Deathly Hallows, Chapter 20: Xenophilius Lovegood

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Hermione is still pouting the next morning. I’m wondering if her real problem is not that Ron left, but that she didn’t. Is she angry at him because he had the guts to admit they were blowing it and take a time out, while she just kept trailing along after Harry like a lost house elf? I think she’s definitely mad because she’s always controlled Ron and their relationship. How dare he assert his independence of her! Who does he think he is? Her equal? In an AU, maybe. This is called the Potterverse after all, not the Ronverse.

Hermione’s having a bad month. First Ron runs out on them; then she saves Harry’s life, but he’s an ungrateful jerk about it; then Harry asserts his independence; then Ron comes back but doesn’t grovel sufficiently for her taste. All this mistreatment is going to give her the idea she’s just a normal character and not an Author’s Darling.

So much for Gryffindor Guts: Both Ron and Harry are too spineless to tell Hermione to get over her bad mood. They go out together and act happy around each other, but when they’re around her, they pretend to be morose so as not to offend her.

In particularly insulting passage (to our intelligence, that is), they go out looking for blackberries to get away from her. IT’S DECEMBER IN ENGLAND! THERE ARE NO BLACKBERRIES! For heaven’s sake! I live in Florida, and there are no blackberries here in December. They ripen in May and June. Rowling seems to have mistaken her readers for her characters and thinks we’re all mentally deficient.

Ron tells Harry Voldemort’s name is now jinxed, so anyone who says it can be found immediately. He says that’s how they were found in London.

It would be an interesting intellectual exercise to make a list of all the Ridiculous Rowling Retcons. It would probably be about as long as the list of Dumbledore’s lies oryx_leucoryx and terri_testing once compiled.

Speaking of whom, because it’s been an entire chapter since the D-man was mentioned, Ron has to bring him up. Even though he’s dead, he’s soooo not forgotten. We wish. *sigh*

While Ron was gone, he was captured by bad guys called Snatchers, who are bounty hunters for Voldemort. In getting away, he got a spare wand, which he gives to Harry. Of course, it doesn’t work as well as Harry’s “real” wand, so Harry’s still in a snit about that, and with Hermione in a snit, too, they’re a cheerful bunch. Honestly, I don’t know why Ron puts up with these two. The Hs are so spoiled and self-centered, they deserve each other, but I don’t think this is what HP/HG shippers mean when they proclaim the two as an OTP. Sane, normal Ron doesn’t deserve either one of them. Run, Ron! Run while you still can!

Ron tells Harry about an underground radio program broadcast by the Order, a kind of Radio Free British Wizarding World. He’s trying to tune it in when Hermione comes over and tells Harry they need to visit Xenophilius Lovegood. The reproduction of Albus’s love letter to Gellert in Skeeter’s book showed Albus signing his name with the Deathly Hallows symbol instead of an A. Since Xeno was wearing the sign at the wedding, Hermione thinks he can tell them what it means.

I think the symbol looks more like someone with a fat face wearing a KKK hood than a wand, rock, and cloak. Since a couple of racist tyrants chose it as their symbol, my interpretation is unexpectedly appropriate.

Harry is reluctant to go on what might be another Godric’s Hollow-type disastrous excursion, but he is outvoted by Ron and Hermione.

Ron acts afraid of Hermione, which makes me wonder why he wants to get back together with her. On the other hand, he’s used to fighting for his share of affection and affirmation from an overbearing, rejecting woman, so he probably feels comfortable with this kind of mistreatment. One of the hallmarks of abuse survivors is their “high tolerance for inappropriate behavior.” In other words, they’re used to being treated like garbage, so they’ll put up with more crap in their relationships than will people from healthy backgrounds. Reading this book a second time to spork it has made me notice all these sick little details that didn’t sink in when I read it the first time.

The next day, they arrive at Ottery St. Catchpole. (I guess that’s why Hermione is meant for Ron: Her Patronus is an otter. Catchpole also sounds like a fishing reference, and otters eat fish. A boar, or torc, would actually be a more appropriate Patronus for her, since they symbolize leadership, raw power, and the warrior spirit, all of which can be invaluable in the proper circumstances but dangerous if misdirected.) Although the Weasleys and Lovegoods have lived near each other for years, they’ve apparently never socialized, so Ron has no idea where Luna and her father live.

