OOTP Chapter Twenty-Two: "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Mrs. Norris hissing at them is quite interesting.
I can’t help but remember how in Lord of
the Rings all the animals got upset every time the Nazgûl came near. Maybe Harry’s
recent semi-possession has left an even stronger trace of evil around him than
usual, and this is worrying the nearby animals

* Going to Dumbledore’s office makes me wonder where
the heads of house have their offices. I don’t think we ever hear of anybody
going to McGonagall’s office with their problems, so it seems that Gryffindors
at least have no teacher to turn to if something goes wrong.

* Actually, that goes without saying. They wouldn’t
want to encourage any weakness in the Gryffs by giving them outside help with
their problems. Survival of the fittest is the way forward. Social Darwinism
red in tooth and claw.

* Dumbledore seems to be confusing “not letting on
that he cares about Harry” with “averting his eyes whenever Harry’s in the room
and refusing to ever look at him”. Even if Dumbledore thought of Harry as just
another pupil, you’d still expect him to look the boy in the face when they
were having a direct conversation. No wonder Harry feels so weirded out.

* Just a minor and pedantic nit-pick here, but would
Dumbledore really use the term “Heads”? It would seem much more in-character
for him to use the full “Headmasters”.

* I really can’t imagine what the point of checking
that instrument was, unless it’s to make Dumbledore look wise and mysterious.
Although knowing Dumbledore, that would probably be reason enough for him to do
it.

* Mrs. Weasley’s clock isn’t all that “excellent”.
It just tells you that your family member is in danger, not what sort of danger
or what you can do about it. All it can do is make you feel worried and
impotent.

* This scene would be much more poignant if Mr.
Weasley had actually died.

* I’m not sure why Phineas would need to fake being
asleep like that, unless he’s unbelievably lazy and doesn’t want to help Arthur
in any way. Perhaps being a Slytherin he just has a compulsion to try and
deceive people whenever he can.

* Apparently Sirius’ house is “much more convenient
for the hospital than The Burrow.” I’m not sure why, given the forms of magical
transportation available to them. Concepts of distance must be pretty
meaningless when you can magic yourself halfway across the country in less time
than it would take to walk down to the local shops.

* As an aside: I think JKR said in one of her
interchangeable interviews that inter-continental Apparition is very difficult.
Does anybody know if this is a distance thing, or is there some magic about
continental boundaries that makes Apparition difficult? If it’s the latter,
then we’d have the seemingly rather odd situation of it being easier to
Apparate from London to Athens than from Gibraltar to Tangiers; if the latter,
then why not just say “long-distance Apparition” rather than specifically
“inter-continental Apparition”?

* Ah wait, I suppose Dumbledore can’t look directly
at Harry, because when he does Harry wants to murder him. Although I’m not sure
why it happens now specifically – Harry’s been carrying a bit of Voldie’s soul
around for most of his life and not wanted to attack Dumbledore like this
before now, so it can’t be that, and Voldemort doesn’t seem to have enough
control over Harry’s mind to deliberately make him feel things like this. Maybe
it’s just coincidence, like when he was doing detention with Umbridge. Maybe
Voldie’s angry that Arthur’s still alive. Or is it just the after-effects of
the vision, making Harry feel what Voldemort would feel in the situation, and
being somehow triggered by direct eye contact?

* Also, Harry wanting to bite Dumbledore seems a bit
slash-y to me. I suppose that a H/DD subtext would fit the whole “spurned
lover” thing Harry’s got going in this book.

* Sirius is “unshaven”. To be fair, I think that if
I were woken up in the middle of the night and told that one of my friends had
almost been killed by a giant snake, I might have more pressing things to worry
about than having a shave.

* Sirius is being unusually clever for a Gryffindor,
and not just rushing off without thinking of the consequences. No wonder he was
killed off at the end of this book; he just isn’t stupid brave enough to
share in Harry’s post-Voldemort utopia.

* “‘We don’t care about the dumb Order!’ shouted
Fred,” showing why he isn’t mature enough to join it.

