05 HP Chamber of Secrets
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deathtocapslockCh5 Whomping Willow
>Oh god, this is the one of the most convoluted chapters in this book, isn’t it?
>Funny thing about Harry’s whining about his situation at Privet Drive: I can imagine smarter Harry being able to cooperate with Petunia to make his stay in her house more bearable. It wouldn’t be home, but he could live comfortable.
>The way I see it, the whole family is trying to court Harry. At this point it doesn’t matter if Harry is interested in Ginny, Weasleys are going out of their way to make Harry emotionally entangled with their family. Does this count as grooming? *shudders* +1 to Crime Count
>Now, my friends my be outliers, but most of families with multiple kids I know prepare for travel much earlier. Like a day before departure.
>Why the heck Weasleys don’t take Floo to the Diagonal and grab taxi from there? +1 to Leap of Logic
>Why Arthur feels he needs to remind Harry that he isn’t supposed to talk about his illegal car with Malfoys?
>I’m amazed that not only Arthur went back for fireworks, but he also gave them to his trickster sons. Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen. +1 to Leap of Logic
>What the hell is tricky about walking through magical wall? It’s not like Ministry isn’t going to Obliviate any witness.
>Apparently Molly learned from the whole “guests first”. Too bad the plot disagrees with her.
>Harry has frontal collision with plot. Literally
>”Ron ran to pick Hedwig, who was causing such scene that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the surrounding crowd.” I swear Jo’s level of self-awareness makes Harry Dresden look like Tibetan monk.
>Why they are panicking? They have friggin owl so they can send letter to school. They can even go to The Leaky Cauldron. Sure it would take them some time, but that option is on the table!
>Apparently, once upon time Dursleys gave six year old Harry pocket money. He probably bought a Lovecraftian monster with it.
>I’m amazed that between those two, Harry ends up as a voice of reason. Not for the right reasons, but still.
>”We’re stuck, right? And we’ve got to get to school, haven’t we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy…” Two things: a) this is sophistry. Honestly Ron fits in Ministry better than Rowling realises and b) last I checked being late to school isn’t emergency or teenage me would be breaking all kind of laws just to get to school on time. +1 to Leap of Logic
>All boys needed to do was to calmly sit at the station and either wait for Arthur and Molly or for reply from Hogwarts.
>It doesn’t take much for Ron to convince Harry that stealing the flying car and using it to fly after Hogwarts Express is great idea. +2 to Crime Count
>There is no way that nobody would notice a car that was parked by King’s Cross station suddenly vanishing. We are talking here about one of the busiest stations in the Great Britain. +1 to Uncovered
>I’m not even going to touch the invisibility thing. That is guaranteed headache in making.
>+1 to Uncovered for “faulty Invisibility Booster”. Do you think this also was Dobby’s handiwork?
>Apparently you can follow Hogwarts Express straight to Hogwarts. I’m sure that in late XX century in GB steam locomotives are so common that no muggle would be curious enough to try to learn what this train’s destination is. +1 to Uncovered +1 to Leap of Logic
>With all shenanigans I’m surprised that they didn’t end up almost crashing into a plane.
>Harry the glory hound once again rears his head. This time he daydreams about other students’ reactions to his rule breaking parade.
>Either Potterverse is Flat Earth or Jo has no idea how... probably anything works. This time our heroes are hot, while flying above clouds.
>Apparently, now cars can be tired. I knew that car was secretly a transformer!
>Why the heck they didn’t try to land in the lake, if they noticed that car was malfunctioning? It’s safer than almost crashing into castle or crashing into the Willow. +1 to Leap of Logic
>That landing should absolutely have killed all passengers of the car. Especially the owl. +1 to Death Count. +1 to Crime Count for damaging school’s property.
>Ron gets his mandatory head injury out of the way early this school year, so he can agree to even more insane plans that his friends came up with.
>If Freud was alive, he would send Rowling a fruit basket for this book. +1 to FWBP for the broken wand.
>And then in act of revenge, sentient tree murdered our protagonist. The End. Not. +1 to Death Count.
