HBP Chapter Eighteen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*The biggest surprise being that somebody other than Harry is getting a birthday.

*For all the girl machinations in these books Hermione is incredibly obvious about being jealous of Ron. For all her superiority, she seems to care a lot more than he does. I’m surprised he’s not thrilled by this. ETA: I forgot, he's too stupid to get it.

*I know the whole Harry cheating storyline is kind of wonky because he’s actually just using different directions, but it still drives me crazy that people twist it into a story where he’s not cheating. Even when Hermione tells us Harry’s supposed to be understanding the principles instead of using a shortcut or cheat—which is exactly what he does. Can’t blame JKR for that one. She’s making it obvious enough that Harry’s Charlie McCarthy to Teen!Snape’s Edgar Bergen.

*ETA: And just like Charlie McCarthy, he won't ever publically acknowledge he's not doing his own talking.

*Note that Harry would never dare try the bezoar trick with Snape. Because Snape is a worse teacher than Slughorn. Totally.

*Blaise is in Potions. I don’t think I’d remembered that. So the four Slytherins are Draco, Blaise, Theo and one other person.

*That's now two teachers who have made a point of individual spirit and creativity being the mark of a truly great student…and each time with Hermione being held up as the wrong example. Of course both times it isn’t about Hermione being faulty so much as Harry (and Snape!) being better. But at least Snape actually is.

*Although again the author’s a little hard-pressed to really demonstrate what she’s talking about. The bezoar trick hardly shows an intuitive grasp of Potions—no more than knowing the Heimlich maneuver shows an intuitive grasp of medicine.

*Draco’s the only person looking angrier than Hermione. I may not ship D/Hr, but their characters actually do have interesting connections throughout the books. That’s more obvious post-HBP. ETA: I wonder if D/Hr shippers liked the RoR scene in DH.

*Everyone looks annoyed at Harry. Quick! Somebody write an essay explaining how even here Harry isn’t really favored!

*Harry reminds himself of Voldemort—awesome! ETA: No idea what that was about. Harry's nothing like Voldemort!

*Ron’s just resentful Harry didn’t give him a bezoar. Though Harry’s right on this one—they couldn’t both do it. ETA: Ron Weasley: can't even slack off as well as Harry Potter.

*Still, not exactly something to get infuriated about. Harry really needs to get used to other people having concerns other than him.

*Hermione hasn’t found anything about Horcruxes even though she’s been studying books of Dark Magic and learning how to make the most horrible Potions. And taking copious notes and making practice samples. Well, you never know when those are going to come in handy.

*ETA: Too bad she can't just say "Accio books about Horcruxes!" Oh wait.

*Seriously, doesn’t Hermione sound absolutely thrilled at describing all those most horrible books where they teach you to brew the most gruesome Potions?

*I sort of love Draco getting reprimanded like an 11-year-old, and the subtle little suggestion of inter-house rivalry about the whole thing with Snape allegedly annoyed that McGonagall was the one to scold him.

*Draco’s speaking is described as "Malfoy’s rudeness"—because we know how offended our narrator is by kids talking in class when the Trio is doing it.

*At least he doesn’t splinch himself in half so that Harry can tell us it was his own fault for not listening when Twycross said his name. ETA: Reading that now just makes me think of one of Ron's many stellar moments in DH: The splinching.

*Twycross announces they will be Apparating inside Hogwarts today. Much to my surprise after Hermione's constant warnings, the world does not end.

*By the way, don’t forget to take a drink on that—Twycross remembers to tell us you usually can’t Apparate within Hogwarts before announcing they will be.

*The students are ordered to stand with five feet of space in front of them. This somehow inspires lots of jostling and fighting, despite the fact that we ought to be talking about 40 people in a room that regularly seats over four times that.

*All the Ravenclaws want to be near the front. I think we may have gotten the very first suggestion that Ravenclaws are grinds in canon!

*Seems like Ravenclaws should be good at Apparating. It’s a mind-ish, airy thing. Like Slytherins are associated with Potions.

*This is like the chapter of firsts in all of canon. Harry says something to Malfoy that’s…not exactly antagonistic. And I really have no idea why—if he’d stayed quiet he might have heard something more helpful. It’s like he can’t help himself. And he speaks just loudly enough for Malfoy to hear, like the way Malfoy always talks to him from across rooms. OTP!!

