GOF Chapter 24: Rita Skeeter's Scoop
Jun. 15th, 2011 03:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockHermione is too sensible to bother with straightening her hair on a regular basis. Ron and Hermione are willing to keep the peace for the sake of Harry (and the plot) - oddly mature of them.
Hermione thinks views of giants are 'just' prejudice, and with that she proves how naive she is, just like about the elf issue. Though perhaps a giant that rejected giant culture (whether willingly or under duress) might be considered worthy to save her life.
Finally Harry starts doing something about the egg, but completely ignores Cedric's hint. Anybody trying to help Harry with something has to be very direct. This problem will be repeated with worse outcome next year, with Sirius' mirror.
Oh, Hagrid isn't there to teach. Professor Grubbly-Plank replaces him. The Slytherins are gleeful and not surprised. Draco lets Harry snatch the paper with Rita's revelations about Hagrid.
Let's see:
Hagrid was expelled in 3rd year - true.
Hagrid admits to said expulsion - true.
Hagrid has been gamekeeper since then - well it seems he was gamekeeper's assistant for about half of that time, so mostly true.
The position of gamekeeper was the result of Dumbles' intervention - probably true. At least that's what Hagrid says himself.
Hagrid was appointed COMC teacher over better qualified candidates - we see at least one such better-qualified person in Grubbly-Plank, so true.
This appointment was the result of 'mysterious influence' Hagrid has over Dumbles - speculation. (I'd say Dumbles just wanted to give his staunchest and blindest admirer more time with Harry.) Not true.
Hagrid is alarmingly large and ferocious-looking - true.
Hagrid has been terrifying his students and maiming them with horrific creatures - mostly true.
Draco was attacked by hippogriff - true.
Crabbe was bitten by flobberworm - not true (note that this is presented as a direct quote from Draco, so if he actually said it Rita isn't lying in reporting his words)
Draco says 'we all' hate Hagrid and are afraid to say so - the hatred is true, depending on whom is included in 'we all'. Though he isn't really afraid of saying so.
Hagrid admitted to breeding the skrewts illegally - he may indeed have. He tells Harry Rita was very interested in them during her interview with him.
Hagrid pretended to be a pureblood wizard - we don't know, though he never mentioned his giant heritage before and neither Ron nor Draco seem to have suspected it.
Hagrid's mother is the giantess Fridwulfa - true.
Internal warfare killed most of British giants - possible.
A handful of them joined Voldie's ranks - what does this mean? Did any of them have Dark marks or were they external supporters like Fenrir and perhaps other werewolves?
Giants were responsible for some of the worst Muggle killings - I though Muggles were mostly killed by DEs, for fun? I no longer know whether to believe Rita or Bill Weasley.
Many giants were killed by Aurors, but not Fridwulfa. She may have escaped to a giant community. Well, we know she had Grawp at some point. (How can a giant community last if they keep offing one another? I doubt we know all there is to know about them.)
Hagrid developed a friendship with Harry - true.
Dumbles should be warned about Hagrid - believe me, he knows. And doesn't care Hagrid may occasionally endanger students, as long as Harry keeps hearing Hagrid's praise of Dumbles.
In summary: The article is almost entirely true. The few untrue things are presented either as speculation or as a direct quote by someone else.
Parvati is disloyal by preferring a COMC teacher who does a decent job (and she is correct that losing his teaching position doesn't leave him jobless). But even Hermione prefers Grubbly-Plank. How dare she? At least Hermione does the decent thing of bending under Harry's pressure - yes, she wants Hagrid back as a terrible teacher, of course she does!
But the big question is how did Rita discover Hagrid's secret without being seen? (And yes, she is close to the truth, Rita did overhear Hagrid at the ball.)
Alas, Hagrid ignores the kids when they come to see him.
A nice example for Terri's thesis about Hogwarts discipline that I linked in chapter 18 (as well as her vision of Slytherin student culture from her fic): Draco taunts Harry only when there are teachers around, because that's allowed, but responding with violence or magic is punishable. I think in OOTP after the Quidditch match he managed to overdo the taunting to the point neither Harry nor George cared about punishment anymore.)
Harry lies to Hermione about his progress with the egg because he hopes to meet Hagrid in Hogsmeade. Er, if Hagrid is avoiding everyone why would he go to Hogsmaeade when students are there?
