PS Chapter Sixteen: "Through the Trap Door"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* So judging by its exams, Hogwarts apparently has time to teach its students how to make pineapples do tap-dances and turn mice into snuff-boxes, but not to teach them any maths, foreign languages, philosophy, literature, science, or the history of the other 99% of the population.

* I somehow doubt that a giant squid would “bask in the warm shallows”, given that in the wild they spend all their lives hundreds of metres below sea level.

* Apparently the Philosopher’s Stone is safe as long as Dumbledore’s around, despite the fact that Dumbledore supposedly hasn’t noticed a plot which three eleven-year-old schoolchildren were able to discover.

* Ron really puts too much trust in Hagrid, given that he recently ended up being hospitalised for several days due to one of Hagrid’s reckless schemes.

* And lo and behold, it turns out that Hagrid got pissed and blabbed about his secret protection to a shady-looking stranger down the pub. What a surprise.

* None of the Trio has any idea how to contact Dumbledore. Because Dumbledore’s just so concerned about his students, y’know.

* “What are you three doing inside?” Wait, so is it forbidden to be inside after exams?

* McGonagall’s surprisingly ready to dismiss Harry’s claim that someone’s going to steal the Stone. If he was able to find out that it was being kept in Hogwarts, it’s not impossible that he could also find out that someone was after it.

* Of course, if PS followed the rules of later books Dumbledore would just have apparated to the Ministry, realised that he wasn’t supposed to be there, and apparated back within five minutes.

* What’s with Snape’s “odd, twisted smile”? Is he just relishing the chance to gloat a little about them losing house points? Or is Harry just getting paranoid and reading things into his expression that aren’t actually there?

* So Hermione’s stake-out is ruined when somebody actually goes to get Flitwick for her. D’oh! If only she’d had some sort of device to make her invisible, she could have tracked Snape without being caught.

* Harry’s going to go and stop Snape getting the Stone, because a man capable of fighting his way through a series of powerful magical enchantments is obviously going to be no match for an eleven-year-old boy.

* Wait, no, three eleven-year-olds. In that case, Snape clearly has no chance.

* So how exactly does one get 112% in an exam?

* The Gryffindors are still not talking to Harry, because shunning eleven-year-old orphans over a trivial house cup competition is the sort of thing heroes do.

* Harry manages to do a convincing enough impression of the Bloody Baron to get Peeves to go away. At least if he gets expelled he’ll always be able to find work as a voice actor.

* “If anything happens to me, don’t follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?” TBH I’m surprised they haven’t done this already. In any realistic universe their chances of coming out of that trapdoor again would be minimal at best.

* I quite like the fan theory that the whole Stone thing was just a trap for Voldemort, but is there any evidence for it other than the extreme uselessness of most of the defences? I don’t recall any statements in interviews or later books on the topic, but I might just be forgetting something.

* Ron’s sacrificing himself to win the chess game is probably the high-point of his character arc. It’s all downhill from here.

* So making giant chess pieces come to life counts as transfiguration rather than charms? Erm, OK, Jo, if you say so.

* Pretty optimistic of Harry to think that he’d be able to hold off Snape, even for a little while. Still, it’s not quite as bad as in HBP, where he’s itching for the chance to meet Snape in a fair fight… right after getting his arse kicked by Snape in a fair fight.

* Ooh, I wonder who it is behind the fire...

Comments

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

Quote: I quite like the fan theory that the whole Stone thing was just a trap for Voldemort, but is there any evidence for it other than the extreme uselessness of most of the defences?
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It has not been explicitly specified, however in addition to the easy 'protections', there's the line from Albus about how men have wasted away in front of the Mirror of Erised.

I think as far as a trap, Albus was counting on Voldy never having heard of the mirror before and getting caught up. After all, if Voldy DID know what the mirror did, he would not assume the Stone was actually in there just because he saw it.

Presumably there was some sort of 'alert' to let Albus know someone was there, since someone came for Harry. However, possibly not they may have only known to go after him because Hermione had managed to make it to the infirmary with Ron. That seems odd however, as I doubt she was able to do it so fast. I don't think Harry really was in there with QuirrelVoldy long enough for that.

As for the chess pieces, it's even worse than you think. Wizard chess pieces are already animated. It seems more like a really big enlargement spell of some kind - 'engorgio' (sp?)?