*ETA: Clearly, that was by accident.

*Malfoy’s hand goes to his wand here—the kid’s already jumpy and paranoid as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

*ETA: I guess that's the required foreshadowing of the Sectumsempra scene.

*ETA: It certainly isn't foreshadowing of Draco being at all defensively capable in DH!

*Old-fashioned wooden hoops appear. Old-fashioned for us readers, I assume. They can’t be all that old-fashioned to people who write with quills.

*Nice touch the way everyone looks around to make sure everyone else is staring into their hoops before doing it.

*Harry’s already forgotten what the three D’s stand for. Times like this I really do love Harry.

*Though of course if Harry was injured in the class he would deserve no sympathy because he didn’t pay attention enough! Right?

*And here’s my favorite funny moment in canon: Ernie MacMillan and his thrilling pirouetting leap into his hoop. I can picture it all too easily. ETA: Ernie's high point. Right there.

*So this isn’t so much a class but a teaching telling the kids to "do this" and then watching them struggle for an hour. I’m even more confused as to why kids don’t try this long before they come of age.

*ETA: Those Wizards. They just never follow rules. These are the same people who continue to be driven by a points contest that's blatantly arbitrary and unfair.

*Susan amputates her own leg, because she’s not determined enough. And people are going to let Neville try this?

*Hermione’s really not making much of an impression with her anti-Ron campaign, is she?

*Harry tells Ron he’s not fussed about Apparating, since he prefers flying. I think he’s trying to subtly come out to Ron.

*ETA: Not that Harry won't be able to do it, since the ability to not Apparate isn't connected to a strength of character.

*Peeves stops everyone from going down a passageway, so Harry and Ron take a shortcut that gets them to the Tower. One wonders why the don’t take the shorter route every time.

*Harry is disappointed to find Malfoy in the Slytherin Common Room. He was hoping he would find him with Voldemort in the Room of Evil, I guess.

*And in comes Neville, reeking of slapstick.

*Harry begins making unnecessary trips to the bathroom to think about Malfoy. ‘Nuff said.

*When he’s not paying attention, Harry begins thinking about Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle as humans with a friendship—and even compares them to the Trio!

*Hermione’s still not speaking to Ron into March? Jeez. Ron okay, because he’s always got people to hang out with, but Hermione doesn’t even have SPEW.

*Well, I guess it’s not surprising given that we see Ron a little sick of Lavender after Christmas yet he’s still going out with her. Kids at Hogwarts take a way long time to get on with these things. It’s almost as if they arrange them around the plot schedule…

*Dogbreath and Dughead are the two politest nicknames Twycross has inspired. Hopefully they’re also the two lamest.

*Harry gives Ron a present on his birthday—then gives himself a birthday by checking to see if Malfoy’s out of bed yet.

*Everybody thinks Ron’s watch is important, but I’m not so sure. It could just be a standard coming-of-age present. ETA: Yup, pretty much. Lame present for Ron.

*ETA: Though at least Ron isn't wearing a broken watch like Harry.

*This chapter reminds me of the illogical proofs of the Werewolf!Malfoy story. Draco’s disappearing off the map several times a day all month because he’s in the RoR somehow becomes Draco disappearing for a week each month because he’s a werewolf.

*Harry, sadly, will not be able to follow Malfoy around all day. People would miss him. Maybe he could ask Old!Ginny for tips on this sort of thing, from when she used to follow him around. If she hadn’t been killed and stuffed in a suit of armor by the new and improved version.

*Ron starts acting funny, having eaten chocolates he thought were for him, but had actually been sitting in Harry’s trunk for several months under his socks and underwear. I’ll bet he’s feeling funny. He’s lucky there aren’t some owl droppings in those cauldrons.

*Not that there should be—owls don’t leave droppings, they make pellets! (I learned that here!) They’re magic owl droppings.

*At this point in the series, I don’t even have to ask why Harry threw the Potioned cauldrons into his trunk instead of throwing them away. ETA: I'm sure that's the type of thing that would be used well in fanfic, suggesting that Harry can't throw food away because he might be starved again. Of course in canon Harry doesn't even think to bring food on a 9-month camping trip.