On the way there they see Viktor jumping into the lake. I remember when I first read this it reminded me of the places where this is done as a New Years tradition. But of course this means Viktor (like Cedric) figured out the egg's message and was working on his Transfiguration. (And Ron hopes the giant squid will take care of Viktor. Nice of him. And completely different from Draco wishing Slytherin's monster would kill Hermione.) Well, Viktor proved his worthiness to Hermione by saying he liked Hogwarts better than Durmstrang. And Ron broke his Viktor figurine. Oh, what a love triangle. But really, Viktor treats Hermione nicely, Hermione thinks well of him, they have enough to talk about to have a correspondence that lasts into the following year at least - why does she drop him for Ron of all people? (Because she smells Ron in the Amortentia. Hermione/Ron is all about hormones, no substance.)
Bagman (the mastermind!) is at the Three Broomsticks. With angry goblins. Why is he here? Well, the only way Harry can get a clue about his agenda is if he conducts his shady meetings where Harry (and half of the Hogwarts school body) is bound to show up. Oh, he wants a word with Harry. He reveals that Crouch Sr has been absent for weeks and Percy says he is ill. (Note that Percy is just saying what he knows - and that people outside Crouch's department are well aware of the latter's absence. Percy isn't pretending Crouch is in his office but too busy to see anyone. Also, note that Ludo doesn't think there is anything odd about Crouch's absence - so either the illness story really looks convincing or Ludo doesn't care or he really is the one who set these events in motion in the first place so obviously he isn't surprised, nor does he want anyone else to be.) If Rita found out about the absence she'd say Crouch went missing, like Bertha Jorkins. Well, that's not far from the truth. Was that a slip from the mastermind of the plot?
Ludo is finally conducting a search for the lost employee from his own department. Turns out Bertha visited one relative but disappeared on her way to another's home. And she's not the type to elope (why else would a woman disappear? the sexism).
OK, what Ludo really wanted was to give Harry a clue. Because he likes him. And supports a champion from Hogwarts. But not the official one. Harry doesn't want an unfair advantage, does he? He's selective about only receiving help from people he likes (even if they are teachers, like Hagrid and 'Moody', from whom he is explicitly not allowed to receive help). Now Ludo is refusing a drink from the twins. Is that because like Harry he realized to be suspicious with their offerings? (Or just avoiding their demands to be paid in real money for that bet.)
Hermione thinks Albus wouldn't have liked Ludo persuading Harry to cheat? Since when is Dumbles opposed to cheating by Harry?
Ron thinks Percy is trying to slowly poison Crouch so he could take over the department. Like fan theories about Severus and Sirius in OOTP.
Rita is there. And seems like she is considering investigating Bagman at the moment. But Harry confronts her about the Hagrid story, while Hermione calls her on her general method. Rita hints she already knows something about Ludo (indeed, she reported from his trial). Though it seems her plan was to get Ludo to lose his job rather quickly. I wonder how that was supposed to work. But now Rita found her next target. Indeed, Harry already sees her quill at work. But even before we see anything else from her, Hermione decides to get Rita, somehow. I believe this is where Hermione's other transformation begins. That's where she develops her vengeful streak, which we will see more of next year (and from which she doesn't recover in canon.) Naively Hermione thinks the only people whose opinion of her matters are her parents. Little does she know.
She decides its her duty to force Hagrid out of his sulk. Well, Albus is there too. Finally, almost 2 weeks after Rita's article, he is there to show some support to a member of his staff. Oh, and he brought with him countless of supportive letters from parents. Who remember Hagrid as groundskeeper (or the assistant to one), not as a teacher. Also, Albus receives complaints about the running of the school weekly. But ignores them all, of course. How would anyone else know better than him? So now people bring up their horrible relatives. Harry has the Dursleys. ('Look what I've got for relatives' - because Muggles aren't human, so they qualify as 'what' rather than 'who'.) And Dumbles has Aberforth, with some never-quite-explained history with goats. (Why would wizards care about bestiality, if that really is the case? They do every other horrible thing to animals.)
How long did Hagrid's father think his son wasn't a wizard? Was Hagrid a later bloomer than Neville?
We get Hagrid's take on Albus - he gives second chances, will take in anyone, regardless of family background, as long as s/he has magical talent. (What Hagrid doesn't say is that said family members get treated like dirt if they aren't human magicals.)
