HBP Chapter Twenty-Three

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*After a year of endless and (to me) uninteresting discussions, it’s very hard for me to not automatically skip anything with "Horcrux" in the title.

*Harry goes back to Gryffindor, which means an obligatory "arguing with the fat lady" scene. You know, a magical portrait may sound enchanting, but as a security system it sucks. The Fat Lady’s got all the drawbacks of a human guard (she wanders away, falls asleep, gets into pissy moods and lies about the passwords) and none of the advantages (she doesn’t let in a kid she’s seen a million times if he’s forgotten the password, but lets in the wild-eyed shaggy murderer with the knife as long as he’s got one).

*I’d like to think Slytherin’s disappearing wall is a little more sophisticated, comically villainous passwords aside.

*Nick mentions the Baron again. I’m still wary of being too hopeful, but it honestly seems that since OotP (when it was introduced by the Sorting Hat’s new song) the books have consistently brought up that Nick and the Baron are friends. The Baron’s given him a sympathetic description of how Dumbledore looked when he came back to the castle, and Nick knows one of the Baron’s favorite pastimes is groaning and clanking in the Astronomy Tower.

*Harry, following his usual pattern, makes it clear he doesn’t care about the Bloody Baron, or anything else Nick might have to say that he doesn’t think concerns him directly.

*Slughorn tells us Horcruxes are "very dark stuff." So for anybody trying to figure out exactly what Dark Magic is, splitting your soul into pieces so that you don’t die counts. As does a spell that cuts like a knife, we’ll learn later. Causing painful skin ailments and mind-wipes are still okay.

*Harry recognizes a master at work watching Riddle try to get information out of Slughorn. Marvel at how blatantly obvious about it he is, so that Harry can clearly see him manipulating. Watch how he barely keeps himself from salivating as he asks the question—that’s the way it’s done. None of that amateurish stuff where it’s so subtle you’re not aware that it happening.

*Why does Slughorn’s face crumple when he describes what a Horcrux does? One would think he had seen it happen.

*Tom, Master of Subtlety, has now allowed his tongue to roll out on the floor and is audibly panting.

*Slughorn explains that splitting the soul is bad, mmmkay. Because it’s against nature. Unlike biting teacups, hamsters transmogrified into shoes and cars that fly as God intended. So they’re more like abortion, atheism and homosexuality—unnatural stuff!

*Wizards of a certain caliber have always been drawn to these aspects of magic. What, the murderous, dark kind or the immortality kind? Because I actually am seeing a pretty clear pattern between being too much of a creative thinker and being evil. (Note difference between creative thinker and grind.)

*Tom suggests, reasonably, that seven horcruxes would be better than one and Slughorn gets the vapors. My god, Tom! Isn’t it bad enough to think of killing one person! Imagine killing seven! One can see why Slughorn would be so oversensitive to the idea. Wizards are so non-violent as a rule.

*Harry’s surprised to see that the wild look of joy on Tom’s face does not enhance his handsome features. You’d think anything would enhance those handsome features. He’s really handsome, that Dark Lord!

*Still not seeing how Slughorn comes off all that badly in this memory. Or why there was any reason to hide it since it’s not like he gave Tom the idea for anything or helped him in his plan in any way. Or why it was so important for us to see the memory instead of Slughorn just confirming that Voldemort did ask him about Horcruxes once and all but announced his plan to make seven of his own as soon as possible.

*You know, I’m going to give Tom the benefit of the doubt on not killing Slughorn here and assume that while he for some reason hasn’t killed him for knowing about Tom’s interest in seven Horcruxes he has killed every single person along the way who gave him more practical help in making them.

*Dumbledore’s been hoping for this piece of "evidence" (not like he’s using it in a trial or solving a murder) for a long time. A time that would have been shorter if he hadn’t insisted on sending Harry after it.

*Dumbledore’s now figured out what to do…not that he’s going to share it with us outright. Harry will in fact end the book with little more knowledge than he’s got now.

*Harry asks if Voldemort didn’t possibly split his soul in two. Bless his little brain, he hasn’t worked his way up to seven yet even after that memory.

*Call me a Dark Wizard, but I’m a bit surprised that Voldemort’s the first one to ever split his soul into more than two pieces. I’ve spent six years with these people and I think they’d all have at least three soul pieces on their bathroom shelf by now.

*Frankly, I’m surprised Hufflepuff hasn’t been re-named "Bodies for Soul Splitting" House by now.

