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deathtocapslock* The deed done, the Death Eaters all prepare to escape. I like the way it’s Snape specifically who takes Draco away. Always concerned for his students’ safety, that man.
* Harry realises that the Petrificus Totalus Dumbledore cast on him has worn off, and casts one of his own on the final Death Eater. So for those of you who are keeping track, murdering Harry’s favourite teacher: freezing spell; spitting at Professor McGonagall: sadistic torture.
* Although why none of the other DEs heard Harry’s shouting and turned back to see what the commotion was I don’t know.
* Harry leaps over the bottom ten steps of the staircase. Wow that kid’s athletic.
* Unfortunately Harry in his rage leaves behind the invisibility cloak. Or then again, maybe that’s deliberate. He wants the Death Eaters to see who it is who’s avenging Dumbledore!
* Props to JK for proper use of the pronoun “whom”. Too few people nowadays are able to accurately tell their nominative from their accusative.
* Fenrir is introduced as “the werewolf, Greyback,” in case we’ve forgotten his introduction last chapter.
* Ginny is described as being “locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus”, presumably because this makes her sound much better and more skilful than “Ginny was desperately trying to dodge the hexes Amycus was casting.”
* Wow, I know these Death Eaters are meant to be sadistic thugs (or maybe righteously angry avengers of headmistresses’ honour; it can be quite difficult to tell the two apart sometimes), but casting Crucio in the middle of an ongoing battle? Really? Surely it would be better to stun her or something to neutralise her quickly and then turn your attention to other potential threats. At least Harry only ever tortured somebody when there was no other enemy in the vicinity.
* Also, Ginny’s such a super-hot Mary Sue that even Amycus comments on her looks.
* “[A]n enormous blond wizard” keeps missing with his curses, which in turn are ricocheting off the walls. Interesting, does anybody know if there are any other references in the series to spells bouncing off walls? I think I’ve seen a fanfic where a spell gets reflected by a mirror, but I don’t recall anything about walls, even ones made of really shiny polished stone.
* It seems that one of the escaping Death Eaters has launched a spell at the Gryffindor hour-glass, which is now spilling its rubies onto the floor. Because even when you’re an élite agent of the Dark Lord carrying out a critically important mission against his biggest foe, it’s still important to get one over the rival house at your old school.
* Hagrid should’ve been killed here. It would make “Hagrid’s Tale” so much more bearable in retrospect.
* Harry gets attacked from behind, but “miraculously” manages to hex one of his assailants and resume pursuit of Snape and Malfoy. TBH I think that an actual miracle – or maybe a whole series of them – is probably the most plausible way of explaining Harry’s survival through these books.
* It’s kind of sweet the way Snape sends Draco ahead to safety while turning round to cover his retreat. Admittedly Harry isn’t much of a threat, but there would still be other, more competent, people coming after him.
* I love the way Snape totally kicks Harry’s arse whilst also giving him a practical demonstration of why listening in DADA class is a good idea. See how pitifully easy it is to block you when you shout out what you’re doing? That’s why non-verbal spells are useful to know, Potter.
* Let’s all pause a while to savour this moment, shall we?
* Next year Harry will be wishing for the opportunity to face Snape in a “fair fight”, totally forgetting the fair fight they’re actually having now, and how painfully obvious Snape’s superiority in duelling is.
* Not only does Harry get his arse handed to him, but Snape has to protect him from the other Death Eaters. Ouch.
* The big blond Death Eater tortures Harry, which is a sign he’s evil. Harry just tried to torture Severus, which is a sign he’s totally righteous and badass. Yeah, go Harry!
* Although we’ll have to wait till next year for Harry to reach the stage where he can pepper his torture sessions with badass quips. Got to have some area for character development, I suppose.
* “You dare to use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them – I, the Half-Blood Prince!” Oh, that seems… curiously anticlimactic. I mean, sure, I don’t think I saw the reveal coming when I first read through the book, but the resolution to the titular mystery really ought to be given more prominence than a single paragraph in the middle of much more interesting and important things. (Oddly enough, seeing the hero of the good side getting murdered tends to make questions about who doodled in your second-hand high school textbook seem rather unimportant.) It would be one thing if this came back in the next book and had some important effect on the storyline or on Harry’s character development, but as it is it just seems like something tacked on to justify the book’s title.
* I’m not sure why Snape gets so worked up about being called a coward. He’s just shown that he can handily defeat Harry without even breaking a sweat, he really shouldn’t need the boy’s approval right now.
* Nor am I sure why he can’t fight off Buckbeak, or for that matter why Buckbeak is here in the first place. It’s not like he’s had any meaningful recent interaction with Harry that could make him want to defend the boy.
* Harry looks down on “the greatest wizard [he] had ever, or would ever, meet.” I can’t decide which is more depressing, the fact that Harry thinks Dumbledore’s the greatest wizard he’s met, or the fact that he’s probably right.
* “[N]ever again would Dumbledore speak to him, never again could he help…” So basically Harry’s life from now on will be like the 99% of the time before the Headmaster’s death when Dumbledore was pretty much ignoring him and every other student and staff member at Hogwarts.
* I’m not sure why Regulus didn’t just sign of his letter “Regulus Black” instead of the “RAB” business. From a Doylist perspective it’s clearly to keep us guessing as to who it is, but in-universe there doesn’t seem to be much reason for it.