* Fred’s insult makes Sirius go pale, which is more
of a negative reaction than we ever see him having to Snape’s taunts.
Nevertheless it’s Snape Harry will blame for Sirius’ death, not the Twins.

* Of course, this is the scene where Kreacher goes
to see Voldemort, isn’t it? Sort of clever of JKR to drop a hint here that only
becomes important in the second time round.

* That line “When he [Harry] paused for breath”
makes it sound like he hadn’t breathed at all while recounting the story to
Sirius. He must have been really eager to tell him.

* Tonks and Mad-Eye turn up, once again showing how
wizards find it impossible to imitate the clothing habits of the people they
see every day. For all that Rowling portrays Muggles as bumbling buffoons,
wizards often seem even stupider.

* The disguise for St. Mungo’s seems quite clever,
until people start to wonder why the shop is taking ten years to refurbish.

* Harry’s lived in the wizarding world for five
years now; he shouldn’t go all slack-jawed with amazement every time he sees a moving
shop-window dummy.

* Like the Ministry, St. Mungo’s seems far too big
for a society which makes do with one wand seller, one bus and two clothes shops.

* I think JKR said in one of her interviews that a
warlock is a wizard who’s especially good at fighting. If so, I’m not sure how
Harry can recognise one just by looking at him. Maybe his Gryffindor senses pick
up the aura of martial power around him, or something.

* According to Ron, Doctors are “those Muggle
nutters who cut people up”. I’m really not sure what to make of this. Is this a
widespread attitude? Has wizards’ knowledge of Muggle medical procedures not
changed since 1692? What do Muggle-borns think of this attitude? And wouldn’t
the children of a Muggle-loving eccentric have a more accurate picture?

* I quite like the theory that St. Mungo’s was once
located at Hogwarts as a sort of hospital-cum-medical school. It would explain
how Dilys was able to go straight from being a healer to being headmistress of
Hogwarts.

* On her website, JKR said that “jinx” is a term for
a spell that does damage, but which isn’t serious enough to be called a curse.
Though I’d have thought that eating your feet would be curse-level seriousness
rather than jinx-level, personally.

* St. Mungo’s could really do with a more sympathetic
receptionist.

* Also, I hope they have lifts there, because making
a man whose feet are being eaten walk up four flights of stairs would just be
cruel.

* The entrail-expelling curse sounds rather nasty to
me – like some form of torture, or an extra-painful way of killing somebody –
so I’m not sure why Mr. Rackharrow got a portrait for it. Maybe he threatened
to use it on the hospital’s governing body if he didn’t get a picture
somewhere.

* Willy Widdershins evading justice like that is
disgraceful, and not at all like getting somebody off in return for Quidditch
tickets.

* Arthur’s getting all exited at the thought of
seeing the Muggles. Because really they’re just like animals in a zoo, there
for any interested wizards to come and gawp at.

* So Mr. Weasley’s bed is at the far end of the
ward, meaning that the extendable ears would have to go right across the room
to hear his conversation. Luckily, though, nobody notices these pink bits of
string snaking their way across the floor.

* “‘Yeah, well,’ said Moody, ‘there’s something
funny about that Potter kid, we all know that.’” This is, of course, correct,
but not just for the reason Moody thinks.

* Although if they think Harry might be possessed,
I’m not sure why they think that it’s a good idea to let him stay in the Order
HQ.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Going to Dumbledore’s office makes me wonder where
the heads of house have their offices.

We've been to Minerva's office at the end of COS. And of course now Neville got her from her private rooms. I wonder if she insulted him horribly at first, until she realized something was wrong with Harry.

I really can’t imagine what the point of checking
that instrument was, unless it’s to make Dumbledore look wise and mysterious.

It's supposed to be the moment Dumbly confirmed Nagini was a Horcrux. Why didn't he take that instrument to the ROHT?

All it can do is make you feel worried and
impotent.

Only if you bother to look at it. So many times Ron and others are in danger and Molly doesn't seem to be aware of it.

I’m not sure why, given the forms of magical
transportation available to them.