*Dumbledore explains how he knew the diary was a Horcrux because he’d never heard of anything so strange as a mere memory starting to think and act for itself. Unlike, you know, that painted portrait of a lady who just recently independently decided to lie to our hero about the password because he annoyed her. Or the photograph of Percy Weasley that decided to walk out of the picture on its own. Or the oil paintings surrounding Dumbledore that regularly comment on current events. Or the mirrored reflections that talk back.

*In the final battle Harry will fight under a red and gold standard that reads "I still don’t understand."

*Dumbledore then explains how the fact that the diary had another purpose besides being a Horcrux indicated to him that Voldemort had made or had been planning to make others. I mention this because that’s actually a nice piece of deductive reasoning that makes sense.

*Okay, maybe it’s a little tainted by the fact I just sat through:
Riddle: So if you can make one Horcrux, how about seven?
Slughorn: Seven? Why Seven?
Riddle: Seven is a magic number.
Slughorn: Still, seven Horcruxes?
Riddle: I like seven. Seven is a good number of Horcruxes to have.
Slughorn: Are you thinking of making a Horcrux, then?
Riddle: I’m thinking of making seven.

*Dumbledore again makes a veiled reference to his dead hand. Seems he was almost killed destroying the ring, but was saved because he’s so great and so is Snape. Can’t say things are looking too good for Harry, who’s going to have to destroy four more of these things without either of them.

*Btw, that wasn’t "the story of what happened to my hand" was it? Because if I were Harry and was expected to take it from here, I’d want more than just "terrible curse—good thing Snape was there and I’m so awesome."

*'The locket!' Harry said loudly. ‘Hufflepuff’s cup!’ I don’t know what’s sillier about the use of the word "loudly" here. The way it makes Harry sound mentally challenged, or the way it highlights JKR’s adverb-dependency.

*It doesn’t help that a couple paragraphs later Harry’s counting on his fingers. Probably loudly.

*Dumbledore suggests that Voldemort’s soul might also be encased in his cat Fiddle. Err…I mean his snake Nagini. Voldemort’s never read Diana Wynn Jones.

*I hope Nagini isn’t a Horcrux. I find the idea lame.

*Dumbledore says Harry can come on his next Horcrux hunt. Harry feels his heart lift because it’s good to not hear words of caution and protection for once. Frankly, when dealing with Gryffindor I think one should always go heavy on the words of caution and protection. Even if they’re just going into the bathroom.

*Hee. I love Lucius. When I picture him having to tell Voldemort about the diary I always picture Dr. Evil’s henchman having to tell him how they got sick of waiting for him so they went ahead and created Scott.

*So Lucius was also trying to get rid of the diary as an incriminating object in CoS, as was foreshadowed in the B&B scene. He really was trying to cut some ties there.

*I confess: I love FuckUp!Lucius.

*Remember Harry, even if Voldemort has a damaged soul his brain is intact. Given Voldemort’s brilliant plan in GoF, I think his brain being intact might actually be an advantage to the good guys.

*Dumbledore impresses on Harry that his ability to love really is amazing, after all he’s been through. Well, that ought to appeal to Harry. "It’s amazing that you are such a great guy what with all the assholes you’re surrounded by and all the great suffering you face every day. You really deserve extra credit just for not going postal and killing everyone. Instead you allow others to be your friend. How are you so awesome?"

*Dumbledore then goes on to explain, most wonderfully, that by "power of love" he means "vengeful rage and vague feeling that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer." Phew! I was worried about everything resting on Harry Potter’s capacity for love, but if you’re going to define love that way Harry’s your man.

*Dumbledore’s getting impatient with Harry now. Clever the way Rowling has Dumbledore be patient while Harry was not getting the obvious, but when it comes to the part of the story that any reader might question along with him he’s having none of it. Move along now. Nothing to see here.

*Dumbledore then goes on to give another inspiring speech about vengeance. The story’s about love, I tell you. Like City of God, the Godfather, Hamlet—it’s all about the love, baby!

*Another stunning piece of HP Logic: Voldemort kills Harry’s Mum and Dad. He accidentally gives him powers and occasional flashes into his mind. Yet Harry has never become tempted to become one of Voldemort’s followers. Which proves that Harry…is protected by his ability to love? WTF? I would say it more just suggests that becoming a follower of someone chasing you with murderous intent is a conflict of interest.

*In short: Pure of heart my arse.

*So the point of all Dumbledore’s hyperventilating is that the Prophecy that we all thought was so useless at the end of the last book was in fact just as useless as we all thought at the end of the last book. Good to know. Let’s move on.

