18 HP Chamber of Secrets
Aug. 3rd, 2019 01:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockI'm skipping next week. Next entry from me will be around 16th.
Ch18 Dobby’s Reward
>Hint: Dobby’s reward isn’t pile of gold or a new crowbar.
>All things considering, I’m surprised that Molly didn’t leash out onto Harry. She is highly worried about her missing daughter and here the missing daughter comes in not very good shape with guy who a) already is a bad influence on one of her sons and b) is covered in blood. In other words very suspicious.
>Poor Minnie, she looks like she is about to have a heart attack :(
>”Very well,’ Professor McGonagall prompted him, as he paused, ‘so you found out where the entrance was – breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add – but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?’” Well that is not the question I would ask if I was adult sitting in that room… It would be closer to “And at no point you thought to grab a back up that wasn’t an incompetent fraud and guy whose wand is public safety hazard??” +1 to LOL
>Apparently Albus has sources telling him where Voldiwraith is, yet he doesn’t, I don’t know, hire an exorcist to hunt down the wraith and trap it in some kind of object… I swear no other character pisses me off nearly as much as Dumbledore.
>Well, I never expected Albus to call Tom brilliant for creating Horcrux… This is getting awkward.
>...Is Albus implying that Tom’s travels were major contribution toward his corruption to the dark side?? +1 to LOL
>”Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.” Like your Car? Or The Sorting Hat? Or perhaps Portraits? Hmmm? +1 to LOL
>No seriously, it’s no wonder that kids screw up so much. From the moment they enter this school they are given mixed messages.
>Albus once again shows that for a guy who worked with children for over 50 years, he is wonderfully uninformed how to handle children. Especially recently traumatised children.
>No, no, don’t you dare to reward them Albus! You can let them get away with only minor punishment or no punishment, but don’t dare to reward them! +1 to CC
>Dumbledore (and Jo) learned from the last year and gives Harry points under the table.
>Harry forgot about Lockhart being in the room. So did his no. 1 fan Molly Weasley!
>At this point I had whiplash and had to scroll back my ebook just to check- apparently Harry’s retelling was chaotic enough that it omitted Gilderoy’s role in the incident, yet none of 4 adults present question Lockhart’s presence in this meeting? WTH?
>Albus, you knowingly allowed a fraud who loves to use memory charms around children? If I didn’t know already what happens to Lucius in this chapter I would expect him to pounce onto this information like sex-depraved Frenchman onto sexworker’s convention. +1 to CC +1 to LOL
>I wonder, do Horcruxes sense each other? Main soul piece obviously does not or Voldemort would act different towards Harry. Perhaps Voldiwraith's soul piece is too small to sense anything?
>‘I don’t think I’m like him!’ said Harry, more loudly than he’d intended. ‘I mean, I’m – I’m in Gryffindor, I’m …’ easy to anger, reckless, love overcomplicated plans, cruel... do I need to continue Harry?
>Last direct descendant Albus, there is difference. Considering that most of British purebloods are related to each other I wouldn’t be surprised if this talent was widely spread. Most witches and wizards are simply smart enough to not tell anyone about it.
>‘Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?’ Well that sounds perverted even in the context, Jo. +1 to FWBP
>I like to imagine that Albus has “moustache quivering” here, because he is highly amused by Harry actually believing BS he is pushing.
>So your choices only show who you are, not shape you as a person...ugh…
>Yeah only a true Gryffindor would be able to pull out of Sorting Hat this sword. It’s not like Sorting Hat heart Harry’s desperate pleas for help and decided to help…
> I’m starting to imagine this No-Magic AU ff where Albus is crazy ex-professor of sociology who lost his job due to his unethical experimentation on his students and now has to earn his living by writing fortune cookie slips. It would be glorious!
>I ignored it earlier, but what hour it is? Dumbledore said that Pomfrey is still up, because she administered potion to petrified students. This would suggest that it’s at very least 10 pm. Yet he both send off Minerva to organise feat and now tries to send Harry to the feast? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until morning to celebrate? +1 to LOL
>I’m even more annoyed at Albus’ comment that Hogwarts “runs through” DADA teachers.
>”Harry got up and crossed to the door. He had just reached for the handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced back off the wall.” How did he manage to avoid being hit with it?
>Why Lucius took Dobby with him to Hogwarts? I mean from writer’s point of view this scene ties nicely Dobby’s subplot, but story-wise it’s illogical. +1 to LOL
>This scene makes me think that it was Albus who indulged in threatening and bribing governors. Apparently all 12 governors not only learned that Ginny died, decided that Albus was the best man for the job and claimed that they were threatened by Lucius, but also did so within a few hours from initial Minni’s announcement. Normally such bodies take days to make decisions.
>”‘The same person as last time, Lucius,’ said Dumbledore. ‘But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary.’” I wish you could hear yourself Albus. You wouldn't believe what you just have said, nor would bystanders.
>Lucius: And this damned book is the proof of that? How? Headmaster, when was your last visit to mind healer?
