Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23: Malfoy Manor
Jan. 2nd, 2014 07:11 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockBeethoven was right: It’s vastly harder to rewrite something you’ve finished than to write something entirely new. Especially when you have to revert to HTML because that’s the only way to enter tables on LJ. Aaaaagggggghhhhh!!!!!
I apologize if they look weird, but I followed the instructions, and that's how they turned out. However, the instructions were posted almost eight years ago, and LJ has changed its programming some since then. It's also possible I couldn't transfer my tables because I wrote this on iPages, not Word.
Are everybody’s barf bags at the ready? All right, then, let’s go!
Hermione hits Harry in the face with a spell that makes his face swell up as if he’s just been stung by an entire hive of bees. The Trio lies about their names, and Harry’s pseudonym is particularly dumb: Vernon Dudley. I know I’m probably being entirely too logical, but if I were in charge of the DEs and their allies, I would give them a list naming not just the people I was looking for, but also their quarries’ friends and relatives. If that had been done, the Snatchers would immediately have said, “Vernon Dudley? Oh, yeah, Harry Potter grew up with an uncle named Vernon and a cousin named Dudley. Given how dumb Potter is, this is probably him using a phony name.” Of course, calling Harry “dumb” would prick his Gryffindor pride, making him indignant, and he would reveal himself by that alone.
Fenrir Greyback says Voldemort’s name has been tabooed because his enemies weren’t showing him the proper respect, so he wanted to be able to punish them when they acted rude. At last the business of referring to him by pseudonyms makes sense. In the previous books, it just makes everybody look too wimpy to call him by his alias. Come to think of it, they still look wimpy in the books when he was incorporeal.
I wonder whether Voldemort is the only name that’s tabooed? What about Tom Riddle? What if somebody calls him a satiric corruption of his name, like Moldyshorts, Oldywart, or even Noisyfart? Those epithets are much more disrespectful than calling him by his assumed name. And if he were really as mean and nasty as he’s cracked up to be, he’d also taboo “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” and “You-Know-Who.” Think of the fun! He and the DEs could wipe out nearly all their enemies at once, just by waiting for them to slip up and use one of his silly pseudonyms.
Despite the efforts of Hermione the Genius, the Trio are found out and taken to Malfoy Manor, along with Dean Thomas and Griphook the goblin. When they arrive, Batty Bellatrix is in charge, and Draco is dragged over to see if he can ID any of the prisoners. He very reluctantly IDs Hermione, which means two of the others must be Ron and Harry. Fenrir Greyback makes some leering remarks about Hermione, but there’s no tension because we know JKR won’t allow her self-insert to be sexually abused.
However, she will allow her to be tortured. With true Gryffindor gallantry, Ron offers himself instead, but Bella wants to spill some muddy blood with her pretty silver knife. Technically, only the handle could be silver; the blade would have to be stainless steel, or a similarly hard metal. Silver is too soft to make an effective knife blade.
Ron, Harry, and the other prisoners are stashed in the cellar, where they find Luna and Ollivander already there. Meanwhile, Bella starts in on Hermione, demanding to know where she got the Sword of Gryffindor, which is supposed to be in Bella’s vault at Gringotts.
I didn’t start out creating tables for this chapter, but they worked so well in my sporking of chapter 35, part 1, that I made some for this chapter, also. First, take a look at how Rowling portrays the torture of Xeno Lovegood in chapter 21. Everyone’s actions and reactions are detailed, and separate assaults on a particular page are designated by number in the Descriptions and Reactions columns. Page numbers refer to the American Scholastic hardcover edition of DH.
Notice the way Xeno reacts to being tortured: He is described as screaming after the first attack. Then he squeals repeatedly, although the second mention of him squealing is dismissed with the phrase, “repeated squeals of agony.” Note that he is described as screaming only once; the rest of the time he squeals, which makes him sound more like a nonhuman animal (a traitorous pig, maybe?) than a human. Next he sobs, and finally, he gives “a wail of fear and despair,” maybe because he’s realized, as terri_testing has asserted, that he’s not going to get out of this encounter alive.
Rowling minimizes the terrible suffering of this old man in two ways: First, she compresses several vicious attacks into one short phrase: “...there was a volley of bangs interspersed with squeals.” The dictionary in my computer defines volley as “a number of bullets, arrows, or other projectiles discharged at one time.” The thesaurus lists the following as some of volley’s synonyms: barrage, bombardment, fusillade, hail, shower, deluge, torrent. In other words, Xeno was cursed at least several times in quick succession, and possibly dozens of times. Hundreds of times is unlikely, given the short time span, but it’s not out of the question. Anyone who doubts these assertions should consider how quickly it’s possible to get soaked in a shower, deluge, or torrent of water. Or watch the title characters’ death scene from the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde. That’s what a barrage, bombardment, fusillade, or hail of bullets looks like. Imagine Xeno being cursed even half that many times, half that quickly. It looks a whole lot worse than Rowling makes it sound, doesn’t it?
Notice also that, although he is referred to as being hurt seven times, he only reacts vocally five times. This makes it appear he was not seriously injured by two of those curses. It’s also possible he was briefly knocked unconscious from the assaults and then revived. This would mean he was hurt worse in those instances than in the others, but since the scene is told from the point of view of the Hs, who didn’t see what was happening (and didn’t care, either), we can’t be sure what occurred.
That’s disgusting enough, but it actually gets worse. Now look at the elaborate, loving detail Rowling lavishes on Hermione’s sufferings in this chapter.
So the multiple episodes of Xeno’s torturing are blown off with just a few brief mentions that contain no detailed descriptions of how he was injured or how badly, let alone what his screams sounded like. The DEs hurt him at least as many times as Bella hurts Hermione, and over a shorter period, but his torture is virtually shrugged off by the narrator, being dismissed by only a few brief mentions over just one-and-a-half pages. By contrast, Bella’s torture of Hermione goes on for six pages, with each assault and each scream described in detail, and is briefly described on three other pages. There are nine attacks altogether, judging by the number of screams.
Look also at how Rowling structures these scenes. First, take Hermione and Bella: (1) Bella yells her questions. (2) She cuts Hermione. (3) Hermione screams. In other words, there is a loud sound, then silence, then another loud sound. Like rests in music, those silent pauses between the vocalizations put the focus on the sounds that come after the pauses, i.e., Hermione’s screams. Rowling increases the emphasis in two other ways: (1) Her histrionic descriptions of the screams, e. g., “Hermione’s screams echoed off the walls upstairs.”(2) Her equally histrionic descriptions of Harry and Ron's reactions, e.g., Ron repeatedly bellowing "HERMIONE!", and “The sound went through Harry like physical pain.” There are also several descriptions of their frantic efforts to escape the cellar and assist Hermione.