*This chapter may read differently if you’re a Gryffindor, and the only two choices you’d really consider are walking into the arena with your head held high or being dragged. Not so much if you’re Slytherin (Can I just pay a fine in lieu of deadly combat?) a Hufflepuff (My friends and I drove the enemy out of town with pitchforks last night so I wouldn’t have to fight him alone) or a Ravenclaw (our society outlawed mortal combat for sport years ago because it’s stupid, so we arranged a prison break last night and I’m writing you from Venice).

*Seriously, Harry’s medieval mind is far purer than his heart. When he says that "some people" wouldn’t see the difference between those two situations of deadly combat, you can practically hear the contempt for those kinds of people—they’re just too resigned and craven to not be inflamed the way Harry is by the prospect. It totally doesn’t occur to him that someone not seeing a big difference between those two choices might not be giving up but thinking bigger.




Designated Hero
Harry is Pure of Heart. We know this by the way he looked into the Mirror of Desire and saw not riches or immortality but the ability to stop the guy who was trying to kill him. So not remarkable in any way. Even if Harry didn’t already have riches and even if Harry weren’t too young at eleven to want immortality.

Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Without this rule this chapter would be two and a half pages long. Most of it’s devoted to Harry learning about the difference between being dragged into an arena for deadly battle and walking into the arena with your head held high, which he learned more dramatically in GoF.

IITS
Err…I know Tom’s questions about horcruxes are a little morbid, but why is Slughorn acting like Tom’s eaten a kitten in front of him? Oh…IITS.

Idiot Picture
So Voldemort’s hidden his soul bits all in places that one can figure out from reading his autobiography, because it never occurred to him that once he started taking over the world anyone would bother to be interested in his past. Thanks Tom!

Informed Attributes
I can’t believe I just read a chapter in a children’s book devoted to twisting the power of love into a thirst for vengeance because that’s our hero’s real strong point.

Ken and Andrew’s Rule of Plot Holes
"But sir, why did I spend the whole last big fat book running after that Prophecy that you were keeping secret from me when it was totally redun…" SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME TALK ABOUT LOVE!

Misdirected Answering
Yes, but how do I destroy the damn things, sir? Without shriveling up limbs right and left?

Final score: 7

Slytherin liquid count: Flashback to Slughorn means Pensieve water and more mead.

Comments

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore impresses on Harry that his ability to love really is amazing, after all he’s been through. Well, that ought to appeal to Harry. "It’s amazing that you are such a great guy what with all the assholes you’re surrounded by and all the great suffering you face every day. You really deserve extra credit just for not going postal and killing everyone. Instead you allow others to be your friend. How are you so awesome?"

*Dumbledore then goes on to explain, most wonderfully, that by "power of love" he means "vengeful rage and vague feeling that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer." Phew! I was worried about everything resting on Harry Potter’s capacity for love, but if you’re going to define love that way Harry’s your man.

Haha! The more I read about this kind of placating of Harry from Dumbledore and pals, the more I'm convinced that Harry and Tom are the same person. They constantly have to remind Harry that he is different when most times, he isn't.

*Still not seeing how Slughorn comes off all that badly in this memory. Or why there was any reason to hide it since it’s not like he gave Tom the idea for anything or helped him in his plan in any way. Or why it was so important for us to see the memory instead of Slughorn just confirming that Voldemort did ask him about Horcruxes once and all but announced his plan to make seven of his own as soon as possible.

Its a little distressing when a story has a psychopath, crazy and inept villain who is still smarter than the hero. Then again, if Harry is Tom, it all makes sense.

*I confess: I love FuckUp!Lucius.

Poor Lucius was playing for bigger stakes. He wanted Harry in his pocket and trained as a baby dark lord. It could have worked if Draco wasn't lacking social graces. Sigh.

[soldurios.livejournal.com]

So Voldemort’s hidden his soul bits all in places that one can figure out from reading his autobiography, because it never occurred to him that once he started taking over the world anyone would bother to be interested in his past. Thanks Tom!

Considering the 'hero' of the books, that had to happen. It's not as though Harry is actually going to do some research on Riddle all on his own.

Though it would be absolutely hysterical if Dumbles turned out to be wrong concerning all the horcruxes and Harry actually has to try and nab a few of Voldemort's pensieves to try and figure things out.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

*Harry’s surprised to see that the wild look of joy on Tom’s face does not enhance his handsome features...He’s really handsome, that Dark Lord!

Interesting whether Harry would comment on TR's handsomeness in the graveyard in GoF, if he remained handsome.

