HBP Chapter 5: An Overdose of Gin

[pacoman.livejournal.com]

In which Fleur is the best non-Slytherin character in the book so far, by virtue of not being a total ass.


- Meet Emo!Tonks. Her purpose throughout the book is to: a)serve as a red herring, b)set things up for the untimely R/T at the end of the book, and c)make people miss Punk!Tonks.

- Molly gives her opinion re: Slughorn, basically saying that he must not be all that if he ignored Arthur's then-underage milkshake: "The Ministry's littered with Slughorn's old favorites, he was always good at giving leg ups, but he never had much time for Arthur - didn't seem to think he was enough of a highflier. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes."

I'm sure Slughorn's opinion of Molly would be something like this: "Molly Prewett? Yes, she was quite the feisty one back in the day - much like her daughter is nowadays, you might say! - but I heard she married that Muggle otaku, Woosley. And here I thought she was ambitious; guess that shows you even I get it wrong sometimes."

- Anyone else think that Arthur's promotion was Percy's idea? It's a department with an overlong name, with a decent amount of subordinates, and completely unrelated to Muggles. Naturally, Arthur hates it. And Molly loves it.

- The Weasley clock has all hands pointing to Mortal Danger, thus robbing it of any practicality it might have. One wonders why Molly carries it around if it won't help her this time. Or why it doesn't point to MD whenever anyone Apparates, for the reasons [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] so eloquently put.

- Arthur's dearest ambition, as we find out here, is to find out how airplanes stay up. Keep in mind that this is the Ministry's resident Muggle expert. Truly, Slughorn missed out on recruiting this clearly driven man.

- I agree with Molly in that the Metamorph-Medals sound like the sort of thing F+G would find funny; yeah, they wouldn't do it since they have a business to protect now, but they would still find it funny.

- The dazzling sunlight seemed to poke him hard in both eyes. Dirty connotations, ahoy!

- And here are Ron and Hermione, meeting Harry together for the fourth time in a row (ANVIL!!!11). Ron's first impression of this book is "loud and excited", Hermione's is reproachful, and the book shocks all by sticking to said first impressions.

- "I know someone who's worse than Umbridge." Hi, Ginny!

Keep in mind that at this point she's still Ron's sister, and not the Hogwarts Queen of Sass. There will be a test later.

- And here comes Fleur, with her own back-up chorus doing Ethereal Elvish in A Minor. Aware that Certain People are going to get away with giving her childish nicknames, her agent managed to get her a big production of an entry number. Why, she even makes Harry straighten up a bit, so to speak.

One might have hoped that she would have lost the atrocious accent, but that's too much to hope from Rowling, sadly. At least Fleur never goes about how le mond est composé de causalité.

- Credit where it's due, Ginny has it right on the reasons behind Bill/Fleur: they both love the adventure and the glamour. Not to mention that they put a lot of value on family (witness Fleur volunteering to stay at the Burrow, even though the women there treat her like shit) and are devoted to driving Molly Weasley insane.

- For some reason that escapes everyone me, Harry and Hermione find Ginny's nickname for Fleur the height of wit. This despite Harry having no quarrel with Fleur. Now, I might have found it funny if the nickname were something like "Flirt Delaskirt", but "An Excess of Flirt" might have led to a lot of disappointment in many corners of the fandom.

And yes, Ginny, Fleur is totally wrong for treating you like you were three, what with your creative nicknames and your mocking her.

- I have mentioned elsewhere that HBP!Fleur is a lot like Anya from Buffy, in that they are both greatly devoted people who offend while trying to be polite, and are more-or-less outsiders to their group. Also, Ginny is a lot like Dawn, in her acting like she were a third her age while still expecting people to take her seriously. As well as getting a new personality which everyone insists she had all along, of course.

- The Trio gets a moment of bonding together as Harry shares the Prophecy of Overrated, its contents surprising no one. This touching moment of unity and friendship will not be followed up on much through the rest of the book, as everyone gets busy with their hormones.

- "They're definitely owls". "And there are three of them". "One for each of us". With such staggering combined intellect, it is clear that the Trio shall surely prevail.