Contrast that with chapter 21, when the DEs attacked Xeno Lovegood: (1) A DE yells a question. (2) There is a loud “bang” as a curse is fired. (3) Xeno shrieks. By having a yelled question, then a “bang,” then a scream, the loud noises all run together, which implies they’re all equally important. This takes the focus off the torture of an innocent man and gives equal weight to his torturers’ interrogation of him--which is about the Trio. So even when a harmless old man is being tortured, what really matters is not the victim’s suffering, but the danger the interrogation poses to Rowling’s self-inserts (and sidekick)--two of whom are torturers themselves! (Remember Harry’s tormenting of Filch. Come to think of it, Rowling seems to have a thing for defenseless old men being tortured. I wonder if that’s another expression of her hostility towards her father?)
This was also not the first time Lovegood was attacked by the DEs. It was the third time in as many weeks. It isn’t stated outright that he was harmed on the other two occasions, but only a fool would believe the DEs didn’t torture him when he disappointed them on their previous visits. In addition, Xeno is an old man, not a healthy teenager. That alone makes it worse to torture him than Hermione.
Rowling’s own indifference to a minor character’s completely gratuitous pain is made explicit by the behavior of her “heroic” Hs: They have no reaction at all to any of the times Xeno is attacked, despite their not only being able to clearly hear his shrieks of agony, but also being close enough to render assistance to him. They don’t even talk about helping him. They just stand there listening, like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel (the “village idiot” character on The Simpsons) trying to make conversation with Stephen Hawking at a cocktail party. They couldn’t care less about saving, protecting, or even helping this pathetic old man who is being tortured right under their noses! (Just like Dumbledore’s attitude towards the suffering baby in “King’s Cross,” come to think of it. There’s an excellent reason for that, as we’ll see in part 2 of that chapter.) They don’t wake up and start responding to the danger of the situation until they hear Xeno leading the DEs up the stairs to get them. In other words, it isn’t until their own asses are on the line that they bestir themselves to action--and then they only exert enough effort to save themselves, not Xeno.
Now, I expect Harry and Ron to react far more strongly to the torture of their friend than to that of someone they don’t know, and whom they regard as having betrayed them. That’s only natural. What is not natural is for any of the Trio to have no reaction at all to someone screaming in agony just a few yards/meters away. For them to feel nothing--no shock, no horror, no revulsion, no desire to help--is at best catatonic, and at worst psychopathic. These characters are not just monumentally selfish; they also seem to be lacking the most basic of human instincts for the care and protection of members of their own species. They are, well, freaks.
They are also gutless. What was it Harry told himself while trying to work up the nerve to jump into the frozen pool? Oh, yeah: “Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart.” And what was it James boasted about Gryffindor on that first train ride to Hogwarts? “Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart.”
Coulda fooled me.
Returning to Bella’s interrogation of Hermione, I know I’m supposed to be all high-minded and aver, “Torture is always wrong,” but I just can’t get worked up in this case. I also know I’m supposed to see this as an innocent, noble young girl being horribly tormented by a sadistic fiend, but after cataloguing Hermione’s own crimes earlier, I see this as one violent, ruthless criminal abusing another. It reminds me of a book by Kathy Reichs called Deadly Decisions, about a conflict between biker gangs in Canada. The attitude of most of the respectable citizens in the story was, “So what? They’re cleaning up the country by killing each other.” That’s how I feel about Bella torturing Hermione. In fact, when I read this chapter, I thought, “IT’S KARMA, BABY! I’M JUST SORRY YOUR ROTTEN LITTLE FRIENDS DIDN’T GET THEIRS, TOO!”
Back to the story:
I love the way Ron and Hermione compete as loudmouths, with her screaming loudly enough for the sound to echo off the walls, and him bellowing her name each time she screams. I’m really surprised nobody bellowed back, “SHUT THE FUCK UP, RON! YOU’RE DEAFENING US!”
While Ron is uselessly screaming, Luna is making herself useful by using a rusty nail to cut through the ropes binding the prisoners. Ron stops yelling long enough to bring out his Deluminator, which has some lights from their tent stored in it. Harry gets out his magic mirror and, seeing the blue eye in it again, tells where they are and demands help.
Draco is ordered to bring Griphook upstairs to look at the sword and authenticate it. Little does Draco know that Harry has persuaded the goblin to proclaim sword a fake even if it’s not.
Dobby suddenly appears and Apparates Luna, Dean, and Ollivander to Shell Cottage. I thought one had to be familiar with one’s destination to Apparate there, and Dobby’s never been to Bill’s house. Either Rowling’s screwed up again, or this is another difference between elves and humans regarding the rules of Apparition.
Lucius hears the crack of Apparition and orders Pettigrew to investigate what’s going on in the cellar. Ron and Harry grab Peter, and Ron takes his wand. Peter’s first impulse is to strangle Harry with his awesome silver hand, his master’s wishes be damned, but Harry reminds Pettigrew he owes Harry a life debt for saving him back in PoA. Just as if this were a 1950s B-horror movie, the hand gets angry at Peter’s merciful act and turns on him, strangling him instead. All those fan theories about how the hand would be used against Remus, and that were much cooler than anything in the actual book, bite the dust along with Peter.
Although Ron and Harry try to save Pettigrew, they are unsuccessful. They drop his body and head upstairs to rescue Hermione. They see her collapsed on the floor at Bella’s feet, while Griphook examines the sword. He conveniently declares it a fake and gets slashed in the face and kicked by Bella for his trouble. She then calls Voldemort and offers Hermione to Fenrir.
Ron completely blows the element of surprise--stupid Gryffindor! he could use some Slytherin subtlety--by screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” and charging into the room, wand a-blazing. Bella loses her wand, which Harry grabs, but she gains Hermione and holds a knife to her throat, which she uses to force Ron and Harry to surrender.
Dobby exhibits both Gryffindor foolhardiness and Slytherin dramatics by making the crystal chandelier drop onto Bella, Hermione, and Griphook. Bella drops Hermione and leaps to the side, but the light fixture lands on the girl and the goblin.
As Ron rescues his girlfriend, Harry grabs the three wands Draco’s holding and Stupefies Greyback. Narcissa rescues Draco, who has cuts all over his face from the flying, broken crystals, and Bella screams at Dobby, calling him a traitor. Dobby Apparates out with the Trio, just as Bella throws her knife at him. They land at Shell Cottage, just in time for Dobby to die in front of Harry from Bella’s knife.
While all this was going on, Harry’s Voldie-vision allowed him to tune into the Dull Lord tracking down, questioning, and killing Gregorovitch. Although Harry manfully fought against the mental contact, he conveniently received just enough information to move the story forward.