*Dumbledore again makes a veiled reference to his dead hand...Can’t say things are looking too good for Harry, who’s going to have to destroy four more of these things without either of them.

May be Snape will help Harry, continuing HBP's tradition, and D will help symbolically through Fawkes.

*Dumbledore suggests that Voldemort’s soul might also be encased in his cat Fiddle. Err…I mean his snake Nagini. Voldemort’s never read Diana Wynn Jones.

Is Diana Wynn Jones a good writer, who wrote a book with similar plot & villain?

*Dumbledore then goes on to explain, most wonderfully, that by "power of love" he means "vengeful rage and vague feeling that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer."
*Dumbledore then goes on to give another inspiring speech about vengeance.!

I have always viewed Mordaunt in "Twenty Years After" by Alexandre Dumas as a somewhat tragic character. He is always described [in every internet site I found/ Dumas book/even by Russian author playing his role in the movie] as a black villain, deserving death and contempt alone. However, his only sin appears to be his firm belief "that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer" and acting upon it, which then was and even now is a pretty standard moral code idea, shared by many people all over the world. Of cause, he didn't try to kill them in 'honorable' way, but Harry doesn't care how he kills V, either.

*This chapter may read differently if you’re a Gryffindor, and the only two choices you’d really consider are ... Not so much if you’re Slytherin... a Hufflepuff... or a Ravenclaw...

Specially liked a Ravenclaw version,but Hufflepuff's is very cute too.
Also,isn't Harry going to kill V with his friends,OoTF's members,pets,his parents'& RAB's help,...? One can say that he's using Gryffindor+Hufflepuff versions.

*Even if Harry didn’t already have riches and even if Harry weren’t too young at eleven to want immortality.

Good point!

*Misdirected Answering:Yes, but how do I destroy the damn things, sir?

Sistermagpie, how do you expect JKR reveal this secret in 6-th book, when we still have the whole 700-pager-long 7'th book concentrating on a Horcruxes chase, which should have lots of mystery, suspense and surprises?

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

*Harry’s surprised to see that the wild look of joy on Tom’s face does not enhance his handsome features. You’d think anything would enhance those handsome features. He’s really handsome, that Dark Lord!

You know, I really think there's a supersekrit message about appearances slipped in there. After all, Tom completely neglected his own adonis-like beauty in striving for more lofty goals and look how far he got! JKR essay about Hollywood and appearances not mattering is now completely backed up. Go Team Evil!

*In the final battle Harry will fight under a red and gold standard that reads "I still don’t understand."

Just be glad he can find the right end of the wand.

*I confess: I love FuckUp!Lucius.

My favorite Lucius moment is actually when Voldemort announces that he ran from the Dark Mark in the sky. Because I can totally just see that in my head.

*Dumbledore then goes on to explain, most wonderfully, that by "power of love" he means "vengeful rage and vague feeling that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer." Phew! I was worried about everything resting on Harry Potter’s capacity for love, but if you’re going to define love that way Harry’s your man.

I thought about this for such a long time, actually. Like, WTF Dumbledore could have been smoking in that scene. But if you tie it in to the overall Slytherin theme, it makes more sense. Slytherins never do anything unless the wound or the reason is personal, they have no "because it's right" they have, "because it will protect me, mine, and my own interests." And as selfish as that is, it also means that they have this passion and drive for whatever it is they're doing or fighting for that others might not. Even Neville, probably the most morally upright person in Gryffindor, needed Bellatrix to escape prison in order to really work in the DA. And the beautiful thing about that is, it means that where others don't have choices, Slytherins do. Rather than be forced by any outside sense of right or wrong, they sort of create a right and a wrong based on every individual situation, therefore making all their actions a conscious decision on their parts. Like, “alright, you can force me to do this, but I’m doing it on my own terms.”

And I think that that's actually what Dumbledore's getting at here, and you kind of have to accept JKR's whole, "Voldemort can do nothing but DIE because he CANNOT LOVE" argument to accept it, but the fact is, Harry has to kill him. But if he elects to kill him because of the people who have come before him, rather than because of some rigid moral code forced down on him, then he has made a conscious choice to do something based on his own personal reasoning and his resolve will be that much stronger. If that makes much sense. And I think that that cuts right to the heart of what Slytherin really stands for. In some ways, the theme of the books, choice. I think it's less about Harry's suddenly going homicidal and hellbent on honor killing than it is about the process there. If that makes sense. And doesn't sound like it's trying to justify something completely horrible, there's sort of a time and place for it all.