- To no one's surprise, Harry did well at the OWLs he was meant to do well at. Ditto Ron, though he got no Outstanding due to lack of Crowd-Pleasing Trump Card. And Hermione, of course, got O's at everything but at Harry's subject, since no silly girl can be better than Harry at what Harry's best at.

- And because no Harry-narrated chapter is complete without the requisite Harry!Angst, here's one about how he'll never be an Auror because of his grade in Potions. Nevermind that a)there's no way Snape's role is diminishing now, what with the stuff seen in Chapter 2, and b)if Slughorn is the new Potions teacher (which he is), there's no way Harry won't be interacting a lot with him.


Next week: Draco! Plus Hagrid and the Twins, not that anyone's looking forward to meeting them.

Comments

[anaid-rabbit.livejournal.com]

make people miss Punk!Tonks.
I never dreamed I`d ever miss her - but yet I do. Well, we musn`t blame her, she`s being a victim of the Wimp Syndrome All Grown Up HP Females Suffer From When Dealing With Love Problems thus rendering them completely useless (of course the men stay more or less the same, manly and all). It´s a wonder she didn`t die from depression as Merope, really. :P

I have mentioned elsewhere that HBP!Fleur is a lot like Anya from Buffy, in that they are both greatly devoted people who offend while trying to be polite
Yes - it all makes sense! The incredible lack of tact, my incredible love for both of them... But does this mean that Bill`s going to leave Fleur on the altar?

[jollityfarm.livejournal.com]

Her purpose throughout the book

So Tonks does have a purpose! Not much of a purpose, true, but...ah, sod it, she's still pointless. Even my mum agrees with me about this.

"Molly Prewett? Yes, she was quite the feisty one back in the day - much like her daughter is nowadays, you might say! - but I heard she married that Muggle otaku, Woosley. And here I thought she was ambitious; guess that shows you even I get it wrong sometimes."

Apart from the word "otaku" (Slughorn's not shown that much knowledge of Japanese culture in that way), I think you may be right. Of course, I can't see any evidence that Molly has ever been ambitious, but that doesn't mean she isn't! Just because there's no evidence of it!

Harry and Hermione find Ginny's nickname for Fleur the height of wit.

This is because Ginny is funny and sassy and all that. Obviously, what she says is never less than fabulous. There are some people that still call me "Squealia", you know, but I don't think they ever pretended it was the height of wit :/

And yes, Ginny, Fleur is totally wrong for treating you like you were three

What's the betting that Ginny has, more than once, screamed at her parents, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME, YOU ALL TREAT ME LIKE A BABY, I'M NOT A BABY ANY MORE, IT'S SO UNFAIR, I HATE YOU!" and then stormed off to her room to sulk until dinner? V. mature :)

[(Anonymous)]

didn't seem to think he was enough of a highflier

Slightly OT, but I'm starting to believe the Weasleys are in deep denial as to Arthur's ineptitude. They're playing a game called "Your father is extremely competent and it's his shining pro-Muggle integrity that's held him back at work, no really". That, or they're collectively pretending that they don't resent his lack of ambition. Either way there's an Arthur-sized elephant in their living room. That's why they won't forgive Percy: he tackled the elephant head on.

he'll never be an Auror because of his grade in Potions

Are we supposed to be crying for Harry here? Because I seem to recall that a) Harry's been slacking off in Potions more often than not b) the Auror idea was something he pulled out of his ass during careers advice, and McGonagall – who knows Harry's study habits – advised him against it. She only warmed to it when she heard Umbridge was opposed.

Re Phlegm: um, yeah. What is the connection between Fleur and mucus that would make this nickname even remotely funny? Perhaps Ginny heard her sneeze once.

-L

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I agree with the anon above. The Weasleys seem to be a family where being a member means you have to accept certain family myths, like Arthur being very competent and held back for reasons of his integrity. Yes, it's integrity holding back the biggest "smooth over" guy in the Ministry.

And ditto on Fleur's nickname. What on earth does it have to do with Fleur? At the age of 15 can't Ginny come up with something that actually states something about her? Or is it supposed to be some comment on the sound of French?

It's a good thing she's not in fandom. Not only would her nickname not catch on, but saying Fleur was worse than Umbridge would probably get her accused of being morally bankrupt.