Whew! That chapter was a long one--29 pages of histrionics and screaming. On the plus side, we are now fewer than 300 pages from the end of the book. Hang on, people! We can make it!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I apologize if they look weird, but I followed the instructions, and that's how they turned out. However, the instructions were posted almost eight years ago, and LJ has changed its programming some since then. It's also possible I couldn't transfer my tables because I wrote this on iPages, not Word.
Are everybody’s barf bags at the ready? All right, then, let’s go!
Hermione hits Harry in the face with a spell that makes his face swell up as if he’s just been stung by an entire hive of bees. The Trio lies about their names, and Harry’s pseudonym is particularly dumb: Vernon Dudley. I know I’m probably being entirely too logical, but if I were in charge of the DEs and their allies, I would give them a list naming not just the people I was looking for, but also their quarries’ friends and relatives. If that had been done, the Snatchers would immediately have said, “Vernon Dudley? Oh, yeah, Harry Potter grew up with an uncle named Vernon and a cousin named Dudley. Given how dumb Potter is, this is probably him using a phony name.” Of course, calling Harry “dumb” would prick his Gryffindor pride, making him indignant, and he would reveal himself by that alone.
Fenrir Greyback says Voldemort’s name has been tabooed because his enemies weren’t showing him the proper respect, so he wanted to be able to punish them when they acted rude. At last the business of referring to him by pseudonyms makes sense. In the previous books, it just makes everybody look too wimpy to call him by his alias. Come to think of it, they still look wimpy in the books when he was incorporeal.
I wonder whether Voldemort is the only name that’s tabooed? What about Tom Riddle? What if somebody calls him a satiric corruption of his name, like Moldyshorts, Oldywart, or even Noisyfart? Those epithets are much more disrespectful than calling him by his assumed name. And if he were really as mean and nasty as he’s cracked up to be, he’d also taboo “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” and “You-Know-Who.” Think of the fun! He and the DEs could wipe out nearly all their enemies at once, just by waiting for them to slip up and use one of his silly pseudonyms.
Despite the efforts of Hermione the Genius, the Trio are found out and taken to Malfoy Manor, along with Dean Thomas and Griphook the goblin. When they arrive, Batty Bellatrix is in charge, and Draco is dragged over to see if he can ID any of the prisoners. He very reluctantly IDs Hermione, which means two of the others must be Ron and Harry. Fenrir Greyback makes some leering remarks about Hermione, but there’s no tension because we know JKR won’t allow her self-insert to be sexually abused.
However, she will allow her to be tortured. With true Gryffindor gallantry, Ron offers himself instead, but Bella wants to spill some muddy blood with her pretty silver knife. Technically, only the handle could be silver; the blade would have to be stainless steel, or a similarly hard metal. Silver is too soft to make an effective knife blade.
Ron, Harry, and the other prisoners are stashed in the cellar, where they find Luna and Ollivander already there. Meanwhile, Bella starts in on Hermione, demanding to know where she got the Sword of Gryffindor, which is supposed to be in Bella’s vault at Gringotts.
I didn’t start out creating tables for this chapter, but they worked so well in my sporking of chapter 35, part 1, that I made some for this chapter, also. First, take a look at how Rowling portrays the torture of Xeno Lovegood in chapter 21. Everyone’s actions and reactions are detailed, and separate assaults on a particular page are designated by number in the Descriptions and Reactions columns. Page numbers refer to the American Scholastic hardcover edition of DH.
| Page Number | Times Xeno-Related Action Mentioned | Description of Words and Actions | Xeno's Reactions | Trio's Reactions |
| 420 | 4 | 1) “There was a bang and a scream of pain from Xenophilius.” 2) “another bang, another squeal” 3) bang 4) bang |
1) scream 2) squeal 3) none 4) none |
none mentioned |
| 421 | 3 | 1) “...there was a volley of bangs interspersed with squeals of agony from Xenophilius” 2) Xeno sobs while speaking 3) “Xenophilius gave a wail of fear and despair.” |
1) repeated squeals of agony 2) sobbing 3) wailing |
none mentioned |
| 422 | 5 | 1) Xeno tries to climb the stairs. 2) Xeno draws nearer. 3) He’s feet away. 4) He tries to shift more debris. 5) His face appears before them. | none mentioned | 1) Harry says they have to leave. The Hs climb over debris. 2) Hermione frees Ron. 3) She tells Ron and Harry what to do. 4) She continues to give orders. 5) She Obliviates Xeno and makes the floor collapse under them all. |
Notice the way Xeno reacts to being tortured: He is described as screaming after the first attack. Then he squeals repeatedly, although the second mention of him squealing is dismissed with the phrase, “repeated squeals of agony.” Note that he is described as screaming only once; the rest of the time he squeals, which makes him sound more like a nonhuman animal (a traitorous pig, maybe?) than a human. Next he sobs, and finally, he gives “a wail of fear and despair,” maybe because he’s realized, as terri_testing has asserted, that he’s not going to get out of this encounter alive.
Rowling minimizes the terrible suffering of this old man in two ways: First, she compresses several vicious attacks into one short phrase: “...there was a volley of bangs interspersed with squeals.” The dictionary in my computer defines volley as “a number of bullets, arrows, or other projectiles discharged at one time.” The thesaurus lists the following as some of volley’s synonyms: barrage, bombardment, fusillade, hail, shower, deluge, torrent. In other words, Xeno was cursed at least several times in quick succession, and possibly dozens of times. Hundreds of times is unlikely, given the short time span, but it’s not out of the question. Anyone who doubts these assertions should consider how quickly it’s possible to get soaked in a shower, deluge, or torrent of water. Or watch the title characters’ death scene from the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde. That’s what a barrage, bombardment, fusillade, or hail of bullets looks like. Imagine Xeno being cursed even half that many times, half that quickly. It looks a whole lot worse than Rowling makes it sound, doesn’t it?
Notice also that, although he is referred to as being hurt seven times, he only reacts vocally five times. This makes it appear he was not seriously injured by two of those curses. It’s also possible he was briefly knocked unconscious from the assaults and then revived. This would mean he was hurt worse in those instances than in the others, but since the scene is told from the point of view of the Hs, who didn’t see what was happening (and didn’t care, either), we can’t be sure what occurred.