[skelkins.livejournal.com]

Still not seeing how Slughorn comes off all that badly in this memory. Or why there was any reason to hide it since it’s not like he gave Tom the idea for anything or helped him in his plan in any way.

Oh, I totally get why Slughorn might have wanted to hide this memory. What I don't get is why he thought that altering his memory so that he just seems more disapproving of Tom Riddle than he really was in any way fixes it.

The thing about this memory is that it raises the question of why old Sluggie didn't tell anyone about this incident during Voldemort's first rise. You'd think that the Ministry, if no one else, might have appreciated the tip-off that, hey, you know this guy running the organization that you're fighting? The Dark Lord who leads the DEs? Yeah, well, I knew him back when he was a student, and even then, he was totally obsessed with horcruxes. By now, he's probably gone and made himself one, maybe even more, so it might be a good idea to send the aurors out to look for them, yeah? 'Cause otherwise, you're never going to be able to get rid of him.

Of course, I have no problems understanding why he didn't inform the authorities, what with both the DEs and Crouch's jackbooted thugs to worry about and all. But it seems a bit weird to me that he should have decided that the really incriminating and upsetting thing about the memory was his lack of disapproval, rather than, y'know, the part where Riddle asks him about the horcruxes in the first place.

Oh, but I'm forgetting that nobody knew that Voldemort was actually Tom Riddle! Except for Dumbledore. And all of Riddle's other old Professors. And all of his old school chums. And many of their friends and relations. And...well, and just about everyone else in the wizarding world, it seems.

Continuity, Jo! Is it really so much to ask?

Or why it was so important for us to see the memory instead of Slughorn just confirming that Voldemort did ask him about Horcruxes once and all but announced his plan to make seven of his own as soon as possible.

But that would only have taken a couple of lines of dialogue to establish! See, done this way, we had enough material for nearly an entire chapter!

How else were we supposed to occupy our time while waiting for June?

You know, I’m going to give Tom the benefit of the doubt on not killing Slughorn here...

OTP.

There can be no other explanation.

Dumbledore then goes on to explain, most wonderfully, that by "power of love" he means "vengeful rage and vague feeling that honor demands you murder your parents’ killer." Phew!

Even if you define love that way, though, isn't Harry still fucked? He can't even work up enough vengeful rage to cast a decent Cruciatus Curse, for heaven's sake!

Really, the kid's not too swift at either love or hate. I'm just hoping that "rather ineffectual self-righteous indignation" is actually the power that Voldemort knows not, because otherwise, Harry's toast.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

I agree with your analysis of Slytherin thinking - at least it's what I gleaned as well, reading the books - but I don't think that that's what Dumbledore is saying here. I tend to read it the way sistermagpie does. I also tend to see it as a reinforcement of the books basic credo: 'if you're born of the right people you can't do any wrong'.

Harry's 'love' is vengeful love for his sainted dead parents that can only be expressed by annihilating their murderer, it's vengeful love for the WW - Slytherins are not really wizards, the slinkies, dark monsters to a man! - that can only be expressed by removing the dark monster. I think what JKR strives to say is that it's not selfish - or intelligent, but that's another rant :) - but selfless. Harry may well eviscerate Draco for pleasure and curiosity, but he won't kill Voldie because he gains anything from it. He may be the only one who can, but that's not the reason why he will try his spirited best to do it. He'll try and do it for revenge.

Now I'm humming 'It's the Power of Love...'

Y'know, I rilly rilly try and not psychoanalyse authors, but sometimes what they write is a huge temptation. However I'll be a gentlelady and refrain.

Love HUMPH! Draco is the one doing things for love: love of glory, love of his mum, love of his honour (in the Medieval sense), love of his own life... As static_pixie says, Slytherin seem to embody love more as an all compeliing irrational yearning of the heart.

On second thoughts, maybe JKR has a view of christian love that starts with 'venceange is mine, saith the lord'... Dunno...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally get why Slughorn might have wanted to hide this memory. What I don't get is why he thought that altering his memory so that he just seems more disapproving of Tom Riddle than he really was in any way fixes it.

I totally take back my original comment--*this* is what's weird about it, yes. I think I got confused because when you hear about this hidden memory you naturally assume some big surprise hidden there, and the memory is exactly the same both times. It's just the second one is more detailed. So Slughorn looks exactly the same in both memories. Even with the disapproval the important information is that Voldemort asked about Horcruxes, and frankly he seems pretty disapproving in the second memory, doesn't he? Everything he says about Horcruxes is negative.

Really, the kid's not too swift at either love or hate. I'm just hoping that "rather ineffectual self-righteous indignation" is actually the power that Voldemort knows not, because otherwise, Harry's toast.

