PS Chapter Seventeen
Feb. 2nd, 2007 11:51 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock*Hee! I forgot how funny Quirrel is about Snape—pointing out that he just "seems the type" to be the villain, and that it’s useful having him "swooping around like an overgrown bat." Not that these particular remarks sink into Harry’s head.
*Though he loses some cool points when he admits that his murder attempt on Harry was ruined when a 12-year-old girl knocked him over. Don’t go spreading that story around at the next meeting of the Villain’s Guild, Quirrell.
*Wait, Snape wanted to referee the match to look after Harry? You mean it’s not his mission in life to make sure Harry’s school team doesn’t take the cup? Impossible!
*Not only did Quirrell’s troll fail to beat Harry to death, but the giant dog didn’t bite off the right leg. Too bad Quirrell died. He and Malfoy might have gone out for drinks when Malfoy was older and commiserate on living in a Universe designed to revolve around Harry Potter’s needs.
*Yes, Snape hates you. But he never wanted you dead. Seven books later, people are still struggling valiantly with this contradiction.
*There is no good and evil, only Gryffindor and Slytherin, which is a much clearer distinction.
*Although I don’t buy the theory about Quirrell still being alive because he represents JKR’s abused self, I am impressed at the way she uses that abuse victim language to good effect with her villain. Lord Voldemort has had to be very hard on Quirrell when he lets them down. Leaves open challenge to
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black_dog to talk about that with regard to Draco’s issues with mastery. *To continue down my well-worn Draco path for a moment, this is one small area where spoiling isn’t the worst thing in JKR’s universe. It may be a bad way to raise a child, in her view, but expecting to be treated well is actually a good thing to have around LV. Whatever other crazy things he thinks, Draco does not seem to feel badly about letting Voldemort down by having trouble killing somebody.
*Harry wonders how he could have been so stupid not to know Quirrell was after the stone when he saw him in Diagon Alley the day of the break in. Harry always has the strangest ideas about when he is and isn’t being stupid. Harry, stupid was this plan to steal the Stone yourself. Not jumping to the conclusion that somebody must be evil because you saw them in Diagon Alley the same day you and half the WW was also there is not stupid.
*Though I guess it does seem significant that *both* the Stone thieves were in Diagon Alley that day. If Harry had been caught here by himself somebody might use the same evidence against him: THE BOY WHO LIVES WANTS TO KEEP ON LIVING—AND HE’LL ROB BANKS TO DO IT!
*Harry’s reflection is a lot cooler than he is.
* Quirrel turns around and there’s a hideously deformed snake face on the back of his head. Awesome.
*See what I have become? asks Voldemort. Just shadow and Vapour. Somebody break it to the man he’s not shadow or vapour, he’s a hideous snake face on the back of someone else’s head!
*But there are those who have let Voldemort into their hearts and minds. You might want to remember that when you’re getting ready to marry that sneering she-beast with the violent temper, Harry. I’d recommend checking under her dancing flame hair before you make any commitments.
*At least Harry’s got his priorities straight. His parents did NOT die begging for mercy. They died as they lived: natural bullies!
*Nice of Voldemort to use the little strength he has to deliver some seemingly unrelated exposition. Did I mention your mother didn’t have to die and was trying to protect you? Got that? Yesssssss…
*Too bad we’ve never seen the Dursleys’ blood protection in action the way we see Lily’s here.
*Is there a movie difference here? I have some vague memory there is—like, does Harry actually kill Quirrell in the movie where here he just sizzles him to keep him from killing him?
*Harry wakes up in the hospital wing surrounded by tokens from his friends and admirers. Those would be the same people who have been shunning him for weeks.
*Um, how does everyone know what happened between Harry and Quirrell?
*The toilet seat’s supposed to be funny, in case you didn’t get it. Don’t ask me why. Fred and George are twins!
*This book oddly suffers from the fact that JKR couldn’t have known she’d get to write all seven. Everyone knows about what happened because she’s gearing up to shower Harry with victories in case this is her ending. In fifth year she’ll have to kind of take that back so he can feel all misunderstood again.
*Down in the dungeons Malfoy’s trying to make jokes about Harry stealing the stone for Voldemort and pointing out that if he hadn’t gone down there Quirrell would have just been caught with Voldemort with him and that would have ultimately been better for everyone, but nobody listens to him.
*Dumbledore says he sees Harry can not be distracted. LOL! He doesn’t know Harry very well. He can be quite distracted when the plot calls for it.