*Having been hit, Harry’s quite keen on the idea of Ron running around making a fool of himself—and Romilda too, presumably, but they’re supposed to be friends. Harry has now paid back Ron’s tremendous sacrifice of not laughing when Harry got his nose broken.

*Harry naturally doesn’t simply tell Lavender that Ron’s been drugged, because that would be too simple.

*I hate to think of what the look Harry really did give Lavender looked like, if not apologetic. Amused, yes, but probably also pleased or something.

*Fred and George’s Potions get stronger the longer you have them? That couldn’t be dangerous….

*Once Ron’s no longer dosed, Slughorn suggests they all start drinking. At seven o’clock in the morning.

*And then Slughorn the Potion Master whose job it is to make antidotes stands around like an idiot while Harry roots through his Potions kit and grabs a bezoar that Slughorn’s got right there in the room. I’d really hate that if it didn’t kind of make Snape the one who really saved Ron.

*ETA: I guess this is foreshadowing for the entire upcoming war where all the adults stand around forgetting all the skills they have while Harry does the obvious thing and gets praised for his amazing ability to act under pressure.

*You know, I just realized it’s kind of convenient that nobody-including Slughorn himself, it seems-thinks Slughorn wasn’t the real intended victim for that poison. Hasn’t he been paranoid all year? Isn’t he in hiding? Isn’t he the horcrux guy?

*Luckily, since there’s no investigation of the murder at all, this oversight doesn’t stand out.





Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Wait, somebody tried to murder someone? I mean, I know that there was already an attempted murder that was unsuccessful and the person was never caught—but why think they would try again?

IITS
Oh no. Someone is dying from poison. Poisons I spent all of last week explaining how to counteract. Whatever will I do? It is a good thing Harry Potter who knows nothing about Potions is here to save his friend with my own bezoar that he gave me.

Idiot Picture
Nice that everybody just trusts that Dumbledore’s doing something to find out who the murderer is.

Final score: 3

Slytherin Liquid Count: Slughorn’s cracking open the mead before breakfast. Ron drinks love potion in chocolate cauldrons and antidote before sucking down the poisoned-laced mead.

H/D alert: Harry goes into full stalker mode, checking for Malfoy in the bathrooms and in bed, thinking about the friendship of the Slytherin Trio, moving closer to him in class and talking to him.

Comments

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I am stalking this community. It's like I'm Harry. ;)

Seriously, I feel for Ron in this chapter. His one featured birthday and Harry is like 'here present good that's you dealt with Malfoy Malfoy Malfoy Maaaaaaalfoy not in his bed whose bed is he in I'll kill that Parkinson what Ron I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, I have to defeat evil!'

You know, if I was Crabbe and Goyle I'd be pretty insulted to be compared to the Trio. I've never had long periods of not speaking to my friends, and apparently neither have they.

Harry says something to Malfoy that’s…not exactly antagonistic. And I really have no idea why

Me! Pick me, I know, it's all part of my theory! That also explains why Ron and Hermione (even after Ron himself is poisoned!) are not listening to Harry. Because Harry is really, clearly, obviously personally motivated! I'm not necessarily arguing romantically. But Malfoy is ignoring him and Harry is used to attention from him and part of Harry's new Intent Watching For Evil is, I think, canonically an attempt to find out why something has gone wrong with Harry's world and get that attention back.

It's IC too, she says wheedlingly. Harry always hated being in the papers but damn it, he had to be on the first page of those papers. Obviously, Ron and Hermione being more emotionally healthy people, they are kind of creeped out. They shy uneasily away from the topic.

While Harry continues to try and get Malfoy's attention, as he does in this scene. Not only does he interrupt when he could eavesdrop (and doesn't interrupt Malfoy, the personal focus of his interest, he waits until Malfoy is done talking but doesn;t wait to hear more about the plot), he interrupts to say 'I treat my friends this way.' It reminds me of Draco's 'I'd want revenge' in PoA. 'This is how I would react in your place. Me me me. Think about me in relation to you. Me! Pay attention to me!'

Ahem, and that is why I love that scene. Okay. *pats dishevelled hair, sits down, looks fearfully around*

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

Another good post.

The biggest surprise being that somebody other than Harry is getting a birthday.

There is life beyond Harry afterall!