LOL. Yeah, Harry's pretty much toast. The alchemical process he's going to isn't so much turning lead into goal as copper into slightly shinier copper.

[skelkins.livejournal.com]

Maybe he meant to start his Big Foggy Fake Memory Insertion thing a few minutes earlier in the memory, and just missed.


So Slughorn looks exactly the same in both memories.

But he SHOUTED in the fake version! Loudly! And everyone knows that shouting loudly in denunciation of wrong-doing is what proves that you're a really good person.

On my first read, I thought that the obscured part was going to show Slughorn significantly aiding and abetting the little psychopath in some way. I was actually really disappointed when it didn't, because the guy who once taught forbidden Dark Arts to a kid who then grew up to be the leader of a band of murderous thugs, and who now feels just terrible about it, is so much more interesting a character to me than this guy who feels vaguely guilty because he...well, uh, because he doesn't feel that he expressed his disapproval loudly enough this one time. Or something.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

if you’re a Gryffindor, and the only two choices you’d really consider are walking into the arena with your head held high or being dragged. Not so much if you’re Slytherin (Can I just pay a fine in lieu of deadly combat?) a Hufflepuff (My friends and I drove the enemy out of town with pitchforks last night so I wouldn’t have to fight him alone) or a Ravenclaw (our society outlawed mortal combat for sport years ago because it’s stupid, so we arranged a prison break last night and I’m writing you from Venice).

I just have to say that this is the best summation of House differences I've ever seen.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

But it seems a bit weird to me that he should have decided that the really incriminating and upsetting thing about the memory was his lack of disapproval, rather than, y'know, the part where Riddle asks him about the horcruxes in the first place.

...yeah. That puzzled me too. He's got this weird ethical code (like a lot of HP characters) where gestures matter more than concrete actions.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Maybe he meant to start his Big Foggy Fake Memory Insertion thing a few minutes earlier in the memory, and just missed.

Now you just have to explain how this bit has convinced half the fandom that you can easily fake a memory in a Pensieve. I swear I've read a dozen things about how the Pensieve memory is faked because we saw how easily that could be done in HBP. Funny, I thought HBP was showing you couldn't do that...

[skelkins.livejournal.com]

Well, only thin people are smart enough to do it properly, duh. Fat people are funny! They can't do anything right!

[galaxianomiko.livejournal.com]

A time that would have been shorter if he hadn’t insisted on sending Harry after it.

Oh good, it isn't only me thinking he spent an awful lot of the book dicking around.

I hope Nagini isn’t a Horcrux. I find the idea lame.

Almost as much as if Harry's one. Fanfic ahoy!

I confess: I love FuckUp!Lucius.

In the same way that Draco's more interesting as himself versus the fanon ideal, Lucius as a screwup henchman is way more endearing than him being Mr.Cool and Collected Evil Guy.

[jollityfarm.livejournal.com]

Soon, I will have to do my own chapter. I am behind now! Yay! Perhaps I'll have to do two. I can't remember. Oh well.

the books have consistently brought up that Nick and the Baron are friends

I hope the last book will give us more backstory to the Hogwarts House ghosts, esp. the Baron. Seems like he might be kind of awesome. Although he might be a huge disappointment, like Sluggy was to me. God, we'll probably find out that he was in love with Lily too. As a ghost. But yeah, I do think there actually will be a little backstory, because Rowling did mention something about finding out why some people become ghosts in the last book.

Causing painful skin ailments and mind-wipes are still okay.

I guess that's okay because it's not actually killing anyone? I hear a million canon-fans go "Duh!" at that pronouncement, but killing is rather straightforward, compared to messing in someone's memory or scarring them for life. I guess the "Gryffindor" way of thinking goes thusly: killing someone is the worst thing you can do, therefore anything that isn't killing someone or threatening to do so isn't so bad, so nobody has any business getting upset about them. I don't know, I guess I need someone to be patronising to me about it :P

One would think he had seen it happen.

Perhaps he has, although that'd be far too interesting for a character that's supposed to be comic relief - and to suck up to Harry, of course.

Slughorn explains that splitting the soul is bad, mmmkay. Because it’s against nature.

I don't think Sluggy really thought this argument through. Probably too stunned by the pulchritude of the youthful Tom Riddle to think clearly.

Wizards are so non-violent as a rule.

Killing someone is a great sin - unless, of course, it was in a prophecy. Or if you must get you revenge for something or other. Or if they pissed you off. Or if the guy you take orders from told you this person has to die. But other than that, terribly bad news!