>No Albus, let's face it if Harry didn’t intervene she would be fucking dead.
>”Very fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle’s memories wiped from it.” Yes indeed, it’s very fortunate that you have absolutely no proof for your claims Albus. And oh my, one could claim that your insinuations are threats… +1 to CC +1 to LOL
>While Lucius was relatively clumsy in that scene there is nothing aside from Dobby the crazy House Elf that connects Lucius with the Diary. I swear for all clumsiness, Lucius in this book played everything relatively well. I bet the governors can't even prove that he threatened them (if that even took place). Sadly this is Rowling’s Court where words have more power than evidence.
>Harry learns well from Albus, all those accusations with no evidence…
>Also it’s nice of Dumbledore that he further threatens Lucius claiming that any activity resembling Voldemort’s will be connected to him.
>We get it Jo, Lucius is the evil bastard. You don't have to punt the midget to get us to react!
>“‘Professor Dumbledore,’ he said hurriedly, ‘can I give that diary back to Mr. Malfoy, please?’” No, you cannot. This is key evidence in investigation and potentially can lead to other artefacts created by Voldemort. +1 to LOL
>And with this accent Jo opened yet another can of worms that will undermine her magical system. If by tossing at House Elf clothes without intend of freeing them you can free them then it means that in Jo’s magical system intent isn’t as important as actions. In other words if teacher during demonstration of wand movements says incantation, he can accidentally cast the spell.
>Breaking News: distinguished nobleman attacked local child celebrity. Man's servant intervened. More at 7 PM.
>”’Least I could do, Dobby,’ said Harry, grinning. ‘Just promise never to try and save my life again.’” Yup, Harry just released into wild a psychopathic elf who helps people by trying to murder them. And the only thing he asks for? To not try to help Harry. Let’s hope this won’t cause a wave of murders in WW. +1 to LOL
>Dobby’s logic in this sentence is straight out Moon Logic. He would fit well at Sierra Entertainment. +1 to LOL
>The real reason why there are no final exams in book 2 is that Albus doesn’t want to deal with creating exams basing on Lockhart’s materials.
>What about OWLS and NEWTS?
>Darn either Headmaster's position is like master of universe or Albus has way more pull than he shows. Dumbledore's evidence on either threatening governors or Lucius giving Ginny the Horcrux is so flimsy that such influential individual as Lucius should be able to shake off all allegations.
>Just how big are compartments at Hogwarts Express? 6 kids apparently had enough space to practice disarming without poking out each others eyes.
>Darn, and you guys dare to call Slytherins backstabbing? Percy trusted Ginny and did everything in his power when it was clear that something was wrong with her, yet here she not only betrays his secret, but also does it in presence of two guys who regularly bully their family members. As if she didn’t exactly know what they will do with that information.
>Now in the beginning of CoS commentary I said that Harry and co don't do anything to solve communication black out issue. I'm going to stand by it. Sure here Harry gives Durslays’ number to his friends, but that doesn't solve the problem. Unless he manages to make some kind of deal with his relatives they can easily stop him from answering phone or not give him letters send via normal post. The only way to secure communication with magical world during his stay at Durslays is to use magical means that won’t get him in trouble.
Crime Count: 3
Death Count: 0
Freud Would Be Proud: 1
Leap of Logic: 10
Uncovered: 0
Spell Count: 0
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 04:47 pm (UTC)But then again, he had perfect occasion in PS to trap Voldemort during let's say staff meeting and yet he sat on his ass during whole school year waiting for Tom to visit the corridor of doom.
Indeed. It kinda makes me wonder how the Pensieve works. Human mind has tendency to edit memory each time you recall it using information and feelings available at that point in the time. Does that mean that in Pensieve old memory would be shown in way it was originally recorded or in current state? If the second option is true then the memory we see in HBP could be misshaped by how Albus perceives Tom. After all there was nothing Albus could do for him, right?
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 09:45 pm (UTC)PS could have been Albus Dumbledore and the Tricky Exorcism, yeah. Or better yet, The Hogwarts Senior Staff and the Tricky Exorcism.
If Pensieve memories can be unreliable, we've got some real narrative problems... But then, they can't be entirely based on what the person remembers, because you can see and hear things that person couldn't at the time, or at least didn't consciously remember (and so would have edited out if the memories were based on how they perceived it). For instance, if little Sev had heard James and Sirius planning to attack him at the time, he wouldn't have been reviewing his notes, he'd have been drawing his wand and maybe running away. And if Pensieve memories could be so unreliable that, say, Sev could have inserted the Marauders' actions and dialog into his memory based on what he knew of them in general, why would Dumbledore bother trying to retrieve memories from people? Morfin had been probably Obliviated and then Azkaban-addled, so how would his memory help anyone discover whether he had or hadn't met Tom Jr. that night? Why wouldn't Slughorn have softened the memory of what he said to Tom over the years to the point where it wasn't that bad really, and so the memory he gave Dumbledore wouldn't be obviously faked and that whole subplot wouldn't have happened?