>Is it bad that I’m rooting for a murderous sentient tree?
>And then the transformer managed to finally break mental shackles and save our super passive heroes.
>The Car is so done with our heroes, that it decides to kick them and their belongings out and pull runner. At least one sentient being in this story is smart enough to do so!
>Poor Hedwig. It’s miracle that with all tossing around during last 24 hours she didn’t sustain serious injuries.
>I like how narrative is vague about what ‘Harry and Ron’ (note Hermione and Neville are not included) did to help their House win the House Cup. It’s almost like author realises that the infamous scene from PS looks very bad.
>Also Hagrid once again drinks deeply from his goblet. What happened to swearing off drinking, huh?
>I love Severus in this scene!
>”“So,” he said softly, “the train isn’t good enough for the famous Harry Potter and his faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, boys?”” Oh Irony, you are sweet, sweet mistress.
>Somehow in time span needed for Hogwarts Express to reach the school a journalist managed to collect statements from witnesses, write article, send it to editor who in turn made whatever adjustments were needed, send it to print AND owl post managed to bring this issue of Prophet to Snape. It’s like a metaphor for the series: we are stuck with our passive and helpless protagonist, while somewhere out there, there are much more interesting things happening.
>Can you imagine how much more interesting these books would be if we saw Harry’s shenanigans from outside POV?
>+1 to Spell Count for Minnie for lighting the fireplace
>Once again Harry is unusually emotionally affected by Albus. He met this man twice and acts like Dumbledore is his pissed off girlfriend. +1 to FWBP +1 to Leap of Logic
>For the second time during the same summer Harry brakes law concerning usage of magic around muggles and not only our protagonist isn’t expelled, but only gets a warning from the headmaster. Oh and Durslays get notification about his adventures. Yeah Albus, that will show him! +1 to Leap of Logic
>Snape gets kicked out of his own office. Lovely.
>Minerva gives our brave adventurers a detention. Thought this time it’s not looking for lost unicorns in the middle of the night. Kinda disappointing Minnie.
>Ron is bleeding from “cut over his eye”. This does not get treated. If I wasn’t adamant about not counting potential deaths of other characters, I would award him 3 points for just this chapter. +1 to Crime Count for Minnie not dragging Ron to medical personnel.
>Heh, remember the discussion in comment section of the previous entry? Minerva just “pointed (her wand) at Snape’s desk” resulting in food and drinks appearing. While I’m sure somebody will try to convince me she placed order with House Elves to bring some food, I’m just going to +1 to Spell Count for Minerva.
>So did our heroes learn anything from this adventure? Nope! All thanks to admiring house mates who start to congratulate them just as they enter the common room. I swear Griffindors should be renamed to ‘Enablers’
Crime Count: 5
Death Count: 1
Freud Would Be Proud: 2
Leap of Logic: 7
Uncovered: 3
Spell Count: Minerva: 2
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no subject
Date: 2018-09-15 12:20 pm (UTC)I checked the book. Not with Malfoys, but with Molly. He doesn't want his wife to know he enchanted the car which is against laws of his own department.
Molly knows he added magical features, but Arthur still tries to hide from her how much.
>I’m amazed that not only Arthur went back for fireworks, but he also gave them to his trickster sons. Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen.
Ironically, the worst decision was the thoughtful one - when he went back to give Ginny Riddle's diary. You cannot say JKR doesn't hint it's going to be important.
It’s like a metaphor for the series: we are stuck with our passive and helpless protagonist, while somewhere out there, there are much more interesting things happening.
A hint for DH. :(
Minerva just “pointed (her wand) at Snape’s desk” resulting in food and drinks appearing.
I think she summoned them from the kitchens herself, without House Elves' help.
Btw, Anonymous comments are still prohibited.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-15 12:43 pm (UTC)Ah, yes must have slipped by me when I was editing this entry, I'll correct it in moment.
/Btw, Anonymous comments are still prohibited. /
Not my doing. Each time I post I turn off screening comments. Either it's LJ, or DTCL has turned it on by default.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-15 12:52 pm (UTC)I think it's in SETTINGS of the community itself.