Note that Harry would never dare try the bezoar trick with Snape. This is because Snape is a worse teacher than Slughorn.

Of course, Slughorn just tells the class to follow the book and nothing else. While Snape writes his own instructions on the chalk board. So its a "deliberately wrong textbook" vs. "Correct Handwritten Instructions". Wow, that Snape is a bad teacher, he doesn't want ANYONE to learn potions.

Harry reminds himself of Voldemort—awesome!

Well Riddle was popular and super-gorgeous. Harry can only relate to super people. Even though he is supposed to be the nerdy underdog.

Hermione hasn’t found anything about Horcruxes even though she’s been studying books of Dark Magic and learning how to make the most horrible Potions.

Thats right. Who lets a 12 year old sneak into the Dark Magic section? Then again, why would a 12 year old assume that Dark Magic was the answer to the current problem? There is something Riddlish about Hermione.

Susan amputates her own leg, because she’s not determined enough. And people are going to let Neville try this?

Neville is the power he knows not! Neville will accidently splatter Riddle with Mimbulus Mimbletonia goo and Riddle will MELT!!!!!

Old-fashioned wooden hoops appear. Old-fashioned for us readers, I assume. They can’t be all that old-fashioned to people who write with quills.

I know Wizards who use hoops are the force of the future. Muggles who have walked on the moon are passe. What will happen if the WW acknowledges the fact that muggles are far more advanced then them?

And in comes Neville, reeking of slapstick.

All hail Dark Lord Longbottom!

Having been hit, Harry’s quite keen on the idea of Ron running around making a fool of himself—and Romilda too, presumably, but they’re supposed to be friends. Harry has now paid back Ron’s tremendous sacrifice of not laughing when Harry got his nose broken.

Friends don't let Friends act drugged.


Once Ron’s no longer dosed, Slughorn suggests they all start drinking. At seven o’clock in the morning.

Who said Slug doesn't know how to party?

Luckily, since there’s no investigation of the murder at all, this oversight doesn’t stand out.

You know, nothing is ever investigated at Hogwarts. It makes me think that Hogwarts is some kind of DMZ area. What the hell goes on at Hogwarts besides classes?????

elanor

[(Anonymous)]

> >> "Won't refuse you anything,will he? Not his little Potions Prince."

A nice allusion to :

"Is this a title you're thinking of adopting?" (Lupin about The Half-Blood Prince)
"I should have thought being the "Chosen One" would be enough."

To me " The Potions Prince" seems cooler nickname than " The Half-Blood Prince", specially with pure-blood superiority in the WW. Snape really should have named himself "The Potions Prince" instead .

Also note that while Snape and Riddle had to give themselves impressive new names, Harry is cool enough to have his friends and the rest of WW to do so for him. Even Draco contributes later with 'the Chosen Captain' and 'the Boy Who Scored' , which both sound really flattering & cool out of context, btw (certainly cooler than " The Half-Blood Prince"). :)


>>> " 'Sir', said Harry, reminding himself irresistibly of Voldemort, 'I wanted to ask you smth'.
'Ask away, then, my dear boy, ask away…'
'Sir, I wondered what you know about…about Horcruxes?' "

Imho, Harry is kidding himself with the comparison here. He cleverly decided to lull Slughorn into 'a false sense of security' (which he has already lost after conversation with D. anyway) by… memorizing Riddle's words and exactly replaying the conversation Slughorn once had with Riddle , which naturally would remind Slughorn of that little talk's consequences and make him be on guard even more [even without D.'s request].

The only difference is the word 'dear', which I suspect is Rowling's subtle way to hint that Slughorn likes Harry more than he ever liked Tom (probably due to Lily's eyes and Snape's old potions book).

'I just thought there might be a bit more to the memory-'

Harry certainly will be a great Auror. Just wait for that bit later when he tries to chat Malfoy up instead of trying to find out more about what he is up to, which shows happy H/D shippers where Harry's priorities really are.

