POA: Chapter Three

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

The Knight Bus

*Harry is at large on the streets of Magnolia Crescent and there is anger burning in his heart. But don't worry the love is there too. Its mixing with the anger to create something really good and is sure to save the world.

*Oh no, Harry's stranded in a muggle world. As if the wizarding world is any safer.

*Damn, Harry is now a fugitive and expelled from Hogwarts! He violated the underage magic rule.

*There is a lack of notices from the MOM. I'm thinking this was still during the years that Fudge was still Dumpeydore's water boy.

*Well, now that he is a magical JD, an underage runaway BUT with a vault of gold, why not just use MORE magic? To hell with it all, right Harry? I'm sure the MOM can't pin down you're whereabouts at all. Too bad you aren't as smart as Riddle. I'm sure HE knew all the places he could practice magic without getting expelled. In fact, I'm sure most of Hogwarts (who aren't friends with the trio) know where they can practice magic without being expelled.

*You know, I'm thinking that this restriction is really just to handicap powerful muggle kids.

*Harry feels as if he is being watched. He turns to see a large dog and promptly falls down in surprise.

*The knight bus arrives just in time to prolong the mystery. Damn you Shunpike.

*Shunpike jumps out of the bus to deliver his speech. He is dressed in a purple outfit and his ears are really large and his skin is pimply. I suppose that was why he didn't get a job at the MOM. He was too ugly. We can't have ugly people running around the Ministry. Nope.

*Of course Shunpike has a thick, low class accent. Which is why he is working for a bus company. Don't you just love these books? We always know who is the upper crust from the low because Harry and pals have an RP dialect. Even Ron who should really be speaking with a lower class accent. But then again, his family were most assuredly former Kings of England fallen on low times. Nothing really, really bad can happen to the heroes. The Weaselys may be poor but their blood is the PUREST OF ALL!

*Harry tells Shunpike that he is Neville Longbottom. This is the only time Harry ever thinks of Longbottom away from school. Neville can always be good for an alibi.

*Harry asks Shunpike why muggles can't see the bus. Isn't it great that Harry buys into the prejudice of this world? It is a wonderful example of how loving and giving he really is.

*Shunpike is here only to give information about Black. He is a veritable scholar on Black crimes. He also very generously gives us information on Azkaban.

*Fudge is waiting at the Leaky Cauldron for Harry. Poor Shunpike he fawns all over Fudge. I guess he is still hoping for a better job. Clear up that acne, shrink your ears and learn better pronunciation Shunpike.

*A Harry Potter series bon mot: People who don't speak well deserve the low class jobs they get.

*Another bon mot: If you aren't connected by blood or friendship to someone better, you deserve the low class job you have.

*Fudge laughs off Harry's magical mistake. He states that Aunt Marge has been obliviated and the Dursleys will take him back.

*I shudder to think of what the aurors did to the Dursleys to convince them to take back Harry.

*Harry asks Fudge if he could give him permission to go to Hogsmeade.

*I love how Harry completely forgets all the trouble he has caused and immediately just thinks about his own silly problems. Harry needs to go to Hogsmeade, dammit!

*Fudge refuses to give permission. Damn Fudge, the aurors couldn't get a signed permission note from the Dursleys while they were messing with the Dursleys memories? This is HARRY POTTER you know. He just can't be treated like any old normal person.

*Harry is shown to his room and Hedwig is waiting for him.

*I guess staying with the Weaselys was too much for even Hedwig to handle. She would have rather taken shelter with the homeless Harry. Darn, that is saying quite a bit about the Weaselys.

*Harry then sleeps the sleep of the pure and blameless at the Leaky Cauldron inn.

Comments

[harrythebrave.livejournal.com]

*Of course Shunpike has a thick, low class accent. Which is why he is working for a bus company. Don't you just love these books? We always know who is the upper crust from the low because Harry and pals have an RP dialect. Even Ron who should really be speaking with a lower class accent. But then again, his family were most assuredly former Kings of England fallen on low times. Nothing really, really bad can happen to the heroes. The Weaselys may be poor but their blood is the PUREST OF ALL!

The books are overrun with prejudice - but we are supposed to be selective in our prejudice and love the Weasleys but hate all Slytherins, etc. It's not what you come from - remember that. Even if all Weasleys are lumped together and all Slytherins are evil at eleven simply for wanting to be sorted to Slytherin.

*Fudge refuses to give permission. Damn Fudge, the aurors couldn't get a signed permission note from the Dursleys while they were messing with the Dursleys memories? This is HARRY POTTER you know. He just can't be treated like any old normal person.

So threatening them is fine but getting them to sign a permission slip for The Chosen one is too much. All the better to make Sirius seem good in Harry's eyes later by getting him to sign it - oh, yes, they accept signitures from wanted criminals (above the Minister) for permission slips to Hogsmeade! Sure Sirius is his godfather, but still... Sometimes the plotpoints have to override the logic...

[saylee.livejournal.com]

*Harry is at large on the streets of Magnolia Crescent and there is anger burning in his heart. But don't worry the love is there too. Its mixing with the anger to create something really good and is sure to save the world.

I'm picturing Harry's insides as some sort of chemistry experiment, now. Maybe all that mixing helps fertilize the chest monster egg he picked up from Hagrid's coat in PS.

*You know, I'm thinking that this restriction is really just to handicap powerful muggle kids.

Nah, it's there to make Harry seem properly put upon, even if the rules end up being waived for him after all.

*Shunpike is here only to give information about Black. He is a veritable scholar on Black crimes. He also very generously gives us information on Azkaban.

Maybe that knowledge will come in handy for him when he's arrested for being a Death Eater a few years from now.

*A Harry Potter series bon mot: People who don't speak well deserve the low class jobs they get.

That is, unless they're loyal followers of Dumbledore. Then they deserve promotions to jobs they are completely unqualified for.

[artystone.livejournal.com]

The Weaselys may be poor but their blood is the PUREST OF ALL!


...BECAUSE they're poor!

[papier.livejournal.com]

Just some random trivia: I always thought Stan Shunpike was named after Rowling's Grandfather, who was a bus conductor called Stan. Whether or not he was a cockney one I don't know, but I believe her parents did come from London, so it's a possibility.

Then again, he may not have been a bus conductor at all, and she just randomly named him Stan after one of her grandparents. It was a while ago since I read it; I'm sure it was on her website, but it might have come from that stupid interview which I can't be bothered to look at now...well, in any case, she named him after someone close in the family, that much is true.

I honestly can't say whether she's commenting on class from her own bias or just commenting on the world as she sees it. She was very poor herself before HP, so even if she does look down on the lower classes or people with so-called lower-class accents, she was walking along the poverty line herself at one time.

As I live in Greater London, just a few miles from the surrey suburbs, I know that people who live there don't tend to have any sort of inflections to their voice worth noting, so I get why Harry's dialogue isn't written like Hagrid's or Stan's. I do wonder about the Weasleys though - don't they live in Devon, supposedly? Why don't they talk like Hagrid?