Speaking of which, it's nice the way that Harry and Ginny gradually learn they love each other by the way they take each other's side when they're at their worst. Ginny's right there backing up the Sectumsempra and Harry's all, 'Sure, I'll call Fleur Phlegm! It's so funny! And thanks for smacking down Hermione too!"

In the future, Harry and Ginny's family will probably have their own myth, one where Daddy does badly at work because everyone's jealous of his nobility and not because he put someone in the hospital.

Hermone's E in Potions is just. so. lame. At this point it's impossible for her to get anything less than an O in anything, but somehow her grade gets knocked down just to remind us that Harry is good at DADA. How good is he? Did they just change the curve when he did a Patronus (which Hermione can also do, btw, along with most of the DA)? Because this suggests Harry got the only O in the entire school!

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

There are some people that still call me "Squealia", you know, but I don't think they ever pretended it was the height of wit :/

Yeah, I got called 'Poxanne' a few times, but then, the kids doing the calling were five, not fifteen.

What's the betting that Ginny has, more than once, screamed at her parents, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME, YOU ALL TREAT ME LIKE A BABY, I'M NOT A BABY ANY MORE, IT'S SO UNFAIR, I HATE YOU!" and then stormed off to her room to sulk until dinner?

She did in OOTP, iirc. It was just lost in the bitchfit of her soulmate and equal in emotional maturity.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's like when Ellen Degeneres came out and the religious right started referring to her as "Ellen Degenerate." She was like, "Wow, haven't heard that one since fourth grade!"

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

The Weasleys seem to be a family where being a member means you have to accept certain family myths

I'm actually fairly certain that JKR's intending that we believe said myths and realise that Arthur is just too highly principled and non-racist to succeed in the evil government, and that as soon as things change in that aspect, he'd be a brilliant MoM or whatever.
But then perhaps I don't have enough faith in her, because it's obvious even to a blind person what a moron Arthur is. I guess we'll see if the books end with the vomitous 'Look, the Weasleys are suddenly wealthy, thanks to Arthur's new job/Fred and George's weapons manufacturing/their selling Ginny into white slavery' (okay, the last wouldn't be so bad.) or not.

Or is it supposed to be some comment on the sound of French?

Thank goodness Hermione speaks with no apparent accent. Because undoubtedly it would be totally racist to mock her speech, in a way it isn't for Fleur's accent.

Saying Fleur was worse than Umbridge would probably get her accused of being morally bankrupt.

Lucky she's now become Ginny!Sue, the Trio's BFF, or else she'd probably have gotten Harry's 'OMG, YOU DIDN'T GET A DETENTION WITH UMBRIDGE, YOU DON'T KNOW THE PAIN, EVEN SATAN'S NOT AS BAD AS HER'. Except oh, wait, his characterisation's switched again, hasn't it?

Harry and Ginny's family will probably have their own myth, one where Daddy does badly at work because everyone's jealous of his nobility and not because he put someone in the hospital.

God. The best case scenarion, they'd probably end up like in Back to the Future 2, where they can't even get their TV fixed because Dad couldn't control himself when someone called him chicken.

somehow her grade gets knocked down just to remind us that Harry is good at DADA.

God forbid someone be allowed to equal Harry. Especially a girl - Ginny's great because she can play Quidditch well, but not quite as masterfully; and Hermione's a fantastic friend because she'll never best Harry at anything he really cares about ie. DADA and Quidditch.
(Reminds me of how in the next chapter - with Draco! :) - it's carefully noted that Harry's being Quidditch captain means he's got equal ranking with the prefects, as if everyone in the world apologises umpteen times for him not getting this one thing in life wasn't enough.

[merrymelody.livejournal.com]

Are we supposed to be crying for Harry here?

We're always supposed to feel sorry for Poor Oppressed Harry, I think, even if half the time he causes his own problems. (Like how in the OotP readthrough in our sister community, where he's mourning that getting kicked off the team for beating someone up has really taken the shine off his win. Cry me a river.)

