ginny was trotting through the halls when suddenly New!Ginny leaped and administered the Bat Bogey Hex until Old!Ginny died. Then New!Ginny swept on, in a sequinned dress with a slit and lots of cleavage, to magnificently patronise a very puzzled Neville Longbottom and begin practising for Harry's love with Michael Corner that very night. Old!Ginny's corpse, dressed in mouldy lace robes, was hidden behind a library shelf on magical theory, and so her remains were never found.
Sadly, Harry was looking intently at Cedric Diggory's cheekbones, and thus the whole thing passed him by completely.
Lupin is to the Weasleys what Slytherin are to Gryffindor for the whole book. We know something really interesting's going on! Just... out of... reach! Assassin students! Werewolf spies! Won't somebody turn down the radio (cacophony of Gryffindor mating calls) and let us listen, Goddammit?
That said, I really love Lavender's pimp chain. I mean, it was a silly present, and I see why they didn't work (Ron, like the author, is unprepared to deal with girlie girls - having been in the most insular group of friends ever for many years now, after all) but it's so absurd it's lovable. She's sixteen and embarrassing! He's sixteen and embarrassed! If Pansy is stroking Draco's hair in a platonic manner, Ron/Lavender is my favourite pairing of HBP. (Run a close second by Bill/Fleur. Oh, Bill. Weasleys, unlike the rest of the wizarding world, are shining beacons of heterosexuality!)
*Harry’s tunnel vision really strikes again, doesn’t it? Here he’s obsessed with finding out what Malfoy’s up to and never thinks to check out the name he dropped?
Now, now, asking sensible questions would cut in on his stalking time! Harry has to be focused. He has to watch that map. Draco sometimes gets into the shower! He could be... doing evil things! In the shower!
Harry has to think about things like that. A lot. His is a high and noble destiny.
You know, somewhere during this frosty Christmas, Draco is probably all alone trying to fix the Cabinet while his mummy cries and sends him presents. Maybe sweeties. Maybe screwdrivers, since she is a concerned parent who wishes to give her child things he might want, instead of jumpers which will only be useful if Kreacher sabotages the heating in Hogwarts and they need to burn things to keep warm.
In the next chapter, they mention Charlie's name and how big he is (fine and handsome, muscular arms, stay in Roumania away from JKR's wrath, baby, please, baby). I don't recall what else happens, but I am sure I will enjoy it the way you tell it to me. Never take my sunshine away!
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Date: 2006-07-01 07:13 pm (UTC)See, Movie!Ginny is dressed horribly throughout all the films, which makes total canon sense and is cute. I hope she kills Book!Ginny.
Draco sometimes gets into the shower! He could be... doing evil things! In the shower!
That bit where he's saying how he either has to follow Malfoy to the toilet or else pretend to need the toilet in order to stalk Malfoy is one of the most blatant parts of the book, imho.
Even more so than 'I need to see what (he's) doing inside of you.'
I don't recall what else happens
More
crocodiletears from Dumbledore sticks in my head. He pwns Harry, though, so I felt uncharacteristically warm towards him for about three sentences.no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 05:13 pm (UTC)Poor thing. I always imagine her being mugged as soon as she walks out of that portrait hole with her head bowed. New!Ginny jumps out from behind a suit of armor and that's it for old Ginny.:-(
Oh yeah, Harry really needs to go over his whole "investigation" of Draco in therapy. What were you really after trying to find out there, Harry?
Btw, given all the angry Brit-pickers out there why does everyone receives sweaters? I could swear that's what it calls them: sweaters. Instead of jumpers. Am I remembering this wrong?
LOL! Now I'm imagining a little toolbox from Narcissa because Draco said he needed one. It's all monogrammed because she tries to do everything up right. And it comes with hand lotion so he doesn't look like a handy man.
And a note about Andromeda!no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 11:55 pm (UTC)Or, even better: Dumbo left the Mirror of Erised abandoned in a room (for no reason, just as in PS). Shy!Ginny saw herself as sexy, sassy, awesome GinnySue, and looked deeply into the mirror ... very deeply ... then her nose touched the glass ....
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Date: 2009-02-19 11:48 pm (UTC)Harry is a free wizard! It's just that freedom is overwhelming, so he CHOOSES to obey DD's every command. Then in DH he obeys the plot, and afterwards obeys his wife.
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Date: 2009-02-20 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 12:13 am (UTC)What??? Teenage boys heard the phrase "furry little problem" and thought "Oh, it must be a rabbit then. Nothing to do with bodily hair or a certain organ, of course, so I won't tease him."
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Date: 2009-02-20 12:59 am (UTC)