In my own lj, I went to "settings" and then in "privacy" tab, saw that "ENABLE COMMENTS" lines has "Allow comments from everybody" as the chosen option.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-16 10:22 pm (UTC)A better way to show that would have been to have Arthur refuse to go back for the fireworks ( they will only cause trouble). But going back for Ginny's diary.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-17 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-17 01:25 am (UTC)Or maybe these are very, very low clouds. Like practically fog. Yeah, that's it.
How fast do post owls fly, I wonder? Maybe they deliver batches of the Prophet to various regional locations and then owl them from there instead of sending them all directly from London (assuming that's where the headquarters are). So the owl just had to fly over from Hogsmeade. Still quick work putting the article together, though.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-17 01:34 pm (UTC)I guess that JKR just really wanted to write the flying car scene that she forgot about these other options?
/All boys needed to do was to calmly sit at the station and either wait for Arthur and Molly or for reply from Hogwarts/
True, but it wouldn't be as exciting as traveling in a flying car (if you assume excitement > logic). Also, given Arthur and Molly's track record, I wouldn't be surprised if they were like the parents from "Home Alone" and 'comedically' forgot all about Ron and Harry.
/Hagrid once again drinks deeply from his goblet. What happened to swearing off drinking, huh?/
Hagrid never learns anything. How many times does he have to get into trouble for fostering dangerous creatures before he stops romanticizing them and blaming children for getting hurt by them? One would think that the whole mess with Aragog would've been a wake-up call, but it wasn't.
/Somehow in time span needed for Hogwarts Express to reach the school a journalist managed to collect statements from witnesses, write article, send it to editor who in turn made whatever adjustments were needed, send it to print AND owl post managed to bring this issue of Prophet to Snape/
Considering that this took place before smartphones and online social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, this must've been the fastest news article ever published.
/Once again Harry is unusually emotionally affected by Albus. He met this man twice and acts like Dumbledore is his pissed off girlfriend/
He met Snape once and that was enough to make him start acting like Snape was the worst person on earth. Quick assumptions are nothing new for Harry.
/For the second time during the same summer Harry brakes law concerning usage of magic around muggles and not only our protagonist isn’t expelled, but only gets a warning from the headmaster/
And this is never followed up on. The Ministry doesn't get involved, the news article that Snape shows them never comes up again, nothing comes of it.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-17 07:00 pm (UTC)She ignored other options, yes. Were it in later books, I would assume JKR thought how good it would look in the movie.
For me, the flying was one of the most boring parts in the movie and far too long, but film-makers thought it would be popular. May be, small kids loved it. Did you?
// One would think that the whole mess with Aragog would've been a wake-up call, but it wasn't.
Hagrid knows many think of giants as monsters and is proving to himself (and the world) his mother was good inside by humanizing real magical monsters. He also gets the opportunity to play being a mother, probably rewriting his own unhappy childhood in his imagination. With such psychological wounds, it's no wonder he learnt nothing.
Besides, what would he win by learning the lesson? His wand was already snapped anyway, and learning anything would involve waking up from comforting illusions.
\\Considering that this took place before smartphones and online social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, this must've been the fastest news article ever published.
They have magic which is better in many ways than smartphones. :)
// Once again Harry is unusually emotionally affected by Albus.
We should thank Dursleys for Harry latching into the first outwardly nice, powerful quasi father figure he sees.
