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deathtocapslock2018-10-05 10:44 pm
08 HP Chamber of Secrets
Ch8 The Deathday Party
>Peperup Potion is a cold cure. Try to tell this to fanfiction writers.
>Ginny is “bullied” into taking medicine by the only Weasley brother who cares about her. First of all a big middle finger to narrative for vilifying a caring older brother and second: Aww.
>There is this maniacal quidditch captain (who loves to train in bad weather condition) on loose and people are mystified by high amount of cases of cold? By this point Gryffindor team has to be addicted to Peperup Potion
>”‘… don’t fulfil their requirements … half an inch, if that …’” Woah, for a moment there I thought that “half an inch” applied to more private parts. +1 to FWBP
>Why is Harry returning from training on his own? Did his team finally decided to boot him out and participate in orgy? +1 to FWBP
>For 12 year old boy, this is a pretty detailed description of man’s outfit.
>Wait, “transparent letter”? WTH? Ghosts in this universe have ghostly mail?
>So Nick can’t fully participate in club’s activities, yet he acts like they don’t want to accept him because they are bunch of dicks. +1 to Leap of Logic
>Now I keep imagining Nick as evil witch from the Sleeping Beauty. Thanks Jo!
>Mrs. Norris is “skeletal”. Is Albus paying Argus so little that he cannot afford feeding his own cat?
>Somewhere out there, there is a fic that describes constant Sisyphean work that is cleaning Hogwarts via muggle methods. All while people who could speed up the process laugh at you.
>Considering twins’ shenanigans I’m surprised they aren’t on permanent cleaning duty!
>Harry is no longer content with just breaking rules, now even non-magical law isn’t safe! +1 to Crime Count for reading private correspondence.
>Hmm, if there is market big enough to create this correspondence course, does it mean that not all wizards/witches attend Hogwarts?
>Since when turning somebody into animal=charms?
>Why upgrading your poor education means that you are not proper wizard? +1 to Leap of Logic
>If the cabinet is “wreckage” now, how Draco is able to use it in HBP? I would expect Hogwarts’ staff to get rid of furniture that was reduced to “wreckage”.
>Ah, now I understand why Nick is Gryffindor’s ghost: mindless destruction of valuable school property in the name of sucking up to our hero!
>I find it odd that ghosts celebrate as traumatic event as their death.
>Oh my, is it me or Nick is just as manipulative as twins in the previous book.
>Once again Gryffindors stole schools property, are about to destroy it and combine it with casual animal abuse. The fact that this is a background to our hero talking with his friends instead of important plot point is infuriating. +3 to Crime Count.
>The salamander managed to escape into fire, but did it survive the rough treatment???
>How creating a “troupe of dancing skeletons” is not considered dark magic? Even if this is simple animating spell, it’s still desecration of corpses.
>Once again Halloween rolls in and Harry doesn’t angst over not having parents.
>Harry did learn well from the last year. If it wasn’t for his bossy friend he would ignore his promise to Nick and stuff his face with candies!
>I would think that instead of “scratching nails over blackboard” style of music, ghost would prefer music from their time period, but what do I know.
>So here is a question: in this universe ghosts aren’t chained to one place? They can haunt whatever place they want no matter where they died/where their remains are? Nobody is safe from righteous retribution...even from the dead...
>As we can see Hogwarts has high standards: they allow resident ghosts destroy property and keep toilets out of commission for decades.
>Hogwarts budget must be eaten away by food providers. First constant food porn, now huge waste of food for Nick’s party...
>This time Jo failed at... chemistry? Biology? Rotting does not work like that!
>Nick is quite rude: he invited humans to his party, yet he doesn’t provide any food for them.
>Where the Hunt gets their ghostly horses?
>Eh, the Hunt does act like a group of jerks, but Nick already knows this, so I don’t get why he invited them/wants to join them.
>Why the heck a hungry Basilisk would sound “murderous”? It’s looking for a meal, so that adjective doesn’t fit here.
>Jo, I don’t know how to tell you this, but snakes do not hunt by smelling blood. Shocking, I know.
>Let’s analyse the sequence of events:
1) Diarycrux releases Basilisk.
2) Basilisk petrifies the cat.
3) Basilisk slithers around the pipes, while Diarycrux paints his calling card on wall and hangs the petrified cat on torch. Also closes the entrance to the chamber.
4) Diarycrux manages to successfully evade other students and somehow Percy who was observing Ginny closely enough to spot health problems, doesn’t notice that his baby sister is missing.
5) The trio stumbles onto crime scene.
All of this sounds like the least effective and the most dramatic method the Horcrux could have picked. In other words Voldie here is perfectly in character.
>Also +1 to FWBP for description of Draco :P
Crime Count: 4
Death Count: 0
Freud Would Be Proud: 3
Leap of Logic: 2
Uncovered: 0
Spell Count: 0
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thanks a lot!