*Dumbledore points out Harry was doing very well on his own when Dumbledore got there. Good show burning the man’s face off, my lad. Hydrochloric Harry we shall call you from now on!
*Dumbledore and Nicholas had a little chat and decided it was for the best that Nicholas died now. This wouldn’t have been anything like the little chat Dumbledore had with Kreacher in OotP, would it?
*To the well-organized mind, death is just the next great adventure. But since few Gryffindors have organized minds they just think everything’s the next great adventure. Makes it easier. Less thinking involved.
*Humans have a knack for choosing what’s worst for them. Except you, Harry. You’re so special. How’d you get to be so awesome?
*Dumbledore tells Harry to call the villain Voldemort, because that’s his proper name. Um, Albus? Isn’t Tom Riddle his proper name? Maybe you should tell everybody to call him that. I guarantee he would consider that bad publicity. Especially if you published photos of him when he was a first year playing Joan of Arc. (Friday is One-Act night in Slytherin.)
*Voldemort left Quirrell to die, showing how he shows as little mercy to his followers as to his enemies. To be fair, what could Voldemort have done to help Quirrell besides look sympathetic? He’s just a face.
*The truth should be treated with great caution, says Dumbledore, going all Winston Churchill. Though of course Churchill didn’t personally puppet master small children.
*Dumbledore can’t tell Harry why Voldemort wanted to kill him in the first place, perhaps because it might make what he just said about Voldemort maybe never coming back start to seem unlikely.
*Dumbledore does promise that when Harry is ready, he will know…about 9 months after he’s ready, to be exact.
*To have been loved so deeply will give us some protection forever. Which is kind of a misdirection again, because every kid in Harry’s class has probably been loved the same way he was as a baby. The special part is that whole strange spell that got cast because of the exact circumstances. Unless he’s suggesting that Quirrell couldn’t touch Ron, Hermione, Neville or any other kid in Harry’s class either.
*Let’s pause to imagine what the class would have done with that kind of magic if they’d known about it. "Eight inches of essay, Professor? I don’t think so!" Poke poke sizzle poke.
*Awww. Dumbledore looked out the window to give Harry time to dry his eyes on the sheet. Such a little soldier, our Harry.
*Slytherins get far more into their crying—no looking away and discreetly wiping the eyes for them. Plant yourself in front of an old friend, or better yet a mirror that’s cracked like your soul, and let go!
*Dumbledore, twinkling, tells Harry how he gave him the cloak because it might be useful. And see, he used it to almost get himself killed!
*Btw Harry, do you love me best, yet? It was me who gave you the cool present. Me, the guy who was concerned you might be a "pampered prince" when you showed up. Did you enjoy Quidditch? I bent the rules so you could play.
*Dumbledore draws the parallel between James/Snape and Harry/Draco. Oddly, the parallel he draws is that both pairs detested each other, not that in each case one was a blameless innocent victim and the other a dreadful scum who bullied him for no reason.
*Funny the way peoples’ minds work, Dumbledore says dreamily. Because the way Snape’s grown up into a bitter, twisted person who feels incredibly ill-used while James was unjustly showered with attention and praise is just dreamy to think about.
*Hmmm…I’ve never noticed this, but Dumbledore says maybe Snape worked so hard first year to protect Harry because it might mean he and James could call it quits. That seems to suggest that Life Debt issue might be completely secondary. Like maybe saving Harry at various times might be connected to wanting to pay James back, but making up for getting the Potters (and therefore Lily) targeted is something different and more about Voldemort. Perhaps we’ll learn that in each case James and Harry were just an annoying distraction.
*Wait, did I just suggest Harry wasn’t the center of all things? Sorry. Scratch that.
*Dumbledore gets all conceited over his super mirror trap, which is a nice groundwork for his fatal flaws later.
*Unsurprisingly, Harry doesn’t make the connection that Quirrell would never have been able to get the Stone at all if it hadn’t been for him, so he actually did something really stupid. Nope, still the most heroic!
*Okay wait, everybody doesn’t know what happened, they just know wild rumours. Does this add to Harry’s rep as a Dark Magician?
*Ron looks quite impressed at how mad his hero is. I shudder to think of Dumbledore as Ron’s hero.
*I wonder if that was ever part of the Ron-is-Dumbledore theory. Because Dumbledore’s conceited enough that he would be impressed by his own self.
*Hermione says she brought Ron around and that took a while. Enough for a medium-length R/Hr hurt/comfort PWP fic, no doubt.