\\ And this is never followed up on. The Ministry doesn't get involved
Next year, the Minister will tell Harry not to worry after blowing up his aunt. As long as Harry is in favor politically, the law is bent.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-17 10:16 pm (UTC)I mean, obviously this didn't happen, but it could have. It could have been a nice touch in a book where one of the secrets involves mental magic. And if my suspicions about why Harry and Ron also suddenly forget to tell the teachers what they've figured out when Ginny is kidnapped (I think it's possible Lockhart was setting them up to take the fall in advance), it would make a nice bit of foreshadowing.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-20 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-21 09:25 pm (UTC)It would take a small fix for me to stop complaining about this: have Harry send his owl away (either with letter or like few chapters ago have her fly on her to their destination). I could easily understand boys not wanting to try on their own find Leaky Cauldron in neighbourhood they don't know, so while stealing flying car would be iffy, it would only make me rise an eyebrow. But then again, it would take an editor to point out this kind of stuff.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-20 06:49 pm (UTC)This makes me curious whether it's difficult to actually get expelled from Hogwarts, it only seems to be a concern when the Ministry gets involved (as with Hagrid, or Harry in OOTP). It seems weird that the Ministry didn't go after Harry & Ron for this, maybe Dumbledore pulled some strings.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-21 05:10 pm (UTC)Attempting to feed fellow student to local werewolf? No problem!
Breaking secrecy rules and damaging expensive school property? Go ahead!
Cutting fellow student into ribbons and almost killing him? Don't worry.
Keeping dangerous animals in school where any student can find them and then destroying Forbidden Forest's ecosystem? Albus will all cover it up!
If over the years any student was expelled by Albus it was done quietly.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-21 07:04 pm (UTC)I being expelled equalls being thrown out from the ranks of normal wizarding society forever, becoming an outcast with one's wand broken like Hagrid's, then it should not be easy and Albus made a correct decision in not expelling James or Sirius, for instance.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-21 08:29 pm (UTC)I have to disagree. I would be more willing to give a pass Harry in HBP where he used dangerous spell on another student without knowing anything more about it than it's "for enemies". That can be seen as heat of moment decision of very stupid teenager.
But Sirius? He told Severus how to follow Remus fully knowing in what kind of danger he was putting his victim. Not only he almost caused death of his fellow student, but also he almost made his friend a murderer, created serious mental scaring for Severus and Remus, indirectly put at risk his best friend and shown he cannot keep secrets.
By this stunt Sirius shown full contempt for rules, feelings and safety of others and lack of self-control. If those things aren't enough to expell him then his inability to keep secret in society that depends on this ability should seal the deal.
The only reason why he wasn't kicked out is because he is useful and Griffindor.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-22 04:52 am (UTC)And a Black.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-23 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-30 10:38 pm (UTC)I do wonder, though, how they could have managed to provide enough evidence to expel Sirius for attempted murder (or manslaughter, if it was an impulsive set-up rather than planned) without landing Remus in Azkaban or something equally dire. Assuming that he didn't know in advance what Sirius was planning, that seems overly harsh, especially since based on the timeline the other three had only recently become Animagi and so Remus might not yet have been guilty of running about nearly eating villagers. I'm sure the fallout would be far worse for a poor, half-blood werewolf than for a rich son of the Black family. So I'll grudgingly concede that it might have seemed hard to give Sirius the consequences he deserved without inflicting worse and longer-lasting punishment on Remus. Maybe Dumbledore didn't actually give a damn about James or Sirius and the cover-up was more for Remus's sake. And, er, Dumbledore's own, of course. And maybe Pomfrey's.
Though since whatever story filtered out apparently left Lily not at all curious about "whatever was down there," maybe it should have been possible somehow? (Unless Lily knew, and just believed it really was all an accident and poor Remus etc. etc.) Even without expulsion, the entire staff should have been keeping a close eye on Sirius and stomped down on him HARD for any further bullying. The waterboarding incident by the lake ought to have gotten him and James suspended at least in a decent school.
So, covering up the Shack incident--really, really bad, but I can almost see a mitigating circumstance if I squint. It's the utter failure to make sure the boys stopped torturing fellow students in public afterward that confirms there's something very wrong with how Hogwarts staff handle violence between students. And it isn't just understaffing leaving them stretched too thin to deal with, because that was egregious and public. Plus a lot of the other incidents must have happened in view of the portraits hanging all over the castle. Invisibility cloak or no, shouldn't they have seen enough to give the staff probable cause to investigate James and Sirius's actions in their sixth and seventh years and prove they hadn't remotely "reformed" after all?
no subject
Date: 2018-09-26 04:17 am (UTC)