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Hmm. Right, the cabinet was still accessible while broken and malfunctioning, almost killing a student who was placed in it by the evil twins, in OOTP. It wasn't even moved to the Room of Broken Old Stuff by the staff until then.
>Let’s analyse the sequence of events:
1) Diarycrux releases Basilisk.
2) Basilisk petrifies the cat.
3) Basilisk slithers around the pipes, while Diarycrux paints his calling card on wall and hangs the petrified cat on torch. Also closes the entrance to the chamber.
4) Diarycrux manages to successfully evade other students and somehow Percy who was observing Ginny closely enough to spot health problems, doesn’t notice that his baby sister is missing.
5) The trio stumbles onto crime scene.
I think at this point the Diarycrux didn't yet have a body, or at least not much of one. Ginny released the basilisk and painted the threatening words on the wall. Ginny may have excused herself from the feast.
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Know the difference between you and your betters. It makes your life soooooooo much easier. There's a natural order, you know, and in this universe, it's marked by magic or the lack thereof. Filch has to do something, so they give him a difficult job that any one of them can easily do with a flick of a wand. A little busywork keeps the peasants from making trouble.
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Aurette’s stories are always good, and this is one of my favorites, despite including soul bonds and life debts. I recommend it. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5720878/1/The-Caretaker
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In “The Caretaker,” Filch is dead, but Snape has a (magical) photograph of him with Mrs Norris in his closet of an office, and uses ‘Argus’ as his password.
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My favorites are descriptions of Tom Riddle's outfits and handsome looks. :)
>Hmm, if there is market big enough to create this correspondence course, does it mean that not all wizards/witches attend Hogwarts?
Yes, I think JKR said something like that. That many working class wizards simply learn from their parents.
Also, a quill and a book, which write down to whom Hogwarts will send letters in the first place, demand a certain level of magical ability. Squibs and near squibs are not permitted to attend.
>Why upgrading your poor education means that you are not proper wizard? +1 to Leap of Logic
"Upgrading your poor education" here is an euphemism for "trying to stop being a squib."
>If the cabinet is “wreckage” now, how Draco is able to use it in HBP? I would expect Hogwarts’ staff to get rid of furniture that was reduced to “wreckage”.
I thought the "wreckage" meant the cabinet looked old to Harry. However, one cannot judge magical artifacts on looks. A Sorting Hat looks ancient, yet works very well.
>I find it odd that ghosts celebrate as traumatic event as their death.
For a ghost, it is a birth into a new life rather than like death in our world.
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To think that back in 90' the bast I could hope for was Tamagotchi, all while Harry was running around with handsome pocket boyfriend :P
/I thought the "wreckage" meant the cabinet looked old to Harry. However, one cannot judge magical artifacts on looks. A Sorting Hat looks ancient, yet works very well. /
I checked both translated and original version of this scene and the description makes it sound like cabinet was reduced to splinters and boards. Here have a look:
"Nearly Headless Nick came gliding out of a classroom. Behind him, Harry could see the wreckage of a large black and gold cabinet which appeared to have been dropped from a great height.
‘I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch’s office,’ said Nick eagerly. ‘Thought it might distract him –’"
Heck if I translated my translated version back into English the most fitting word would be "remains".
/For a ghost, it is a birth into a new life rather than like death in our world. /
Yeah and they obsess over how they died. I might be happy to celebrate my Birthday, but I'm very happy that I don't remember my birth :P
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Percy actually notices something is wrong with Ginny and tries to help, Yet somehow that is betrayed as a bad thing? The twins torment their siblings and that is good thing. Not exactly how I picture a healthy family relationship.
I would expect Hogwarts’ staff to get rid of furniture that was reduced to “wreckage”.
Don't you know keeping things neat and organized is something evil, bad muggles do - like the Dursleys.
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This is part of the misdirection, hinting that Percy may be the one behind the snake attacks and is controlling Ginny.
>For 12 year old boy, this is a pretty detailed description of man’s outfit.
JKR often forgets that the POV is meant to be a young (straight) boy - the appearance of male characters is constantly commented on, while he barely seems to notice girls.
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I sat down and considered this scene from various angles and honestly I cannot see how a reader could consider this a red herring. If I had to pick a character that could be the misdirection from JKR then I would say Lockhart. After all in the previous book the comically incompetent teacher turned out to be a living host for Voldiewraith. Lockhart is so incompetent that it's suspicious that supposedly all knowing headmaster employed him :P
/JKR often forgets that the POV is meant to be a young (straight) boy - the appearance of male characters is constantly commented on, while he barely seems to notice girls./
It's common problem among beginner writers. Writer wants to give their readers enough information for them to clearly imagine the scene, but forgets that wording and descriptions tell reader as much about the character as their dialogue.