Agrred. As for Apparition, the only time we see international Apparition is traveling to the QWC, and that was arranged specially, with Apparition Points. FWIW. Also in DH Tom flew until he was close enough to Apparate. Why not Apparate multiple times?

“‘We don’t care about the dumb Order!’ shouted
Fred,” showing why he isn’t mature enough to join it.

He is right though. The Order is dumb. In DH Fred would be dumb enough to go along with the plan of sitting back and doing nothing, thus would be allowed to join.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

We've been to Minerva's office at the end of COS.

I got the impression in CoS that that was actually the Headmaster's/Headmistress's office. McGonagall was serving as the interim Headmistress, after all.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The last line of chapter 17 says they went to Minerva's office.

[sunnyskywalker]

I think I remember them eating sandwiches in her office after crashing the Ford Anglia.

[oryx_leucoryx]

That was actually in Severus' office - he took them to the dungeons, and then called Minerva and Dumbles because he didn't have the authority to expel them, so he left the punishment to those two.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Just checked - even after Albus' return the desk is referred to as McGonagall's desk so I am confident it was her own personal office.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Oops. I guess McGonagall really was just filling in, with no pretense of actually being Headmistress.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

Going to Dumbledore’s office makes me wonder where
the heads of house have their offices. I don’t think we ever hear of anybody
going to McGonagall’s office with their problems, so it seems that Gryffindors
at least have no teacher to turn to if something goes wrong.

In book 5 we see McGonagall’s office :
"A door to his left flew open and Professor McGonagall emerged from her office looking grim and slightly harassed.
'What on earth are you shouting about, Potter?' she snapped, as Peeves cackled gleefully and zoomed out of sight. 'Why aren't you in class?'
'I've been sent to see you,' said Harry stiffly.
'Sent? What do you mean, sent?'
He held out the note from Professor Umbridge. Professor McGonagall took it from him, frowning, slit it open with a tap of her wand, stretched it out and began to read. Her eyes zoomed from side to side behind their square spectacles as she read what Umbridge had written, and with each line they became narrower.

Sirius is being unusually clever for a Gryffindor,
and not just rushing off without thinking of the consequences. No wonder he was
killed off at the end of this book; he just isn’t stupid brave enough to
share in Harry’s post-Voldemort utopia.
Sirius have the most inconsistent characterization in all books. If JKR wanted to portrait him as mentally unstable from his imprisonment I'd understand it better.
But mostly I have the feeling like she only used him to move the plot around and couldn't be bother to decide who he is as a person.

Tonks and Mad-Eye turn up, once again showing how
wizards find it impossible to imitate the clothing habits of the people they
see every day. For all that Rowling portrays Muggles as bumbling buffoons,
wizards often seem even stupider.
Isn't Tonks's father a Muggle? She should be able to imitate Muggles. And I would have expected that the extra paranoid Mad-Eye would have made sure he's capable of blending in.

* Also, I hope they have lifts there, because making
a man whose feet are being eaten walk up four flights of stairs would just be
cruel.
Wouldn't surprise me. WW have a very casual view about injuries. And pain of others. Be they wizards, Muggles or animals.

Willy Widdershins evading justice like that is
disgraceful, and not at all like getting somebody off in return for Quidditch
tickets.
Ah, but that was don't by a Gryffindor so it doesn't count.

* Arthur’s getting all exited at the thought of
seeing the Muggles. Because really they’re just like animals in a zoo, there
for any interested wizards to come and gawp at.
Yes. I know we are supposed to see Arthur as a nice man because he's fascinated with Muggles but to me he always looked just like people obsessed with some kind of animals.
Obsessed but never taking the time to find out the fact about thing they obsessed with.

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

* So Mr. Weasley’s bed is at the far end of the
ward, meaning that the extendable ears would have to go right across the room
to hear his conversation. Luckily, though, nobody notices these pink bits of
string snaking their way across the floor.

You'd think that after being almost killed by a snake / having your husband/friend attacked by a snake and knowing the enemy might send it after you again, people would be more twitchy about snakelike things wiggling on the floods and coming toward them.
Especially "paranoid" and "very observant" Moody.