*Hermione says it would have been terrible if Dumbledore meant for Harry to go after the Stone. Harry proves he really did sustain a bad head injury by saying it wouldn’t have been terrible.
*You see, he would have thought it was good to let Harry face the psychopathic supernatural murderer himself. People today coddle kids too much, what with the child protection services, and those policemen who go after child predators. Every body deserves a chance to test himself against a pedophile himself. Otherwise he might grow up a pansy.
*Throughout this speech still nobody points out that the Trio didn’t HELP at all. They made things worse.
*Slytherin’s won, of course. Um, of course?
*Oh, and we lost Quidditch without Harry. Presumably they just played with no Seeker at all. Because that makes no sense whatsoever, and only Slytherins postpone games when they have no Seeker. That’s admitting weakness.
*Harry’s got lots of Sweet Boxes but this doesn’t reflect badly on him at all. Just thought I’d say that. It’s not like getting a care package from your mother.
*Hagrid arrives, saying it’s all his fault. Let’s pause here and respect the only time Hagrid says something intelligent throughout the series.
*Impressively, although Hagrid is confessing what an idiot he is, he manages to put it into a bigoted context, saying that he’s such an idiot should be chucked out to live as a Muggle. Oh, please do it. Hagrid would last about three hours as a Muggle.
*Naturally it’s all just a passive-aggressive plea for sympathy and Harry assures him it’s really no big deal that he was given important, sensitive, dangerous information and betrayed the secret.
*Harry tells him "we" saved the Stone. Um, again, Harry you really didn’t help. If you want to take credit for something, take credit for killing Quirrell. That you maybe did.
*Sadly, soon after getting out of the Infirmary Harry is met by the sickening sight of Malfoy looking happy. They may have won the battle against evil, but the war goes on.
*Dumbledore then stands up and gives the most unbelievable show of favouritism in the history of children’s books. I’m sure it took him days to come up with. I can see him standing in the Great Hall days before, considering adding the points, and then saying, ‘Hmm…wouldn’t it be better if along with Gryffindor winning I could suck up to Harry by insulting all of Slytherin? Yes, I think I will psych Slytherin out and make it look like they won so I can snatch it away from them and change all the hangings in the Great Hall for dramatic effect. Should I make everyone sing a song to Harry too? No, too much. Might embarrass the lad. Slowly, Albus. Suck the boy in slowly…’
*I can’t believe some of the defenses I’ve read for this scene. Not just "JKR wanted to give Harry a really happy ending" ones—those are fine. But the ones where Dumbledore’s giving a well-deserved lesson to all this Slytherin stuff we didn’t see going on but must have been because if they’re treated badly it must be justice.
*It’s all great they won and all, but it’s not a real victory until Harry can poke Ron and show Malfoy looking stunned. Because after everything he’s done in this book, he really deserves a big punishment. He was snotty, and he overheard about that dragon egg and tried to get himself invited, and he was insulting to kids who don’t like him, and he almost tricked our hero into getting in trouble using his noble desire to beat him up! Oh, and he put a leg-locker on Neville. I hope somebody poisoned his pumpkin juice too, for good measure. Why is this child allowed to live?
*Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are celebrating the downfall of Slytherin. They just are.
*To be fair, that might have made sense in the first book where we we were told Slytherin always won and we were naïve enough to think this caused solidarity amongst the other three houses, but six years later Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are still celebrating the never-ending victory of Gryffindor, so now it’s just stupid.
*Snape’s feelings towards Harry haven’t changed one jot. Oh, I beg to differ Harry. I think after this disgusting display he hates you even more.
*Apparently all the students know each other’s marks. That way our heroes can make judgments about others.
*Ron’s inviting Harry and Hermione to stay that summer. Hermione immediately makes plans to move out of her parents’ house.
*Ginny’s pointing and squealing at Harry, but in her case she’s pointing and squealing at the real, true Harry inside and not distracted by his fame.
*Hermione’s shocked anyone could be so unpleasant as Vernon. Funny. It’s not Uncle Vernon who’s disfigured anyone for life.
*And Harry goes off, announcing that he’s looking forward to a summer full of bullying Dudley to get back at him. Maybe he could start dressing like a bat as well.
Designated Hero
Is anyone going to break it to Harry that the Stone was saved in spite of his meddling and not because of it? I understand not wanting to make the kid feel bad but as a Gryffindor he probably needs this kind of intervention early.