And finally Harry decides to tackle the egg. Because he can't let Hagrid down. (Harry/Hagrid OTP?)
Hermione thinks views of giants are 'just' prejudice, and with that she proves how naive she is, just like about the elf issue. Though perhaps a giant that rejected giant culture (whether willingly or under duress) might be considered worthy to save her life.
Finally Harry starts doing something about the egg, but completely ignores Cedric's hint. Anybody trying to help Harry with something has to be very direct. This problem will be repeated with worse outcome next year, with Sirius' mirror.
Oh, Hagrid isn't there to teach. Professor Grubbly-Plank replaces him. The Slytherins are gleeful and not surprised. Draco lets Harry snatch the paper with Rita's revelations about Hagrid.
Let's see:
Hagrid was expelled in 3rd year - true.
Hagrid admits to said expulsion - true.
Hagrid has been gamekeeper since then - well it seems he was gamekeeper's assistant for about half of that time, so mostly true.
The position of gamekeeper was the result of Dumbles' intervention - probably true. At least that's what Hagrid says himself.
Hagrid was appointed COMC teacher over better qualified candidates - we see at least one such better-qualified person in Grubbly-Plank, so true.
This appointment was the result of 'mysterious influence' Hagrid has over Dumbles - speculation. (I'd say Dumbles just wanted to give his staunchest and blindest admirer more time with Harry.) Not true.
Hagrid is alarmingly large and ferocious-looking - true.
Hagrid has been terrifying his students and maiming them with horrific creatures - mostly true.
Draco was attacked by hippogriff - true.
Crabbe was bitten by flobberworm - not true (note that this is presented as a direct quote from Draco, so if he actually said it Rita isn't lying in reporting his words)
Draco says 'we all' hate Hagrid and are afraid to say so - the hatred is true, depending on whom is included in 'we all'. Though he isn't really afraid of saying so.
Hagrid admitted to breeding the skrewts illegally - he may indeed have. He tells Harry Rita was very interested in them during her interview with him.
Hagrid pretended to be a pureblood wizard - we don't know, though he never mentioned his giant heritage before and neither Ron nor Draco seem to have suspected it.
Hagrid's mother is the giantess Fridwulfa - true.
Internal warfare killed most of British giants - possible.
A handful of them joined Voldie's ranks - what does this mean? Did any of them have Dark marks or were they external supporters like Fenrir and perhaps other werewolves?
Giants were responsible for some of the worst Muggle killings - I though Muggles were mostly killed by DEs, for fun? I no longer know whether to believe Rita or Bill Weasley.
Many giants were killed by Aurors, but not Fridwulfa. She may have escaped to a giant community. Well, we know she had Grawp at some point. (How can a giant community last if they keep offing one another? I doubt we know all there is to know about them.)
Hagrid developed a friendship with Harry - true.
Dumbles should be warned about Hagrid - believe me, he knows. And doesn't care Hagrid may occasionally endanger students, as long as Harry keeps hearing Hagrid's praise of Dumbles.
In summary: The article is almost entirely true. The few untrue things are presented either as speculation or as a direct quote by someone else.
Parvati is disloyal by preferring a COMC teacher who does a decent job (and she is correct that losing his teaching position doesn't leave him jobless). But even Hermione prefers Grubbly-Plank. How dare she? At least Hermione does the decent thing of bending under Harry's pressure - yes, she wants Hagrid back as a terrible teacher, of course she does!
But the big question is how did Rita discover Hagrid's secret without being seen? (And yes, she is close to the truth, Rita did overhear Hagrid at the ball.)
Alas, Hagrid ignores the kids when they come to see him.
A nice example for Terri's thesis about Hogwarts discipline that I linked in chapter 18 (as well as her vision of Slytherin student culture from her fic): Draco taunts Harry only when there are teachers around, because that's allowed, but responding with violence or magic is punishable. I think in OOTP after the Quidditch match he managed to overdo the taunting to the point neither Harry nor George cared about punishment anymore.)
Harry lies to Hermione about his progress with the egg because he hopes to meet Hagrid in Hogsmeade. Er, if Hagrid is avoiding everyone why would he go to Hogsmaeade when students are there?