That’s disgusting enough, but it actually gets worse. Now look at the elaborate, loving detail Rowling lavishes on Hermione’s sufferings in this chapter.
| Page Number | Times Hermione-Related Action Mentioned | Description of Words and Actions | Hermione's Reactions | Ron and Harry's Reactions |
| 463 | 1 | “...there was a terrible, drawn-out scream from directly above them.” | “terrible, drawn-out scream” | Ron bellows, “HERMIONE!” and starts to “writhe and struggle against the ropes” that tie him and Harry together. |
| 464 | 5 | 3) “Hermione screamed again....” | scream | 1) Ron yells, “HERMIONE!” three times in reaction to scream on 463 2) Harry tells Ron to be quiet so they can plan. 3) Ron bellows her name twice more when she screams again. 4) Bellatrix questions her again about the sword. |
| 465 | 4 | 1) Hermione says, “we found it--we found it--PLEASE!” and screams again. 2) Bella questions H further; “another terrible scream.” 3) Bella threatens to “run H through” with her knife. | 1) scream 2) “another terrible scream” 3) none listed | 1) Ron struggles some more. 2) Ron bellows her name again. 3) none listed |
| 466 | 7 | 1) H screams again. 2) Bella questions her more and Cruciates her. 3) H screams. | 1) screams again 2) “Hermione’s screams echoed off the walls upstairs.” 3) “Hermione was screaming worse than ever.” | 1) “The sound went through Harry like physical pain.” He runs around the cellar looking for a way out. 2) Ron half sobs and pounds the walls with his fists. Harry “in utter desperation” gropes in his neck pouch for the two-way mirror. 3) Ron bellows her name twice more. |
| 467 | 1 | Bella questions H again. | H sobs as she says the sword is fake. | Harry tells Griphook to lie and say the sword’s fake. |
| 468 | 1 | H screams as she’s “being tortured again.” | “An awful scream drowned out Harry’s words: Hermione was being tortured again.” | They continue to work with Dobby to escape. |
| 469 | 1 | H screams again. | “Hermione screamed again.” | Harry forces himself to come out of his Voldie-vision at her scream. |
| 471 | 2 | 1) H screams again. 2) She’s on the floor. | 1) “Hermione gave a dreadful scream...” 2) H is on the floor at Bella’s feet. “She was barely stirring.” | 1) none mentioned 2) They watch and wait for a good time to attack. |
| 472 | 4 | 1) Bella tells Fenrir to take “the Mudblood.” 2) Harry and Ron attack. 3) Bella tells them to stop or H dies. 4) Harry and Ron pause. | 1) none mentioned 2) none mentioned 3) none mentioned 4) Hermione seems to be unconscious. | 1) Ron bellows, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” 2) H and R attack. 3) They pause. |
So the multiple episodes of Xeno’s torturing are blown off with just a few brief mentions that contain no detailed descriptions of how he was injured or how badly, let alone what his screams sounded like. The DEs hurt him at least as many times as Bella hurts Hermione, and over a shorter period, but his torture is virtually shrugged off by the narrator, being dismissed by only a few brief mentions over just one-and-a-half pages. By contrast, Bella’s torture of Hermione goes on for six pages, with each assault and each scream described in detail, and is briefly described on three other pages. There are nine attacks altogether, judging by the number of screams.
Look also at how Rowling structures these scenes. First, take Hermione and Bella: (1) Bella yells her questions. (2) She cuts Hermione. (3) Hermione screams. In other words, there is a loud sound, then silence, then another loud sound. Like rests in music, those silent pauses between the vocalizations put the focus on the sounds that come after the pauses, i.e., Hermione’s screams. Rowling increases the emphasis in two other ways: (1) Her histrionic descriptions of the screams, e. g., “Hermione’s screams echoed off the walls upstairs.”(2) Her equally histrionic descriptions of Harry and Ron's reactions, e.g., Ron repeatedly bellowing "HERMIONE!", and “The sound went through Harry like physical pain.” There are also several descriptions of their frantic efforts to escape the cellar and assist Hermione.
Contrast that with chapter 21, when the DEs attacked Xeno Lovegood: (1) A DE yells a question. (2) There is a loud “bang” as a curse is fired. (3) Xeno shrieks. By having a yelled question, then a “bang,” then a scream, the loud noises all run together, which implies they’re all equally important. This takes the focus off the torture of an innocent man and gives equal weight to his torturers’ interrogation of him--which is about the Trio. So even when a harmless old man is being tortured, what really matters is not the victim’s suffering, but the danger the interrogation poses to Rowling’s self-inserts (and sidekick)--two of whom are torturers themselves! (Remember Harry’s tormenting of Filch. Come to think of it, Rowling seems to have a thing for defenseless old men being tortured. I wonder if that’s another expression of her hostility towards her father?)
This was also not the first time Lovegood was attacked by the DEs. It was the third time in as many weeks. It isn’t stated outright that he was harmed on the other two occasions, but only a fool would believe the DEs didn’t torture him when he disappointed them on their previous visits. In addition, Xeno is an old man, not a healthy teenager. That alone makes it worse to torture him than Hermione.
Rowling’s own indifference to a minor character’s completely gratuitous pain is made explicit by the behavior of her “heroic” Hs: They have no reaction at all to any of the times Xeno is attacked, despite their not only being able to clearly hear his shrieks of agony, but also being close enough to render assistance to him. They don’t even talk about helping him. They just stand there listening, like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel (the “village idiot” character on The Simpsons) trying to make conversation with Stephen Hawking at a cocktail party. They couldn’t care less about saving, protecting, or even helping this pathetic old man who is being tortured right under their noses! (Just like Dumbledore’s attitude towards the suffering baby in “King’s Cross,” come to think of it. There’s an excellent reason for that, as we’ll see in part 2 of that chapter.) They don’t wake up and start responding to the danger of the situation until they hear Xeno leading the DEs up the stairs to get them. In other words, it isn’t until their own asses are on the line that they bestir themselves to action--and then they only exert enough effort to save themselves, not Xeno.
Now, I expect Harry and Ron to react far more strongly to the torture of their friend than to that of someone they don’t know, and whom they regard as having betrayed them. That’s only natural. What is not natural is for any of the Trio to have no reaction at all to someone screaming in agony just a few yards/meters away. For them to feel nothing--no shock, no horror, no revulsion, no desire to help--is at best catatonic, and at worst psychopathic. These characters are not just monumentally selfish; they also seem to be lacking the most basic of human instincts for the care and protection of members of their own species. They are, well, freaks.
They are also gutless. What was it Harry told himself while trying to work up the nerve to jump into the frozen pool? Oh, yeah: “Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart.” And what was it James boasted about Gryffindor on that first train ride to Hogwarts? “Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart.”
Coulda fooled me.