Idiot Picture
Unless, of course, they haven’t figured out that Harry endangered the Stone themselves…
Idiot World
Dumbledore goes on to tell Harry that maybe enough people will fight Voldemort so that he never returns. Bwahahaha! Just kidding. Of course only Harry can do it. Have you seen the idiots in this world? Prophecy said so.
James Bond Exposition Rule
Take it, Professor Quirrell! With Voldemort on back-up.
Ken’s Rule of Guns
Maybe you ought to go closer to Harry, Quirrell, before you kill him.
Misdirected Answering
Harry tries to scold himself for being stupid, but misdirects his scolding.
Final score: 6
Signs of things to come: Harry does bondage. Our first Villain Explains It All Chapter. Quirrell’s "He (Voldemort) is with me wherever I go" is our first "in this universe that’s not a metaphor" moment. Harry loses his first Quidditch match by being unconscious, the only way he can ever lose. Dumbledore sets a new precedent for unfair scoring policies in House Cup competitions. Hagrid’s bigotry is presented as cute. Hagrid does something stupid and dangerous and is still one of the heroes. Losing to Gryffindor is like a victory in itself.
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Date: 2007-02-02 05:25 pm (UTC)Now I'm imagining a scenario in which JKR partners up with Bill O'Reilly (http://mediamatters.org/items/200701170009). And it's giving me a stomach ache.
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Date: 2007-02-02 05:50 pm (UTC)Goodness, it's like reading OotP all over again, minus the Americans.
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From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-02 05:31 pm (UTC)BWAHAHAHA! God, I hate Dumbledore. Also, I can't believe I'm reading a set of books where hating someone, yet not wanting them dead, is such a puzzling contradiction for our entire batch of good guys.
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Date: 2007-02-02 05:50 pm (UTC)Well, I heard that they contacted Ginny back at the Burrow to see if she could come and help them out, but she wasn't yet made out of awesome and so gracefully declined.
Dumbledore then stands up and gives the most unbelievable show of favouritism in the history of children’s books. I’m sure it took him days to come up with. I can see him standing in the Great Hall days before, considering adding the points, and then saying, ‘Hmm…wouldn’t it be better if along with Gryffindor winning I could suck up to Harry by insulting all of Slytherin? Yes, I think I will psych Slytherin out and make it look like they won so I can snatch it away from them and change all the hangings in the Great Hall for dramatic effect. Should I make everyone sing a song to Harry too? No, too much. Might embarrass the lad. Slowly, Albus. Suck the boy in slowly…’
I'm so definitely on board the 'Snape-and/or-Draco-smashed-the-Gryffindor-hourglass-in-HBP' theory. Payback time, bitches! You'll never have the cup again!
Ron’s inviting Harry and Hermione to stay that summer. Hermione immediately makes plans to move out of her parents’ house.
'It's not that I don't love you guys, but...you're bringing me down, man. See you in a few years.'
Ginny’s pointing and squealing at Harry, but in her case she’s pointing and squealing at the real, true Harry inside and not distracted by his fame.
Funny how she goes from pointing and squealing to being too shy to be in the same room as him a few weeks later.
Ah well, that's that book over. Any plans on doing Goblet or Phoenix next? :)
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Date: 2007-02-02 05:54 pm (UTC)I only just realised the retro-con re: Ginny is strong even in the earlier books - in GoF, a mention of her crush has gone from 'She's been talking about you all summer' (implying she's had a crush on Harry since PS) to 'She'd been very taken with Harry since his first visit to the Burrow' (obvious tactic to make their oncoming True Love much less shallow, like she really got to know him then, rather than being interested as soon as she knew he was TBWL.)
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Date: 2007-02-07 04:36 am (UTC)Actually, I have already done both Goblet and Phoenix! (I started with OotP.) It's just that I started on a f'locked community, so when this one started I crossposted with HBP. I do plan on posting them here--I just need to get on it. It seems a lot to post all of them at once (and it would take a while!)--maybe I'll start doing two chapters at once on Friday? I'll work it out!
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Date: 2007-02-02 05:55 pm (UTC)Perhaps this is a cunning plot on the part of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Either Egodore will be happy that they've supported Gryffindor or, being old and not terribly interested in most of the school's fate, he will be deceived by the Gryffindor colors they wear and give them whatever they ask for. (This would never work with the Slytherins, of course, because not even red and gold can disguise
uglinessevil.)no subject
Date: 2007-02-02 07:12 pm (UTC)Plus, Hogwarts might have saved itself some basilisk-shaped trouble the following year - because I suppose that if Ginny had recognized the name on the diary as Voldemort's, she might have thought twice before turning it into her own portable agony aunt.