Because I seem to recall that a) Harry's been slacking off in Potions more often than not b) the Auror idea was something he pulled out of his ass during careers advice

I'm sure that was all the dastardly Snape's fault. Why, look how well Harry achieves this year...oh, wait. That was the cheating.
I really don't like this Auror idea, anyway. We don't know much about Aurors, and the only ones we've been shown in the books aren't particularly likeable. I mean, what do they do? Are they the equivalent of policemen? They 'catch dark wizards', and then what? Give them a fair trial, or just use the Unforgivables they've been authorised to?
Because they creeped me out with all the power they seem to abuse, frankly.
And since Harry already has a tendency to abuse his own power, this is the last thing he should be doing.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

(Reminds me of how in the next chapter - with Draco! :) - it's carefully noted that Harry's being Quidditch captain means he's got equal ranking with the prefects, as if everyone in the world apologises umpteen times for him not getting this one thing in life wasn't enough.

Makes me happy that in my universe, the ranking of Prefects at school and team captains at school is equal, but pretty damn low.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Arthur's dearest ambition, as we find out here, is to find out how airplanes stay up. Keep in mind that this is the Ministry's resident Muggle expert. Truly, Slughorn missed out on recruiting this clearly driven man.

One wonders how large wizarding Britain is; surely Arthur can oick up a physics book somewhere, somehow and figure out how to planes work? If Maasai tribespeople, who live lifes of incredible austerity, know how planes work, what the hell is wrong with Arthur?

Agreed with above on Arthur's oncompetency and the fact that Percy maybe woke up to this fact and is now suffering seperation from the family because of this. Now, that makes me think that perhaps, although seperation from his family is painful, it may be better for him, emotionally and career wise.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

I mean, what do they do? Are they the equivalent of policemen? They 'catch dark wizards', and then what? Give them a fair trial, or just use the Unforgivables they've been authorised to?

They seem to be the equivalent of both police and army ( why, just like in a real Banana Republic)in that they have the power to use weapons, arrest anybody, throw any body in jail and not be accountable. You may remember, by the way, it was Aurors who threw Sirius Black into prison without even the benefit of Veritserum.

[shadefell.livejournal.com]

Let's take a closer look at Fleur, shall we?

She's older than all the other kids living at the Burrow, and doesn't really seem much of a housewife. Despite that, she sticks around feeding chickens and cooking. Do you think she gets her own room, or does she have to share one with Ginny and Hermione? (Harry, of course, gets the twins' old room.) Her future mother in law doesn't like her, talks about her behind her back, and refuses to spend time alone with her, and all her future inlaws refer to her using a childish nickname. When she tries to join in the conversation, Hermione sasses her and isn't reprimanded by the adults or thought rude. She's shut out of conversation with the family, rudely, by another guest and nobody seems to mind.

She stays there, dealing with it all, and not complaining.

Someone she knows, someone she's competed with and who saved her sister, comes to visit. When she treats him as an exciting equal, she's portrayed as shallow.

Yea, yea, ultimatly there's the BIG REVEAL where she's not really shallow and she loves Bill despite his aids... I mean, werewolfism... but Christ.

I have really shitty future in-laws who hate me for not being "good enough" or having "pure blood" (no shit, for serious, I'm a dirty dirty American) but they are at least civil to me. If they acted towards me as the Weasleys act towards Fleur, I'd firebomb the house and live in a hotel.

[anaid-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Nothing to add - I just agree with absolutely everything you wrote (I couldn`t even keep from nodding as I read).

Fleur´s an incredibly strong young woman who was unlucky enough to fall in love with a man who`s got the family from hell. And are these the people whom Rowling wants us to see as an "ideal", warm, friendly family? Well I guess if Ginny is supposed to be an ideal girl (for Harry) all`s possible in JKverse...

[gillieweed.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't you just love to buy Arthur a roll of duct-tape and tell him that that's how everything in the muggle world works?

[q-spade.livejournal.com]

Meet Emo!Tonks. Her purpose throughout the book is to: a)serve as a red herring, b)set things up for the untimely R/T at the end of the book, and c)make people miss Punk!Tonks.

Interesting that when Tonks makes an exit from the Burrow, and Dumbles tells her not to leave on his account, Rowling makes a point of stating that Tonks doesn't meet his eyes. Also, according to Hermione, Tonks is having trouble Metamorphosing and "can't change her appearance like she used to".

