HBP Chapter Fourteen: "Felix Felicis"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* First up, I’m not sure what the name “felix felicis” is about. It’s Latin for “happy of happy”, but that makes no sense whatsoever. If I were in a particularly cynical mood, I might suggest she looked up happy in a Latin dictionary, found felix felicis, and didn’t realise that the second word was just the genitive singular of the first.

* Ron correctly points out that Harry’s lessons with Dumbledore aren’t actually teaching him anything useful, although once again we’re probably expected to judge him for his lack of blind faith in whatever his superiors say ought to be done.

* Hermione’s defence, that the lessons help to find out Voldemort’s weaknesses, might be more convincing if Harry ever actually uses something from Voldemort’s childhood against him.

* I’m not sure why Harry’s so averse to attending Slug Club meetings. Yeah, Slughorn’s a bit obsequious, but not so bad as to justify Potter’s constant attempts to avoid him.

* This scene perfectly captures Ron and Hermione’s dynamic: Ron sneers at Hermione for being better than him, and Hermione puts Ron down and makes him feel jealous. If this is JKR’s idea of romance, I’d hate to be her husband.

* Still, at least Harry’s got his priorities right: how will he be affected if they start going out?

* “Under the influence of Butterbeer” makes it sound like an alcoholic drink, but I’m pretty sure we’ve seen no-one (or at least no-one human) get drunk off it before, and there’s never been any indication of an age limit for drinking it. Oh dear, continuity.

* Seamus slams his books and looks sour when Dean gets a place on the team instead of him. For all that fandom has Slytherins down as the Hogwarts drama queens, I think that Gryffindors are definitely the most stroppy.

* I can’t imagine where the rest of Gryffindor house gets the idea that Harry plays favourites from. Except perhaps from the fact that he chose his best friend Ron two years in a row, despite the fact that Ron always goes to pieces whenever there’s a game on. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

* Still, it’s a pity JKR had to resurrect nervouskeeper!Ron. Not only was it tedious enough in the last book, its inclusion here just makes the Quidditch scenes in Phoenix seem even more pointless, and Ron even more needlessly pathetic.

* Ginny, of course, looks even better than usual in this scene: not only does she score most of the goals against Ron (which is probably meant to increase his emasculation – even his little sister is better than him), but she also makes Harry laugh with her sassy put-downs. When she and Harry get married they can both bond over their mutual enjoyment of other people’s discomfort.

* And… here comes the chest monster! Honestly, Harry and his chest monster must be the second-worst romance I’ve ever read (the first, of course, is Ron and Hermione).

* We know Ginny’s going to be awesome in this scene when she begins by “tossing her long red hair and glaring at Ron”. Somebody kill me now.

* What’s with all this “let’s get this straight once and for all” business? Ginny’s choice of words seems to imply that Ron keeps prying into her love life, but we’ve never been given any indication that this is the case.

* I presume the thing Ron doesn’t want people calling Ginny is “slut”? I wish they would. Not because I think it’s true, but because Ginny’s just so irritating that anything which would annoy her is OK by me.

* Ginny has a go at Ron for not having enough experience. Because obviously, modern society isn’t nearly sexualised enough, we need a series of popular books telling children that anybody who hasn’t had enough sexual experience is pathetic.

* Man, Ginny’s just a total bitch in this scene. Yes, Ron was rude to her, but her response is really disproportionate and uncalled-for.

* It’s odd, but Ginny seems to get most worked up about the way Ron tries to get Fleur’s attention. She sounds rather like a spurned lover here. Hmm, maybe all that Weasleycest fic isn’t quite so out there as I’d assumed.

* No, Harry, don’t stop Ron from cursing her! Let Ginny get zapped for once!

* So Ginny flounces off, leaving Ron behind. I suppose he should count himself lucky she didn’t whip out her wand and perform a super-sassy Bat-Bogey Hex on him.

* “She’s Ron’s sister, Harry told himself firmly. Ron’s sister. She’s out of bounds.” Even though Ron practically threw her at him at the end of the last book. Plot-induced amnesia strikes again.

* Harry feels “dazed and confused” the next morning. So do I, after trying to make sense of this book.

* Hermione’s feeling “hurt and bewildered” by Ron’s “icy, sneering indifference”. If this was a semi-believable book, I’d say that Ron had finally had enough of Hermione’s constant passive aggressiveness and undermining, but as it is I think we’re supposed to assume he’s just upset at finding out Hermione had snogged Krum two years ago.

* Incidentally, why is this supposed to be such a big and shocking revelation? Surely when two teenagers go out, the natural assumption is that they’ll end up snogging?

* Luckily for Ron, he’s got no need to worry: Hermione’s just getting her necessary practice in to hone her technique for her true man.

* FOR GOD’S SAKE ROWLING SHUT UP ABOUT THAT SODDING BAT-BOGEY HEX GINNY IS COOL AND SASSY WE GET IT ALREADY STOP RAMMING IT DOWN OUR THROATS AAARGH… *takes deep breaths*

* Lavender’s trying to make Ron feel better. Keep away from him, you hussy! Ron doesn’t need a nice, friendly girlfriend, he needs a scornful and contemptuous one to keep him down in his rightful place.

* Well, at least the Slytherins are sensible enough to have substitute players.