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Date: 2007-02-03 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-02 07:56 pm (UTC)SERIOUSLY. This is probably the most unbelievable part of the books--at least, it's unbelievable if Dumbledore's supposed to be a good guy. Yes, it's a children's book and therefore children have to handle the action and put themselves in danger without interference from adults. Guess what? There are plenty of ways to get the adults out of the way WITHOUT making them all look like a bunch of raving loonies (or incompetent buffoons, take your pick). And the "it's a fantasy book, of course it's unrealistic!" excuse is possibly the worst one ever. Fantasy books have even more obligation that realistic fiction to be plausible where human emotions and relationships are concerned. What adult with common sense would choose to rely on a kid to save the world?
Harry tells him "we" saved the Stone. Um, again, Harry you really didn’t help. If you want to take credit for something, take credit for killing Quirrell. That you maybe did.
And that's not something that disturbs him or anything later, either. Unless I'm forgetting some part of the books.
Should I make everyone sing a song to Harry too? No, too much. Might embarrass the lad. Slowly, Albus. Suck the boy in slowly…’
Heh. God, he's creepy, isn't he?
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Date: 2007-02-03 03:05 am (UTC)And that's not something that disturbs him or anything later, either. Unless I'm forgetting some part of the books.
I don't think you are. If I remember right, he thinks about how killing Voldemort will make him a murderer, even though Voldie's out to get him, completely forgetting that he basically killed Quirrell when he was eleven.
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Date: 2007-02-02 08:55 pm (UTC)This is my take on Snape. To him, Harry is an annoying distraction. After all, if Snape only heard the first part of the prophecy, Harry already has played his part. And, even if he's vital to the ultimate destruction of Voldemrt, he's still annoying.
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Date: 2007-02-02 09:24 pm (UTC)And they say Ravenclaws are the frustrated emo kids. :P
*Funny the way peoples’ minds work, Dumbledore says dreamily. Because the way Snape’s grown up into a bitter, twisted person who feels incredibly ill-used while James was unjustly showered with attention and praise is just dreamy to think about.
Kinda like in book three when he was laughing at Snape’s tantrum about Sirius. I love the way that Dumbledore never takes the most powerful wizard working under him seriously. Makes the end result that much sweeter.
*Hermione says she brought Ron around and that took a while. Enough for a medium-length R/Hr hurt/comfort PWP fic, no doubt.
So long as the Chamber of Secrets is really Ginny’s overly-large, 11-year-old vagina, anything makes sense.
*Harry’s got lots of Sweet Boxes but this doesn’t reflect badly on him at all. Just thought I’d say that. It’s not like getting a care package from your mother.
Course not. Harry deserves everything he got for ridding the world of evil by accident while Draco doesn’t actually deserve a mother.
*Naturally it’s all just a passive-aggressive plea for sympathy and Harry assures him it’s really no big deal that he was given important, sensitive, dangerous information and betrayed the secret.
BUT DEATH TO PETER PETTIGREW!
*Snape’s feelings towards Harry haven’t changed one jot. Oh, I beg to differ Harry. I think after this disgusting display he hates you even more.
It’s too bad he didn’t know that Harry actually had to witness his killing Dumbledore while unable to do anything about it. It would have been like Christmas come early. :)
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Date: 2007-02-03 01:09 am (UTC)I laughed so hard at that one.
But you know...Tom was in there first. Hmmmmmm.
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Date: 2007-02-02 10:59 pm (UTC)Lyk omg! The Slytherins didn't really win, they just assumed they did, and decorated the Great Hall themselves without clearing it with Dumbledore first. That's why Dumbledore left the decorations up before he gave Gryffindor the extra points, to punish them for making assumptions.
And yes, that's a real defense I once read.
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Date: 2007-02-03 03:05 am (UTC)*headdesk*
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From:more tomorrow
Date: 2007-02-03 01:06 am (UTC)In the movie, Harry's touch burns Quirrell, Quirrell shrieks, and Harry screws up his face in that constipated Radcliffe fashion and puts his hands on Quirrell, who then burns to death and turns into ash. (That's the power of love, baby! Naturally, Harry's soul isn't split, of course. Killing a bad person is probably what makes one a pure heart.