Returning to Bella’s interrogation of Hermione, I know I’m supposed to be all high-minded and aver, “Torture is always wrong,” but I just can’t get worked up in this case. I also know I’m supposed to see this as an innocent, noble young girl being horribly tormented by a sadistic fiend, but after cataloguing Hermione’s own crimes earlier, I see this as one violent, ruthless criminal abusing another. It reminds me of a book by Kathy Reichs called Deadly Decisions, about a conflict between biker gangs in Canada. The attitude of most of the respectable citizens in the story was, “So what? They’re cleaning up the country by killing each other.” That’s how I feel about Bella torturing Hermione. In fact, when I read this chapter, I thought, “IT’S KARMA, BABY! I’M JUST SORRY YOUR ROTTEN LITTLE FRIENDS DIDN’T GET THEIRS, TOO!”
Back to the story:
I love the way Ron and Hermione compete as loudmouths, with her screaming loudly enough for the sound to echo off the walls, and him bellowing her name each time she screams. I’m really surprised nobody bellowed back, “SHUT THE FUCK UP, RON! YOU’RE DEAFENING US!”
While Ron is uselessly screaming, Luna is making herself useful by using a rusty nail to cut through the ropes binding the prisoners. Ron stops yelling long enough to bring out his Deluminator, which has some lights from their tent stored in it. Harry gets out his magic mirror and, seeing the blue eye in it again, tells where they are and demands help.
Draco is ordered to bring Griphook upstairs to look at the sword and authenticate it. Little does Draco know that Harry has persuaded the goblin to proclaim sword a fake even if it’s not.
Dobby suddenly appears and Apparates Luna, Dean, and Ollivander to Shell Cottage. I thought one had to be familiar with one’s destination to Apparate there, and Dobby’s never been to Bill’s house. Either Rowling’s screwed up again, or this is another difference between elves and humans regarding the rules of Apparition.
Lucius hears the crack of Apparition and orders Pettigrew to investigate what’s going on in the cellar. Ron and Harry grab Peter, and Ron takes his wand. Peter’s first impulse is to strangle Harry with his awesome silver hand, his master’s wishes be damned, but Harry reminds Pettigrew he owes Harry a life debt for saving him back in PoA. Just as if this were a 1950s B-horror movie, the hand gets angry at Peter’s merciful act and turns on him, strangling him instead. All those fan theories about how the hand would be used against Remus, and that were much cooler than anything in the actual book, bite the dust along with Peter.
Although Ron and Harry try to save Pettigrew, they are unsuccessful. They drop his body and head upstairs to rescue Hermione. They see her collapsed on the floor at Bella’s feet, while Griphook examines the sword. He conveniently declares it a fake and gets slashed in the face and kicked by Bella for his trouble. She then calls Voldemort and offers Hermione to Fenrir.
Ron completely blows the element of surprise--stupid Gryffindor! he could use some Slytherin subtlety--by screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” and charging into the room, wand a-blazing. Bella loses her wand, which Harry grabs, but she gains Hermione and holds a knife to her throat, which she uses to force Ron and Harry to surrender.
Dobby exhibits both Gryffindor foolhardiness and Slytherin dramatics by making the crystal chandelier drop onto Bella, Hermione, and Griphook. Bella drops Hermione and leaps to the side, but the light fixture lands on the girl and the goblin.
As Ron rescues his girlfriend, Harry grabs the three wands Draco’s holding and Stupefies Greyback. Narcissa rescues Draco, who has cuts all over his face from the flying, broken crystals, and Bella screams at Dobby, calling him a traitor. Dobby Apparates out with the Trio, just as Bella throws her knife at him. They land at Shell Cottage, just in time for Dobby to die in front of Harry from Bella’s knife.
While all this was going on, Harry’s Voldie-vision allowed him to tune into the Dull Lord tracking down, questioning, and killing Gregorovitch. Although Harry manfully fought against the mental contact, he conveniently received just enough information to move the story forward.
Whew! That chapter was a long one--29 pages of histrionics and screaming. On the plus side, we are now fewer than 300 pages from the end of the book. Hang on, people! We can make it!
Happy New Year, everyone!
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-05 02:28 am (UTC)Your tables are pretty, but made redundant by the above facts, I feel.
Also, other reasons why our intrepid heroes would not pay as much attention to Xeno as Hermione:
the girl he loveshis best friend as "sound ... like physical pain".So, yeah. Cute tables are cute but I think you're comparing apples and oranges.
I also know I’m supposed to see this as an innocent, noble young girl being horribly tormented by a sadistic fiend -
Yes.
- but after cataloguing Hermione’s own crimes earlier, I see this as one violent, ruthless criminal abusing another.
Blimey. You've got to be kidding me.
You remind me of one or two excited anti-Hermione fans I've encountered over the years:
Brad: Hermione is the heroine of the books!
Anti-Hr fan: But she's a criminal! She scarred Marietta!
With non-permanent pimples; to a girl who betrayed a multitude of peers to a sadist, breaking an oath in doing so!Brad: She's saved Harry's life innumerable times!
Anti-Hr fan: She scarred Marietta!
mitigating factors as previously conveniently ignored.Brad: She strives to save poor defenceless creatures like Buckbeak!
Anti-Hr fan: Marietta!
Brad: And the elves!
Anti-Hr fan: Marietta!
Brad: She's altruistic, extorting Harry not to lie!
Anti-Hr fan: Marietta!
Brad: She tries her hardest to help her peers learn how to defend themselves!
Anti-Hr fan: Marietta!
Brad (becoming excited): She becomes Minister of Magic, brokers peace in the Middle East and cures cancer!
Anti-Hr fan: Ah ... oh, right - Marietta!
Sorry, I'm feeling a bit silly today. Anyway, a "violent, ruthless criminal"? Hermione Granger? No.
Oh, forgot to say ... although we are supposed to think that Bellatrix is a sadistic expert at torture, I guess it's clear that she left the ULTIMATE torture spell in reserves, right? Worse than blugeoners, worse even than the CRUCIATUS 'super torture' spell itself, Hermione can be only grateful that Bellatrix didn't recourse to the ULTIMATE in the most HORRID of torture spells ...
... and curse the poor girl with pimples!! Right? :-)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-05 01:31 pm (UTC)The film made the contemptible crux of Deathly Hallows even worse than the text - having Hermione be fine with Harry's megalomaniacal, schizophrenic impulse to go to his death by dark wizard. The Hermione written in the text for much of the series would have stopped him even if she had to lobotomise him and take him far away from the UK and abandon the matter of Voldemort and the whole shambles of Death Eater rule.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 11:56 am (UTC)However I'm used to seeing it more as a positive change; like many/most of the canon corrections the films had to try and make sense of Rowling's books (seriously, like, did *anyone*, even Rowling, see a series of 8 films ending with a five minute monologue by the boy hero before he casts a *single spell* to defeat the world's nastiest wizard? And if we wouldn't accept it in a movie ... why a book? The film's entirely different ending is one of the biggest slabs of vindication as to the paucity of Rowling's plot that we ever saw).