"Harry's cunning plan made me wish badly for 2 things:
1) JKR's book from Tom's point of view from his childhood to the unknown point in the past when he transformed from a brilliant&fascinating character to a classic illustration of that internet's Evil Overlord List (afterwards it's not interesting).
2) A good alternative universe fic, in which Harry is usual boy with alive parents, he and Tom are classmates fighting together a truly deadly&cunning enemy and their survival depends on Harry's ability to learn from Tom about true cunning and manipulation.
Such comedian potential! May be somebody read similar fic or is up to challenge to write it? *hopefully waiting for a link*

elanor-part 2

[(Anonymous)]

* " Neither Ron nor Hermione was at all sympathetic …this disastrous interview."

I too wouldn't be at all sympathetic. For entirely different reasons though (lack of any planning & thinking obviously).

In this book Hermione seems to be more interested in snogging & out-performing Harry in Potions than in defeating V. .Imo, it is a total destruction of her character . Wouldn't you too despite your dislike of her call such fic OOC?


>> "he (Harry) had hoped that Hermione might…give him a clue as to what Horcruxes were."

Why didn't he just ask D. about them? IITS

Also in Hermione's place I would be shocked to find this information in the library, considering that V. (who I dare to say was much brighter than our heroes and was obsessed with it) obviously couldn't.

Interesting that at this point Hermione doesn't consider searching in other places, like shops in Knockturn Alley (with Dobby's help) or the Room of Requirement which provided her with excellent information about DA previous year, and Harry still doesn't take D.'s so subtle hint about making people drunk to simplify manipulation. (D. showed Harry this trick almost every time he appeared in this book.) IITS.

>>> In the next chapter we are told : "he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy".
However, judging by unnecessary visits to the bathroom between lessons and barely 'sparing the watch a glance before peering more closely at the map' Harry's interest in Malfoy is on bar with Merope's stalking and progressed beyond obsession to smth dangerously resembling psychosis long ago.

>>> "Ron thought that Harry was unlikely to have any trouble with Slughorn at all."

Interesting whether JKR planned in advance to make Ron that foolish since book 1 (in which she made him a brilliant chess player, who is supposed to be skilled in strategy, which is extremely needed here)- inconsistent characterization ; was influenced by movies or decided to make Harry&Ron (naturally mainly Ron) stupid in order to emphasize Hermione's smartness (she is canon Mary-Sue after all according to JKR herself).If the last assumption is true, the difference between such approach and Lyra's & Will's portrayal in Pullman's "The Subtle Knife" is striking.

[jollityfarm.livejournal.com]

The biggest surprise being that somebody other than Harry is getting a birthday.

It's something I always noticed in the books. I guess that Ron "coming of age" means he really rather has to be noticed with gifts and such, otherwise people would get suspicious.

Blaise is in Potions. I don’t think I’d remembered that. So the four Slytherins are Draco, Blaise, Theo and one other person.

Pansy? Could well be. Or Millicent, perhaps. Just because she's a big lass with a face like a sack of spanners doesn't mean she's no good at potions :)

Of course both times it isn’t about Hermione being faulty so much as Harry (and Snape!) being better, but it still calls up a lot of fandom discussions about Hermione.

The cynic in me says that this is another of Rowling's suggestions that "the heart" wins out over "the head" in every situation. Which...no, no it doesn't. Sometimes, knowing the facts rather than bluffing your way through is actually much better. You want to know precisely how to rewire a plug, say, rather than letting your instincts guide you. There's room for both methods in the world, and it annoys me slightly that Rowling is (apparently) pushing the anti-intellectualist one.

doesn’t Hermione sound absolutely thrilled at describing all those most horrible books where they teach you to brew the most gruesome Potions?

Perhaps Hermione needs to get it out of her system, post-Hogwarts, in some career which allows her to indulge her appetite for the vile. I was thinking she could be an Auror, but that was Harry's idea, so clearly not! Maybe she could go into Healing, and specialise in gruesome injuries/infections/hexes, or sedating the violent mentally disabled. Or maybe politics, or the Department of Mysteries (which probably won't be so mysterious by the end of book seven, but, eh). Although really, Hermione's ideal career is that of Dark Lord. Never mind the "mudblood" thing, she could have some other group to scapegoat and put to death. There's always someone, that's the great thing :D

By the way, don’t forget to take a drink on that—Twycross remembers to tell us you usually can’t Apparate within Hogwarts before announcing they will be.