I mean, call me picky, but to me, there is kind of a difference between a bad guy being unable to attack a child without pain, and a child reaching out and killing with their touch.)
Hagrid says it’s all his fault.
And that he'll never drink again! How long did that last, 'til his first appearance in CoS?
I remember from some ridiculous discussion where someone was all 'OMG, why do people think Hagrid's some drunk, it must be people who like Slytherin and believe everything Draco says; not people who like, read the books.'
No, too much. Might embarrass the lad.
Save stuff like that for important occasions like a student's death. More dramatic. (One change I really did like in the movies was that in GoF, there's no 'Raise your glasses to Harry Potter! And if you're still thirsty, Whats-his-face from...uh...I want to say Yellow House?', it's all about Cedric.)
At least Harry’s got his priorities straight. His parents did NOT die begging for mercy.
Technically Lily died begging for mercy (albeit for her son), no?
But thank goodness Harry didn’t have to love parents craven enough to plead for mercy when they and their baby were threatened with murder. Christ, imagine the crime advice given out in the WW: 'Ladies, avoid dark alleys, but if a man tries to rape you, for god sake's don't cry, beg or scream. No one likes a coward.'
Harry’s reflection is a lot cooler than he is.
I love how Harry gets the credit for having a selfless dream (rescuing the stone) not just here but in HBP, but he also gets the made-up shallow one about winning the House Cup come true, too. Just like how he gets to learn there’s more important things than looks, then become and pull a hottie.
But since few Gryffindors have organized minds they just think everything’s the next great adventure. Makes it easier. Less thinking.
Why is Dumbledore acting like Harry’s too young to understand being willing to die? Gryffindors are born ready! (Note how Harry so quickly identifies those with a fear of death as being pussy cowards rather than innocent youths. He truly can follow your lead, Albus, really!)
Naturally it’s all just a passive-aggressive plea for sympathy and Harry assures him it’s really no big deal that he was given important, sensitive, dangerous information and betrayed the secret.
Yeah, I like how Harry’s shocked to see Hagrid crying with remorse. That’ll get real old, real fast.
And of course no one could hide anything from the all-powerful Voldemort, so why even try? Guess that exonerates Peter Pettigrew.
Apparently all the students know each other’s marks. That way our heroes can make judgments about others.
Ron and Harry got good marks with no effort to their great surprise, but not to mine.
And Goyle’s stupidity is linked to his immorality, so it’s funny in a way poor Neville’s abysmal mark isn’t.
Everything seems to be in order, then!
Ron’s inviting Harry and Hermione to stay
Harry has already decided he’ll need something to look forward to. (What, tormenting your cousin isn’t enough?) After going through his Gloating Smug stage of every book, it’s time to return to the default Emo Self-Pity.
Ginny’s pointing and squealing at Harry, but in her case she’s pointing and squealing at the real, true Harry inside, not distracted by his fame.
Right then she's recognised that he won’t be satisfied unless he’s killing Voldemort. It’s why she likes him so much.
Hermione’s shocked anyone could be so unpleasant as Vernon. Funny. It’s not Uncle Vernon who’s disfigured anyone.
LOL, perhaps she’s divined from his bulk his Inner Evil, because Vernon pretty much said ‘Hurry up’, which is restrained by anyone’s standards. I mean, it’s not like he bowled up out of nowhere and slapped someone across the face, shrieking like a banshee.
Re: more tomorrow
Date: 2007-02-03 01:38 am (UTC)Hahaha yes. I heart Harry's unique mutant attack power. Eat love, mofo! To be fair, they had to do something about the book's massive anticlimax where our hero simply passes out from all the yelling and is later informed that Quirrell died, without anyone bothering to mention how.
-L
Re: more tomorrow
From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-03 01:17 am (UTC)Yes, the WW can now make a comic book about it like the Mad Muggle. Maybe they can just combine the two, it would make it better.
*Dumbledore tells Harry to call the villain Voldemort, because that’s his proper name. Um, Albus? Isn’t Tom Riddle his proper name? Maybe you should tell everybody to call him that. I guarantee he would consider that bad publicity. Especially if you published photos of him when he was a first year playing Joan of Arc. (Friday is One-Act night in Slytherin.)
Really. Calling him Tom and posting it all over the place would have caused Tom to crumple into a weepy mess. But I think Dumbledore gets an unhealthy thrill just saying that name.