Anyway ... sure, you have a point, maybe it's entirely consistent for Hermione to have done everything, even up to casting a stunner, to stop Harry going on his suicide march. Her strongest drive/goal in the whole series is to support him, keep him alive, after all.
On the other hand, her concession that she can't go with him - the "I'll go with you" line - is heralded as a triumph in H/Hr circles. She volunteered to walk with him to his death ... lots of points there, for romance or angst, take your pick.
I tend to take an attitude between your "lobotomise/force" stance and the romantics (although I do like the latter); Hermione would never have accepted that Harry should walk to his death because Harry had not explored other options. I don't think intellect!Hermione could *ever* accept something like that; an impulsive decision to kill oneself. Of course, Harry had been brainwashed by Dumbledore to be a sacrificial pig - that's clear from the text, he felt it was his 'job', he proceeded on automatic, and that's why I discount the boy's heroism a lot from the view of the pro-canon/Jo crowd. I dare say Rowling needed Harry to stay away from Hermione just so Dumbledore's brainwashing wouldn't be questioned by the readers.
I guess we could explain movie!Hermione as quickly working out, in just a few seconds, that Harry had to die. I've forgotten the scene; Harry tells them he's a Horcrux? Maybe she'd read enough to be convinced that there was no other way to get rid of Voldemort. And with Britain the way it was she knew that neither she nor Harry - Gryffindors, after all - could abandon the country in its state under Riddle. So Harry had to die. But she was prepared to go/die with him, to comfort him to the very end ... so yeah, I don't see the scene as 'even worse than the text'. Like most of the film differences, they improved on Rowling's simplistic plots.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 10:03 pm (UTC)I wouldn't have banked on Hermione considering affairs in the UK to be such a huge deal as that. Remember that in a lot of the series, much of the magical community have hated Harry under various ropy pretexts and the greater part of them also accepted the Death Eater Ministry and the disenfranchising of muggle-borns quite placidly (and they frowned at people in elevators if they had been in the Order). Given that she is unforgiving to those who wrong her, I doubt very much that she would have been happy about any of that and it would be in character for her to conclude "sod them" and take Harry away, leaving the country to its own messes.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 02:35 am (UTC)I'm not sure that such a 'retreat' would be in her character. She could have gone with her parents to Australia, she could have abandoned the field at any time in those Hogwarts years.
I guess the key difference with your scenario is the 'take Harry away' difference. Hmm. Interesting. I suspect Hermione makes too many statements or speeches about principle - like the house elf movement - to support the idea of her just giving up.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-13 09:43 pm (UTC)The H/Hr romantic in me wouldn't mind at all reading a fanfic where the two of them just leave the country. I'm sure I've read stories where they do just that (abandoning both England but also those horrible redheads in some cases :-)).
Canon!Hermione, I'm not sure. A brief skim of DH didn't come up with any paragraphs of impassioned speeches by Hermione about the plight of the muggle-born.
Maybe she just stayed in England because Harry stayed; i.e. she stayed with him. And Harry never countenanced leaving. But that's Urbanman's point; might there have been a cusp in the story where Hermione would say 'sod this' and do a Wilkins on Harry, persuade or force him to leave the country - and her go with him - because that would be best *for Harry*? I.e. if she found out he was destined to die? Interesting. Darn, there *must* be (H/Hr) fanfics about that specific possibility somewhere!
I still think there are places in the books where Hermione's disgust for the country's anti-muggle-born stance are apparent - viz their first look at the statue in the Ministry courtyard, for example - but it's questionable as to which is stronger, her pro-Harry sentiment versus her general altruism?
It's a pity they never came to loggerheads on any big matter. On the other hand, Harry was in lots of danger in DH anyway, right? Public enemy #1, etc. So I think maybe Urbanman's query is answered. Canon!Hermione could have seized control, made Harry ever so much safer, by taking Harry away, with consent or doing a Wilkins on him, but she didn't. So I do think our answer is already there.
As long as she was with him Hermione was content to fight the good fight for the benefit of the general public.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-15 12:19 pm (UTC)I think she trusted Dumbles to have set things up so that by the time Harry got the task he had a fighting chance to survive.
But the kids never had a clue! Seriously, there was never a 'plan' on what-to-do-when-we-meet-Voldemort.
I'm sorry, you're probably right - your memory of DH is way superior to mine - I just remember it as a total mish-mash that didn't make sense at all. I do remember some faith of Hermione's in Dumbledore at some stage though. So you've definitely got a point; take that away, make it more certain the boy was going to die, and see which way she breaks.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 03:16 am (UTC)Rowling probably thought that it was more suitable for an adult man to 'squeal' and a vulnerable girl to 'scream'. That's probably all there is to it.
Oh, please. As maidofkent said above, "Interesting comparisons. I would also point out the use of the word 'squeal' as compared to the word 'scream'. 'Squeal' is defined primarily by my copy of the Concise Oxford dictionary as 'prolonged shrill sound, especially a cry of a child or pig' whereas the primary definition of 'scream' is 'a loud high pitched piercing cry expressing fear, pain, extreme fright etc'. To use scream once, followed by squeal in the description of Xenophilus' torture, whereas Hermione is always described as screaming, seems to me to diminish his torture. Compare these two sentences:
"No, not Harry", screamed Lily as Voldemort approached.
"No,not Harry", squealed Lily as Voldemort approached.
IMO it's clear which sentence one would use to convey the horror of this situation.
Your tables are pretty...Cute tables are cute
This is really condescending. Are you trying to be offensive?
You remind me of one or two excited anti-Hermione fans I've encountered over the years:
Brad: Hermione is the heroine of the books!
Anti-Hr fan: But she's a criminal! She scarred Marietta! With non-permanent pimples; to a girl who betrayed a multitude of peers to a sadist, breaking an oath in doing so!
I'm not the one who brought up Marietta. You are. I went back and looked at my other references to Hermione's crimes, in chapters 6 and 7. My only reference to Marietta in 112 pages (posted so far) was this sentence fragment from 7: "Permanently disfiguring another girl for breaking an agreement with a school club, with consequences she didn’t know in advance." You're correct that the text does not explicitly state Marietta was permanently scarred. However, the fact that she still had the disfiguring skin condition just as badly as she did initially for the entire next school year means the damage was (1) long-term, and (2) hard to eradicate, both of which lead to permanent scarring. I know something about this, having had acne, including painful, scarring, cystic acne, for most of my life. By your own admission, you've never had skin problems, so your ridiculing of Marietta's plight is both callous and utterly despicable. No wonder you like Hermione so much.
