CoS Chapter Four

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Life at the Burrow is totally opposite than life at Privet Drive and we’re all shocked at that. Imagine a land where disordered is order, messy is clean, and eating is good.

*Harry’s most surprised by the way everyone at the house seems to like him. Which has everything to do with them looking past his celebrity and not right at it.

*Arthur has Harry explain things like the postal service to him every night at dinner, yet still seems incapable of understanding any of it years later.

*Ginny’s cute and clumsy when Harry’s around, broadcasting her crush. Ginny II will kill her for this later.

*I can’t believe I’ve heard the description of Ginny’s face "glowing like the setting sun" used as some sort of proof of attraction on Harry’s part even at 12. Yes, setting suns are pretty, and no doubt Ron in the same situation would have been described as red as a baby’s bottom with diaper rash or something equally repulsive, but the point is that she’s blushing, not that her face looks beautiful when it’s bright red.

*The letters from school are yellow and green. That is so fun!

*Dumbledore already knows you’re here, Harry. So I guess he probably also knew you were wrongly accused of breaking the law and locked up for days on end too. He just doesn’t much care.

*Molly says they’ll be able to get Ginny’s things second hand. I would imagine so. Didn’t Ron just use the same books last year?

*Ginny I is cute. Harry would never have dated her in a million years, but he’s got bad taste.

*Percy’s wearing a knitted tank top with a pin on it? Is that as unattractive as it sounds? Or is it just really gay?

*Either Hermione put a typo in her letter to Ron, or my book’s got a typo, or else Wizards spell happening with three p’s.

*Harry’s Nimbus is easily the best broom, though it does not account for a drop of Harry’s success at Quidditch. He just flies more aerodynamically.

*The Twins show actual concern for Percy not being himself. They’ll make up for that later.

*Ginny needs a new wand. Ron doesn’t, even when his is broken.

*Arthur’s all excited about Harry traveling on the Underground, though later aren’t we supposed to think he’s done that himself?

*Although they’re in a rush, we’ve got some time for Harry to explain to the Weasleys how the Dursleys don’t love him again, and how they think it would be funny if he got stuck in a chimney.

*Not so funny as being stuck in limbo between Vanishing Cabinets for days on end until you get brain damage, of course. But funny enough for Muggles.

*Harry gets dumped into Borgin & Burkes, every boy and Goth’s dream store, and doesn’t appreciate it at all!

*Oh no! Draco’s here! And Harry’s all lost and sooty and has broken glasses and just bumped his nose! Quick, hide! You can’t be seen in this condition by…him! ::swoons::

*Mr. Malfoy reminds us Draco’s a spoiled brat who gets everything he wants by opening the scene with, "Touch nothing, Draco."

*Wonder where all their packages are. You know, the packages that contain all the many things Draco has been bought up until this point that have made Lucius finally lose patience and act like a strict father instead of the fawning parent he must have been up until the last second before we saw him.

*Draco’s Harry-rant is so hilarious. Again, Harry just does not appreciate this stuff.

*You can see why fanfic writers love to write the Malfoy’s at home. Who doesn’t love a family where Dad’s trying to unload some poisons two steps ahead of the Ministry raids and the kid’s interrupting to ask if he can have a shriveled hand?

*Damn, why did we have to get stuck at the whacky farm when we could have visited the Addams family? And met Theo Nott to boot!

*Draco inherits his drama queen genes from both sides of the family, it seems. Not many men are blessed with long nostrils and the control to flare them for emphasis.

*Wow, Draco’s a real nightmare in this scene, isn’t he? Look at how disobedient he is and how he talks back to his father.

*Is Knockturn Alley always dimly lit, like even on a summer day in noon? Seems like it should be.

*The criminals here are all very sordid, as well. Not like the kind of colorful tricksters the Order hangs around with.

*If Knockturn Alley is the place where you have to get your slug repellent, I’d think lots of people would go there.

*Love that Hagrid acts all indignant about his righteous reasons for being there, as if he doesn’t routinely break the law and go looking for animals and other things more unpredictably dangerous than whatever Lucius is selling.

*Now Hagrid’s just head and shoulders taller than people on the street. He grows and shrinks from scene to scene. The man can’t even follow the laws of physics.