It's suggested that she feels "survivor's guilt" over the death of Sirius, but...her actions are suspicious throughout HPB. Something's up with her, and it's not about the Remus scenario (THAT'S the red herring, in my opinion – people make a great deal more out of their relationship than it warrants, precisely because it is so WTF). I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what her deal is during my first read-through; perhaps this time around things will click into place.

[pacoman.livejournal.com]

It´s a wonder she didn`t die from depression as Merope, really.

She would have had to get pregnant first, and fat chance Remus would do the deed 'cause he's gay.

I have mentioned elsewhere that HBP!Fleur is a lot like Anya from Buffy, in that they are both greatly devoted people who offend while trying to be polite
Yes - it all makes sense! The incredible lack of tact, my incredible love for both of them... But does this mean that Bill`s going to leave Fleur on the altar?

Ron is the one with Xander's feelings of inadequacy, so I doubt Bill would do such a thing. Not that anyone in his family would give him a hard time for it.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't you just love to buy Arthur a roll of duct-tape and tell him that that's how everything in the muggle world works?

Heee! I wonder if a muggle born has not done this already!

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Heh. I always liked the whole FBI analogy that theladyfeylene uses. Mostly because FBI men are sexy cool and they go after the big fish, just like the Aurors do.

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

I know this is old, like really, really old, but as someone not a fan of the Weasleys and born a Woosley with all the people messing up their names I kept waiting for it to happen and was so glad (and yet sad, because come on they are so close) it never happened in the books and then read this: I'm sure Slughorn's opinion of Molly would be something like this: "Molly Prewett? Yes, she was quite the feisty one back in the day - much like her daughter is nowadays, you might say! - but I heard she married that Muggle otaku, Woosley. And here I thought she was ambitious; guess that shows you even I get it wrong sometimes."


*pouts*

I thought I was safe...

It also makes me wonder: did you make it up or do you know some Woosleys?

Since I'm leaving a comment anyway, this cracked me up: Arthur's dearest ambition, as we find out here, is to find out how airplanes stay up. Keep in mind that this is the Ministry's resident Muggle expert. Truly, Slughorn missed out on recruiting this clearly driven man.

I feel like hugging you for this: For some reason that escapes everyone me, Harry and Hermione find Ginny's nickname for Fleur the height of wit. This despite Harry having no quarrel with Fleur.

And this: And yes, Ginny, Fleur is totally wrong for treating you like you were three, what with your creative nicknames and your mocking her.

I could not stand this in the books.

Nods (though I've never watched Buffy): As well as getting a new personality which everyone insists she had all along, of course.

[pacoman.livejournal.com]

Whoa, blast from the past here. And realizing I should have finished the readthrough back then.

Anyway, I was going to say I had changed the name after the videogame translator of the early 1990s, but Google tells me that guy is Ted Woolsey. So yeah, I just mangled 'Weasley' into something that sounded similar. No offense meant.

As for the other quotes, I liked Ginny back in OotP and didn't mind her getting set up as Harry's pairing, but man did she get unlikable fast in this book. I'm not the first person to compare her new personality with Dawn Summers from Buffy (since you didn't watch the show: Dawn suddenly showed up in Season 5 as Buffy's sister, and everyone acted as though she had always been there, for reasons which were later explained; presumably, some fans even played along back in 2000, going on long forum posts about her contributions to the plot of the first four seasons), but it's so very fitting. Also like Dawn, New!Ginny couldn't quite fit in the story after her role in the plot was over.

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just found this community a month or two ago and decided to read through the archives, because I'd enjoyed what I'd seen of it so far.

Yes! That is how I felt about Ginny. We didn't see much of her (and I do need to re-read them) and I was anticipating the Harry/Ginny romance, but I wasn't expecting her be, well, mean. And even when I put it like that...that she was just mean, people get very defensive of her. So it was refreshing to me that others felt this way. I know that there are people who really hate Ginny just from the defensiveness, but I didn't hate her so much as was disappointed.

I've been submerged in fan fiction for so long I can see how good all the Weasleys can be...I just remember my feelings about them from the book (which is why I really need to reread them—I just get caught up in all the new books coming out rereading doesn't happen often.)