OH HAY GUYZ YOU CAN'T APPARATE IN HOGWARTS DID I MENTION THAT I MUST MENTION IT AGAIN AND AGAIN OH GOD. *falls down dead*

When he’s not paying attention, Harry begins thinking about Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle as humans with a friendship—and even compares them to the Trio!

Clearly, Rowling hasn't been paying attention to canon. People such as they could never experience true friendship! They have no souls, or hearts - why, they're not even human!

Not that there should be—owls don’t leave droppings, they make pellets!

Ron mistaking owl pellets full of mouse bones for tasty birthday chocolates would have been about six hundred times funnier than this.

At this point in the series, I don’t even have to ask why Harry threw the Potioned cauldrons into his trunk instead of throwing them away.

Maybe he was hoping to prank someone? Or...maybe he thought a crippling obsession with Romilda Vane would be to his advantage one day. Hmm.

Once Ron’s no longer dosed, Slughorn suggests they all start drinking. At seven o’clock in the morning.

He must be another comedy pisshead in the series. Alcoholic tendencies = hillarious! Again :(

You know, I just realized it’s kind of convenient that nobody thinks Slughorn wasn’t the real intended victim for that poison. Hasn’t he been paranoid all year? Isn’t he in hiding? Isn’t he the horcrux guy?

Well, he couldn't be seriously interesting to any murderers, because he's FAT and bumbling and eats a lot of sweeties and is FAT. Surely only noble people get targeted by beastly murderers? Or something.

[galaxianomiko.livejournal.com]

Seriously, doesn’t Hermione sound absolutely thrilled at describing all those most horrible books where they teach you to brew the most gruesome Potions?

You know, sometimes I kind of see Hermione as being the kind of person who can't help clicking on potentially horrible Internet links...because the curiosity is too great. And then she takes notes. At times she seems to be uncontrollably in that MUST KNOW EVERYTHING mode. (Although, I can't always mock that, because I know if I went to a library that had a section I wasn't allowed to read, I'd be totally obsessed with getting in there as often as possible. *is Bastian*)

Harry reminds himself of Voldemort—awesome!

Finally! Don't let Dumbledore change his mind!

*Peeves stops everyone from going down a passageway, so Harry and Ron take a shortcut that gets them to the Tower. One wonders why the don’t take the shorter route every time.

Personally, I don't understand why nobody just brings a broomstick with them and flies to class--isn't Gryffindor Tower up some ridiculous number of stairways? Hell freakin' no I'm not walking up and down flights of stairs if I have MAGIC.

elanor -part 3

[(Anonymous)]

Harry tells Ron he’s not fussed about Apparating, since he prefers flying.

Sure Apparating is extremely useful skill specially to somebody, whose life is threatened by a very powerful dark wizard? Imo, Harry not realizing it seems much less realistic than forgetting the definitions of the 3 D's, which are encompassed by the word "concentrate" anyway.

Hermione … studying books of Dark Magic and learning how to make the most horrible Potions. And taking copious notes and making practice samples. Well, you never know when those are going to come in handy.

You are joking, but in her&Harry's place I would be horribly frightened and eager to learn anything with the potential to help defeating V..
Learning DA appears essential to me. The potion V. used to revive himself & Horcruxes are both DA. In addition, Harry will have to fight V., who is an exceptional duelist with specialization in DA (he certainly used DA's curses in his fight with D. in the ministry). To have the slimmest chance of survival one has to know DA curses & their counter-curses thrown in a duel by either V. or his DE (they seemed to be pretty effective in MoM once members of OoTF arrived & they could start fighting realistically without killing all kids including Harry).
In GoF Harry's life was saved due to pure luck, which wouldn't last long in real life. Why neither Harry nor Hermione think about learning both advanced defensive spells&curses (with their counter-curses)and how D. expects Harry to survive a battle with V. is absolutely beyond me and can exist only in a badly written fairy-tale.
Junging by Sirius' words:"Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the DA" and his reassuring Harry that James was OK since he "always hated the DA"(so he didn't study them at all then?or at least not untill his Auror training?) Sun Tzu's words

"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

are unknown in the WW (even D.,who is an expert in DA,never told anything like that to Harry ). At present Harry seems to know only himself & the cost of mistake is too high.

Had somebody ever thougt about that aspect of the situation too?