The only way that scene works is if they knew the kids were eavesdropping.

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

Isn't Tonks's father a Muggle? She should be able to imitate Muggles. And I would have expected that the extra paranoid Mad-Eye would have made sure he's capable of blending in.

No, Ted Tonks was a muggle-born. The Blacks don't seem to make a distinction between muggles and muggle-borns.

[sunnyskywalker]

Has wizards’ knowledge of Muggle medical procedures not
changed since 1692?

Even if it hasn't, not all of Ye Old Muggle Medicine was of the barber-surgeon hack and slash kind. The ancient Romans and medieval Irish (among others) could manage trepanning and other delicate operations, and had instruments very similar to and just as sharp as ours. If the Ollivanders have been making wands since 382 BC, then surely someone remembers ancient medicine too? I suppose if most wizarding medicine is descended from the practices of the "wise women" and "cunning folk," there would be less emphasis on cutting (but even so you'd think a medical scholar or two would have brought some ancient texts with them into Seclusion).

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that Indians could remove cataracts around 500 BC.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Thank you for pointing this out. The idea that people in the past were all total morons who knew nothing about medicine (among other things) is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

[detritius.livejournal.com]

* The entrail-expelling curse sounds rather nasty to
me – like some form of torture, or an extra-painful way of killing somebody –
so I’m not sure why Mr. Rackharrow got a portrait for it. Maybe he threatened
to use it on the hospital’s governing body if he didn’t get a picture
somewhere.

The fact that someone got a portrait for inventing it would seem to indicate that the entail-expelling curse has some kind of practical purpose other than killing people in an especially gruesome way, but the only thing I can think of is divining. I'm fairly sure some cultures used the intestines of small animals such as rabbits or goats for such purposes, but the English Wizarding World doesn't seem to use that method, and doesn't see to put much stock in divination anyway. As it is, I don't think this is the first time we see a spell other than Avada Kedavra that has potentially fatal applications, which makes it kind of odd to me that AK is all we ever see anyone use. I would have thought that as the books started getting into "Darker and Edgier" territory, we might have seen a greater variety of violent spells, or ordinary spells put to deadly purposes, but apparently not.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I think someone theorized that the entrail-expelling curse might be for expelling something from the entrails, rather than expelling the entrails themselves- though the wording is very confusing, it's true.

[detritius.livejournal.com]

Well, that would explain why there's a portrait of the guy who invented it in the hospital. If that's the case, maybe he had a dog with a bad habit of swallowing his keys or something, hence his invention of the spell. I can see how it would be useful - in addition to getting rid of poisons and whatnot, I'm sure Wizarding children swallow all kinds or weird stuff. But yeah, the wording would seem to imply something nastier.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

* As an aside: I think JKR said in one of herinterchangeable interviews that inter-continental Apparition is very difficult. Does anybody know if this is a distance thing, or is there some magic aboutcontinental boundaries that makes Apparition difficult? If it’s the latter, then we’d have the seemingly rather odd situation of it being easier to Apparate from London to Athens than from Gibraltar to Tangiers; if the latter,then why not just say “long-distance Apparition” rather than specifically “inter-continental Apparition”?

My guess is that Rowling's use of the term "intercontinental" is along the lines of "intercontinental airline flights" rather than referring to geographical continents.

And it would make no sense for the WW to care about arbitrary Muggle political delineations which constantly change over the centuries anyway.

We're told that one can only apparate if one has an extremely clear and vivid image of the destination in one's mind, so that would explain why a fair amount of WW denizens wouldn't be able to apparate to foreign lands. But it doesn't explain why, say, the Weasleys couldn't apparate back to Egypt after their initial visit.

It really boils down to the fact that Rowling was piss-ass poor at world-building, and really doesn't have a valid explanation for why her magikal folk can't travel hither and yon at will. And not just apparating...is there any reason why a wizard or witch can't fly on a broom over the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans?

[oryx_leucoryx]

According to Quidditch Through the Ages Jocunda Sykes crossed the Atlantic by broom in 1935, and it seems others followed this achievement later. Same paragraph mentions that Apparition becomes increasingly unreliable over very long distances. But still, if you know enough intermediate places I don't see why one can't do a hop-skip-and-jump.