A time that would have been shorter if he hadn’t insisted on sending Harry after it.

Well, they've got to spread out the book so that it lasts a full school year. At least it wasn't padded out with extra musings on the sweet curve of Ginny's soulful blah blah puke. Dithering and pointless as the flashbacks may be, at least they're not the teenage romance dross.

Bless his little brain, he hasn’t worked his way up to seven yet even after that memory.

I assume here that Rowling is either considering her much younger audience - the primary school age - or she thinks her average reader is as thick as a brick sandwich. Perhaps I'm biased here. Perhaps it's because, beastly robot that I am, I don't remember what it was to be young. Feel free to say *offers sacrifice*

I’m a bit surprised that Voldemort’s the first one to ever split his soul into more than two pieces

Perhaps he isn't - perhaps he's just the first one that these people know about. There may be some genfic in the backstory of a person, several centuries ago, with bits of soul all over the place.

I hope Nagini isn’t a Horcrux. I find the idea lame.

Which means she probably is one, since Rowling does not shy away from lame in any way. In fact, she embraces lame like a dear friend and so Nagini's death will probably be a huge drama complete with explosions and Voldemort screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" in slow motion. You cannot defeat the lame, alas.

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Nagini's death will probably be a huge drama complete with explosions and Voldemort screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" in slow motion.

I have this vision of when Flotsam and Jetsam the eels die in the Little Mermaid now! 'My precious poopsies!'

I guess the "Gryffindor" way of thinking goes thusly: killing someone is the worst thing you can do, therefore anything that isn't killing someone or threatening to do so isn't so bad, so nobody has any business getting upset about them.

You're forgetting the issue of the Dark Arts, whereupon threatening to kill people, nearly killing people, or through inaction endangering lives is fine as long as you didn't use, or want to use the Dark Arts. (Which is easy, because they're whatever we want them to be.) Harry can kill Voldemort, because Harry's never shown an interest in the Dark Arts (to be honest, at this point, it's just kind of amusing how awful intellectual people are, so even Voldemort has to be asking teachers for help and seeking knowledge, rather than making clear his Darkness from the start by stuff like face-mutilation, or beating up classmates.) except the ones that aren't dark, but instead light and fluffy; like the Unforgiveables, stuff labelled 'For enemies', or spells that further disadvantage Squibs and Muggles.
I love the end of HBP, where Harry's all 'I should have suspected the Prince was Teh Evil, he taught me the Dark Arts!' (and of course the obligatory 'You're blaming yourself too much, Harry.' Because the guilt of learning cool hexes and acing a class all year is so palpable in this book.) and 'Geez, I feel a tiny drop of compassion; even though I always hated Draco for his fascination with the Dark Arts, rather than because he nearly killed my friend or any reason that I actually hated him for, rather than this retroactive one pulled out of JKR's ass.' (Pop Quiz: which of these characters follows nearly killing a classmate with a hot make-out session and attendance at a Quidditch victory party; and which by edging closer to a nervous breakdown?)

Dithering and pointless as the flashbacks may be, at least they're not the teenage romance dross.

Get ready for next week, and finding out who the life and soul of the Gryffindor Quidditch team is!!!!!

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It is kinda amusing how handsome young Tom Riddle can implant a false memory so well that no-one except Dumbledore ever finds out; but Slughorn the DADA heifer can't even fix his own.

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After a year of endless and uninteresting discussions, it’s very hard for me to not automatically skip anything with "Horcrux" in the title.

Would you like to discuss Snape’s loyalties? I hear there’s some debate over them!
(I only want to hear about Horcruxes if, as theorised, they belong to people like Zacharias and Marietta, and the Trio rather than fighting dragons and trolls; have to spend the entire book making nice to underlings.)

Harry learning about the difference between being dragged into an arena for deadly battle and walking into the arena with your head held high, which he learned more dramatically in GoF.

To be honest, even if the cause was fighting for NAMBLA, against a nuclear bomb, I can’t see a Gryffindor having to be dragged into a arena. The whole point of an arena is it’s filled with people. People who might think you were a coward if you didn’t fight! (Not to mention, it’s a battle – competition, baby! And of course, being one of God’s Chosen House just ups the chances that up entering the arena, against all the odds, somehow, you’ll win, without so much as an unattractive injury.)

Isn’t it bad enough to think of killing one person! Imagine killing seven! One can see why Slughorn would be so oversensitive to the idea. Wizards are so non-violent as a rule.