* Harry gets his hand crushed by the Slytherin captain, and I seem to recall Flint used to do the same thing to Oliver Wood. Is hand-crushing a typical Slytherin trait then? Maybe all their parents told them about the importance of a good firm handshake, and they just take it a bit too far.

* Harry dislikes Zacharias heartily… presumably because he can just sense the latent evil in the boy, even though he hasn’t done anything yet which would merit such dislike. If anything, surely Harry ought to feel friendly towards a fellow DA member?

* Ginny scores four of Gryffindor’s six goals. Colour me shocked.

* The game goes pretty much unremarkably: Gryffindor score a few goals, and then Harry’s broom wins the game, rendering everything which came before totally pointless.

* “Oi, Harper! How much did Malfoy pay you to make you come on instead of him?” I’d say that distracting an opposing seeker like this was a very Slytherin thing to do, were it not for the fact that we hardly ever see Slytherins actually doing cunning and sneaky things like this.

* Not that playing on superior brooms and deliberately psyching out opponents makes the Gryffindors any less chivalrous, you understand.

* Ginny flies into Zach for his insufficiently fawning commentary, placing the crowning turd on the mountain of raw sewage that is this Quidditch game.

* “I never said you couldn’t [save goals]!” No, Hermione, you just implied it really, really strongly, such that nobody could miss that that was what you were thinking.

* Ron “looks like he’s eating [Lavender’s face],” unlike Ginny, who daintily glues herself to her boyfriend’s mouth.

* Unfortunately Ginny’s probably right: most first romances in these books seem to be for people to “refine their technique” before moving on to their true love.

* Hermione seems rather surprised that Ron got tired of her hectoring and decided to hook up with somebody who actually respects him instead. Maybe she’s been getting all her dating advice from The Game or whatever the wizarding equivalent is.

Comments

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

True. Had Ron and Hermione been better people then the HBP mess wouldn't have happened.

But it's still also a fact that, had Ginny not sacrificed her (best) friend's secret in an act of selfish betrayal, we wouldn't have had the mess either. A lot of fans forget that Ginny is ... okay, not *responsible* ... not *one hundred per cent responsible* :-) ... but the agent that started the whole mess.

And, repercussions aside, betraying a friend is definitely nasty-girl stuff. One of the many reasons why Ginny is a nasty girl. A lot of people forget that Ginny threw her friend's confidence to the wolves just to avoid a spat with her brother.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Ginny's betrayal should have resulted in Hermione keeping a distance from her. And if you want, some bad luck befalling Ginny. As it is, all the consequences were visited on Ron and Hermione.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Ginny's betrayal should have resulted in Hermione keeping a distance from her.

YES!

I only realise that now that you mention it, great! That would be a normal consequence, were Ginny not the Mary Sue who never received punishment for any of her misdemeanours in this book.

Another Ginny-vs-Hermione scene takes place further along, with Ginny snapping at Hermione to stop the nagging at her boyfriend re the Sectumsempra incident. No repercussions for that either. Oh, if only Hermione had put her in her place ...

(I have to laugh that Ginny's retort is based solely on the topic of Quidditch. Without that #@#$@! game and dating she'd be even more of a non-entity in these books.)

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

Ginny also betrays Percy's confidence. She tells the twins about Percy's romance when he asked her not to.

In the series being a "snitch" is one of the worst things to be. Noble DD doesn't speak up about all the things he knows. It's the character's we are not suppose to like that "snitch" Like Snape wanting to get the Marauders in trouble for what they did. Snape want to turn Siruis in. Sirius never thinks to turn in Peter to the Ministry.

Yet Ginny gets a free pass.

[sunnyskywalker]

That one bothered me, especially since it clearly was something Percy didn't want the Twins to hear, and Percy had bee the only one to really notice she was in trouble all year. Yet what does she do? Go right to the Twins with something guaranteed to set them to tormenting Percy!

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

That makes me really sad because out of all the characters in these books, in my high school days, I was prob most like Percy (heck, even now, to a certain degree)- I empathize with that poor guy so much and the torment and hatred he suffers in the books and in fandom... >_<

The only way I can make sense of this development is if Ginny's personality changed to adapt to her environment- she was also bullied by the twins, and she's taken it this long, but after being possessed by Tom Riddle, she's had it and she wants to break that cycle. So what does she do? Learn to be a bit more cunning by setting Percy up as the victim- he's already their prime punching bag, so all she has to do is drop a bit of fodder and she's off the hook.

It sucks because Percy's the one brother consistently shown to worry over his siblings' safety (his concern for Ginny throughout CoS and his panic over Ron in Gof), but it also means he's an easy target because he's not going to get her back. Survival of the fittest, etc. etc.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Ginny also betrays Percy's confidence. She tells the twins about Percy's romance when he asked her not to.

Excellent! (I'll add that to my anti-Ginny list. :-)) Is that back in CoS?

It's the character's we are not suppose to like that "snitch" Like Snape wanting to get the Marauders in trouble for what they did. Snape want to turn Siruis in. Sirius never thinks to turn in Peter to the Ministry.

And Marietta dobbing in the DA. That's clearly naughty and she is 'punished' for it.

Yet Ginny gets a free pass.

Yes. Different rules apply to Ginny (or, rather, no rules). It's that blatant favouritism by the author which contributes to the general nastiness we perceive about the character.