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Date: 2007-02-03 02:07 am (UTC)Yep, and to reassure Harry that he was just teasing about the begging for mercy, and James and Lily died heroically as we would expect. (Not sure why he's impressed with Harry for calling him a liar, unless it's because he's used to people knowing better than to talk to him like that.)
The truth should be treated with great caution, says Dumbledore, going all Winston Churchill.
Dumbledore's a man of his word. He does indeed treat the truth like it's a man-eating tiger to which you should never get too close. I particularly admired his footwork regarding the Snape-James feud. Omitting the little detail that James was the school bully was fair enough, Harry doesn't need to hear that right now. The part where Snape must have believed that James was in on the Prank is too complicated to go into. But "Funny the way people's minds work" is plain spin doctoring. If DD had said truthfully, "We have this thing called a life debt, like if Draco saved your life you'd be his personal slave [or whatever it entails] until you repaid him", I think even Harry would get the point.
And Harry goes off, announcing that he’s looking forward to a summer full of bullying Dudley to get back at him.
This suddenly brought to mind the end of Stephen King's "Gramma" (spoiler)
Not saying Harry's a monster for wanting to get back at Dudley, but I'd like to see a fandom comparison of Harry and young Tom Riddle that dwells a bit less on Harry's exceptional goodness and more on Tom being exceptionally smart, gifted and focused. If Harry had had control of his powers at the same early age as Tom, I'm not at all certain that he'd only have used them for good.
-L
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Date: 2007-02-03 10:46 am (UTC)Yes, it's not encouraging that the first thing he wants in the magical world is a book of curses for Dudley, either. (Wasn't Voldemort using his magic young to 'punish and control'? Cause I'm thinking cursing mean Muggles falls under both.)
(And going on with the frightening Movie!Harry, doesn't he not just let the snake out because he identifies with it's emo victim status, but to punish Dudley, and then seals the glass over, so Dudley's trapped? And laughs? That kid scares me.)
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Date: 2007-02-03 02:44 am (UTC)I do enjoy the way Snape and Draco, when the chips are down, are like QUIDDITCH IS JUST A GAME. I mean - it shows how evil they are. Harry had a thought like that once when he was thinking about Draco too much (evil Slytherins, they poison your mind) but then he eviscerated Draco to get him out of his mind and fixated on Ginny and Quidditch and he was like, so happy! And right prevailed.
Oh Ginny. Leaping up and squealing like a fool. I kind of love you, before you learned deceit and horribleness. If only you'd played Harry and two other poor guys earlier, you could've had years!
It's interesting that stupidity isn't punished at all until book 6 (Hagrid failing a teacher, o sweet sweet failure!) whereas evil/mild malice/slightly unpleasant expressions directed at our hero/pleasant expressions our hero finds objectionable - all those fall before the scythe of justice, book 1!
Oh, I remember shutting this book and thinking - that's nice. The good guys win! Cool. Big finish somewhat lacking. I wonder where Shawn (kid I was babysitting for) keeps the second book.
... I was younger, then.
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Date: 2007-02-03 11:00 am (UTC)I did love that part, it made me feel like I was reading about a universe that made sense - where there was no neat divide into "friends" and "enemies" and people could dislike you without being bad people.
(*groans*) Little did I know.
And to make it worse, people are still throwing Snape in my face whenever I complain that the HP books paint everything in black and white. I just want to yell, "ONE GRAY CHARACTER THAT GETS CONSTANTLY ABUSED BY THE AUTHOR AND WHOM WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HATE ANYWAY DOES NOT GRAY CHARACTERISATION MAKE!"
Ahem.
* Quirrel turns around and there’s a hideously deformed snake face on the back of his head. Awesome.
Okay, this part I still love. :D It's just so creepy.
*To the well-organized mind, death is just the next great adventure.
Yep. And only a psychopath would believe that there's nothing worse than death.
At the same time, murder is the most horrible crime ever, oh my God, and it takes your soul away, and we have such a tremendous esteem for human life!
Does this make sense to anyone? If so, kindly explain. ^_^;
Maybe you ought to go closer to Harry, Quirrell, before you kill him.
Yes, this confused me... if Quirrel can tie Harry up by snapping his fingers at the beginning of the scene, why is he reduced to physically strangling him at the end of it?
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Date: 2007-02-03 05:22 pm (UTC)At the same time, murder is the most horrible crime ever, oh my God, and it takes your soul away, and we have such a tremendous esteem for human life!
Does this make sense to anyone? If so, kindly explain.