* Harry realises that the Petrificus Totalus Dumbledore cast on him has worn off, and casts one of his own on the final Death Eater. So for those of you who are keeping track, murdering Harry’s favourite teacher: freezing spell; spitting at Professor McGonagall: sadistic torture.
* Although why none of the other DEs heard Harry’s shouting and turned back to see what the commotion was I don’t know.
* Harry leaps over the bottom ten steps of the staircase. Wow that kid’s athletic.
* Unfortunately Harry in his rage leaves behind the invisibility cloak. Or then again, maybe that’s deliberate. He wants the Death Eaters to see who it is who’s avenging Dumbledore!
* Props to JK for proper use of the pronoun “whom”. Too few people nowadays are able to accurately tell their nominative from their accusative.
* Fenrir is introduced as “the werewolf, Greyback,” in case we’ve forgotten his introduction last chapter.
* Ginny is described as being “locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus”, presumably because this makes her sound much better and more skilful than “Ginny was desperately trying to dodge the hexes Amycus was casting.”
* Wow, I know these Death Eaters are meant to be sadistic thugs (or maybe righteously angry avengers of headmistresses’ honour; it can be quite difficult to tell the two apart sometimes), but casting Crucio in the middle of an ongoing battle? Really? Surely it would be better to stun her or something to neutralise her quickly and then turn your attention to other potential threats. At least Harry only ever tortured somebody when there was no other enemy in the vicinity.
* Also, Ginny’s such a super-hot Mary Sue that even Amycus comments on her looks.
* “[A]n enormous blond wizard” keeps missing with his curses, which in turn are ricocheting off the walls. Interesting, does anybody know if there are any other references in the series to spells bouncing off walls? I think I’ve seen a fanfic where a spell gets reflected by a mirror, but I don’t recall anything about walls, even ones made of really shiny polished stone.
* It seems that one of the escaping Death Eaters has launched a spell at the Gryffindor hour-glass, which is now spilling its rubies onto the floor. Because even when you’re an élite agent of the Dark Lord carrying out a critically important mission against his biggest foe, it’s still important to get one over the rival house at your old school.
* Hagrid should’ve been killed here. It would make “Hagrid’s Tale” so much more bearable in retrospect.
* Harry gets attacked from behind, but “miraculously” manages to hex one of his assailants and resume pursuit of Snape and Malfoy. TBH I think that an actual miracle – or maybe a whole series of them – is probably the most plausible way of explaining Harry’s survival through these books.
* It’s kind of sweet the way Snape sends Draco ahead to safety while turning round to cover his retreat. Admittedly Harry isn’t much of a threat, but there would still be other, more competent, people coming after him.
* I love the way Snape totally kicks Harry’s arse whilst also giving him a practical demonstration of why listening in DADA class is a good idea. See how pitifully easy it is to block you when you shout out what you’re doing? That’s why non-verbal spells are useful to know, Potter.
* Let’s all pause a while to savour this moment, shall we?
* Next year Harry will be wishing for the opportunity to face Snape in a “fair fight”, totally forgetting the fair fight they’re actually having now, and how painfully obvious Snape’s superiority in duelling is.
* Not only does Harry get his arse handed to him, but Snape has to protect him from the other Death Eaters. Ouch.
* The big blond Death Eater tortures Harry, which is a sign he’s evil. Harry just tried to torture Severus, which is a sign he’s totally righteous and badass. Yeah, go Harry!
* Although we’ll have to wait till next year for Harry to reach the stage where he can pepper his torture sessions with badass quips. Got to have some area for character development, I suppose.
* “You dare to use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them – I, the Half-Blood Prince!” Oh, that seems… curiously anticlimactic. I mean, sure, I don’t think I saw the reveal coming when I first read through the book, but the resolution to the titular mystery really ought to be given more prominence than a single paragraph in the middle of much more interesting and important things. (Oddly enough, seeing the hero of the good side getting murdered tends to make questions about who doodled in your second-hand high school textbook seem rather unimportant.) It would be one thing if this came back in the next book and had some important effect on the storyline or on Harry’s character development, but as it is it just seems like something tacked on to justify the book’s title.
* I’m not sure why Snape gets so worked up about being called a coward. He’s just shown that he can handily defeat Harry without even breaking a sweat, he really shouldn’t need the boy’s approval right now.
* Nor am I sure why he can’t fight off Buckbeak, or for that matter why Buckbeak is here in the first place. It’s not like he’s had any meaningful recent interaction with Harry that could make him want to defend the boy.
* Harry looks down on “the greatest wizard [he] had ever, or would ever, meet.” I can’t decide which is more depressing, the fact that Harry thinks Dumbledore’s the greatest wizard he’s met, or the fact that he’s probably right.
* “[N]ever again would Dumbledore speak to him, never again could he help…” So basically Harry’s life from now on will be like the 99% of the time before the Headmaster’s death when Dumbledore was pretty much ignoring him and every other student and staff member at Hogwarts.
* I’m not sure why Regulus didn’t just sign of his letter “Regulus Black” instead of the “RAB” business. From a Doylist perspective it’s clearly to keep us guessing as to who it is, but in-universe there doesn’t seem to be much reason for it.
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Date: 2014-04-14 01:19 am (UTC)Yes! I love smart villians...and I like that (in the story you mentioned) Batman did let another character take his place while he healed. I like smart heroes too.
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Date: 2014-04-14 02:51 am (UTC)