*Clever the way the Lucius/Arthur stuff is totally presented as Lucius being the scary one when Arthur’s pretty much admitted he’s using his government position to try to throw Lucius in jail. I’m sure he is scared, Arthur. Imagine actually *getting rid of* things you own that might be illegal instead of filling your house with them because you’ve written in your own loopholes!

*The Grangers are changing their Muggle money, something Harry hasn’t seemed to realize can be done since earlier he said he was only rich in the Wizarding World. (No Harry, you’re only educated in the Wizarding World. Which is why you can’t decide to go to Muggle University after the books are over, like you do in fanfic.)

*You know, it kind of is rude for everybody to visit everybody else’s vault. In the Muggle world you leave a polite space behind someone using an ATM machine.

*Ginny’s going to a second hand robe shop. Bet she won’t be coming out with moldy robes covered in wilted lace. It’s only for Ron that Molly shops at Passive Aggressive’s Robes for the Unfavored Child.

*Dear God, another Wizarding joke shop.

*Percy lets his evil side show by planning to be Minister for Magic. Everyone knows the Pure of Heart focus on making money.

*Lockhart’s fans are all older witches, which makes them all the more pathetic. Only pretty young girls are cute when they crush on guys.

*Ginny’s never spoken in front of Harry in the days he’s been at her house? That’s a bit much.

*I’ve no doubt her snapping at Malfoy is supposed to be a sign of Ginny II being the real her, but see, it isn’t. Because Ginny I is sticking up for the boy she has a crush on in a reasonable way. Ginny II is insulting to everyone all the time.

*And after his little rant in the store earlier, Draco really must have been disgusted with that display with Lockhart.

*Ron looks at Malfoy like he’s something stuck to the sole of his shoe—you know, aside from the whole racist psycho bit, Harry and Ron really do earn Malfoy’s hatred honestly.

*Ron’s line about Malfoy being surprised to see Harry must make no sense to Draco whatsoever. Lucky he automatically responds to everything Ron says into a put down about poverty. It lets everyone go on being mistaken.

*Lucius is sneering just the same way as Malfoy. Dreadful the way they sneer while the Pure of Heart look like you’re something stuck to their shoe. It’s a subtle but powerful difference.

*It really does not take much to get Gryffindors fighting, does it.

*Lucius actually came out a lot better in that scuffle.

*Actually, you know what would have been great? If Arthur had to pay for something he broke. I can’t help it. I always side with the fictional snobs even when they’re evil.

*Hagrid rushes in and reminds everyone how important blood is in determining someone’s worth. Thanks Hagrid. How’re those gigantic corpuscles of your doing?

*I hope somebody testified to Hagrid’s words about no Malfoy being worth listenin’ ter at Buckbeak’s trial.

*Either the shop assistant is a particularly short person, or Hagrid’s just grown again.

*The Grangers are shaking with fright, as if they’re horses spooked by the behavior of the humans. Muggles just can’t handle the Wizard World.

*What’s Frank Bryce doing right now? I want Frank! He’ll show you shaking with fright, he will!





"Fruit Cart, Fruit Cart!"
"Bookshelf, bookshelf!"

Misdirected Answering
I hope everybody’s paying attention as we tour the Weasleys house. But if you miss anything, we’ll be back again and again. One visit isn’t enough for the wackiness.

Nut o’ Fun
Probably all of Borgin & Burkes.

Whooshing Powder
Ta-da!

Final score: 4

Signs of things to come: The Vanishing Cabinet, the Hand of Glory and the necklace make their first appearance—woohoo! I know it’s probably a coincidence, but I like the way Harry and Draco have this small pattern of being separated by walls—with the RoR in HBP, and here with Draco reaching out to open the Cabinet Harry is hiding behind. And I guess also when Draco’s peeking in the window at Hagrid’s. H/D shippers, break down these walls! Malfoy’s already wrongly suspected of being a particular villain that he isn’t. Ginny tries to be a sign of things to come, but blows it by being her earlier reasonable person with a spine instead of a stuck up bully.

Comments

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Me too. I could totally buy JKR the Randroid.