On the way there they see Viktor jumping into the lake. I remember when I first read this it reminded me of the places where this is done as a New Years tradition. But of course this means Viktor (like Cedric) figured out the egg's message and was working on his Transfiguration. (And Ron hopes the giant squid will take care of Viktor. Nice of him. And completely different from Draco wishing Slytherin's monster would kill Hermione.) Well, Viktor proved his worthiness to Hermione by saying he liked Hogwarts better than Durmstrang. And Ron broke his Viktor figurine. Oh, what a love triangle. But really, Viktor treats Hermione nicely, Hermione thinks well of him, they have enough to talk about to have a correspondence that lasts into the following year at least - why does she drop him for Ron of all people? (Because she smells Ron in the Amortentia. Hermione/Ron is all about hormones, no substance.)
Bagman (the mastermind!) is at the Three Broomsticks. With angry goblins. Why is he here? Well, the only way Harry can get a clue about his agenda is if he conducts his shady meetings where Harry (and half of the Hogwarts school body) is bound to show up. Oh, he wants a word with Harry. He reveals that Crouch Sr has been absent for weeks and Percy says he is ill. (Note that Percy is just saying what he knows - and that people outside Crouch's department are well aware of the latter's absence. Percy isn't pretending Crouch is in his office but too busy to see anyone. Also, note that Ludo doesn't think there is anything odd about Crouch's absence - so either the illness story really looks convincing or Ludo doesn't care or he really is the one who set these events in motion in the first place so obviously he isn't surprised, nor does he want anyone else to be.) If Rita found out about the absence she'd say Crouch went missing, like Bertha Jorkins. Well, that's not far from the truth. Was that a slip from the mastermind of the plot?
Ludo is finally conducting a search for the lost employee from his own department. Turns out Bertha visited one relative but disappeared on her way to another's home. And she's not the type to elope (why else would a woman disappear? the sexism).
OK, what Ludo really wanted was to give Harry a clue. Because he likes him. And supports a champion from Hogwarts. But not the official one. Harry doesn't want an unfair advantage, does he? He's selective about only receiving help from people he likes (even if they are teachers, like Hagrid and 'Moody', from whom he is explicitly not allowed to receive help). Now Ludo is refusing a drink from the twins. Is that because like Harry he realized to be suspicious with their offerings? (Or just avoiding their demands to be paid in real money for that bet.)
Hermione thinks Albus wouldn't have liked Ludo persuading Harry to cheat? Since when is Dumbles opposed to cheating by Harry?
Ron thinks Percy is trying to slowly poison Crouch so he could take over the department. Like fan theories about Severus and Sirius in OOTP.
Rita is there. And seems like she is considering investigating Bagman at the moment. But Harry confronts her about the Hagrid story, while Hermione calls her on her general method. Rita hints she already knows something about Ludo (indeed, she reported from his trial). Though it seems her plan was to get Ludo to lose his job rather quickly. I wonder how that was supposed to work. But now Rita found her next target. Indeed, Harry already sees her quill at work. But even before we see anything else from her, Hermione decides to get Rita, somehow. I believe this is where Hermione's other transformation begins. That's where she develops her vengeful streak, which we will see more of next year (and from which she doesn't recover in canon.) Naively Hermione thinks the only people whose opinion of her matters are her parents. Little does she know.
She decides its her duty to force Hagrid out of his sulk. Well, Albus is there too. Finally, almost 2 weeks after Rita's article, he is there to show some support to a member of his staff. Oh, and he brought with him countless of supportive letters from parents. Who remember Hagrid as groundskeeper (or the assistant to one), not as a teacher. Also, Albus receives complaints about the running of the school weekly. But ignores them all, of course. How would anyone else know better than him? So now people bring up their horrible relatives. Harry has the Dursleys. ('Look what I've got for relatives' - because Muggles aren't human, so they qualify as 'what' rather than 'who'.) And Dumbles has Aberforth, with some never-quite-explained history with goats. (Why would wizards care about bestiality, if that really is the case? They do every other horrible thing to animals.)
How long did Hagrid's father think his son wasn't a wizard? Was Hagrid a later bloomer than Neville?
We get Hagrid's take on Albus - he gives second chances, will take in anyone, regardless of family background, as long as s/he has magical talent. (What Hagrid doesn't say is that said family members get treated like dirt if they aren't human magicals.)