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Draco’s the only person looking angrier than Hermione. I may not ship D/Hr, but their characters actually do have interesting connections throughout the books. That’s more obvious post-HBP.

'The Mudblood Granger' later reminds me of 'the Animagus Black' that Bellatrix calls Sirius, randomly.
Also, the bit with Malfoy having stuff spilled over him reminds me of Seamus with the bird poop. Keep twisting that knife!
Why is Draco slaving away here, anyway? He's already slacking off in McGonagall's class, there's no prize for finishing this week, and he knows he can't impress Slughorn.

I also love the way Draco’s speaking is described as "Malfoy’s rudeness"—because we know how offended our narrator is by kids talking in class when the Trio is doing it.

It made me laugh how Harry is innately sure that awful Snape is brushing aside Malfoy's behaviour (zomg, he TALKED? In CLASS?) and focusing on being pissed off with the teacher reprimanding. Certainly not the kind of thing McGonagall ever does (off the top of my head, I'm thinking with Umbridge in OotP at least twice, plus the end, where she essentially gives Harry points for threatening to hex Malfoy, before summoning Crabbe and Goyle for her luggage.)

So the four Slytherins are Draco, Blaise, Theo and one other person.

Yet weirdly it's Nott that Draco interacts with in the class.
(Hermione sitting with Ernie made me laugh, too. The Nevilles, Lunas and Hufflepuffs must count their lucky stars when the Trio have one of their regular hissyfits. A chance to interact with the stars of the school, if only for a day!)

This somehow inspires lots of jostling and fighting, despite the fact that we ought to be talking about 40 people in a room that regularly seats over four times that.

From sixteen year olds. More proof the WW never grows up, they just get bigger.

I love that Ron’s just resentful Harry didn’t give him a bezoar. Though Harry’s right on this one—they couldn’t both do it.

I love the argument switch to 'I had to soften him up so I can ask about horcruxes' as if Harry hasn't been skating through the classes for months out of laziness and attention-seeking. Damn you, Ron, if Harry doesn't get special treatment, the terrorists win!

Although again the author’s a little hard-pressed to really demonstrate what she’s talking about. The bezoar trick hardly shows an intuitive grasp of Potions—no more than knowing the Heimlich maneuver shows an intuitive grasp of medicine.

Yeah, the problem occurs personally not with accepting that Hermione is unimaginative and learns by rote rather than genuine intellectual curiousity, but by being asked to accept that Harry is a free thinker for following a different set of rules (which I think we are - note the heavy-handed bit where Ron's all 'You took a risk!' It's the height of bravery!), especially when he's also never shown an interest in any knowledge beyond what he learns for self-preservation (even with Quidditch, it's all instinctive and inborn.)

Whatever will I do? It is a good thing Harry Potter who knows nothing about Potions is here to save his friend with my own bezoar that he gave me.

LOL, this reminds me of the GOF recaps, where Krum the 18 year old Quidditch star (ie. must have decent nerves under pressure) and brave Champion is terrified of a confused old man (you could fanwank that someone being physically fearless wouldn't necessarily mean they weren't intimidated by the mentally ill, but then it wouldn't explain Harry, who's hardly Mr. Emotionally Sensitive Healer type.) and easily Stunned, so Harry the hero can step in.

Note that Harry would never dare try the bezoar trick with Snape. This is because Snape is a worse teacher than Slughorn.

He also has the kids wearing protective gloves, so clearly he's no heroic Hagrid. What if no-one recieves an injury in class all year round?! Way to mollycoddle them, ya cowardly Slytherin!

Ron starts acting funny, having eaten chocolates he thought were for him, but had actually been sitting in Harry’s trunk for several months under his socks and underwear.

Poor Ron. Second-hand love potion followed by second-hand poison. Even his plots have to reek of sidekick.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Harry tells Ron he’s not fussed about Apparating, since he prefers flying. I think he’s trying to subtly come out to Ron.

Heh. This bit kinda reminds me of Hermione and Divination. Like, big shock that you prefer the activities you learned instantly and are best at, rather than something that takes effort and you didn't master first try.

By the way, don’t forget to take a drink on that—Twycross remembers to tell us you usually can’t Apparate within Hogwarts before announcing they will be.