On a meta-level? Sure. JKR, much like Hamlet, is torn between warrior-culture virtues (i.e., laughing in the face of death, taking up arms against a sea of troubles and in so doing ending them, etc.) and Christian values (human life is sacred, courting death is a sin, meekly suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune without taking vengeance, etc.). Her book is schizoid on the issue because she is.
Doesn't make the narrative make sense, but it explains why it doesn't make sense.
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Date: 2007-02-04 02:03 pm (UTC)Ah, but you're forgetting that good and evil correspond to Gryffindor and Slytherin, respectively.
*To have been loved so deeply will give us some protection forever. Which is kind of a misdirection again, because every kid in Harry’s class has probably been loved the same way he was as a baby. The special part is that whole strange spell that got cast because of the exact circumstances. Unless he’s suggesting that Quirrell couldn’t touch Ron, Hermione, Neville or any other kid in Harry’s class either.
How dare you suggest that ordinary parent could love as deeply as Saint Lily did!
*Apparently all the students know each other’s marks. That way our heroes can make judgments about others.
At least it makes Lucius knowing Hermione's marks in CoS make more sense.
And, for you, the Slytherin Thursday Night Poetry Slam:
It was the first Thursday of the school year, and the common room was packed. Even quiet Theo Nott was there tonight, sketching in the corner, a smirk tugging on the corner of his lips. Nearby, Daphne Greengrass sat with her legs over Tracey Davis' lap as the two passed a clove cigarette between them. On one of the couches, Vincent Crabbe was steadily painting his nails black, as Greg Goyle and Milicent Bulstrode argued over music for their band, Minions. Perched on a table, Pansy Parkinson was carefully applying purple lipstick in a mirror she had conjured.
Blaise Zabini looked up from where he was patiently trying to explain to a fourth year with heavy eyeliner, that, "No, my mom hasn't killed them all. She's just got really bad luck with relationships..." to snort, "I don't think that's your colour, Parkinson." SHe didn't even glance up, just rolled her eyes in the mirror as she flipped him off. He shrugged and returned to his conversation.
"What's going on?" a first year asked, sidling up to Pansy.
"Oh hey, squirt," she said, as she vanished her mirror, "This is a Slytherin tradition, it's..."
Her words were cut off as a spotlight snapped on suddenly to bathe a raised platform at one end of the room in bluish light. Black robes swirling from a well-placed wind charm, Professor Snape crossed the small stage, conjuring a microphone as he went.
"Welcome," he intoned, in his most dramatic voice, the one normally reserved for his introductory Potions speech, "To the Thursday Night Poetry Slam."
Things quickly got underway, and various students read their pieces. As Draco Malfoy took the stage, face serious, with a beret tilted just so on his fiar head, Pansy whispered to her first year, "He's the best in Slytherin. Except for Professor Snape, maybe. I hear Professor Snape taught him everything he knows."
Draco cleared his throat dramatically, and in the expectant silence before he began to speak, Miles Bletchley hissed in Brandon Vaisey's ear, "If this is another piece about how much he hates Potter, I may be forced to shoot myself. I can't stand love poetry."
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Date: 2007-02-04 04:51 pm (UTC)Good point about Lucius knowing Hermione's grades--that's what I thoguht reading that too.
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Date: 2009-02-01 09:44 pm (UTC)This actually happens quite a lot in boarding school stories, e.g. in LP Hartley's "The Go-Between", Leo spends a month or so at his friend's house over the summer, sending occasional letters to his mother. Of course, boarding school chums might live 200 miles apart, a long and expensive journey in the 19th century, so this is acceptable. But in a world of instantaneous transportation it literally makes no sense - unless Hermione slips home an occasional evening when her parents are back from work. But that's not mentioned.
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Date: 2009-02-02 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 10:34 pm (UTC)That's because Harry wants all of his enemies dead, and we assume everyone else thinks the same way.
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Date: 2009-02-21 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 10:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, I can imagine all the Slytherins claim that Harry was Quirrell's accomplice, and that Dumbo covered it all up because he hopes to reclaim Harry from the Dark Side. In fact, ESE!Harry would make an infinitely better series.
*Impressively, although Hagrid is confessing what an idiot he is, he manages to put it into a bigoted context, saying that he’s such an idiot should be chucked out to live as a Muggle. Oh, please do it. Hagrid would last about three hours as a Muggle.
Always a bigoted context to everything. "I should paint me face black and live with the darkies!"
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Date: 2009-02-21 05:11 am (UTC)