TBC
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 03:04 am (UTC)Oh, good, thanks. I accept the correction.
(Please ensure, the next time you quote my 'par for the course', you also note - in fairness! - that I accept course corrections. :-))
Whether they're "low level" or not is not stated in the text.
Certainly not high level. At Gringotts Travers shows that he's not part of the inner circle. He only 'heard' that Bellatrix was incarcerated. He greets her as 'Madam Lestrange'. Neither DE was mentioned at Riddle's meeting at the start of the book. Et cetera.
Rowling probably thought that it was more suitable for an adult man to 'squeal' and a vulnerable girl to 'scream'. That's probably all there is to it.
Oh, please. As maidofkent said above, "Interesting comparisons ...
Maidofkent helped make my point for me. As did slinkard:
That Rowling chooses her words carefully, and if she wants us to view two situations differently, will use language to suggest what she wants the reader to think.
In this case Rowling wanted to depict the two scenarios as entirely different - Hermione's being one of torture, Xeno's not. She used different language - squeal versus scream. She showed different results. She was even obvious enough to have the TORTURE curse employed for one and not the other.
Your mistake was laid down at the very start of that section of your critique, where you charged in saying "take a look at how Rowling portrays the *torture* of Xeno Lovegood. Employing your tables to show all of the differences between the two cases.
Of course there were differences. Because they weren't the same thing.
You were trying to lead your readers into comparing the two scenes as if they were both the same - both cases of torture. But they're not. And, voila, that's why there are so many differences!
Write an article about a lump of cheese and a lump of chalk but disingenuously start off by saying "let's compare these two chunks of chalk" and of course you'll find differences!
But start off honestly - here's a piece of cheese, here's some chalk, let's see how they are different - your readers will say well, yeah, of course they're different, totally different items, let's move on please. No need to haul out the microscope and compare them atom by atom.
However, the fact that she still had the disfiguring skin condition just as badly as she did initially for the entire next school year means the damage was (1) long-term, and (2) hard to eradicate, both of which lead to permanent scarring -
I thought - in the big MARIETTA WAS A TRAITOR thread we had a fair while ago - that it was established that Marietta only had the pimples for a few months - the summer holiday between OotP and HBP. There was no 'entire next school year' at all as far as I recall.
'Hard to eradicate' does not mean 'permanent scarring'. It means 'hard to eradicate'. But not 'impossible to eradicate'. And 'eradicate' means 'no permanent scarring'.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 03:48 am (UTC)1) The DA agreement was a contract.
2) Minors cannot sign contracts.
3) If they do sign a contract, for whatever reason, the contract cannot be enforced against them.
4) Even if a contract is valid and enforceable, the person wronged by the violation of the contract has limited means to collect damages. They can sue to recoup their money (credit cards or other loans), repossess the object (cars, furniture, or the like), foreclose (real estate), or sue for money damages (e.g., when a contractor doesn't finish a job).
WHAT THEY CANNOT DO IS PHYSICALLY HARM THE PERSON WHO DEFAULTED. PERIOD! THAT IS THE LAW!
The only people who physically attack and punish people for not living up to agreements are Mafia goons. By your endorsement of Hermione's revenge against Marietta, you are admitting you think violent criminality is acceptable if somebody violates a[n invalid, thus non-binding] contract or agreement.
Actually, Hermione is worse than a Mafia goon. Even the Mafia doesn't make agreements with minors. And everybody knows if they default on an agreement with a loan shark or Mafioso, they'll be seriously injured or killed.
BUT HERMIONE NEVER EXPLAINED TO HER CLASSMATES THE CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING THE AGREEMENT SHE WROTE!
This is not even to consider that Marietta never wanted to sign the agreement in the first place. She was pressured into it. An agreement signed under duress is also invalid, for that reason.
I don't doubt for a second that if their positions were reversed, you would consider Marietta an evil, ruthless bitch who deserved to spend years in Azkaban for disfiguring poor widdle, innocent Hermoninny. That's the difference between you and me. I have one standard of morality for everyone, whether I like them or not. You have different standards depending on your feelings for someone. You don't believe It's Okay If A Gryffindor Does It. You believe It's Okay If Hermione Does It.
Regarding Hermione's parents, she mind-raped them and gave them new identities. That is both a gross violation of their civil rights and a form of brainwashing. Relocating them to Australia without their knowledge or consent is kidnapping. Kidnapping and disfiguring assault are violent crimes. That is not my opinion. That is the law. Deal with it.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 03:57 pm (UTC)BOTH of them 'betray' Harry for a member of their FAMILY. JKR has said in interview, specifically about Marietta, that there isn't anything she despises (I could be wrong about the actual word she used here) more than betrayal.
And yet, it only works here that she sees them both as betraying Harry - despite the fact that neither of them know Harry all that well, she apparently would see nothing wrong with them putting Harry before their own family members. She wouldn't apparently see that as betraying their mother or daughter.
This even brings in Hermione's parents. We've noted before that Hermione's own words have her obliviating her parents - not to protect THEM, but to protect Harry. SHE doesn't betray Harry, but then, she's a lot closer to him than either Xeno or Marietta.
Basically - it appears that everyone should put Harry's protection above everyone else. No wonder she still dislikes Snape. He tells Harry that he must go let himself be killed. He drops his protection, despite being angry at Albus over the 'pig to slaughter'. Not that his protection was ever 'enough' when he also wasn't 'nice' to Harry
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 12:47 am (UTC)Ooh, excellent point! You're right. I think JKR's exact words were, "I can't stand (or abide) a traitor." So you're not a traitor if you let your mother be punished/your child die to protect someone you barely know, but you are if you put your family member's well-being ahead of that of a casual acquaintance.
Basically - it appears that everyone should put Harry's protection above everyone else. No wonder she still dislikes Snape. He tells Harry that he must go let himself be killed. He drops his protection, despite being angry at Albus over the 'pig to slaughter'. Not that his protection was ever 'enough' when he also wasn't 'nice' to Harry
Another great point. Rowling put Snape in a damned if you do/damned if you don't position. He couldn't be nice to Harry because that would impair his ability to be an effective double agent--but he's still "a deeply horrible person" for treating Harry and his friends badly. He was ordered by the god of this series--Scummywhore--to let Harry die--but when he (very reluctantly) obeys those orders like a good soldier--just like Harry did when he went to his own death--he's a bad guy for "betraying" Harry and not protecting him. Meanwhile, Scummy himself, who insisted Harry had to die, and who never even attempted to find a way to get rid of the Voldie-soul piece without killing Harry--is "the epitome of goodness." I don't know if the English language even has words to describe how screwed up all that is.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 03:24 am (UTC)I think this is a subset - or a facet - of Rowling's greater, more egregious flaw, that of her tunnel vision. She had one goal in mind - to get Harry over the finish line - and, particularly with the last couple of books, didn't bother putting herself in her characters' shoes to explore the options that they might reasonably take. Rowling knew where she wanted the plot to go - A to B to C - and didn't allow her characters to even consider any other course. It made for some huge plot holes and flaws by the end.