[sunnyskywalker]

It's too bad she didn't stick to the idea of it being something difficult enough that many perfectly competent witches and wizards couldn't get the hang of it at all. That would have cleared up a lot of problems on its own, and made Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry look more powerful for managing relatively long distances.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

According to Quidditch Through the Ages Jocunda Sykes crossed the Atlantic by broom in 1935, and it seems others followed this achievement later.

Which raises the question as to why it took so long? Why weren't transatlantic crossings being done in say 1835, or 1735? There'd be less of a chance of being spotted by Muggles pre-1935 than there would have been afterwards, especially considering that WW2 was looming just around the corner...

Same paragraph mentions that Apparition becomes increasingly unreliable over very long distances. But still, if you know enough intermediate places I don't see why one can't do a hop-skip-and-jump.

There have actually been some archeological discoveries in recent years to suggest the intriguing possibility that Europeans made it to the Americas (as far south as Pennsylvania, and possibly even Georgia) during the last Ice Age. It is thought that it would have been possible for them to have travelled via boat by hugging the "coastline" (which during the Ice Age would have been mostly ice shelves) heading west, stopping to rest and resupply at any beachhead that would allow landing.

Basically they did a "hop-skip-and-jump" via boat/canoe...so if nonmagikal folk could do it more than ten thousand years ago using available technology, why couldn't magikal folk figure a magikal equivalent? ;-)

[oryx_leucoryx]

Which raises the question as to why it took so long? Why weren't transatlantic crossings being done in say 1835, or 1735?

Brooms were only becoming serious business in the 19th century. Before that there were issues with comfort for long rides, speed and height of flying. Cushioning Charms were invented in 1820. But the broom model used by Sykes was invented in 1879, so that should be the earliest date for endurance flight.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

* Fred’s insult makes Sirius go pale, which is more
of a negative reaction than we ever see him having to Snape’s taunts.
Nevertheless it’s Snape Harry will blame for Sirius’ death, not the Twins.

Only criticism from a Gryffindor is worth listening to.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/They wouldn’t want to encourage any weakness in the Gryffs by giving them outside help with their problems./

I guess this is why Harry and the other students stubbornly refuse to tell a teacher about their detentions with Umbridge.

/Dumbledore seems to be confusing “not letting on that he cares about Harry” with “averting his eyes whenever Harry’s in the room and refusing to ever look at him”. Even if Dumbledore thought of Harry as just another pupil, you’d still expect him to look the boy in the face when they were having a direct conversation./

As childish as Harry is in this book, Dumbledore is pretty much just as childish. He’s just not as loud and overt about it.

/No wonder he was killed off at the end of this book; he just isn’t stupid brave enough to share in Harry’s post-Voldemort utopia./

No, it’s because he would actually insist on going along for the ride and helping Harry, rather than slinking off like Remus did or graciously standing by the sidelines like the other adults did because Dumbledore Knows It All.

/For all that Rowling portrays Muggles as bumbling buffoons, wizards often seem even stupider./

Especially since it isn’t the Muggles’ fault that they don’t know anything about wizards; if they ever do manage to find out about something magical, wizards quickly swoop in and mind-wipe them. Wizards, on the other hand, have no excuse for knowing next to nothing about Muggles, who are literally and figuratively their neighbors.

/According to Ron, Doctors are “those Muggle nutters who cut people up”. I’m really not sure what to make of this. Is this a widespread attitude? Has wizards’ knowledge of Muggle medical procedures not changed since 1692? What do Muggle-borns think of this attitude?/

I wonder if Ron thinks that dentists are “Muggle nutters who yank people’s teeth out.” As for what Muggle-borns think, we’ve only seen how one deals with her parents. Hopefully, other Muggle-borns are less accepting of the status quo (although, given how practically nobody wanted to join SPEW, I’m not so sure).

[oryx_leucoryx]

No, it’s because he would actually insist on going along for the ride and helping Harry, rather than slinking off like Remus did or graciously standing by the sidelines like the other adults did because Dumbledore Knows It All.

