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

[sunnyskywalker]

Everyone could see any of the couples in Madame Puddifoot's. There is absolutely nothing unusual or exhibitionist about any of them. And all we ever really knew about Michael Corner is that he dated Ginny. That doesn't make him The Boy Who Dates.

The difference is that Harry isn't paying attention to those other couples. Harry only pays attention when Ginny is involved in something date-related - or, eventually, Quidditch. This doesn't say anything good about Harry.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'd like to point out that this point of Madderbrad's from several posts up:

She's seen 'cozily closeted' with Dean at the very public Madam Puddifoot's.

Appears to be traced back to the following and nothing more, because this is the only time Madam Puddifoot's is mentioned in the entire book, outside of a location Ron tried to Apparate to:

Harry's thoughts strayed to Ginny as they trudged up the road to Hogwarts through the frozen slush. They had not met up with her, undoubtedly, thought Harry, because she and Dean were cozily closeted in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, that haunt of happy couples. Scowling, he bowed his head against the swirling sleet and trudged on.

So, you know, in addition to it being a totally reasonable and unremarkable thing for anyone to be doing, all we have is Harry grumpily thinking that the girl he wants to go out with is probably "cozily closeted" with another boy.

So if anyone wants to make anything of the *wording*, or something, keep in mind that that wording reflects on Harry and no one else.

[sunnyskywalker]

Wow, that's even more tied to Harry's perception than I'd remembered. "OMG the girl I like might be having tea with her boyfriend! In public!"

If they'd had a private tea party, no doubt he would have been grousing about how that means they were doing something "inappropriate" and should have stayed in a public place where everyone could see they were staying within the bounds of gentlemanly respectability. Can't win.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I didn't say that Ginny was being 'exhibitionist' in her dating. Just that she dated openly.

The difference is that Harry isn't paying attention to those other couples. Harry only pays attention when Ginny is involved in something date-related - or, eventually, Quidditch. This doesn't say anything good about Harry.

And it doesn't say anything good about Ginny, either, in that Harry never tells us anything more about her other than that she dated and played quidditch.

The "Harry and his point of view didn't notice Ginny" excuse might work for the pre-monster days (and is supposed to be clever writing of Rowling's to 'hide' the eventual H/G pairing, although she left it too late and then was too desperate to bring it off all in one book for it to look anything but contrived).

But as soon as Harry's monster made an entrance the boy was locked into Ginny's image. He was paying attention to her from that point on.

And all we're told is that she played quidditch and dated.

[oryx_leucoryx]

And what is wrong about dating openly? What kind of conservative are you?

[sunnyskywalker]

Wait. So you think "dating openly" is just wrong, in general? That everyone should be dating secretly until they announce their engagement?

I guess Hermione appearing openly at the Yule Ball was a terrible, terrible thing, then. (Should have kept it top secret!) And writing letters to him in the common room, and telling people to whom she was writing - how brazen! How fortunate that we were spared the shame of watching her and Ron date openly between the end of the Battle of Hogwarts and their marriage.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Wait. So you think "dating openly" is just wrong, in general?

No.

[sunnyskywalker]

Then what is the problem with her dating openly? Slam her for being vindictive and puerile, which is fair, not for something that she isn't doing differently than any other teenager in the entire series who dates. Repeatedly complaining that she's "dating openly" is - obviously - going to give people the impression that you think dating openly is in itself a bad thing. So why are you doing it, if you don't actually see it as a negative?