I don't care what the eventual pay-off is for this (I can only imagine Harry Apparating within Hogwarts - the walls do that for the rightful person, you know! - and Hermione's head exploding); it can't possibly be worth the ninety-two references to it per book.

Still, not exactly something to get infuriated about. Harry really needs to get used to other people having concerns other than him.

I feel the need for the Designated Hero category. See, that guy? The kid who's grumpy about the rare special occasions he doesn't benefit from privilege? The one smirking at the schlubs relying on work while he soaks up praise based on his superior blood and cunning cheats? Cheeking the teacher? (Slightly OT, but I do hate all this 'Lily was ZOMG so naughty and rebellious in no doubt entirely predictable ways!' Of course she was. It'd actually be rebellious of Rowling if Lily was shy, or conversely, a total flirt, or naughty in the James-esque 'acknowledged prat', or a total grind. But the comparison to Ginny leaves little doubt she'll have had tons of 'sassy' 'girl power' with no actual personality.) No, not Draco Malfoy, our plucky underdog!

Seems like Ravenclaws should be good at Apparating. It’s a mind-ish, airy thing. Like Slytherins are associated with Potions.

If a house other than Gryffindor is going to be good at something, first we need a reason why it sucks. (I guess everyone hating the teacher and flying being preferable is a start, but I really require an Occlumency style 'It's a strength to fail at it!' before I'm going to accept Ravenclaw trying to steal my favourites' rightful glory.)

Everyone looks annoyed at Harry. Quick! Somebody write an essay explaining how even here Harry isn’t really favored!

He's been unfairly treated before, so obviously all favouritism is null and void! (Note: this does not apply to other characters. Hagrid hating Slytherins before he's even a teacher does not equal out any privileges they may get from Snape, the little bastards.
And Hermione getting treated cruelly by prejudiced people and kindly by people who like her for equally arbitrary reasons like who she's friends with or her house is not the same thing at all!)

Ron okay, because he’s always got people to hang out with, but Hermione doesn’t even have SPEW.

I'm sure offscreen she was socialising with super BFF Ginny! It's just since she's choosing not to pursue her intended at present, JKR's ideas for conversations between them just sort of...dried up.

Dogbreath and Dughead are the two politest nicknames Twycross has inspired. Hopefully they’re also the two lamest.

I repeat. These kids are sixteen. WTF? You can see how this is a world where 'Phlegm' and 'git' are the height of wit.

Once Ron’s no longer dosed, Slughorn suggests they all start drinking. At seven o’clock in the morning.

I love that, again, Harry's noting that hopefully Slughorn will get drunk and he can manipulate the guy for info. (As well as laughing at his jokes. But not in a sucky-up, for his own benefit, Malfoy kinda way.) Is this like, Dumbledore's only 'move' to pass on? Hope that everyone you ever deal with will be a chronic alcoholic?

[courtaud.livejournal.com]

*Although again the author’s a little hard-pressed to really demonstrate what she’s talking about. The bezoar trick hardly shows an intuitive grasp of Potions
I think it shows that's Slughorn who is hard-pressed to find a reason why he should praise Harry and not punish him for sheer check. It is true that a bezoar is a instant multi-purpose antidote, but it is not what Harry was called to demonstrate.

*Malfoy’s hand goes to his wand here—the kid’s already jumpy and paranoid as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.
He has almost killed a fellow student and there is a poisoned bottle of mead gone missing. He is entitled to be jumpy!

*This chapter reminds me of the illogical proofs of the Werewolf!Malfoy story. Draco’s disappearing off the map several times a day all month because he’s in the RoR somehow becomes Draco disappearing for a week each month because he’s a werewolf.
I understand that someone sees a likeness between the 'gray and tired' Draco we see a few times during the year and the appearance of Lupin after the full moon.

And then Slughorn the Potion Master whose job it is to make antidotes stands around like an idiot while Harry roots through his Potions kit and grabs a bezoar that Slughorn’s got right there in the room.
The weird thing is, when on the Hogwarts Express a student was chocking, he intervened immediately and solved the situation.

*You know, I just realized it’s kind of convenient that nobody thinks Slughorn wasn’t the real intended victim for that poison. Hasn’t he been paranoid all year? Isn’t he in hiding? Isn’t he the horcrux guy?
But... but now he is at Hogwarts! the place is perfectly safe!