PS Chapter Twelve: "The Mirror of Erised"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* I bet muggle children feel so inferior now, when they compare the draughty, ice-cold Hogwarts castle to the central-heated hovels they live in back home.

* “Ron and his brothers were staying too, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.” Ginny, presumably, has to fend for herself over Christmas.

* I’m not sure why Dumbledore is making Hagrid carry the Christmas trees inside, given that any of the teachers could just levitate the trees and take them in quicker and more easily.

* Then again, Albus does also make Filch clean the castle by hand, when any magic-user could vanish the rooms clean in a trice. Maybe he just gets off on seeing people struggle.

* Harry hates both Malfoy and Snape, inaugurating the long tradition of him trying to work out whom he hates the most.

* The trio have “been through hundreds of books already” without finding Flamel, because apparently card catalogues aren’t whimsical enough for the wizarding world.

* I’m surprised they haven’t yet found any reference to Flamel, though. Even if they’ve only been looking through books of recent magical history, you’d have thought at least one of them would have referenced him, if only in passing.

* Madam Pince seems a bit OTT, kicking inoffensive students out of the library. It’s not like Harry was damaging the books or disturbing other library users.

* Actually, couldn’t Harry ask Madam Pince if there are any books mentioning Nicholas Flamel? He could tell her it’s for a piece of History of Magic homework or something.

* Harry and Ron immediately lose interest in looking for Flamel once the holidays start, because even at this early stage they’re a pair of layabouts who can’t do anything without Hermione nagging them.

* Ron starts teaching Harry wizard chess. This is exactly like muggle chess except more sadistic, and therefore better.

* I hope Ron enjoys beating Harry at chess, because it’s the only thing he’ll be allowed to beat Harry at, at all, ever.

* Ron’s pile of Christmas presents is much bigger than Harry’s. Just to remind us that Harry’s the underdog here, in case his free broom, rule-bending place on the sports team and private hoard of gold have caused us to forget.

* Ron’s fascination with Harry’s 50p is a bit OTT, especially for a kid whose father is supposedly obsessed with muggle artefacts. What, so Mr. Weasley never once brought any muggle money home with him?

* It’s a pity they don’t study Classics in the wizarding world, otherwise Dumbledore might have read about the Ring of Gyges and realised that giving an eleven-year-old the ability to essentially do anything and get away with it is almost certainly going to be a very, very bad idea.

* Harry’s jumper is better than the others’, because Mrs. Weasley obviously makes more of an effort if you’re rich and famous not family. I wonder how her real children feel about this.

* Not only is Ron’s jumper worse than Harry’s, it’s in a colour he hates. No wonder he ends up so insecure.

* The Hogwarts Christmas dinner sounds kind of wasteful – we’re not told exactly how many people stayed for the holidays, but it’s almost certainly not enough to eat “a hundred fat, roast turkeys”.

* The narrative voice pauses for a bit to express contempt for the “feeble Muggle [crackers] the Dursleys usually bought”, because obviously crackers which send live rodents flying through the air are far superior.

* The fact that we need to be specifically told that the balloons in Harry’s cracker are non-explodable says a lot about wizarding society.

* Despite allegedly being a normal human male, teenage Harry never once considers using the Invisibility Cloak to spy on the girls’ changing rooms.

* Dumbledore’s been spying on Harry looking at the Mirror. Because that isn’t creepy at all.

Comments

[penguinsuzie.livejournal.com]

I don't see why there aren't warming spells used all over the castle during winter.

* “Ron and his brothers were staying too, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.” Ginny, presumably, has to fend for herself over Christmas.

I just assumed she went with them, but that's a worrying point. This is one of the things that make me think the Weasley's aren't as poor as the books tell us they are, but that the main problem is that they are exceptionally bad at handling money. Notice that the very next year Harry sees their vault is emptied and they can't afford a new wand for Ron. We know that travelling must be somewhat costly because they used up most of their prize money going to Egypt.

* I’m not sure why Dumbledore is making Hagrid carry the Christmas trees inside, given that any of the teachers could just levitate the trees and take them in quicker and more easily.

This is one of several times where Snape walks in at the end and witnesses Gryffindor's attacking Draco yet is treated as some kind of monster for taking point for it, as if telling a teacher the person you're trying to hurt said something mean is a reasonable defence.

* Harry’s jumper is better than the others’, because Mrs. Weasley obviously makes more of an effort if you’re rich and famous not family. I wonder how her real children feel about this.

This reminded me of terri_testing's theory about wizarding families requiring children to earn their affection. There's a noticeable difference in how Molly treats her older successful children versus how she treats the others (especially Ron). Meanwhile Harry is believed to have defeated Voldemort as a baby and has therefore earned anything they give him. Same with Neville who talks about his neglect like it's normal and is only rewarded with his own wand when he proved himself by fighting alongside Harry.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

This is one of the things that make me think the Weasley's aren't as poor as the books tell us they are, but that the main problem is that they are exceptionally bad at handling money.

Especially since by this time, all but one of their children either have jobs of their own or are spending three quarters of the year getting free board and lodging at Hogwarts. Even if they were just barely staying solvent trying to look after seven children, you'd expect their financial situation to have improved considerably by now.

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

While I agree, it is however also the first year that they have to pay tuition for 5 kids. However, this doesn't change the fact that they knew darn well the previous year that they'd be paying another tuition when they spent the money to visit Charlie.

Obviously, JKR had to think of a way to have Ron stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. However I think it is even worse that it isn't even as if they had not seen Charlie in a long time. This would have been his first Christmas away from home, so rather than not see him for it, they decide to miss seeing 4 of their other kids?

And wouldn't it cost more for Arthur & Molly to visit Charlie (we could either presume Ginny was sent to Aunt Muriel's or add her to the traveling costs) than to send him the money to come home?

So is it more important somehow that they see where Charlie lives?