And finally Harry decides to tackle the egg. Because he can't let Hagrid down. (Harry/Hagrid OTP?)
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-17 01:03 pm (UTC)There's no need for her to be pretty yet, not while Ron's not ready for her. A couple of years yet before then, but that's okay; Rowling will pretty Hermione up, have men wolf-whistling at her, when that time comes; nothing but the best for her boys!
Hermione thinks views of giants are 'just' prejudice, and with that she proves how naive she is, just like about the elf issue.
YES! Mind you, that's also appropriate for a lot of 'do-gooders' in the real world. They don't want to admit any facts that might threaten their pre-set notions. Giants might be considered to be brutes because ... *gasp* ... they ARE!
I'm not with Hermione on this one. *gasp*
At least Hermione does the decent thing of bending under Harry's pressure - yes, she wants Hagrid back as a terrible teacher, of course she does!
That's in book 5, isn't it? I was going to bring it up as an example of the poor girl
allowing her deep romantic love for Harry to sway herbeing chastised by Harry for not supporting him re Hagrid. Or does it happen here in GoF too?Hermione/Ron is all about hormones, no substance.
Of course!
(And we don't even know there's a smell of Amortentia to it. Maybe Hermione was embarrassed about something completely unrelated to the Gryffindor.)
Harry/Hagrid OTP?
*sighs*
*shakes head*
Oryx ...
no subject
Date: 2011-06-17 03:44 pm (UTC)It's actually more complex than that. Because the question is to what degree giants are inherently brutes and to what degree the living conditions wizards forced on them made them so. And self-fulfilling descriptions. And the same goes for assorted RL human populations and groups of all sorts. Both the 'it's just prejudice' and 'well, that's how they really act' are oversimplifications.
That's in book 5, isn't it? I was going to bring it up as an example of the poor girl allowing her deep romantic love for Harry to sway her being chastised by Harry for not supporting him re Hagrid. Or does it happen here in GoF too?
In this very chapter.
*sighs*
*shakes head*
Oryx ...
I must say poking fun at shipping arguments is not as funny after the Yule Ball.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:59 am (UTC)That makes sense. What's infuriating is when the do-gooders refuse to even consider straying from their (over-simplified) end of the spectrum.
I must say poking fun at shipping arguments is not as funny after the Yule Ball.
Because, once (a) Harry realised that Hermione was pretty and the girl for him, and (b) Ron showed what a lout he was, bringing her to tears, it became obvious that H/Hr was the way to go?
Actually, seriously, don't want to be thick, but why do you say that? Hermione's "next time ask me first!" solidifying R/Hr in your mind, deciding you on how things were going to end up? The Yule Ball was the point where you felt things were obvious on the shipping front?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 06:17 am (UTC)When I read the series initially I didn't care who ended up with whom. Shipping didn't matter to me, though even before I read a single Potter book I knew it was an issue in fandom because it was spilling over to some other fandom I was active in. I was surprised that even after HBP there were people who believed anything other than canon ships would happen in canon (which is not the same as thinking those were the best pairings possible for the characters in question, just that it seemed weird to expect Rowling to change at that point).
However in this particular read I was being funny about the sort of things people used as justifications for pairings - whether seriously, as a joke or as an excuse for fanfic. And after the anger and fighting and unpleasantness around the Yule Ball I just don't feel as much in the mood for this kind of hilarity. Ron is now seriously jealous, Viktor is seriously confused and I'm not sure whether Hermione is really into Viktor or just using him against Ron or what.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 06:40 am (UTC)If it wasn't for Rowling's self-pandering interview the day after HBP was published, wherein she congratulated herself for the OBHWF relationships, I might have been hoping for a change with the final book. It was still quite possible - Harry had broken up with Ginny, Ron and Hermione wind up at the end of HBP as 'friends again'. But the meta-information we had from Rowling meant that it was either going to be OBHWF or she was deliberately lying to her fans. In interviews. Which is a whole lot worse than the cheats she got away with in DH.
And after the anger and fighting and unpleasantness around the Yule Ball I just don't feel as much in the mood for this kind of hilarity.
Gotcha. I felt just like that with HBP. I knew we were supposed to see all the fighting and jealousy as 'good', Hermione and Ron both 'using' third-parties to make the other jealous, killer canaries, etc, but I just couldn't do it.