The problem with that is the scale of the chess pieces. It is mentioned by someone that they thought Hagrid had been hit with a strong engorgio gone wrong as opposed to thinking he was part giant.

Now Hagrid IS big but he is not proportionately bigger than 2 (to 2-1/2 at most) times the size of a normal human. He sounds it by the description of his hands and feet (trash can lids and baby porpoises), but really, if it were true the scene with him on the flying motorcycle would have been described more like an adult on a preschooler's bike.

However, the chess pieces are MUCH more than 2 or 3 times their normal size. So it is possible that rather than just enlarging already animate chess pieces, Minerva did need to transfigure them. I'm pretty sure there was a class on beetles from buttons, so animating isn't really so difficult. The hard part would be making them smart enough to play.

THAT is presumably an existing bit of magic - normally used on regular wizarding chess pieces. Although it does seem a bit strange that it isn't a proprietary spell - patented by the wizards who make chess pieces.

Anyway IF she really did need to transfigure them, then it is really a pretty big job.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/So judging by its exams, Hogwarts apparently has time to teach its students how to make pineapples do tap-dances and turn mice into snuff-boxes, but not to teach them any maths, foreign languages, philosophy, literature, science, or the history of the other 99% of the population./

That's why I've wondered if pureblood kids are home-schooled in those subjects.

/The Gryffindors are still not talking to Harry, because shunning eleven-year-old orphans over a trivial house cup competition is the sort of thing heroes do./

Well, the Trio will soon do their own pattern of not talking to each other (Ron and Hermione over Scabbers, Harry and Ron over the Goblet of Fire, Ron and Hermione over the stupid soap opera in HBP), so I guess that this is just a warm-up for them.

But yes, I don't know if JKR realized how petty she was making the other Gryffindors look.

/Harry manages to do a convincing enough impression of the Bloody Baron to get Peeves to go away./

Now that I think about it, didn't Ron do an impression of Hermione in this book? And doesn't his 'amazing' power of mimicry enable him to 'speak' Parseltongue in DH? So, how come Harry's doing this and not Ron?

/Ron’s sacrificing himself to win the chess game is probably the high-point of his character arc./

Unfortunately. :(

I'm sure that Ron stabbing the locket Horcrux in DH was supposed to be a high point too, but the problem is that the locket was just regurgitating everything that had come before in previous books. Ron's insecure about his feelings for Hermione? That was what the whole stupid soap opera in HBP was supposed to resolve in the end, right? Ron feels inferior to Harry? They already had a fight about that in GoF and that didn't come up again in the later books. And Molly's favoritism of Harry is never addressed by the end anyway, nor is the locket's allegation that Molly resents Ron because she wanted a girl. So, okay, Ron stabbing the locket was cool, but nothing that the locket said was ever addressed or firmly refuted after that, except when Harry tells Ron that he doesn't like Hermione that way.

[fdsfd (from livejournal.com)]

* What’s with Snape’s “odd, twisted smile”? Is he just relishing the chance to gloat a little about them losing house points? Or is Harry just getting paranoid and reading things into his expression that aren’t actually there?
I think at this point in the story Snape's still a cardboard cut out villain. Along with an "odd, twisted smile" he should probably be wearing an eye-patch. He doesn't really get much depth to his character in the first two books to be honest.

* The Gryffindors are still not talking to Harry, because shunning eleven-year-old orphans over a trivial house cup competition is the sort of thing heroes do.
On reflection its incredible how petty the Gryffindor heroes can be. This one isn't quite as bad as in GoF when the evidence clearly pointed to the fact that Harry cheated his way into the tournament and they all accepted him anyway, but its not a good look.

* Ron’s sacrificing himself to win the chess game is probably the high-point of his character arc. It’s all downhill from here.
peaked too soon buddy :(

* Pretty optimistic of Harry to think that he’d be able to hold off Snape, even for a little while. Still, it’s not quite as bad as in HBP, where he’s itching for the chance to meet Snape in a fair fight… right after getting his arse kicked by Snape in a fair fight.
The fact that Harry never got a proper duel so we could all see just how badly he'd lose a fair fight is a perpetual disappointment to me. Did Harry ever actually win a fair duel without a gang in a train compartment or a wand that secretly already belonged to him?