What I find entertaining when it comes to JKR is her shock and outrage when she learns that certain characters are paired with characters she doesn't approve of.
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As for "only a Gryffindor could have ransacked Harry's room" it's not true. Most probably all teachers know passwords to Common rooms just in case there was need for them to enter so there is that. Hogwarts is whimsical magical castle with secret rooms and so on. I believe I pointed out in previous chapter that it's strange Harry&co don't suspect there being secret entrance to Lockhart's office. The same could be true for common rooms; a secret entrance that only handful of grown ups know about so they could control teenagers comings and goings. Finally a Gryffindor could ransack Harry's stuff, but that doesn't mean he/she is the Heir. The person who was responsible could have done it out of malice towards our protagonist and them taking the Diary is just coincidence. Or they could be the Heirs sidekick. Or they could have been blackmailed into it.
There is a lot of possibilities and only if JKR manages to talk the reader into disliking Percy for being sticker for rules, the reader starts to consider Percy potentially being the Heir.
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I think that the problem with Percy's depiction here is the same one with Hermione's in GOF. Both of them try to help others, but are portrayed as bossy, overbearing, and short-sighted. Percy is trying to help Ginny, but he doesn't realize her real problem, and Hermione is trying to help the house elves, but she doesn't realize that Dobby is an exception and that house elves enjoy serving humans.
The problem is that nobody else is trying to help. Was Hermione wrong about house elves? Okay, fine, she was, according to the books. That doesn't change the fact that she a) recognized that something was wrong and b) was the only person to try to do something about it.
And it's the same thing with Percy. Okay, fine, he shouldn't have 'bullied' Ginny into taking cold medicine when he could've just asked her. At least he paid enough attention to her to realize that something was wrong with her. That's far more than any of her other brothers at Hogwarts did.
/Somewhere out there, there is a fic that describes constant Sisyphean work that is cleaning Hogwarts via muggle methods. All while people who could speed up the process laugh at you/
I think that JKR was just focused on a magical allegory for the 'grumpy janitor' stereotype without thinking of the implications.
/The salamander managed to escape into fire, but did it survive the rough treatment?/
I wonder how the narration would go if Tom Riddle had been doing this instead.
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I have mixed feelings about Hermione's campaign, but in Percy's case I'm annoyed. Percy's assumption is logical and Ginny had every chance to tell him that there is something wrong and ask for help from her supportive older brother. What she does instead? She once tries to tell her crush (something that is kind of OOC since she stole the Diary so he won't learn her secrets), but when Percy arrives she clams up. That is it. Yet Percy is the bad sibling for not guessing she is controlled by a diary... Double standards doesn't even begin to cover it.
/I think that JKR was just focused on a magical allegory for the 'grumpy janitor' stereotype without thinking of the implications.
Most of the problems with this series could be summed up by this description :P
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Most of the problems with this series could be summed up by this description :P
Imagine if she'd made him a low-level wizard whose powers were adequate to janitorial service but not for anything else. He didn't pass his OWLS, he ended up as the brunt of student jokes and faculty pity - kids, don't forsake your studies!
But, no. She makes him a 24/7 slave to the castle without any magical help whatsoever.
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I disagree. Making a child take nasty-tasting medicine or do something else unpleasant for her own benefit is part of a parent’s job. If the child refuses, compulsion is necessary. The fact that Ginny had to be bullied indicates she either refused or “forgot” when she was merely asked. That’s when a parent steps in, and the child whines that it’s “bullying.” Percy isn’t Ginny’s parent, but elder siblings acting in loco parentis are common in large families. Minerva, who is supposed to be acting in loco parentis for Ginny, is so overwhelmed by her two other jobs that she lets her Gryffindors raise themselves. Hogwarts needs to bring someone in to be Deputy Head as a full-time job, so Minerva can look after her lions properly.
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I really wonder how big the Kwikspell course market could be. On one hand, if there are quite a few not-quite-Squib "weak" witches and wizards who don't attend Hogwarts, that means the wizarding population as a whole could be larger than extrapolations based on the student population would suggest, and a higher estimate seems to fit better with the size of the Ministry bureaucracy and other institutions we see. On the other hand, that raises a lot of questions about how their society actually functions which aren't easy to answer. Just how many Squibs and not-quite-Squibs could they have? How many Hogwarts students were poor enough at their studies that they either left after failing OWLs or dropped out earlier, and now want to brush up? And do these correspondence courses ever work well enough to help any of them? Also, you have to be "qualified" to carry a wand, which normally seems to mean passing some OWLs. Do the homeschool students just swing by when it's time for standardized testing? Is there an alternate route to qualification, like a formal apprenticeship?
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