So... it doesn't make a lot of sense, but apparently Pensieve memories capture everything in a certain range around the person like a virtual reality recording. Unless it is all an incredibly elaborate charade, the purpose of which was never explained, but there are limits to how much fanwanking anyone should have to do to make these books make sense. "Perfect VR recordings" is, sadly, the least headache-inducing for me.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-18 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-21 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-21 07:50 am (UTC)More so, if using Pensieve was normal procedure Fudge would have problems explaining why he doesn’t want to use it during Harry’s trial. The moment somebody asked “Cornelious, why don’t we solve this argument swift and easy? Let the boy show us what we saw. After all he is just a teenager not master of mind arts…” no matter what Fudge would say or do he would either look incompetent or suspicious.
Now in the series we are shown memories by 4 people: Albus, Severus, Horace and Tom.
Severus is accomplished in mind arts enough to not only teach it, but also to interact with Voldemort, without giving him any sensitive information on platter. His memories could be clearer, because of that skill level.
Horace is skilled enough to apparently do some editing.
It’s Albus and Tom whom I absolutely don’t trust on this matter. While the memory seems to be genuine, Tom was trapped in a book for 50 years. That had to have a serious impact on his mental health.
Albus on the other hand had motives to show Harry a skewed version of events. He knew he was dying and he had to make sure Harry won’t try to back out once he learns what is expected of him. Thus he had to make sure Harry was emotionally attached to idea of killing Voldemort. The whole memory collecting side quest? That was to keep Harry busy and make him feel “included” in Albus’ plans. After all wasn’t about half of OotP’s drama/angst caused by Harry being kept in dark? And look what the boy ended up doing: running paramilitary group and breaking into governmental buildings. Nope, it’s best to keep him busy with meaningless work and make him feel important with small gestures.
A lot of what we learn about Voldemort in HBP has only one source: Albus himself. He keeps saying things that he would have had hard time learning/proving. For example: did Merope really used love potions on Tom Sr.? By the time Albus got idea to investigate this, all main actors are dead. It could be easily a case of rich man having romance with poor woman and leaving her after either money run out or he learned of her being witch. Then when he came back he spread rumors about Merope so locals won’t accuse him of leading on Merope. Yet if I remember correctly Albus sounded quite certain.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-21 03:43 pm (UTC)Especially during Sirius's trial. Yes, Sirius might have believed that he killed Peter, but since the Pensieve allows the viewer to see things that the memory-holder couldn't (as was the case with Snape and the Marauders), they could have seen Peter with the wand behind his back.
/It could be easily a case of rich man having romance with poor woman and leaving her after either money run out or he learned of her being witch/
The latter is what Voldemort believed to have happened and that could have been a parallel to Seamus's parents, since Mr. Finnegan also didn't learn that his wife was a witch until after they were married.
/Then when he came back he spread rumors about Merope so locals won’t accuse him of leading on Merope/
Except that when he comes back home, he apparently never remarried. When Tom Jr. kills his family, Tom Sr. is with his parents by himself. There's no wife mentioned (and we don't hear of a widow or any remaining family after the Riddles have been killed). Which, considering that he's the only child of wealthy parents, is strange, because he probably would've been expected to marry by that point.
Also, given that we see him with a girlfriend already in Morfin's memory, the whole exploitation angle doesn't make much sense to me. If he wanted to fool around with Merope before returning to his 'respectable' fiancée (I think that her name was Cecilia?), he would have done so quietly and discreetly. Running away with Merope and thereby causing a scandal in the village would ensure that Cecilia's family would never allow him near her again, no matter what he said about Merope when he came back. The fact that he publicly jilted his rich fiancée for a poor girl would've damaged his reputation enough. In fact, that could have been a reason for why he's still single by the time that Tom Jr. arrives (of course, another reason that I had in mind was that he was traumatized by what happened to him, but that paints him in a more sympathetic light than I think that JKR intended).
I understand that Dumbledore doesn't provide much proof for his assertions about Merope and Tom Sr., but I've seen enough people in the HP fandom dismiss what happened to Tom Sr. because he's described as a "snobbish and rude" man in GoF to be a bit wary of alternative interpretations. Honestly, I think that Voldemort's version of what happened is a lot more straightforward and lets Tom Sr. stay a jerk without bringing in all of these uncomfortable implications of date rape and exploitation. It also kind of parallels Harry's situation: the Dursleys mistreat him because they hate and fear magic and Tom's father abandoned his wife because he hated and feared magic. There's also the fact that in GoF, nobody ever mentions the Gaunts. When people are discussing who could have killed the Riddles, nobody ever brings up the crazy weirdo who lives alone in a shack. Nobody mentions Cecilia or Merope or anybody introduced in HBP. As far as everyone is concerned, the Riddles were just a bunch of rich snobs who kept to themselves. Which is why Frank, who had no motive as far as anyone could tell, was the only one suspected and arrested.