And Harry would have taken him along too - after all Sirius' only personal obligation is to Harry.

As for what Muggle-borns think,

Dean still had his football poster in GOF, just added a Quidditch one next to it. But in DH he hid in the forests with other outcasts rather than rejoin his Muggle family.

[sunnyskywalker]

Someone should have told Dean (and Hermione) that there was very little danger of the DEs figuring out how to track down Muggle addresses. Dean probably could have stayed home and watched soccer the whole year and been just fine. Well, maybe he would have had to tell his mom to get a new apartment across town, because probably his original address is on file at Hogwarts, but once they moved, they would probably be safe. (What's a fellytone book?)

I mean, Voldemort didn't even go after Harry's wizarding friends (except Luna, and that was to shut her dad up rather than lure Harry anywhere), not even the "blood-traitor" Weasleys. If he won't even put in that tiny bit of effort for his nemesis, why would he bother targeting some random kid's Muggle mom?

[annoni-no.livejournal.com]

To be fair, even a large portion of the readership was gobsmacked that Voldie was doing so little to the muggle-borns (which Rowling kept assuring was one of the reasons he was so EBUL!!11!) and we'd seen much more of his general lack of competence than ever reached the general wizarding population through the rumor mill. Plus, being on the run isn't exactly the best place to get an accurate view of what's going on.

What I think happened was those who fled did so very early into Voldemort's takeover, trying to protect their families in the surest way they could think of. Once they did this, however, they had no reliable and accurate way of getting information about what was really going. So from their perspective, rumors of hideous atrocities against muggles and muggle-borns would have seemed obviously true, while affirmations that the new boss Really Was acting almost exactly like the old boss must have just as obviously seemed like propaganda: a ruse to lure them out of hiding and into capture.

So in a way, their behavior makes perfect sense. I find the wandless beggars in Diagon Alley much more inexplicable. Unless almost all muggle-borns end up alienating their natural families beyond reconciliation by the end of a Hogwarts education? Nice going, Albus. You are truly a model of love and tolerance./sarcasm

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

----I find the wandless beggars in Diagon Alley much more inexplicable.

I think a 50-year-old muggle-born might find it very difficult to go back to the muggle world. He would have no muggle credentials, possibly no muggle ID, no muggle work history, and possibly very little idea of how to deal with all of the technological and cultural changes of the previous four decades.

[oryx_leucoryx]

So? Is begging from DEs that better from going on welfare in the Muggle world? I'd think social services are more consistent and the providers less likely to physically harm the recipient. But I suppose Rowling thinks her world is so cool anyone who was ever part of it would be prepared to endure any indignity to remain connected to it somehow, even in a completely marginal manner.

[sunnyskywalker]

Plenty of Muggle adults find all the paperwork for govenrment programs confusing, so I could understand someone who's had no experience in the Muggle world since age 11 not managing it either. And I suppose if their parents were already very old or dead, and they hadn't had much contact with any other relatives, it might be hard to get a lot of help from their families. Still, you'd think even in those circumstances they could manage to get a plane ticket to Canada one way or another, even if it's just "Accio credit card" and some Confundus. Then just set up in Wizarding Canada (or wherever they prefer).

So I have no idea what the beggars are thinking, unless living in the wizarding world has so sapped their independence and creativity that they can't figure out any alternatives, family or stolen credit card or otherwise. Unless they're actually spies who figure the DEs won't see anything suspicious about Muggleborns being pathetic beggars. Who, um, never get around to doing anything useful, not that that's so hard to believe for wizards.

[oryx_leucoryx]

How hard is it to keep following the wizarding press and wireless (especially for an adult who has no issues with the Trace)? The refugees by the river knew what the Prophet and the Quibbler were publishing and had opinions as to which was more reliable.

[sunnyskywalker]

If Azkaban escapee Sirius can withdraw funds from the bank and mail-order an expensive broom with a cat's help, it is hard to believe a stable, initially well-fed wizard couldn't figure out how to get a radio. And multiply food.