LOL. Just call Soul Parts 1-7 Marietta, Draco, McLaggen, Zacharias, Dudley, Rita, andSnape. There, see that doesn’t sound so bad, now, does it?

I hope Nagini isn’t a Horcrux. I find the idea lame.

So, if Nagini dies of like, old age, does Voldemort lose a soul-part? Because I’m thinking snakes aren’t immortal (unless they are in the Potterverse, along with hearing and the whole bitey issue that cropped up in OotP.)

Yes, but how do I destroy the damn things, sir? Without shriveling up limbs right and left?

I don’t see losing limbs being that offputting for a Gryffindor (Harry got over those nancyboy worries about scarring from being an Auror in GoF awfully quickly) – quite the opposite. Every missing finger will stand out like a badge of honour!

Dumbledore explains how he knew the diary was a Horcrux because he’d never heard of anything so strange as a mere memory starting to think and act for itself. Unlike, you know, that painted portrait of a lady who just recently independently decided to lie about the password because (Harry) annoyed her.

Much as I detest Ginny now, I always thought she got kind of a harsh reception from Arthur (complete with the ever-creepy Molly thanking the menfolk for saving her silly little girl) about the diary. (Although, of course, no-one else ever found out it was her, presumably, lest it have some kind of realistic effect.) The Marauder’s Map talks back without having a visible ‘brain’, after all.

Wizards of a certain caliber have always been drawn to these aspects of magic. What, the murderous, dark kind or the immortality kind? Because I actually am seeing a pretty clear pattern between being too much of a creative thinker and being evil. (Note difference between creative thinker and grind.)

Heart over head, baby. I kinda love how heavy the message of this is in this chapter – ‘This is just…*ba da DUM* academic, right, Tom?’ Note how awful intellectual curiousity, especially about the totally arbitrary Dark Arts (the entire subject of Horcruxes is banned by Dumbledore? How very Umbridge of him.) is, whereas Harry’s nosiness being devoid of any kind of smarts is healthy and positive. (You’d think that the list of characters described as ‘talented’ wizards who seem fascinated with spells designed to inflict harm would be fairly long – Snape, Harry, Hermione, the Twins, Ginny…)

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Riddle: Seven is a magic number.

You know, he says that, but then this is written by the woman who apparently thinks being the seventh child of um…some people is of Huge Significance, so I wouldn’t be surprised if three or nine of eleventy-four had been a magical number.

Another stunning piece of HP Logic: Voldemort kills Harry’s Mum and Dad. He accidentally gives him powers and occasional flashes into his mind. Yet Harry has never become tempted to become one of Voldemort’s followers. Which proves that Harry…is protected by his ability to love? WTF? I would say it more just suggests that becoming a follower of someone chasing you with murderous intent is a conflict of interest.

So much for the world not being all evil Death Eaters and good people – I kinda love the leap from ‘You don’t want to follow the guy who killed your parents – congratulations!’ (this is a huge resistance effort since Voldemort’s done nothing but try and persuade Harry to join his cause.) to ‘You must be pure of heart!’ Because it’s not like you could be a person with a hatred filled empty heart and have no interest in joining the Death Eaters, like Umbridge. Or that you could be a total psycho but not follower material – Riddle was never tempted to align himself with say, Grindelwald, after all. (This bit reminds me of the retarded bit earlier, where Hermione’s all ‘The Prince sounds like a jerk!’ and Harry’s confused: ‘But…he doesn’t sound like a Death Eater.’ And the continuation: the Trio are way too low-class to ever be accepted into the DEs. Yes, we get that. You’ve formed your own group based on elitism, superiority, and hexing the shit out of anyone who looks at you wrong, well done.)

Dumbledore impresses on Harry that his ability to love really is amazing, after all he’s been through. Well, that ought to appeal to Harry. "It’s amazing that you are such a great guy what with all the assholes you’re surrounded by and all the great suffering you face every day. You really deserve extra credit just for not going postal and killing everyone. Instead you allow others to be your friend. How are you so awesome?"

Hee! My favourite part about the love speech is how impersonal it is. I guess by book six, we’re supposed to see Harry’s warm heart full of affection as a given, but you’d think there might be some kind of mention of um…the people he loves? Because really, it seems like we’ve got Dead People It’s Easier to Care About in an Abstract Way, and People Harry Finds Irritating and Enjoys Hurting Until They Demonstrate their Commitment to His Desires Above Their Own. Harry’s feelings here are all the ever-present ‘flames’ of hate, there’s no touching on family or friends as anything other than motivators for revenge, even the all-consuming Ginny obsession is totally dormant.