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deathtocapslockOnce again, I'm back after a delay of several months. At this rate I'm going to finish in the next decade.
- I'm kind of mystified why, when the Dursleys treated Harry more as a servant, did Aunt Petunia still come to vacuum his room. It seems a bit inconsistent.
- It is quite nasty for Dursley to leave Harry on the station and then laugh about it, though I don't understand why Dudley joined in with the laughter, when he's supposed to be more or less mortally afraid of Harry at the moment. Safety in crowd?
- Mrs. Weasley is described as plump, so she's the good kind of overweight. I forgot, is there any female character in the series that's the bad kind of overweight?
- Fred and George helping Harry with putting his trunk on a train is a bit strange.
- Mrs. Weasley is just as proud of Percy being prefect as he is, but the twins sensibly don't make fun of her for it.
- Ginny is a Harry fangirl from the very beginning. Compared to the next year, she is much more proactive in wanting to see him.
- I don't think Harry was ever so polite when asking Mrs. Weasley about how he should get to the platform. He was more shy and afraid to admit he doesn't know how to get there.
- Mrs. Weasley is actually quite sensitive about Harry.
- Now, I think that the whole train sequence is reference to the Malory Towers series of school stories, which is a big guilty pleasure of mine, since it's actually kind of crap and most of the characters are awful people. Rather like Harry Potter.
- The comparison may be kind of a stretch, but in both series, the main characters meet their first friend (Ron), the character who is unsympathetic at first, but becomes friend later (Hermione) and the main school antagonist (Draco) on the train.
- Ron almost immediately asks Harry about the scar he got when his parents died. He has trouble with being sensitive right from the start.
- Ron also has no knowledge about Muggles. Notice that he says "What are they like?" not "What was it like?" when asking Harry about living with Muggles.
- I can emphatise with Ron's feelings about his brothers' accomplishments: "Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first." There are lots of recordings of my brother reading out loud before he started going to school. There are none of me doing the same thing.
- Now that I think about it, Ron's character arc is more or less completely established in this scene.
- I'm surprised how easy it is for Harry to make friends with Ron, considering he never had a friend in his life.
- Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are an idea that sounds fun in concept, but would be completely horrible when put into practice.
- Neville seems to actually care for Trevor, while Ron begins the theme of casual cruelty to animals by saying he would lose a toad as quickly as he would be able to.
- Hermione does not make very good first impression, but that is more in the choice of words.
- Ron explains Quidditch to Harry, but Harry apparently doesn't learn anything from what Ron says.
- This scene is also the first one where Draco behaves like an asshole in more ways than one.
- For all the talk that Harry Potter is subverting the traditional school story, it still plays by the rules. Overtly being a classist asshole is never okay and therefore, Malfoy is not okay.
- I can't see how can anyone get into trouble for fighting on the Hogwarts Express, seeing as there isn't any supervision.
- Making the first years get to the castle by sailing across the lake is a good idea. Not only it makes a strong first impression, but it also allows the older students to get into the Great Hall before them.
- I'm kind of mystified why, when the Dursleys treated Harry more as a servant, did Aunt Petunia still come to vacuum his room. It seems a bit inconsistent.
- It is quite nasty for Dursley to leave Harry on the station and then laugh about it, though I don't understand why Dudley joined in with the laughter, when he's supposed to be more or less mortally afraid of Harry at the moment. Safety in crowd?
- Mrs. Weasley is described as plump, so she's the good kind of overweight. I forgot, is there any female character in the series that's the bad kind of overweight?
- Fred and George helping Harry with putting his trunk on a train is a bit strange.
- Mrs. Weasley is just as proud of Percy being prefect as he is, but the twins sensibly don't make fun of her for it.
- Ginny is a Harry fangirl from the very beginning. Compared to the next year, she is much more proactive in wanting to see him.
- I don't think Harry was ever so polite when asking Mrs. Weasley about how he should get to the platform. He was more shy and afraid to admit he doesn't know how to get there.
- Mrs. Weasley is actually quite sensitive about Harry.
- Now, I think that the whole train sequence is reference to the Malory Towers series of school stories, which is a big guilty pleasure of mine, since it's actually kind of crap and most of the characters are awful people. Rather like Harry Potter.
- The comparison may be kind of a stretch, but in both series, the main characters meet their first friend (Ron), the character who is unsympathetic at first, but becomes friend later (Hermione) and the main school antagonist (Draco) on the train.
- Ron almost immediately asks Harry about the scar he got when his parents died. He has trouble with being sensitive right from the start.
- Ron also has no knowledge about Muggles. Notice that he says "What are they like?" not "What was it like?" when asking Harry about living with Muggles.
- I can emphatise with Ron's feelings about his brothers' accomplishments: "Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first." There are lots of recordings of my brother reading out loud before he started going to school. There are none of me doing the same thing.
- Now that I think about it, Ron's character arc is more or less completely established in this scene.
- I'm surprised how easy it is for Harry to make friends with Ron, considering he never had a friend in his life.
- Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are an idea that sounds fun in concept, but would be completely horrible when put into practice.
- Neville seems to actually care for Trevor, while Ron begins the theme of casual cruelty to animals by saying he would lose a toad as quickly as he would be able to.
- Hermione does not make very good first impression, but that is more in the choice of words.
- Ron explains Quidditch to Harry, but Harry apparently doesn't learn anything from what Ron says.
- This scene is also the first one where Draco behaves like an asshole in more ways than one.
- For all the talk that Harry Potter is subverting the traditional school story, it still plays by the rules. Overtly being a classist asshole is never okay and therefore, Malfoy is not okay.
- I can't see how can anyone get into trouble for fighting on the Hogwarts Express, seeing as there isn't any supervision.
- Making the first years get to the castle by sailing across the lake is a good idea. Not only it makes a strong first impression, but it also allows the older students to get into the Great Hall before them.
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Date: 2011-10-13 10:03 pm (UTC)As much as I dislike the Dursleyish conformity aspect of Harry's refusal, not wanting to be regularly targeted for death is an excellent reason not to go to Hogwarts. And his meddling did often cause as many problems as it solved, like almost giving the Stone to Quirrellmort. Now I'm imagining a future where this Harry eventually decides that well, if magic exists, it must be normal in the sense of occurring in nature, but that doesn't mean he has to go for wizarding culture. He could get tutoring from Hermione and Snape, go out for drinks occasionally with Neville and Cedric, and stay far away from the school.