I think that sort of attitude lends itself to the symptoms that you've observed. *Rowling* knew that Harry was the 'good guy', the one that was right, so, consciously or unconsciously, all of the characters in Rowling's world acted the same way. Or were *judged* the same way.
We've noted before that Hermione's own words have her obliviating her parents - not to protect THEM, but to protect Harry.
I guess I missed that discussion; I don't think I can agree:
That’s to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down and interrogate them about me -
Interrogations mean torture - REAL torture! - and Hermione's moving her parents to Australia protected them from that torture. It protected Harry, too, but I note that Hermione appends that as an afterthought - they won't be interrogated, about me (Hermione), oh, or you (Harry).Hermione's good intentions - to protect her folks - show in the next paragraph as well:
If I don’t – well, I think I’ve cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy.
'Safe and happy' ... sounds like an intent to 'protect' them, don't you think?no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 03:15 am (UTC)I would have liked to address the rest of your points - I just re-read the OotP scene where the kids sign the contract, Marietta knew darn well what she was doing even then - but hey -
- We all know you're irrational on the subject of Hermione ...
- I don't doubt for a second that if their positions were reversed, you would consider ...
- You have different standards depending on your feelings for someone.
Since you know me so well, and you're doing all my thinking for me, I thought you could write my rebuttal for me. Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 07:12 am (UTC)And I owe you particular thanks here--you made me mentally reveiw all Hermione's various crimes and assualts, and that made me realize I'd unfairly minimized her assault upon Cormac.
I'd read that some schoolkids had been schoked by it, on the grounds that Sports are Sacrosanct and Cheating at Team Try Oouts is Just Not Done. Yet that very factor made me overlook this offense; I hold academics more important than sports, and she was a chear, more or less nonstop, throughtout her first five years.
(And, of course, her repeatedly doing Ron & Harry's work for them did eventually come back to haunt her, though it's not clear she ever acknowledge this: on the Camping Trip from Hell, she was saddled with two useless lumps whom she'd trained to sit back and let her do ALL the researching, and almost all of the heavy lifting.)
But, see, my scon for Quidditch, and for the relative importance of blatent cheating in Quidditch try-outs, blinded me to the severity of Hermione's crime there.
Translate her actions back into Muggle terms: a teenage girl, trying to get her incompetent boyrfirend on the team, druge his best rival in try-outs so he'll blunder around in a daze.
That is ASSAULT.
Now factor in that the tryouts in question involve operating equipment at hight veolociies.
And Hermione's curse left Cormac so disoriented that he was walking into walls many hours later!
Remenind me--when someone hexed Harry's broom in book one to try to cause him to fall, what did we call that crime?
Attempted murder.
There is not an exact equivalent in Muggle terms. Except maybe drugging a racecar driver so that his reflexes would be off enough to crash.
Hermione committed an egregious assault. Upon someone who had never harmed her, nor anyone else to her knowledge. In order to assure her boyfriend a team position she thought he could not fairly earn. And to accomplish this, she used a spell that could have sent Cormac to his death.
I checked this. People survivie falls, yes, as Hassy survived his various Quidditch falls. With, in Harry's, case, the help of the good luck his mother's willing death purchasedd.
But I checked: he "ld-50" for surviviing falls is about 50 feet. The height of the Quidditch hoops. So someonne NOT shileded by mother's-deaht-luck has a fifty-fifty chance of dying in that fall.
And Hermione set Cormac up for that. To get her boyfriend a palce on a team.
Now that's callous.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 12:49 am (UTC)Psychopaths.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 03:40 am (UTC)- it's nice to hear your dulcet tones -
Why, thank you! The first complement I've received today. :-)
Counterbalances oneandthetruthnicely. :-)
- and watch your skills in keeping the pot boiling...
I'm not here to deliberately stir the pot, mind. I just disagreed with oneandthetruth's shortcuts and short circuits with the 'torture' thing. She started off equating Xeno's predicament with Hermione's and then found lots of differences. That's because her starting point - that they were equivalent - was incorrect in the first place.
Take the stance that Xeno *wasn't* tortured - as some others here have agreed (although I know one respondent, while conceding that Xeno's treatment wasn't in the same ballpark as Hermione's, still calls it 'lesser torture' :-)) - and lo! The differences all make perfect sense. And not a crime of literature, or of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, after all.
Anyway -
That is ASSAULT.
Stupid, too. But that was our girl Hermione in book 6. Stupid.
she used a spell that could have sent Cormac to his death.
I'm not with you on that one, Terri. Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, would have carefully measured the efficacy of her curse. You want proof? The fact that Cormac *didn't* fall.
In fact, he saved four out of five hoops. Clearly not nearly discombobulated enough to fall off his broom.
Still, cursing McLaggen in the first place is certainly a misdemeanour of some sort, I have to give you that. I was thinking Hermione's attacking Won Won with killer canaries was her only sin in book 6.
But, see, my scorn for Quidditch -
Yeah, same here. That's part of the whole lobotomised!Hermione character inversion of book 6. Her breaking school rules - breaking rules! - for Quidditch. QUIDDITCH.
Honestly, I'm just a mere male, but wasn't book 6 a terrible book for all those young girl readers? ROLE MODEL ALERT - when you get older it's okay to lose all reason and go ga-ga over a boy.
Well, I didn't enjoy reading it.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-16 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-16 08:20 am (UTC)Can you tell me where in the books you get that information, please? I had a look and found only this:
None of the first five applicants saved more than two goals apiece. To Harry's great disappointment, Cormac McLaggen saved four penalties out of five. On the last one, however, he shot off in completely the wrong direction; the crowd laughed and booed and McLaggen returned to the ground grinding his teeth.
Nothing showing that Hermione waited until the fifth ball.no subject
Date: 2014-01-16 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-23 01:11 am (UTC)If he was so confused as to be walking into walls why didn't he fall off his broom, then?
I guess it's circular reasoning of a sort; Terri's (good) point is that Hermione opened up that possibility, put Cormac's life under threat. It seems weird to me, though, that a curse as blatantly/clumsily cast as to make the boy *walk into walls* would *surely* have resulted in having him fall off his broom?
Maybe the curse had some conditions laid down on it. Like, "confuse left and right". Leaving "up and down" perfectly intact. No risks of falling from brooms then! Hermione still did the wrong thing, but at least didn't put his life at risk.