Ron discloses that he wasn’t stupid enough to go to the Burrow when he left the Hs; he knew that would be unhealthy. He visited Bill and Fleur at Shell Cottage instead, one of the few times in DH when we’re given information that ties in with the later story.

HRH wander around for several hours, Ron and Hermione in the open, and Harry under his invisibility cloak at her insistence. Because nobody will think, “Gee, there are Harry’s best friends. He’s probably somewhere nearby.” *headdesk*

Ron spies the Lovegood home first. He says it has to be their home because no one else would live in a place like that. “It looks like a giant rook!” If you paid attention to the larger world, Ron, you’d know Bono of U2 lives in a small castle like that, or he used to. His is in Ireland, though.

Hermione says the house doesn’t resemble a bird at all. I’d expect Harry to say something that dumb. Oh, no! Harry’s stupidity is catching! First it got Ron; now it’s infected Hermione, too. Hey, that explains why Voldy became so dumb in this book: The blood he got from Harry infected him with Harry’s idiocy as well as his Lily-Love protection. As with Ron and Hermione, it took a few years for the full effects to show.

Ron clarifies that he means rook as in chess piece, a line which has the unfortunate effect of reminding us that Ron used to be quite intelligent, before JKR dumbed down everybody so they wouldn’t show up Hare-Brained Harry. (My apologies to the lagomorph community for comparing them to him, but I couldn’t resist the similarity of words.)

Xeno reluctantly lets the Trio in. Hermione immediately starts playing the bad guest by trying to boss her host around, saying the big horn hanging on the wall is from an Erumpent, which is very dangerous. Sounding just like Hagrid, Xeno insists it belongs to a Crumple-Horned Snorkack; he bought it from a young man who knew a sucker when he saw one of his interest in that exotic creature.

Xeno acts very nervous and reluctant to have them there, but of course none of the Twit Trio make anything of that. He tells them Luna is down at the nearby river fishing for Plimpies, and he’ll go fetch her.

While the Trio waits, they notice the bust of “a beautiful but austere-looking witch” wearing a funny headdress. How can they tell it’s a witch rather than a non-magical woman? Do magical people never lower themselves to owning art portraying anyone who’s not magical? This is more slight foreshadowing, this time of the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw wearing the cursed diadem that will show up later.

When Xeno returns, he makes them Gurdyroot tea. Harry finally cuts to the chase and asks about the symbol Xeno was wearing as a pendant at the wedding. Xeno asks, “Are you referring to the sign of the Deathly Hallows?”

DUM DUM DUM! Actually, given the intellectual level of this book, that should be DUMB DUMB DUMB!

This is where the chapter ends, but I still have questions. Why does Xeno ask if Harry means the DH symbol? That was the only necklace Xeno was wearing, so Harry must mean that one. And why would anyone wear a symbol referring to death at a wedding, which is supposed to be a celebration of life? Xeno says later he was wearing it in the hopes he’d meet another Hallows Quester at the wedding, and they’d be able to discuss their mutual obsession. I know the Lovegoods are supposed to be weird, but it’s just rude and tasteless for Xeno to put his personal desires ahead of both consideration for his hosts and allowing attention to be on the bride and groom, as it’s supposed to be.

I’m really sorry we never got to meet Luna’s mother in this series. I’d love to have seen how much she resembled her mom.

Comments

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

Tsk! It would have been so easy for JKR to have made that name taboo make more sense. All she had to do was add the word 'again'. 'Voldy has made his name taboo, again' would finally give us a good reason as to why so many refused to use his name in the previous books.

Yes, it IS a retcon, but it is a much more logical reason for everyone to fear saying his name, than the no particular reason at all that we have had before. It even fits well with all her uses of folklore, etc. Perfect match for the saying 'speak of the devil' where people once believed in summonings and even folktales such as Rumplestiltskin which stressed how knowing someone's 'true' name gave power over them.